How Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help With the Side Effects of Menopause

The end of menstruation and female fertility — commonly known as menopause — is a phase of life every woman can expect to reach eventually. While most women arrive at menopause in their early 50s after a years-long transition called perimenopause, some enter menopause more directly at a younger age, following a health-protecting hysterectomy. 

The hormonal changes that drive the menopause process can give rise to unwanted physical, emotional, and sexual symptoms that vary in nature, severity, and duration from one woman to the next. While they may be completely normal and even expected, menopausal symptoms can also be exceptionally bothersome and disruptive.  

As primary care experts who specialize in women’s health, our skilled team of board-certified providers at Direct Primary Care New Braunfels offer hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to help you counteract persistent menopausal symptoms and improve your quality of life.  

Read on as Dr. Thomas Kay, Dr. Georgina Bustamante, and nurse practitioner Becky Spencer discuss the various side effects of menopause, and explain how HRT can help.  

How menopause affects your body

Most of the side effects which emerge during perimenopause and/or menopause are the result of a significant and sustained decline in female reproductive hormone levels. As your ovaries produce and release estrogen and progesterone at ever-diminishing rates, you may experience: 

Physical symptoms

Some of the most notorious menopause symptoms are purely physical. These include hot and cold flashes as well as night sweats; persistent fatigue and low energy; a sluggish metabolism and easy weight gain; thinning hair along with drier skin; and new or worsening migraines. 

Emotional effects

Declining reproductive hormone levels can undermine your mental and emotional well-being, too, giving rise to extreme moodiness or mood swings, persistent symptoms of anxiety and/or depression, and chronic sleep problems, including insomnia.  

Sexual concerns  

Menopause can also affect your sexual wellness. While many women experience chronic vaginal dryness, some develop a more severe case of persistent dryness and irritation called vaginal atrophy. Low libido and discomfort during sexual intercourse are also common. 

HRT offsets menopausal imbalances

While lifestyle changes — such as getting plenty of exercise, eating a healthier diet, staying hydrated, improving your sleep hygiene practices, and managing your daily stressors — can help improve the mildest effects of menopause, persistent or severe symptoms often require a more targeted approach.   

 That’s where hormone replacement therapy comes in. 

Using a prescription blend of supplemental hormones that’s made to offset your exact hormonal deficiencies, HRT alleviates or stops severe, persistent menopausal symptoms by restoring normal hormonal balance across your body systems. 

Custom compounded to meet your personal hormone needs, HRT can be delivered to your system via: 

• An oral medication
• A topical gel or cream
• A transdermal skin patch
• A tiny, slow-release implant pellet 

Many women opt for the slow-release HRT pellet, which we implant just beneath the surface of your skin, usually in the upper buttock area. The implantation process is painless, and the rice-sized pellet begins releasing its hormones in a controlled manner right away. It lasts for several months before it needs to be replaced.  

If your HRT regimen becomes less effective as time goes by, we can reassess your hormone prescription needs to keep your levels optimized and your menopausal symptoms at bay. 

Schedule your HRT evaluation today

While most women who are struggling with the side effects of menopause can benefit from HRT, we always conduct a thorough medical evaluation to make sure it’s a safe option in each case. To determine if a hormone supplement is right for you, we take a close look at:  

• Your menopausal symptom checklist
• The results of hormone level testing
• The results of a routine physical exam
• Your full health and medical history

Even if your symptom list and lab tests affirm that you’re a suitable candidate for HRT, your physical exam and health history help us decide if hormonal supplementation is a safe option for you. We may advise against HRT if you

• Have a history of blood clots
• Have diagnosed cardiovascular disease
• Have a history of breast or ovarian cancer
• Reached menopause more than 10 years ago

To learn more about the HRT services available at Direct Primary Care New Braunfels in New Braunfels, Texas, call or click online to schedule a visit with one of our experts today.