Estrogen

Estrogen creates the female shape (breasts, hips, pelvis, and even face) and controls the menstrual cycle. It keeps skin smooth and unwrinkled, prevents excess hair growth, and keeps the vagina moist. It enhances sexual desire, increases physical endurance, and contributes to a positive mood. Estrogen keeps the eyes and mouth moist and the eyes shining. It produces a positive mood - happiness, enthusiasm, and zeal - and prevents depression. Estrogen prevents menstruation-related migraines. Estrogen develops sexual desire and the desire to love. It fights fatigue, reduces the risk of heart disease, retards osteoporosis, protects the brain, keeps the joints healthy, and supports immune function.

Estrogen is actually a family of "feminine" hormones. Though many have similar effects, for the most part when we say estrogen we are referring specifically to estradiol, the most common (and potent) natural form used in supplements. Men's bodies need estrogen, too - without it, they are infertile and might have a low libido - but men are not actually treated with supplements because they can cause prostate problems.

At puberty, the ovaries start producing significant amounts of estrogen, with a helping hand from the pituitary gland, which stimulates the ovaries with other hormones (FSH, follicle-stimulating hormone, and LH, luteinizing hormone). Some estrogen is made in fat cells by metabolizing other hormones originating in the adrenal glands. At menopause, as the ovaries dramatically decrease production, fat tissue becomes the predominant source of estrogens. Either way, estrogen is a very powerful hormone. Consider that a woman's body typically produces 80 mcg (micrograms) of it each day, which is enough to balance the 25,000 mcg of androgens (male hormones) it also produces.

Levels of this hormone in the body vary cyclically. Every month, estrogen builds up a mucous membrane on the walls of the uterus, preparing it to receive a fertilized egg. In the absence of such an egg, estrogen levels drop toward the end of the cycle and the uterine lining sloughs off as menstruation. If there is a fertilized egg and pregnancy occurs, there's a nine-month hiatus from the regular cycle, during which several hormones alter their patterns, including estrogen, which sky-rockets.

If you are a woman without sufficient estrogen, you'll have hair loss on the top of your head; plentiful small, fine wrinkles around the eyes and mouth and especially above the lips; and dry, irritated eyes. Your breasts will shrink and/or sag and you'll lose some of the plumpness that adds the curves to your figure at the chest, hips, and pelvis. You'll experience vaginal dryness and lack of sexual desire and possibly painful intercourse. You might have excessive hairiness or hair growth patterns similar to men's. A deficiency of estrogen can make you tired all day long, give you a tendency toward depression, and encourage feelings of discouragement. And of course it would cause a host of menstrual problems: inadequate, nonexistent, or protracted (more than five days) flow, painful periods with severe cramps, and/or cycles that are irregular (either too short or too long).

Lowered estrogen levels are the source of many of the familiar symptoms of menopause, most famously hot flashes. Younger women might also get hot flashes during menstruation if their estrogen levels are too low.

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Progesterone

Progesterone is dominant during pregnancy and otherwise regulates the menstrual cycle. Its main job is to prepare the uterus for a fertilized egg by relaxing it while closing the cervix. Progesterone production reaches 40 mg per day in the second half of a regular menstrual cycle, skyrocketing to 500 mg a day during a normal pregnancy. That's a hormone world record - thousands of millions of billions of new hormone molecules created every day! During pregnancy progesterone acts as a "serenity hormone," lessening worry and bringing a sense of peace and sometimes even a little laziness.

In women progesterone is secreted mainly in the second half of the menstrual cycle. It prevents PMS, including bloating, irritability, anxiety, breast tenderness, and migraine, by balancing the estrogens that can promote these things. It also tones down heavy flow and eases painful periods.

Progesterone protects the heart and bones and has anticancer effects, particularly against endometrial and breast cancer. It can also help prevent endometriosis. Finally, progesterone relaxes and calms, reduces worry and nervousness, and provides better and deeper sleep. It can trigger a sense of deep tranquility and inner peace.

Progesterone is made primarily in the ovaries as well as by the placenta during pregnancy. The adrenal glands produce small quantities in both men and women, and the testicles also make a small amount.

