Anyone who is alive today understands that change is very much a part of life. Despite this basic truth and the obvious need for all to accept the inevitability of change, people still try all they can to stop or at least slow down the rate of some changes. One very obvious kind of change that people try to stop is aging.
From time, people everywhere have always faced this challenges associated with aging. These challenges affect people differently. In women, they have to deal with menopause and its associated symptoms both psychological and physical ones. What makes it more disturbing is that some of these changes come with pain, sicknesses and other forms of discomfort. Menopausal women for example frequently have to deal with symptoms such as weight gain, irritability, memory lapses (short term), hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia and others. As a result of these state of affairs, there has been continuous efforts to find ways of curbing these symptoms.
To effectively tackle a symptom, the root cause of the problem must be found and addressed. Therefore, to an address an issue like menopause which is basically signifies a state of non-productivity of the female’s reproductive system mainly due to aging.
At this point, it would be proper to state that this is not a medical journal but an article to guide people to better results. This having been said, we would go ahead to look at what cause menopause with a view to understanding how BHRT factors in this matter.
In a woman, two hormones are basically in charge of issues regarding the reproductive system. These hormones are estrogen and progesterone. To put it simply, menopause is simply a point where these hormones are no longer produced in the body. Of course, it begins gradually and then comes to a complete halt. During this process, the female body experiences discomfort at varying levels. The absence of these hormones are also thought to pose certain health risks.
In 1966, Robert A Wilson MD claimed in his book “Feminine Forever” that menopause was completely preventable. This pieces of information was obviously met with wide spread excitement from women who saw this as the end of their menopausal problems. Dr Wilson’s claim was that taking estrogen was the answer to the problem of menopause. The result of this was obvious. Women all over began receiving estrogen for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. One important thing we have to point out here is that the hormonal supplements used were not bioidentical. By this, we mean that the hormonal supplements did not have the same chemical structure as hormones that were naturally produced in the body.
Over a period of time, it was discovered that this treatment increased the risk of cancer as it triggered the growth of the uterine lining. The answer that was put forward for this was the addition of progesterone for the protection of the uterus. The progesterone used was also not bioidentical.
It was very easy for a lot of women to get on the band wagon because women were bringing in positive reports about this treatment. The fact that women were experiencing relieve from menopausal symptoms made HRT more acceptable. This however suffered a big blow in 2002 when Women’s Heal Initiative (WHI) came up with the result of a study they had carried out. In this study, about 16,000 postmenopausal women participated. The findings were shocking. To summarize a few of the points, the study found that combining non-bioidentical non-bioidentical estrogen and progestin increased the risk of breast cancer and heart attack. It also found that treatment using non-bioidentical estrogen increased the risk of stroke. Non-bioidentical HRT generally resulted for a 25% increase in the risk of invasive breast cancer.
These findings caused a scare and resulted in many women rejecting this treatment.
One thing that was proven in all this was that Dr Wilson’s theory was not wrong. The challenge was therefore how to introduce these hormones into the body without the level of side effects being recorded. This is where BHRT came in.
The idea behind BHRT was to introduce supplemental hormones that had the same chemical structure as hormones produced naturally in the body. The thinking was that they would be more acceptable to the body since they have the same chemical structure as the ones the body was used to processing. The introduction of Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy has long since shown that it is a more viable treatment for hormonal imbalance. The risks are highly reduced.
Medical science is has improved greatly and is still improving. Problems associated with hormonal imbalance can now be treated with BHRT. Before starting this treatment, it is important to consult a qualified BHRT physician. Your BHRT practitioner would guide you through the process, from the testing to the administration. Overcome your issues with hormonal imbalance or menopausal symptoms with BHRT.