Many women hesitate to discuss their menopause options because of the stigmas and fears surrounding hormone therapy. But when menopause symptoms interfere with your quality of life, it’s time to talk to your doctor about HRT.

Hormone replacement therapy in a testosterone clinic Denver reduces hot flashes and night sweats, prevents bone loss (osteoporosis), and may help with weight management. But the degree to which it affects your body depends on genetics and age when you start.

Symptoms of Menopause

There are a variety of symptoms associated with menopause, including hot flashes and night sweats, bloating, genital urinary problems, and mood changes. Symptoms may begin before your periods stop (perimenopause).

Depending on the severity of your symptoms, you can find relief from lifestyle changes, such as eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. You can also use herbs and supplements to help with menopause symptom relief.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is used to reduce the symptoms of menopause. It consists of a combination of estrogen and progesterone, which restores the levels of hormones in your body. This therapy can be found in oral pills, skin patches, or gels.

You can also choose to use bioidentical hormones, chemically similar to your body’s hormones and extracted from natural elements. These hormones can be found in medications. You can also receive a compounded bioidentical hormone treatment, in which a pharmacist mixes your medication.

Risks of Menopause

Menopause occurs when progesterone and estrogen levels decline and the ovaries stop producing eggs. This usually happens around age 45.

Symptoms like hot flashes and vaginal dryness occur when hormones drop. These symptoms are often treated with hormone therapy. However, the risks of taking these hormones are important to consider. In some women, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can increase the risk of blood clots, stroke, and heart disease.

In some women, HRT can cause breast, uterine fibroids, and endometrial cancer. If you have a history of these medical conditions, it is important to talk to your doctor before starting HRT. Before starting hormone therapy, you should also discuss your family history with your doctor. This information will help you and your doctor decide if this treatment is right for you. In some cases, it may not be. Your doctor can recommend other treatments for menopause symptoms that do not pose the same risk as HRT.

Hormone Replacement Therapies

During perimenopause (the years leading up to menopause), hormone replacement therapy alleviates hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness. It also protects against osteoporosis and may lower a woman’s risk for diabetes and heart disease.

Different hormones are available, including estrogen and progestin, referred to as combination hormone therapy. Taking estrogen alone raises the risk of endometrial cancer because it causes cells from the uterus lining to shed outside the uterus (endometriosis). Women should take estrogen with progestin or use an intrauterine device (IUD) with low-dose progestin (levonorgestrel) to reduce this risk.

Hormone replacement therapies can be administered orally, by patch, gel, vaginal inserts or subdermal pellets. Each delivery method has unique benefits and risks. Talk with your doctor to choose the best option for your lifestyle and medical history. Women with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer should not take systemic estrogen.

Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy

Hormones serve as the body’s internal communication system, affecting everything from digestion and growth to mood and immune function. When hormones become unbalanced, even slightly, it can greatly impact your quality of life and overall health.

One of the biggest advantages of bioidentical hormones is that they appear to be more effective at alleviating symptoms and have fewer side effects than traditional hormone replacement therapy. However, it is important to note that large research studies haven’t yet proven this true.

Bioidentical hormones can be taken as pills, creams, and injections. They can also be found as compounded hormones that are custom-made at a pharmacy for each patient. Since compounded hormones haven’t been FDA-approved, they can vary in strength and dosage from pharmacy to pharmacy. They also may not be covered by insurance. It is important to weigh the pros and cons of both hormone treatments with your doctor.

Healthcare practitioners who pursue root-cause patient care are some of the bravest people we know. They battle billions of dollars of industry propaganda and endless misconceptions to bring lasting healing solutions to their patients.

Unlike traditional medicine, which often only aims to suppress symptoms, Functional Medicine seeks out and addresses the underlying causes of disease. These root imbalances are plotted on a Functional Medicine tree diagram.

Interactions

As a holistic form of healthcare, functional medicine Colorado recognizes that your entire physical body is interconnected. Your brain, for example, is an immune organ constantly interacting with the rest of your body and can have a major impact on your overall health.

The practice focuses on the core physiological processes that cross anatomical boundaries, including the assimilation of nutrients, cellular defense and repair, structural integrity, and energy production. It also considers how genes and the environment interact to influence these functions.

A functional medicine practitioner will use a patient-centered approach to uncover and address the root causes of disease. This includes a thorough history, taking the time to listen to the patient’s story. This allows them to understand what’s happening under the surface and design treatment that addresses their uniqueness.

Genetics

Genetic factors are often involved in disease susceptibility. Functional medicine practitioners can assess a patient’s risk and identify the gene loci contributing to the disease. They can then design interventions that influence those genes “upstream” rather than simply blocking their effects. For example, instead of prescribing drugs that block inflammatory mediators, functional physicians might prescribe nutritional, phytonutrient or pharmaceutical interventions to prevent the upregulation of these molecules in the first place.

Functional medicine doctors also know the interplay between genetics and environmental and lifestyle factors. They are trained to make connections between seemingly unrelated symptoms. This allows them to create an effective plan for a patient to get off the medication merry-go-round and onto a path of healing and health.

