Menopause is a natural transition that all women go through as they age. The years leading up to menopause are called perimenopause. This transition is marked by changes in hormone levels that can lead to symptoms like hot flashes, trouble sleeping, vaginal dryness, and mood changes.
Key things to know:
Menopause occurs when a woman's ovaries stop producing the hormones estrogen and progesterone. This marks the end of her reproductive years. There are a few reasons this natural decline in hormones occurs:
Aging ovaries - As women age, their ovaries produce fewer hormones
Low egg supply - Lower hormones signals the body has limited viable eggs left
Surgical menopause - Removal of the ovaries (oophorectomy) causes sudden menopause
With declining estrogen levels, many women experience uncomfortable symptoms. However some of the long term effects pose health risks over time:
That's why it's so important to understand treatment options, like hormone therapy, that can relieve symptoms and reduce some of these long term health risks during the menopausal transition.
Hormone therapy (HT), also called hormone replacement therapy or HRT, supplements the body with estrogen and progestin to restore hormone levels closer to what they were before menopause.
The goal of HT is to:
Key things to know:
Studies show that HT is one of the most effective treatments available for relieving menopausal symptoms when started in early menopause. Most women who take low-dose HT can reduce their symptoms by 75% or more!
There are a few different forms of estrogen and progestin replacement available to best meet each woman's needs:
Estrogen
Progestin
These bioidentical hormones closely match what the ovaries produced prior to menopause. They can be given cyclically or continuously.
HT Regimens:
When started in early menopause, the benefits of HT often outweigh the risks for most women:
Relieves Symptoms - Reduces hot flashes by 75% or more - Lessens vaginal dryness and discomfort - Helps mood swings, trouble sleeping
Bone Health - Lowers rate of bone loss - Reduces risk of osteoporosis fractures
Heart Health - Lowers LDL bad cholesterol - Reduces risk of heart disease if taken before age 60
That's why The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, North American Menopause Society, and other leading women's health organizations endorse hormone therapy as an effective option for symptom relief as women transition through menopause.
Getting an accurate menopause diagnosis involves checking hormone levels and ruling out other possible causes for your symptoms. This typically includes:
Medical History - Age of first period, prior pregnancies - Family history of early menopause
Symptom Review - Hot flashes, trouble sleeping, vaginal pain - Heavy/irregular periods
Physical Exam - Pelvic exam, blood pressure
Lab Tests - FSH, estradiol blood tests
Evaluating your symptoms along with your hormone blood test levels helps determine if you are premenopausal, perimenopausal or postmenopausal. This guides developing an individualized treatment plan matched to where you are in the menopausal transition.
Keeping track of your hot flashes and rating their severity can help evaluate if hormone therapy is working for you.
Try this hot flash diary for 1-2 weeks before starting treatment. Then repeat it for 1-2 weeks after about 3 months on HT to see if your hot flash frequency, intensity or impact has improved.
| Date | Time | Intensity (1-10) | Duration | Interference (1-10) | |-|-|-|-|-| | 2/15 | 10 AM | 8 | 30 min | 6 | | 2/15 | 8 PM | 4 | 15 min | 3 |
Bring your diary to appointments to review with your menopause specialist. Tweaking your hormone therapy type or dose is sometimes needed to get the best symptom relief over time. Check in with any lingering symptoms at follow up visits.
Expect to have follow up tests about every 6 months while on hormone therapy. This includes repeat blood tests to ensure you're on the lowest effective hormone doses.
Follow up tests help monitor:
With all the mixed media messages on hormone therapy over the years, finding an experienced hormone specialist you trust is key.
Look for a menopause specialist who:
? Specializes in menopause management & hormone therapy
? Focuses on balance & bioidentical hormones
? Uses a patient-centered approach
? Provides thorough testing, monitoring & follow up
Optimal Hormone Wellness Center offers all of these best practices under one roof. Our menopause care team has over 15 years expertise providing individualized hormone balancing programs for women just like you.
Our compassionate providers offer menopause consultations to take time listening to your questions and concerns.
We develop custom treatment plans using state-of-the-art compounding techniques to meet your unique hormone needs:
No matter who you see, our collaborative team works together with the latest research and over 40 years collective experience caring for women just like you.
Studies show that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be as effective as hormone therapy for managing menopause symptoms like hot flashes, mood changes, and sleep problems, without medication side effects. CBT helps women identify and change negative thought patterns and develop coping strategies during this transition.
What sets Optimal Hormone Wellness Center apart is the convenience, specialization and integrated care we offer under one roof:
Convenience - Local to the Aventura area - Evening & weekend hours - Virtual consults available
Specialization
- OB/GYN & functional medicine doctors
- National speakerTerri Goodman, NP
- Integrative care team
Integrated Care
- In-house blood draws & testing
- In-house compounding pharmacy
- Pellet hormone implants
- Nutrition & wellness services
We strive to make hormone balancing and menopause treatment easy, accessible and effective by offering comprehensive care tailored to YOU.
Our providers partner with you to support your hormone health during midlife and beyond through:
We listen compassionately to understand your symptoms and goals.
We test thoroughly to uncover root causes of imbalances.
We treat skillfully using the latest evidence-based hormone therapy options.
We monitor consistently to ensure optimal response and safety.
We support completely by answering all your questions along the way.
There is a lot to cover when it comes to optimizing your health during the menopausal transition. Here we'll break down key topics to understand your treatment options and what to expect.
Hot flashes are one of the most common complaints of menopause. About 75% of women have them at some point. They can disrupt sleep, work and relationships.
