Natural Hormone therapy is a rapidly expanding area of medicine. I am seeing more and more patients, both men and women, in the office to discuss the options of Natural Hormones. In this article I’ll focus on Natural Hormones for women. When properly done, Natural Hormone Therapy or NHT, provides a wide variety of benefits including eliminating symptoms of menopause, increased energy, reduction of pain and discomfort, improved sleep, improved emotions and even improved appearance. NHT is also used as a powerful anti-aging therapy, especially when combined with an effective nutritional and cleansing program.

The first key to Natural Hormones is to custom tailor the formula to each individual woman’s needs. This requires an appropriate health history, brief exam and most of the time laboratory measurements of hormones and other health parameters. Without this careful first step, NHT is not as likely to be successful and may even be dangerous.

Most of the time, women seek Natural Hormones because they are approaching menopause or they are in menopause and therefore experiencing common symptoms due to lack of female hormones such as “hot flashes” “night sweats” “vaginal dryness” and perhaps sleep, mood, memory and concentration difficulties. The major female hormones to consider are estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen is further broken down into the three main estrogens: E1 or estriol, E2 or Estradiol, and E3 or Estrone. The three together make up the common natural replacement product known as Tri-est. Progesterone remains simply progesterone. A third important female hormone is Testosterone which is found in small quantities in women and is important for strong bones and muscles and for Libido.

Sometimes, younger women seek natural hormones for hormone balancing particularly for PMS and infertility. Common symptoms of PMS include mood swings, sugar cravings, bloating and menstrual cramps. Natural hormones for PMS is handled very differently from menopause, so I will discuss this another time.

A health history is the most important first step. Why a woman is interested in natural hormones is an important factor. Is it for symptom control such as hot flashes, mood swings or decreased libido. Is the patient most interested in preventive and anti-aging benefits. Other health issues you are dealing with are also very important. For instance, if a woman is having severe hot flashes and is also dealing with hypoglycemia or other difficulty in balancing blood sugar, then correcting the blood sugar problem will allow the natural hormones to be more effective and will allow a lower safer dosage to be used. Also, thyroid function needs to be considered and proper balancing of thyroid is an important part of NHT as well as proper balancing of the adrenal glands.

Cancer risk must be considered, particularly breast cancer. We know that using synthetic estrogens causes a small increased risk in breast cancer. Possibly, synthetic progesterone's also cause a small increased risk for breast cancer. I believe that natural hormone compounds are far safer than synthetic counterparts, it only makes sense, but so far there is no research to actually prove this. So, it is so important to prescribe an appropriate dosage, which is the lowest effective dose. I believe the safest combination is low dose natural estrogen balanced with natural progesterone with or without testosterone. The rule is no estrogen for a woman who has had breast cancer or has a strong family history for breast cancer. E1 or estriol is thought to be somewhat safer than E2 or E3. It is also less effective in controlling symptoms of menopause, which is why it is not used exclusively. Occasionally, I will prescribe E1 balanced with progesterone to a woman with increased risk for breast cancer when the symptoms are severe enough.

When a woman is relatively healthy, and has had good hormone function throughout her life such as normal periods without PMS, has not had trouble getting pregnant and has not had thyroid troubles, I will typically start a low dose Tri-est combined with progesterone. Testosterone is optional and is used to enhance libido or energy or for any concerns with loss of calcium from bones. In approximately four months, it is time to obtain a hormone saliva panel. The results will determine if the dosages need to be adjusted.

When a woman’s health history is not so simple, I will usually start with a saliva hormone panel. Additionally, I will start looking at other issues such as thyroid and adrenals and also consider cleansing therapies for the liver as well as the whole body. The saliva hormone panel will help determine what dosages of hormones to initially prescribe. A follow up saliva hormone test is done in about 4-6 months to see if dosages need to be adjusted.

Along with balancing the sex hormones, it is important to balance thyroid hormones. A blood test for thyroid hormones is used as a screening test and this is combined with measuring body temperature, which is often more sensitive than the blood tests. Low body temperature combined with normal or low normal values for thyroid on blood tests is an indication for thyroid hormone replacement. The goal is to get the body temp. up to high 97’s or into the 98’s.

If a person has low body temp. with high thyroid blood values, other things must be considered such as cellular toxicity, poor circulation, chronic viruses or fungus and even adrenal weakness. I usually start with cleansing and detoxification to improve cellular toxicity. Most of the time, I will order a MSAS using the biomeridian machine. This will tell me what the major toxins are. Effective cleansing will often improve body temperature as well as minimize symptoms of menopause.

As thyroid hormone is being balanced, I also consider adrenal hormone, particularly if fatigue or weight gain is an issue. Adrenal hormone is measured with a saliva test which uses several samples throughout the day. This gives a profile of the adrenal gland output throughout the day. With this information, optimal balancing and nourishing of the adrenal gland can be achieved. Common support supplements for the adrenal gland include B vitamins, adrenal glandulars, ginseng, licorice, DHEA and pregnenolone. A combination of these nutrients can be custom tailored for each woman's individual needs to help achieve ideal balance of adrenal function which sometimes is necessary and very helpful to achieve optimal performance of the entire hormonal system which is important for helping you to feel great.

A final note on cleansing and detoxification. The most complex organ for detoxification is your liver. Interestingly, your liver also plays an important role in balancing hormones. In addition, toxins can often aggravate symptoms of menopause as well as promote illness and aging. Therefore, cleansing and detoxification is important and encouraged for anyone interested. At the Center for Advanced Medicine, we are truly experts in cleansing and detoxification. The most valuable cleansing and detoxification therapies are the 8 day cleansing diet, the modified 8 day cleansing diet, electro- lymphatic massage and colon hydrotherapy. Please consider these powerful healing and anti-aging therapies as part of your overall hormone balancing program.

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