January 2019

Hill Park Medical Center > 2019 > January
BioIdentical Hormone Therapy, Hormone Balance, Low Testosterone, Menopause, Peri-menopause, Women’s Health

Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy

Most women associate hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with menopause, but it actually has many more uses to correct hormone concerns that arise throughout a lifetime. Naturopathic and functional medicine doctors use a special class of hormone replacement therapy, called bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT), to treat not only menopausal women, but, also perimenopause, fertility, PMS, PCOS, anxiety, insomnia, and even men who are having issues with low testosterone.

Bioidentical hormones are derived and modified from natural sources, such as the Wild Mexican Yam, and are structurally identical to the hormones our bodies naturally produce. Therefore, we can expect similar results from them.

Bioidentical hormones differ from synthetic hormone replacement therapy in several ways. Synthetic hormones are chemically foreign from the hormones we produce, so, they often behave a little differently than our natural hormones. One significant difference is that synthetic hormones have been shown to bind more tightly to the receptors in our bodies, which makes the receptors work overtime and have a much more potent effect, sometimes more than what we want.

A good example of synthetic hormones hijacking the normal processes of the body is birth control. Hormonal birth control is made up of synthetic hormones that bind very tightly to the body’s estrogen and progesterone receptors and “trick” the body into thinking it’s pregnant. This can happen even in relatively low doses. In this way, we can use the synthetic hormones to our benefit for family planning, but, we don’t necessarily need this effect in our hormone balance regime.

Bioidentical hormone therapy offers several options for delivery and personalization. Bioidentical hormones are often compounded, which provides more flexibility in customized dosing and delivery form for your personal needs. The forms of bioidentical hormone therapy generally include transdermal cream or gel, lozenges, capsules, or suppositories.

Some benefits of bHRT include:

  • Lowers cholesterol and increases HDL (the good fat)
  • Maintains collagen in our skin and connective tissues
  • Improve cognition and protect brain tissue
  • Improve sleep
  • Improve mood and alleviate anxiety
  • Mitigate thermal regulation (warm rushes and hot flashes)
  • Improves cardiovascular health
  • Stabilizes bone health

At Hill Park Integrative Medical Center, we have several doctors who specialize in the prescription of bioidentical hormones for many different clinical applications. We treat both according to symptoms and labs and have had great success in hormone treatments across many patient populations, including reproductive age women, men, fertility, and post/perimenopausal women.

We don’t think that bioidentical hormone therapy is the only hormone balance regime – there are many solutions to hormone imbalance with the use of herbal medicine, targeted nutrient therapy, acupuncture, and many other resources. For moderate to severe concerns, bioidentical hormones can be very effective, especially in combination with other natural therapies, to correct hormone balance and are safe when applied correctly by an experienced doctor.

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The New Year’s Cleanse

With the beginning of a new year, our resolutions to live the most vital and healthiest life are often renewed. The most common resolutions are to lose weight, assume healthier eating patterns, and get back in the gym. These are all great resolutions, and everyone should strive to be a better version of themselves. However, there can be a sneaky roadblock you might not even notice that increases the difficulty in achieving these goals – environmental toxicants.

Over the holidays, we often stray from our typical diet: eat less vegetables, drink more alcohol, exercise less, and eat so much more sugar than we usually do. We are also cooped up inside, often with fireplaces. All of these factors, and more, can overburden your body’s ability to eliminate waste from the cells and also from our environment. These toxicants are often stored in fat and can hijack our best attempts to lose weight.

So how do we overcome this hurdle and feel better, gain more energy, and achieve the most weight loss? We can do a short detox once life is a little more settled. Our detox involves a few facets to make sure your body has the proper tools it needs to clean out the toxicants, eliminate them, and start with a clean slate moving forward.

Step one is to give your body high quality nutrients and ingredients. We want to give your body the best, most efficient fuel we can provide for the energy needed to keep our brains healthy and cells clean. We also will use food to decrease inflammation (step 2), which can gum up the works and make the body work sluggish. We’ve found that just by decreasing the amount of inflammation in the body, a person can lose up to 10 pounds.

Step 3 involves making sure we can properly and efficiently eliminate the toxicants. If we skip step three, it is like we are cleaning out a closet without trash bags. You can get it done, but the room will be a mess for much longer while you slowly work to eliminate the junk. Our plan involves giving your body the nutrients, natural medicines, and the tools necessary to package up the toxicants and efficiently eliminate them.

Most people on our detox program notice vast improvement in brain function, energy, skin vibrancy, and overall well-being – all while being several pounds lighter. So instead of just working yourself to death to lose some weight, let our alternative medicine clinic in Sonoma County partner with you to help clean out your body’s closet, find sustainable healthy living practices, and lose some weight in the process.

We wish you a peaceful, prosperous, and healthy 2019!