What helps ease hot flashes?
The most effective hot flash treatment is low-dose hormone therapy, which research shows can decrease hot flash frequency and severity by up to 90 percent when used at the lowest effective dose.
Types of hormone therapy for hot flashes:
Other options:
Tracking your hot flashes in a diary can help determine if your treatment plan needs adjusting. Most women find significant relief within 1-3 months after starting hormone therapy.
Declining estrogen during menopause speeds up bone loss leading to osteoporosis. About 1 in 3 women over 50 will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture.
Key stats:
Up to 20% bone loss in first 5-7 years after menopause
90% don't get recommended calcium & vitamin D
40% will fracture after age 50 without treatment
The good news is hormone therapy in early menopause can help slow bone thinning and reduce fracture risk long term.
Evidence shows HT cuts fracture risk by:
Plus regular weight bearing exercise, not smoking and getting enough calcium and vitamin D daily also protect your bones.
Starting treatment within 5 years of menopause makes the biggest difference in preventing fractures later on. Evaluating your bone health with a DXA scan can help guide treatment decisions.
Together these measures stack the deck in favor of strengthening your bones to avoid painful fractures as you age.
Many women experience vaginal dryness, irritation, tightness and pain with intercourse during and after menopause due to lower estrogen levels. This common condition is called genitourinary syndrome or GSM.
Up to 50% suffer GSM after menopause causing:
Contributing factors
Goals of Treatment
Types of Treatment
Using vaginal estrogen or low dose systemic hormone therapy can effectively treat GSM. This restores thickness and flexibility to vaginal tissues - improving lubrication, calming inflammation and allowing comfortable intimacy.
Discuss all treatment options with your healthcare provider to determine the best solution tailored to your needs and goals.
Up to 60% of women report sleep problems during menopause - making it one of the most frustrating symptoms. Hot flashes and night sweats often disrupt sleep. But hormone changes also affect sleep quality and duration.
Common menopausal sleep issues include:
Tips for better sleep
Treatment options
Tracking your sleep patterns and hot flashes for a few weeks can help identify issues affecting your slumber. Your menopause specialist can suggest tailored treatments - like hormone therapy and healthy sleep habits - to help you wake up refreshed and energized every morning.
With all the changes occurring during the menopausal transition, getting good care early on makes a real difference in finding relief. Many women suffer needlessly for years before getting properly diagnosed and treated.
The sooner you get evaluated, the sooner you can start feeling like yourself again through skilled hormone balancing and menopause management.
Some doctors advise waiting to start any treatment until 1-2 years after your last period. This outdated advice causes many women extended misery coping with sometimes debilitating menopause symptoms alone.
Problems with "wait & see":
Today we understand much more about effectively diagnosing and treating hormone changes throughout perimenopause and menopause - not just after. We know restoring hormone balance earlier allows better relief.
Research shows beginning hormone therapy in early menopause provides:
? Better hot flash relief than waiting
? More bone protection than delaying
? Added heart benefits when initiated before age 60
That's why we evaluate your symptoms and hormone levels at any point to offer solutions tailored to what your body needs now at every stage.
We partner with you to track progress, adjust meds as needed, and find your optimal balance - avoiding lengthy trial and error.
Through precise testing and proactive treatment, our goal is to guide you smoothly through hormonal changes into midlife feeling your best physically and mentally.
We encourage you to learn all you can about your hormone health. Knowledge is power when it comes to making informed decisions about your body, symptoms and medical care.
Here we answer some frequently asked questions to help you on your journey:
Can hormone therapy relieve my menopause symptoms?
Yes! Research shows hormone therapy started when symptoms first arise can ease hot flashes, night sweats, trouble sleeping, mood changes, vaginal dryness, painful sex and bladder problems for most women. Finding your optimal hormone levels takes the edge off these disruptive symptoms.
Is taking hormone replacement safe?
Today's bioidentical hormone therapy when carefully managed under medical supervision provides safe, effective symptom relief for most healthy women in early menopause (under age 60). Balancing your changing estrogen levels after menopause offers substantial benefits that typically outweigh risks.
What are the health risks of hormone therapy?
Risks depend on when you start hormones, which type, dose and duration. Oral combo HT taken after age 60 or for over 5 years does increase dementia and breast cancer risks. But transdermal bioidentical estrogen with progesterone does NOT increase these risks when started before age 60. Your menopause specialist considers your risk factors to ensure treatment safety.
Can I just treat vaginal symptoms locally?
Yes you can. But keep in mind that treating only vaginal issues won't help hot flashes, sleep problems or mood issues. Low dose vaginal estrogen improves vaginal and bladder symptoms quite effectively but higher systemic doses are often needed to control more global symptoms related to estrogen deficiency.
How long should I plan to take hormone therapy?
Every woman is different. Some only need hormones short term to get through the transitional menopause window. Others feel best staying on low dose therapy into their 60s or 70s until their natural age of menopause. On average, most women take some form of systemic or vaginal estrogen for 3-5 years. But your menopause specialist will re-evaluate this with you annually based on your needs, risks and benefits.
Empower yourself to make the best decisions for your body. We're here to listen, support and guide you every step of the way!
At Optimal Hormone Wellness Center Menopause Center, we make high quality, individualized menopause care accessible to women in Aventura and beyond.
As a top regional menopause and hormone therapy clinic located right in the heart of Aventura, we offer comprehensive support for thriving through midlife changes.
Benefits our patients enjoy include:
