What Is The Difference Between Synthetic And Bioidentical Hormones
Both bioidentical hormones and synthetic hormones are created in a laboratory, but the primary distinction is the source of the raw material.
Synthetic hormones are produced using artificial chemicals, whereas bioidentical hormones are derived from plant sources.
While there is no actual research to back up whether bioidentical hormones are safer or more effective, the long list of side effects from synthetic hormones may make you want to choose wisely between the two.
The side effects of synthetic hormones can be quite severe and range from mild to life-threatening. Some of the most common side effects are:
Of course, no matter what hormone replacement therapy a woman is taking, you should always consult your doctor before starting.
Some women cannot take any form of hormone replacement therapy, and the options need to be carefully considered.
Taking Charge Of Your Hormones After Hysterectomy
The decision to have a hysterectomy is a big deal for a woman. And it comes with a ton of questions about how it will impact her daily life. If you are considering this procedure to surgically remove the uterus, or if you have already undergone it, Biote Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy may lessen the aftereffects to help you feel better.
Functions Of The Uterus & Ovaries
The uterus cradles and nourishes a fetus from conception to birth, and aids in the delivery of the baby. It also produces the monthly menstrual flow, or period.
The ovaries have two major functions. One is the production of eggs or ova, which permit childbearing. The second is the production of hormones or chemicals which regulate menstruation and other aspects of health and well-being, including sexual well-being.
If the egg that is released during a woman’s normal monthly cycle is not fertilized, the lining of the uterus is shed by bleeding .
After a hysterectomy, a woman can no longer have children and menstruation stops. The ovaries generally continue to produce hormones, although in some cases they may have reduced activity.
Some hysterectomies also include removal of the ovaries, so the supply of essential female hormones is greatly reduced. This can have various effects, as discussed later.
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How Do I Balance Hormones After A Hysterectomy
Trying to balance hormones after a hysterectomy can be challenging and downright exhausting. The most common way to go about it is to undergo synthetic or bioidentical hormone replacement therapy overseen by your doctor. While these therapies can provide the best outcome, changing your diet, exercise routine and the chemicals you come in contact with on a regular basis can also help.
It is important to have a hormone panel done by a specialist before undergoing a hysterectomy. This provides both you and your doctor with a baseline of where your body’s hormone levels naturally were before a hysterectomy, which is the key to balancing hormones after a hysterectomy. For hormone replacement therapy, your doctor will likely prescribe a mix of estrogen and progesterone. Make sure to discuss with your doctor the difference between synthetic and bioidentical hormone therapy, because each poses different risks and challenges.
Alzheimers Caused By Lack Of Brain
One study found that women who removed their ovaries before 40 and did not receive hormone replacement therapy have double the risk of Alzheimers disease.
This is because the sex hormone, estrogen, binds together with a receptor in your brain reducing the production of the protein amyloid-beta. This causes plaque to form on the brain of those with Alzheimers.
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S For How To Balance Hormones Naturally
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Hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, adrenaline and insulin are extremely important chemical messengers that affect many aspects of your overall health. Thats why a hormonal imbalance can be problematic, so you want to make sure you know how to balance hormones.
Conventional treatments for hormonal imbalances typically include synthetic hormone replacement therapies, birth control pills, insulin injections, thyroid medications and more. Unfortunately, for the majority of people suffering from hormonal disorders, relying on these types of synthetic treatments often does three things:
Is it possible to balance hormones naturally? The good news is, yes, in many cases it is.
Lets examine how to balance hormones naturally.
Your Hormones After Hysterectomy
Sometimes, the surgery just needs to happen. Heres how your hormone levels are affected, and what you can do to restore balance.
Hysterectomy: there are a variety of reasons women receive one. But, just what is a hysterectomy, exactly?
A hysterectomy is the surgical removal of a womans uterus, and when its just the uterus being removed no other organs, except perhaps the cervix and surrounding, supporting tissues its often referred to as a partial hysterectomy. But the procedure can also necessitate the removal of the ovaries as well, and technically, the name for that ovary removal is an oophorectomy. While your uterus does not produce hormones, your ovaries do and thats what we want to talk about here: how your hormones are affected after either procedure.
Now, the decision to remove a uterus is deeply personal, and can be scary for some. But often as is the case with uterine fibroids, endometriosis, or uterine prolapse the surgery is unavoidable. Most women arent told however what will happen to them after a hysterectomy, and as a result, many suffer for years because of one symptom or another, either directly from the loss of proper estrogen and progesterone production, or indirectly from the cascading impact on other hormones.
REASONS FOR GETTING A HYSTERECTOMY
HOW HYSTERECTOMY AFFECTS HORMONE PRODUCTION
So even if your hysterectomy just affects your uterus, you can most likely expect hormone changes.