Unlike conventional medicine, functional medicine is a comprehensive approach that addresses the entire body. It looks at a patient’s symptoms and history, the environment that created them, their genetic vulnerabilities, and how their lifestyle can affect the outcome of their health care.

Environment

The environment plays a big role in disease or dysfunction antecedents, triggers and mediators. It includes social and emotional stresses, environmental toxins, nutritional deficiencies, dietary and phytonutrient supplementation, sleep and rest, genetic biases and biochemical pathways.

Functional medicine practitioners look to understand how the patient’s uniqueness and context influence their health. They work to help their patients take a proactive role in their healthcare, knowledge that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

They do this by looking deeper at the root imbalances that cause symptoms. A key tool is the functional medicine matrix, which organizes what seem to be disconnected health issues into a complete story that can then be used to identify and prioritize the most pressing health concerns. This allows for a comprehensive and holistic treatment approach designed to support the individual’s unique expression of health and vitality.

Lifestyle

In addition to evaluating your genetic vulnerabilities and environmental stresses, Functional Medicine physicians examine how your diet and lifestyle affect your health. This includes sleep, exercise, stress management techniques, nutritional supports, detoxification pathways and other modalities.

Unlike traditional treatment approaches focusing on finding a specific diagnosis and prescribing medications to match, Functional Medicine practitioners seek out the underlying dysfunctional patterns in your system. These patterns, or root causes, reveal why you have the symptoms you do and may ultimately lead to a longer-lasting solution.

Functional Medicine specialists use a process that focuses on the discovery and prioritizes each patient’s issues through a thorough personal, family and social history and advanced laboratory testing, including specialized GI evaluations, nutrient and amino acid levels, organic acids and liver detoxification pathways. This information can then be used to develop a holistic treatment plan supporting the body’s natural ability to heal without pharmaceutical drugs.

Areola tattooing is a cosmetic procedure that can give you the look of an actual areola or protrusion of the nipple if there isn’t one present. Breast cancer survivors often use this to help them feel more confident after a mastectomy.

This decision should be made in consultation with a plastic surgeon who can examine your situation and understand the desired outcome.

Improved Self-Esteem

After a mastectomy, nipple-areola reconstruction is often the final step. This surgery aims to re-create the position, size, color, and texture of your natural nipples. Plastic surgeons can use tissue from your new breast, a skin graft from another part of the body, or tattooing.

The latter is a safe and effective way to re-create the appearance of your nipples, even though it isn’t permanent. The technique can also help correct the shape of your areola, a problem some women experience after mastectomy.

3D areola repigmentation can offer an attractive alternative to surgical techniques. It is used to re-create the look of your natural nipples, bringing your entire visual identity back and helping you feel familiar with your body again. In addition to providing an aesthetic solution, the procedure can help with comfort and confidence and reduce the risk of complications from the surgery itself.

Less Self-Confidence Concerns

Areola restoration is a non-invasive procedure that gives an impressive illusion of a natural nipple and areola. This cosmetic treatment, for example, Laguna Med Spa Areola Restoration, is a popular option for breast cancer survivors and can be an ideal finishing touch to the therapeutic process of mastectomy reconstruction.

Surgically re-creating the nipple and areola involves a skin graft taken from another part of the body, usually, the inner thigh or buttocks, where the tissue is similar in color and texture to that found on the nipple and areola. The graft is stitched onto the nipple mound during reconstructive surgery, and the skin grows into it, bringing blood supply and nerves to the nipple.

Paramedical areola repigmentation is an advanced technique that can minimize the appearance of scars on the areola or even the entire breast area after surgery. During this tattooing procedure, pigments are custom blended to match your skin tone, giving the illusion of a naturally sized, shaped, and colored nipple or areola.

Better Self-Esteem

Nipple-areola complex reconstruction represents the finishing touch in many breast cancer survivors’ mastectomy and lumpectomy procedures. This operating room procedure surgically grafts skin from another body part to create your new nipple and areola. This makes for a natural match in position, size, and color.

This method also allows you to enjoy the same feeling of completeness and femininity before your cancer diagnosis. However, the skin graft can cause you to feel numb around your new nipple, and it might not respond to heat or touch.

Fortunately, a cosmetic tattooing technique known as 3D areola repigmentation provides a practical, surgery-free alternative. This decorative technique uses pigments and tints to re-create a realistic areola on the breast mound without grafting skin. It can produce a better skin tone match, achieve symmetry and diffuse the circular scar. Many women with fading or scaly areolas find this to be an attractive option as well.

Increased Self-Confidence

A woman undergoing a mastectomy usually has her nipple and areola reconstructed. This is critical because it helps the patient feel whole again and restore a sense of femininity after breast cancer.

The most common surgical option to re-create a nipple and areola involves an operating room procedure that uses skin from another part of your body, such as your chest or inner thigh, to make a nipple that matches the rest of your breasts. However, this surgery isn’t right for every patient. In particular, women with a lot of scarring on their chest might find it challenging to heal enough for a skin graft.

In these cases, tattooing is often the best option to re-create a realistic areola and nipple. It allows you to achieve a closer color match on a grafted areola, create symmetry and diffuse the circular scar with a natural-looking pattern. It can also be used to add a bit of extra volume to an existing breast mound or fix an uneven or fading areola after an implant.