Perimenopause is the phase between a woman’s reproductive years and menopause, marking the end of monthly bleeding cycles. During this transition, hormone levels change significantly. There are fluctuations in progesterone, but mainly a decline in estrogen. This drop in estrogen can cause both physical and emotional symptoms.…
I recently had a conversation with a patient who was entering menopause and fearful of starting hormone replacement therapy (HRT) because she witnessed the decline in her mother’s health after she stopped HRT at age 65. She assumed that the decline in her mother’s health was due to the use of HRT rather than the discontinuation of it. There has been much confusion and contradiction around the use of hormone therapy for menopause since 2002 when the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) released the results of their prematurely halted hormone therapy clinical trial revealing an increase in disease parameters for women on HRT.…
Tags: Hormone Replacement Therapy, Menopause, BHRT, Bioidentical Hormones
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder in children; however, boys are diagnosed two to nine times more often than girls are. Girls do have ADHD, but it often goes unnoticed because it can present much differently than it does in boys. Girls tend to be quiet and inattentive whereas boys tend to be active and disruptive.…
Tags: ADD and ADHD, women, Menopause, Estrogen
When women enter menopause about 45-50 years of age, their estrogen and progesterone drop precipitously, causing a long list of unpleasant symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings, and sleep disturbances. The drop in estrogen also leads to greater risk for cardiovascular disease and accelerated bone loss that may lead to osteoporosis and increased fracture risk. Women are faced with making a decision to start taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to hopefully alleviate most of the symptoms and risks associated with menopause.…
Tags: Menopause, Estrogen, Progesterone, Hormone Replacement Therapy
Numerous clinical trials and meta-analyses have evaluated the effectiveness of inositol therapy for conditions including metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovary syndrome, and fertility. Inositol acts as a second messenger - or intracellular signaling molecule - throughout the endocrine system and in the brain, relaying signals within the cell from an extracellular hormone such as insulin or from a neurotransmitter such as serotonin. Its ability to influence metabolism, hormone production and signaling, ovarian function, and neurotransmitter balance have sparked interest in the potential benefits of inositol as a nutritional supplement. Within the last few years alone, numerous clinical trials and meta-analyses have evaluated the effectiveness of inositol therapy for conditions including metabolic syndrome, PCOS, and fertility.…
Tags: PCOS, Mental Health, Menopause
It’s an everyday occurrence when someone calls the doc line at the lab and wants to know how they can change the labs to improve their patients’ symptoms. However, it’s important to take a step back and look at what labs can tell us. While it’s true that abnormal lab findings can contribute to symptoms – high thyroid-stimulating hormone reflects hypothyroidism, high testosterone reflects polycystic ovary syndrome, and hyperandrogenism or low cortisol may contribute to fatigue. Yet, in many other conditions, labs reflect the medical condition happening in that patient’s body and not a cause of the problems. Let’s look at a couple of examples of this chicken-and-egg discussion.…
Tags: Cortisol, Estrogen, Testosterone, Menopause
In today’s scary world of rapidly spreading COVID-19 infections, most individuals are hesitant to have their health care provider, or worse, a stranger at a blood draw clinic, violate their mandated social space of 6 feet to allow them to stick a needle in their vein and draw blood for testing hormones. It is understandable why during the…
Tags: Blood Spot Testing, Cardiovascular Disease, Covid19, Hormone Testing, Heavy Metals, Vitamin D, Thyroid Health, Research, Menopause, Laboratory Quality
One of the most commonly used herbs in the botanical toolbox is Vitex agnus-castus, also known as chaste tree berry. During the Middle Ages the dried berries were used in monasteries as a peppery condiment that was said to help suppress libido. Additionally, in the mid-1900s, Vitex was often given to women for “sexual irritability,” nervousness and melancholia. Perhaps for these reasons the herb…
Tags: Hormone Balance, PMS and PMDD, Menstrual Cycle Mapping, Menopause, Mental Health
Menopause can be a confusing time for many women and their families, and as a society we tend to steer away from having open, honest conversations about this very important transition in a woman’s life. At ZRT, we aim to change that and equip all woman with the tools and resources necessary to maintain optimal health during their menopause transition and after. In this post, ZRT’s Clinical…
Tags: Menopause, Progesterone, Estrogen, Depression, Anxiety, Weight Management, Sleep, Thyroid Health
In 2002 several large-scale clinical studies were published on the risks of breast cancer in postmenopausal women using conventional FDA-approved hormone therapy. These were the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) and Million Women’s studies of women using FDA-approved estrogens and progestogens in the United States and Great Britain, respectively. Both studies came to the same conclusion – that…
Tags: Progesterone, Estrogen, Menopause, Breast Cancer, Brain Health
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