Everyone has hormones. We don’t all have the same amounts, but we all have hormones that help our body and mind function the way it does. They’re in just about every location of our bodies, too, since they move through our bloodstream and control a lot of our organs and cells.
But our bodies don’t always make enough. This can lead to all kinds of physical and mental health issues that too many people suffer silently from. If you think you have a hormone issue, you can talk to doctors. Those at Optimus Health are the experts at identifying and solving hormone issues. Once we discover if you have an issue with your hormones and what kind, we can use what’s called Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) to fix it.
BHRT is not a catch-all solution, but it does fix a lot. There are specific hormones that this treatment specializes in. This means if you have a deficiency or surplus of hormones of the kind in BHRT, our special, non-invasive treatment can help you.
Hormones in BHRT: What You Need to Know
Good doctors aren’t only concerned with making you healthy, but keeping you as comfortable and informed as we can. It also makes it easier during your first appointments to be as well-informed as possible about the treatments we offer. There is no catch-all treatment for any condition. Hormone imbalances are no exception.
This makes it important to know and understand what types of hormones BHRT helps with so your expectations are set. Even if BHRT isn’t the right treatment for you, there is always another treatment we can help you with to solve your hormone issue.
Estrogen
This is one of two hormones that people assigned female at birth (AFAB) naturally produce. People assigned male at birth (AMAB) also produce estrogen but at much lower rates. It plays a big role in many different bodily functions. These different functions include:
- The development of secondary sex characteristics, menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause in women.
- Maintain the sex drive, fertility, and erectile function of men.
- The health of our cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
- Maintaining bone and muscle mass.
- Producing collagen and moisture in your skin.
- Our ability to focus; brain function
For AFAB individuals, estrogen is mostly produced in your ovaries, particularly during reproductive years. For AMAB and AFAB in their non-reproductive years, the adrenal glands on our kidneys and adipose tissues – body fat – will produce estrogen.
When your estrogen levels are low, there are many different symptoms that you can experience. Your expected estrogen levels do change based on your age, current medication, and many other factors. The following symptoms can be symptoms of an estrogen deficiency. Schedule an appointment with your general physician if you have any of these symptoms.
- Breast tenderness
- Weak or brittle bones
- Hot flashes and night sweats
- Irregular periods or no periods
- Headaches
- Trouble concentrating
- Fatigue, drowsiness, and/or trouble sleeping
- Mood changes, irritability, and depression
- Painful intercourse from vaginal dryness
Progesterone
This hormone is similar to estrogen in its function and location in AFAB bodies but works completely differently in AMAB bodies. For those who are AFAB, progesterone helps menstruation and pregnancy as it helps to prepare the lining of the uterus for a fertilized egg to grow. If you do become pregnant, your body will increase progesterone production and do other things like:
- Help to improve your mood
- Support thyroid function
- Support lactation
Progesterone’s effect on someone’s mood can lead to postpartum depression when progesterone levels have grown low.
In AMAB, progesterone works to help produce testosterone but is made in the same place as estrogen, the adrenal glands. It also maintains or prevents many uncomfortable symptoms in AMAB, such as:
- Low libido
- Hair loss
- Weight gain
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Breast development
- Erectile dysfunction
- Impotence
- Bone loss
- Muscle loss
In AFAB, low progesterone can lead to other symptoms, such as:
- Irregular menstrual periods
- Difficulty conceiving
- Mood changes, anxiety, or depression
- Trouble sleeping
- Hot flashes
Testosterone
This hormone is a steroid, which means it’s used for many bodily functions as well as reproductive and sex-based functions you would expect. Both AFAB and AMAB make testosterone in the ovaries in the former and testicles in the latter.
In both AFAB and AMAB, testosterone can affect their behavior. Otherwise, testosterone has different uses in AMAB than in AFAB individuals. In AMAB individuals, testosterone:
- Increases a person’s height during puberty. If they take testosterone after puberty when they had a deficiency before, there are cases where their height increases.
- Increases body and pubic hair. Testosterone in high amounts can lead to hair loss on the head, which is the opposite effect it has on other types of body hair.
- Increase the size of male sexual organs such as the penis, testicles, and scrotum.
- Increase one’s sex drive.
In AFAB individuals, testosterone:
- Assists the growth of female reproductive tissue.
- Assists in the growth of bone mass.
Low testosterone levels typically only cause issues or symptoms in AMAB. AFAB does not usually feel symptoms from low levels of testosterone. This is even true in fetal development, where low levels of testosterone can lead to fertility in adulthood. In AMAB, if low testosterone is caused by aging or age-related conditions, you can have different symptoms than someone who has an underlying medical condition that reduces the production of testosterone.
Low production of testosterone can lead to different symptoms in puberty and adulthood. In puberty, it can lead to:
- Slowed height growth, where one’s arms and legs grow out of proportion with the rest of your body.
- Reduced growth of pubic hair.
- Reduced growth of someone’s penis and testicles.
- The voice doesn’t deepen as much.
- Lower-than-normal strength and endurance without training.
In adulthood, low testosterone levels can lead to:
- Sudden and unexplained loss in muscle mass and an increase in body fat.
- Loss of body hair
- Erectile dysfunction
- Depression
- Low sex drive
- Weak bones
- Memory and concentration issues.
If You Think You’re Having Issues with Your Hormones, the Hormones in BHRT May Be Able to Help
Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone are the first hormones we look at when someone believes they are having hormonal problems. People who don’t know may be surprised to learn how much of an effect these three hormones have on their lives. If something is wrong with these hormones, everything from your physical well-being to your mental health will be affected.
That’s why our BHRT hormones include these three. To be sure of what you need, contact us to schedule an appointment. We’d love to help you.