What causes hormone imbalances?

Causes of hormonal imbalance include certain medications (including birth control), chronic health conditions (such as diabetes or hypothyroidism), hysterectomy or oophorectomy, pregnancy and breastfeeding, early menopause, POCS, chemotherapy and cancer.

What is BHRT?

Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy is a safe and natural treatment that is effective in treating hormone imbalances in women as they age. The hormones are made from plants and mirror the identity of hormones in the human body. Because the hormones mirror your own hormones they do not cause the negative side effects seen with synthetic hormones.

Why do People think BHRT is bad?

In 2002 the Women’s Health Initiative released data stating that hormone replacement therapy was more detrimental than beneficial for women. The hormones used in the 2002 WHI were not bioidentical hormones. Women were given estrogen made from the urine of horses and medroxyprogesterone acetate which is another synthetic hormone. The women in the study were 50-79 and all received the same doses of hormones. This study was poorly designed, evaluated and reported which caused a lot of women to suffer unnecessarily with menopausal symptoms.

Where are we now with BHRT replacement?

Multiple studies have concluded that the benefit of hormone replacement therapy outweighs the risk. The American Society of Clinical Oncology released a post in 2020 stating that postmenopausal estrogen administration does not increase the risk of breast cancer and in fact, may decrease the risk. The ASCO post also states that “as for the alleged increased risk for women on combined hormones, consider this disconfirming evidence: progesterone deficiency is associated with a fivefold increase in the risk of breast cancer development (Bluming, 2020). It is unfortunate that due to the hype of the WHI in 2002 many practitioners are still scared to prescribe hormone replacement therapy. Some large healthcare systems will not even allow their providers to offer hormone replacement therapy.

Why Direct Primary Care Mebane Prescribes BHRT for Women ?

There is no reason for thousands of women to suffer from symptoms of hormone imbalance, such as hot flashes, night sweats, bone loss, weight gain, brain fog, moodiness, worsened PMS, bloating, headaches, depression, fatigue, low libido and decreased sexual pleasure. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is a safe and effective treatment and can also decrease the risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancers, heart disease, blood clots and strokes, osteoporosis, hypothyroidism and Alzheimer’s disease.

How does Direct Primary Care Mebane treat hormone imbalance?

Blood testing is not the best way to test hormones in women. We use the DUTCH test, which is a dried urine test to assess all three types of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, cortisol, estrogen metabolism, oxidative stress markers and intestinal yeast. Based off of the results of the DUTCH test we prescribe bioidentical hormone replacement therapy but also focus on the nutrients your body needs to support the use of the hormones. We also discuss adrenal support and gut health.