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 used for treatment mirror the bio identity of hormones in the human body. When you use bioidentical hormones, the cells of your body recognize them as familiar and know how to put them to best use.
Bioidentical hormones are safe because, like your own hormones, they fit perfectly into the hormone receptor “locks” of the cells in the body where they do their work. The hormones are produced from plants (specifically a plant molecule called “diosgenin”, that is found in wild yams). This specific molecule does not trigger any of the negative side effects associated with synthetic hormones.
Why Dr. Randolph Prescribes BHRT for Women
For two decades, Dr. Randolph has prescribed bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) to thousands of women suffering from symptoms of hormone imbalance, such as hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, brain fog, moodiness, worsened PMS, bloating, headaches, depression, fatigue, low libido and decreased sexual pleasure; but he did not always prescribe BHRT.
Like most physicians in the United States, Dr. Randolph was trained in medical school to prescribe “synthetic” non-bioidentical hormones. He stopped prescribing “synthetic” hormones because of the high percentage of patients who came back complaining of side effects, some very troublesome, like low libido and weight gain, others of greater health significance, like tender or fibrocystic breasts and low thyroid disorders.
Years before the landmark 2002 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study revealed “synthetic” hormones were a serious health risk, Dr. Randolph had already researched and developed a safer alternative. His early training as a compounding pharmacist with a specialization in plant-based medicine (pharmacognosy) helped him recognize that bioidentical hormones can literally restore hormone balance at a cellular level.
In the mid-1990s, Dr. Randolph began prescribing compounded bioidentical hormone treatments for his patients, finally opening his own on-site pharmacy in 1998.
Although BHRT has been available for many years, not everyone is aware of how safe and effective this type of treatment is!
What BHRT Can Help Treat
Throughout a woman’s life, your production of certain hormones will ebb and flow. These hormones act as a “remote control” and use chemical messengers to communicate with tissues throughout your body.
As women age and enter different stages of life, there are red flags that indicate there might be a hormone imbalance in the body. Estrogen dominance is typically the kind of hormone imbalance that women experience, but it varies from person to person.
Estrogen Dominance
Typically beginning in your early to mid-30s, the ovaries begin to make more estrogen and less progesterone. This disruption of the ideal ratio between estrogen and progesterone triggers negative responses throughout your body and brain. The medical term for this phenomenon is “estrogen dominance”, which means that the ratio of estrogen to progesterone in the body is disproportionately high.
To understand estrogen dominance, you have to understand the role of progesterone, as well. Estrogen and progesterone operate like sides of a seesaw, shifting up and down during a woman’s monthly cycle. When progesterone gets low, that “side” of the seesaw hits the ground, and this effect causes negative symptoms to arise: poor sleep, fatigue, anxiety, heavy periods, weight gain, uterine fibroids, irritability, and even rage. When the progesterone side of the seesaw gets “stuck” on the ground, the estrogen side is “elevated,” relative to progesterone. It’s not (necessarily) that your estrogen is high — it’s that your progesterone level drops so low that estrogen effectively “dominates.”
A contributing factor is xenoestrogens (man-made environmental estrogens) found in hormone-injected meats and poultry, certain pesticides, petrochemicals, herbicides, plastics, fuels, car exhausts, and drugs, as well as phthalates, or plastic-softening chemicals, which enter the body and add to the estrogen load. Lifestyle choices are also at fault: the wrong foods, too little exercise, too little sleep and too much stress can increase and accelerate estrogen load and dominance.
Estrogen dominance is a serious health concern. Symptoms may include:
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Low libido
- Mood swings
- Hot flashes
- Night Sweats
- Headaches/migraines
- Tender/fibrocystic breasts
- Weight gain
- Insomnia
- Bone loss
- Irregular bleeding
- Bloating
Disease risks from untreated estrogen dominance, as mentioned above, include:
- Breast, uterine and ovarian cancers
- Heart disease
- Blood clots and strokes
- Osteoporosis
- Hypothyroidism
- Alzheimer’s disease
The hormone estrogen is an important key to a woman’s physical well-being; however, an overload of estrogen is destructive, causing a cascade of unpleasant symptoms and raising the risk of life-threatening diseases. As Dr. John Lee described the condition: “If estrogen is dominant and progesterone deficient, estrogen becomes toxic to the body.” Untreated estrogen dominance has been clinically-linked to an increased risk of breast and uterine cancers, osteoporosis, low thyroid, and dementia.
Schedule An Appointment With Dr. Randolph Today
Hormone balance is achievable at any age, and you’ll be delighted with the difference it will make in how you look and feel. With your hormones balanced as they should be, you’ll also be promoting your bone, breast, cardiovascular, and sexual health! Give us a call and schedule your appointment today!