HOW TO GET YOUR HORMONES BACK IN BALANCE
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Long Term Health After Hysterectomy
After hysterectomy the symptoms of menopause can come on fast and furious. Like a rollercoaster no one wanted to get on, and no one knows how to get off, this can significantly impact your quality of life. In particular, hot flashes, night sweats, sleep disturbances, mood instability and vaginal changes commonly occur for women after hysterectomy.
We also need to consider the long-term consequences of a woman going into menopause before the average age of menopause. Women with early menopause due to hysterectomy, medications or primary ovarian insufficiency are at increased risk of heart disease, overall mortality, neurological diseases, psychiatric diseases, osteoporosis and fractures. And the risk is higher with an earlier age of menopause. With 1 in 10 women having a hysterectomy between 40-44 years of age, this is a large number of women with increased risk factors for ill health in their later years.
The Best Natural Remedies For After A Hysterectomy
- How do you take care of your hormones after a hysterectomy?
- Will a hysterectomy put you into menopause right away?
- If not how will it affect menopause?
In today’s video I’ll show you the different types of hysterectomies and how to care for your hormones after each one with natural remedies.
Before we begin – I just want to say talking about surgery can be a bit disturbing and scary.
But instead of thinking of it that way, I’d love for you to think of it as empowering. Because knowing the facts and what to do in each scenario can help you embrace whatever path you’re on and feel great while on it.
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Findings Clearly Very Reassuring
For the latest study, which is published in The Lancet Oncology, researchers kept tabs on more than 7,600 women who took part in the estrogen-only treatment arm of the trial.
The women assigned to get estrogen took that hormone for about six years before they stopped. They have now been followed for nearly five years beyond their estrogen use.
Compared to women taking a placebo, women who took estrogen had a 23% reduced risk of invasive breast cancer. That means 151 women got breast cancer in the estrogen group compared to 199 women assigned to the placebo.
Women taking estrogen also had a 63% reduced risk of dying from breast cancer compared to women on the placebo. Overall, there were six deaths in the estrogen group compared to 16 in the placebo group.
In an email, Anthony Howell, MD, a professor of medical oncology at the University of Manchester in the U.K., says the study findings are âclearly very reassuring for women.â
âHowever, they have to be counselled concerning the very small increased risk of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism , which is seen with any hormones such as the oral contraceptive pill,â says Howell, who wrote a comment on the findings but was not involved in the research.
Seed Cyclingcause Now You’re Postmenopausal
If you havent tried seed cycling yet, this could be a good time to start. These seeds will supply you with the fiber you need to support your gut health, while also delivering the nutrients you need for optimal hormones.
Seed cycling is an amazing natural way to support your bodys natural hormonal rhythms. I believe in it and practice this every month. I have an entire article devoted to the process here, but the basic premise is this:
On the new moon start eating 1-2 tablespoons of sesame seeds and flax seeds per day
On the full moon start eating 1-2 tablespoons of pumpkin and sunflower seeds per day
This process may help to support your estrogen during the first two weeks and progesterone for the second two weeks.
Just because your body isnt cycling any more doesnt mean you arent making any hormones. You just have to help the process a little more than before your hysterectomy.
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What About Side Effects
Youve probably heard about side effects of undergoing any type of Hormone Replacement Therapy. While there are some possible effects like mood swings that seem a lot like what you were experiencing before the hysterectomy, rest assured that these indicate that the HRT needs some adjustment. No two people are exactly alike, so the dosage and frequency may be different for you. By keeping your doctor up to date on how you are feeling, it wont take long to determine how much you need in order to bring your balance back in line.
How Long Is It Safe To Use Hrt After Hysterectomy
The truth is, the longer you take HRT, the more you put yourself at risk of health problems. Most health professionals tell women now to use HRT in the lowest possible dose and not for longer than five years.The HRT treatment and duration differ from person to person, but they advise women to check with their doctor once a year if they need to continue the treatment.
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What Is Known About Hormone Therapy And The Risk Of Breast Cancer
Taking combined hormone therapy can increase your risk of developing breast cancer. Here are some important findings:
- Taking combination hormone therapy showed a rare increase of absolute risk of less than one additional case of breast cancer per 1000 person years of use.
- There was a nonsignificant reduction in breast cancer seen in women with hysterectomies on estrogen only therapy.
- If youve been diagnosed with breast cancer you should not take systemic hormone therapy.
