Bioidentical Hormone Replacement - Help With Menopause Symptoms

Menopause has a significant impact on the health of women. As the baby boomers start getting older, there are more and more women experiencing menopause and looking for ways to deal with the discomfort of it and the health consequences.

For years HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) which consists of synthetic estrogens with or without synthetic progestins, was used liberally to combat the negative symptoms and discomfort associated with menopause. The most commonly noted benefits were for bone health and cardiovascular protection.

But HRT also helped control symptoms which affected women’s quality of life such as hot flushes and genitor-urinary atrophy (vaginal dryness, vaginal itching, bladder infections). In 2002 the Women’s Health Initiative trial of HRT made newspaper headlines around the world when one of the segments of the study was prematurely cancelled due to a number of adverse effects in women in receiving oral conjugated estrogens and oral medroxyprogesterone acetate.

Because most of the information was carried to the population by the mainstream media, frightened women across the country abruptly stopped their HRT without consulting their physicians. These women went searching for alternatives to HRT and many found information on Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT). In fact, recent showing on the very popular Oprah television program have discussed the successes of BHRT in combating menopause pain and discomfort.

Now that the dust has settled and women have discussed with their physician how the results of the WHI trial applies to them, some do not want to assume the risk associated with HRT. But they do want relief from their symptoms and the protection HRT provides for bone strength and heart disease. BHRT has proven to be very effective in taking a good number of the negative edges off menopause, allowing the women taking it to regain a portion of their lives that they previously had little control over.

It probably comes as no surprise to you that many women start menopause as early as their mid 40’s, with documented cases occurring even earlier than that, whereas other women do not start until their late 50’s, with again documented cases with it occurring even later than that. Regardless of when it occurs, women can be assured that menopause is going to start at some point, and it will almost certainly cause certain levels of pain and/or discomfort.

How can you alleviate the discomfort of menopause? Everybody reacts differently to different medications, so there is not a “one size fits all” type of magic pill that can solve this for everyone. More than anything else, a proper diet, occasional exercise, and a positive mental attitude will help as much as anything else.

But if the symptoms of menopause are really getting you down, you could also be helped to a great degree by using some of the feminine balance products that are readily available on the market today.

What these products do, very similar to the very effective and impressive results shown by the bioidentical hormone replacement therapies, is to help your body to balance the natural imbalance in hormones that a woman experiences during menopause. This imbalance is very difficult to balance out using exercise and proper diet, although such things can make a big difference, it is not a complete solution. Feminine imbalance products, and especially bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can ease the symptoms and discomfort of menopause to a point where you don’t even realize you are going through menopause, and your regular physical activities are not diminished nearly as much as they were before you started this new regiment.

In addition, the rebalancing of your hormone levels play a significant role in helping you with your moods and emotions. Your spouse and loved ones may be walking on eggshells while you are going through menopause because of what they perceive to be a “delicately balanced emotional state”, and with the leveling of your hormones, those emotional outbursts and crying at the drop of a hat can virtually be yesterday’s news.

Menopause is a natural part of every woman’s life. Before many of the advances in medical science, women have been using herbal remedies for menopause for centuries, long before hormone replacement therapy was ever thought of. Herbal menopause treatments are safe and effective.

One of the most popular herbal remedies for menopause is known as black cohosh. Black cohosh is the most researched herbal remedy for menopause. It’s known as a natural alternative to hormone replacement therapy. Black cohosh has been clinically shown to help relieve symptoms associated with menopause and many women prefer it for two primary reasons:

1. It is a natural herb or herbal remedy. While that in itself does not mean it is good or superior, it has been used for far longer than hormone replacement therapy, and therefore has a much stronger “track record”.

2. Many women are not familiar with hormone replacement therapy nor can it can help. Some women claim it is far superior to BHRT but since the number of women currently using BHRT are far smaller than those who either do nothing or use natural remedies to alleviate menopause symptoms, it is difficult to tell.

You should always consult with your doctor or health care professional before using any kind of treatment, whether BHRT or herbal. The use and effects of black cohosh are generally favorable but like anything else, this is an individual and specific thing, since it depends on your particular chemical makeup and disposition, as well as what other remedies and/or prescriptions you may be taking on a regular basis, which may interfere or interact with black cohosh.

Black cohosh is also known as Cimicifuga racemosa, baneberry, bugbane, black snake root, rattleroot, bugwort, and richweed.

Since there was a series of episodes recently on Oprah about bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, it has gained significant visibility for many women who were previously unaware of what it could do for them and their menopause ailments, or even that it existed as an option to treat those symptoms.