My Experience with Bioidentical Hormone Replacement

I wrote about my experience with peri-menopausal symptoms in this tongue-in-cheek article that focused on the lifestyle changes that can very much help with peri- and post-menopausal symptoms.

But what about when the important lifestyle changes aren’t helping, and the symptoms are really getting in the way of your life?

I’m not much of a complainer and I am an awful patient! It could be my pathological optimism, but I always think whatever I am suffering with will just eventually work itself out. If I just keep getting good sleep, good outdoor exercise and great food, whatever is ailing me is sure to just go away.

With peri-menopause….not so much. 🙂

Good sleep? Forget about it! Great food? Sure, if by great food you mean half a bag of Pirate cookies. Exercise? No way, between being too tired, too achy and frankly too cranky, who wants to exercise? Add on weird skin, brain fog and a strange and intolerable anxiety that never existed before and it was time for me to face it: this just was not going to work itself out.

Enter BHRT, or bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

Dr. Harry, MD joined our team at the beginning of 2017 and has been working with our patients who we have not been able to help with our usual naturopathic tools. I sat down with him to discuss what to do about my peri-menopausal plight.

One of his main suggestions was DHEA. Short for dehydroepiandrosterone, DHEA is an adrenal hormone. It’s a precursor to the male and female sex hormones testosterone and estrogen. DHEA production peaks in your mid-20’s and then gradually declines with age, therefore, DHEA deficiency is very common.

What are DHEA symptoms? Well they are many and vary from person to person, but the most common ones are ones that I had become all too familiar with:

  • Loss of muscle mass? CHECK
  • Weakness? CHECK
  • Weird fat deposition? CHECK
  • Difficulty losing weight? CHECK
  • Loss of self-confidence? CHECK
  • Problems with memory? CHECK
  • Foggy brain? CHECK
  • Can’t find words? CHECK
  • Anxiety and mood problems? CHECK
  • Decreased sex drive? CHECK

After our visit he suggested I give DHEA a try (along with a few other suggestions). I thought I’d give it a go and see what happened.

After 2 weeks of DHEA on its own, how do I feel? Better, for sure. My body feels stronger, my brain feels clearer and my achiness has decreased. I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of his suggestions go!

-TO BE CONTINUED-

Dr. Harry is offering complimentary 15-minute “meet the doctor” visits if you would like to learn more. You can book online, or by phone at 705-444-5331. Please note that Dr. Harry’s services at StoneTree are not covered by OHIP, but are fee-for-service.