What Are The Different Kinds Of Hysterectomy Surgeries
A hysterectomy involves complete or partial removal of the uterus, ovaries, and other adjacent organs. There are six different kinds of hysterectomy surgeries, the most comprehensive being a radical hysterectomy. This involves complete removal of ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix, and uterus, the result of which typically causing intense hormonal imbalances in women. Another type of hysterectomy is a total hysterectomy. This is when the uterus is removed as well as the cervix. While a partial hysterectomy is when the upper part of the uterus is removed, but the cervix and ovaries are left in place. When a womans ovaries are removed, this is called an oophorectomy. If the fallopian tubes are removed, this is called a salpingectomy. If both the fallopian tubes and ovaries are removed, this is called a salpingo-oophorectomy. The kind of hysterectomy a patient receives ultimately is determined by her medical providers recommendation, based on her symptoms.
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You Wont Necessarily Go Into Menopause
I expected to have crazy hot flashes, mood swings, and night sweats all the time, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I barely had any of those symptoms, Cohen says about her experience after hysterectomy.
The myth about hysterectomy Streicher hears most often in her medical practice is that a woman will go into menopause afterward. You wont have periods, and cant get pregnant after your uterus is removed. But that doesnt necessarily mean menopause. Streicher explains: The only one who will have menopause is a woman who has her ovaries removed during the procedure and who was not in menopause already. If surgery is limited to the uterus, timing of natural menopause may not be affected.
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Welcome To Medical Menopause
If a womans ovaries are removed during a hysterectomy she will immediately go into menopause, a state known as medical menopause. Even if the ovaries are not removed, many women begin to have symptoms of menopause immediately after a hysterectomy and more will follow within the first year.
When the uterus is removed, the ovaries lose an important blood supply from the uterine artery, and their production of hormones can drop off significantly.
For women with medical menopause the symptoms can be quite alarming. Speaking on the topic of medical menopause, Dr. Randy Randolph MD said
because there is no opportunity for gradual adjustment to the hormonal drop-off, the symptoms of artificial menopause can be sudden, severe, and debilitating, requiring an immediate intervention of supplemental hormone therapy.
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Does Having Or Not Having A Uterus Make A Difference In Deciding What Type Of Hormone Therapy I Should Take
Yes, it does.
If you still have your uterus:
Progesterone is used along with estrogen. Taking estrogen without progesterone increases your risk for cancer of the endometrium . During your reproductive years, cells from your endometrium are shed during menstruation. When the endometrium is no longer shed, estrogen can cause an overgrowth of cells in your uterus, a condition that can lead to cancer.
Progesterone reduces the risk of endometrial cancer by making the endometrium thin. If you take progesterone, you may have monthly bleeding, or no bleeding at all, depending on how the hormone therapy is taken. Monthly bleeding can be lessened and, in some cases, eliminated by taking progesterone and estrogen together continuously.
If you no longer have your uterus :
You typically wont need to take progesterone. This is an important point because estrogen taken alone has fewer long-term risks than HT that uses a combination of estrogen and progesterone.
Supplement To Fill Nutritional Voids
While a healthy diet is key for all aspects of health, its sometimes necessary to supplement in order to fill nutritional voids that can be leading to a hormone imbalance.
Here are the top supplements to focus on in order to balance hormones:
Evening Primrose Oil
Evening primrose oil contains omega-6 fatty acids, such as GLA, that support overall hormonal function. Supplementing with evening primrose oil can help relieve premenstrual and PCOS symptoms. It also helps to create a healthy environment for conception.
Vitamin D
What is the best vitamins to take for hormonal imbalance? Vitamin D is definitely one of them, since it almost acts like a hormone inside the body and has important implications for keeping inflammation levels low.
This is why people who live in dark areas often suffer from seasonal depression and other health problems unless they supplement with vitamin D. Sunshine is really the best way to optimize vitamin D levels because your bare skin actually makes vitamin D on its own when exposed to even small amounts of direct sunlight.
Most people should supplement with around 2,0005,000 international units daily of vitamin D3 if they live in dark areas, during the winter and on days when theyre not in the sun.
Bone Broth
Probiotics
Probiotics are healthy bacteria that can actually improve your production and regulation of key hormones like insulin, ghrelin and leptin. They can also aid in repairing your gut lining, which in turn can balance your hormones.
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The Effect On Hormones
When a person has both a hysterectomy and their ovaries removed, their estrogen production is dramatically reduced. This hormone is responsible for a number of bodily functions. Chief among them is menstruation. When ovaries are removed, menstruation stops abruptly, and menopause begins if you are not yet postmenopausal.
For people who dont remove their ovaries during a hysterectomy, there is a risk for ovarian failure. In fact, people who do not have an oophorectomy at the time of their hysterectomy are compared to people who have their uteri. This, too, will lead to a decrease in estrogen, though likely more gradually.