What is hormone therapy?
Hormone therapy, also known as hormone replacement therapy, involves treating unbalanced hormones when they are outside of a normal, healthy range. This therapy helps increase one or more of the following hormones your body naturally produces:
- Testosterone
- Estrogen
- Progesterone
- Thyroid hormone
Your doctor may also use human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) hormone as part of a medical weight loss program to control appetite, enhance fat burning, and speed up your metabolism.
What are the benefits of hormone therapy?
You can reap numerous health and wellness benefits from hormone therapy if your levels are lower than they should be. Examples include:
- More energy
- A faster metabolism
- Improvements in mood
- Enhanced erections in men
- Improvements in erectile dysfunction (ED) in men
- Increases in lean mass and reduced body fat
- Improvements in sex drive
- Weight loss
- Thicker hair
- Fewer symptoms of menopause in women
Menopausal symptoms that hormone therapy helps to alleviate include hot flashes, vaginal dryness, weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, low sex drive, and depression.
What should I expect during hormone therapy?
Before hormone treatment, your doctor reviews your medical history, may complete a physical exam, and utilizes blood tests to check your hormone levels. Hormone treatments are available in various forms, such as:
- Oral medications
- Injections
- Subdermal pellets
- Skin patches
- Creams
- Sprays
For women, estrogen therapy is available as vaginal creams, tablets, or rings. Your practitioner develops a personalized hormone treatment plan based on your unique needs, health, and preferences.
Is hormone therapy right for me?
Though an extremely effective treatment for many patients, hormone therapy isn’t right for everybody. Your doctor might recommend a different option if you have a history of certain cancers, blood clots, liver disease, unexplained vaginal bleeding, or stroke. They discuss the risks and benefits of each treatment with you.
Don’t live with unpleasant symptoms of hormone imbalance when simple solutions are within reach at Esperanza Hope Primary Care. Schedule an appointment over the phone or online to find out if hormone therapy is right for you.