The most common sign of progesterone deficiency is painful, tender, swollen breasts before your period. Other signs include anxiety, aggression, irritability, bloating, bad headaches, and a tight and painful lower stomach before your period, painful periods with a hard and swollen belly and back and extremely heavy periods. Without enough progesterone, your face, hands, and feet will be bloated as you retain water. Your facial muscles will be tense, and you'll have a nervous, aggressive look as if you are under a lot of pressure. Obesity in the lower half of the body, with a ballooning stomach, is another telltale sign. Your breasts can provide other clues to progesterone deficiency, including being too large and developing cysts. Ovarian cysts can also indicate insufficient progesterone, as can uterine fibroids.

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Testosterone

Testosterone is a steroid hormone synthesized in both men and women. It is the most active hormone of another group of hormones called Androgens, which have masculine effects.

The proper amount of testosterone is essential for development of the bones and muscles, and contributes to better general health and libido. Testosterone decreases with age in both sexes. Recent research regarding the effect of testosterone on aging demonstrates a gain in lean body mass and a possible decline in bone loss when used in elderly patients.

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The Powerful Pellet

During my training, I practiced Hormone Replacement "by the book." Using a combination of traditionally recommended prescription drugs, I grew increasingly weary of not making as positive a difference in the lives of my patients as both they and I wanted. It seemed that helping women regain their hormonal vigor was a constantly moving target and an elusive goal. This was unacceptable!

I began to practice Natural Hormone Replacement with great success when it came to improving my patient's symptoms. The only problem came with how the Hormone Replacement was delivered. Traditionally a compounding pharmacy would make a cream or gel for a transdermal (through the skin) delivery method. Dealing with the mess of creams/gels became an unpleasant experience. Soon I began to search for a better method of HRT delivery. During my search for something better, I discovered a methodology using sub-dermal, bio-identical pellets that caught my attention. All the studies I read documented amazing results, yet I knew that this process was widely ignored and languished in relative obscurity—at least in the United States. However, I knew from my own experience, that this pellet therapy held some real promise for my patients. Now I have seen women—and men—regain what they had thought was gone forever—energy, focus, drive, and a zest for life! Hitting what was a moving target has now become more a matter of routinely hitting the bulls-eye.

Women of all ages can benefit from some form of Pellet Therapy. With Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy–and my commitment to compassionate and personalized care––I can normalize your hormonal balance and restore your natural vigor and vitality.

After securing a set of blood tests for verifying your current levels of various hormones, the pellets are inserted and your new life begins. After having taken so many pills for so long, it may seem almost impossible that just a few, rice-sized pellets can actually provide all that your body needs. Because the pellets are not ingested into your stomach, then processed by your liver, many of the flavorings, buffers, and “excess medicine” are not required. When your body is low on either estrogen or testosterone, it seeks a source for those, finds what it needs from the pellets and processes and applies it immediately. Because of this, women using pellets are:

• Feeling much more in control of their bodies and their lives

• Sleeping more consistently and soundly

• More interested in sex

• Enjoying renewed vitality and zest

• Realizing greater mental clarity

• More enthusiastic

• Calm, relaxed and stable

• Securing additional benefits such as increasing their bone mass (as much as four times greater than oral hormones), and experiencing reduced menstrual migraines, and alleviating their HRT related breast cancer concerns, since pellets do not increase or decrease the chance of breast cancer
  SMITH/STUDD, BRITISH JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL MEDICINE, 1993.

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Conclusion

Listening, understanding and treating your hormonal problems and imbalances can be very tricky and frustrating, but on the other hand, very rewarding when you obtain optimal hormonal balance. Estrogens, progesterone and testosterone are the primary hormones of all females (old and young) that need your attention. So here comes the next question. "How in the world do I know which hormone is causing my symptoms?" The Female Hormone Questionnaire and Female Hormone Screen is a good start.

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Female Hormone Questionnaire

1.	Do you have a lack of Energy?	Yes	No
2.	Do you have Hot Flashes?	Yes	No
3.	Are you in Menopause?	Yes	No
4.	Do you have Mood Swings (PMS)?	Yes	No
5.	Have you noticed a decreased "enjoyment of life"?	Yes	No
6.	Do you have excessive Body Hair?	Yes	No
7.	Do you have Adult Acne?	Yes	No
8.	Do you have Fibrocystic Breasts?	Yes	No
9.	Do you have a decrease in Libido (sex drive)?	Yes	No
10.	Do you have increased Abdominal Fat?	Yes	No

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, we recommend you undergo an Anti-Aging Evaluation. Please contact us to schedule your appointment.

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