It’s not gross. It’s not taboo. And it does NOT mean you are getting old!

Hormones. Yuck. Nobody likes to talk about them. We think of hormones as an excuse for our rotten behavior towards our husbands, our mood swings, our teary eyes. But they are OOOHHHHH so much more than that.

Hormones play are role in almost everything that we do. Sleep, work, exercise, relationships, sex. We’d never make it a day with out our hormones.

But did you know that, as early as in your twenties, women begin to loose their hormones?

Check out these symptoms:

**FATIGUE- ie: A lack of energy; A hard time getting out of bed; late afternoon “crash”; want to go to bed at 7:45-8:00pm; cant stray awake through the 7:00pm rerun of Seinfeld.

**DECREASED SEX DRIVE- ie:   Low libido, lack of romantic interest or fantasy, no flirtatious behavior; sometimes to the point of the thought makes you sick!

**DECREASE IN MENTAL CLARITY- ie:  inability to quickly solve a math problem you KNOW you know; “Crap… Why did I walk into this room?!”; forgetting where you put something you just had

**INABILITY TO LOOSE WEIGHT- ie: You work hard and eat right…. but the pounds will NOT come off. Sometimes, even weight GAIN!

**INABILITY TO GAIN MUSCLE TONE- ie:  you lift weight, lots of reps, multiple times per week…. and you still have the flabby “Substitute Teacher” under-arm wing….. ugh!

**SLEEP ISSUES- Inability to go to sleep, stay asleep, and sleep well; Night sweats

If you can check off even ONE of these symptoms….. you may be a victim of the dreaded hormone deficiency!

But guess what?! There IS an answer! We don’t have to accept hormonal imbalance as a devastating reality, as something we cant change, or accept the fact that we are “just getting old”. Natural hormone replacement therapy has helped improve not only the quality of women’s lives, but also how long we live them. I think hormone deficiency is one of the most commonly undiagnosed or MISdiagnosed ailments in women. Keep reading if you are ready to change your life:

 

Estrogen: “THE GIRLY HORMONE” –

Estrogen is produced in the body by our ovaries and adrenal glands. Women start to loose their estrogen once the dreaded menopause hits. Symptoms of low estrogen are hot flashes, moodiness, irritability, mental cloudiness, and emotional roller-coaster. But estrogen also has a large effect on our health. The loss of estrogen puts a woman at increased risk for premature ovary failure, osteoporosis, heart disease, colon cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, tooth loss, impaired vision, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes…..to name a few. The longer a woman is without the protection of estrogen, the greater the risk of these conditions. When estrogen levels are replaced, their main job is to increase the amount of serotonin available in the brain. This is kind of like a built in anti-depressant, or mood stabilizer. Replaced estrogen can also result in the cessation of the infamous Hot Flash, in better sleep, and better over all mood.

Testosterone: “THE BIG ONE!!!” –

Ok, ladies….. this is the one you’ve been waiting for! TESTOSTERONE!!!

NO, testosterone is not just for men! YES, women need testosterone just as much as men do! Albeit a much smaller amount, but it is none the less just as important. You know that check list of symptoms we went over? All of those can be improved or completely resolved with testosterone replacement therapy. The brain needs normal amounts of testosterone (in balance with estrogen) to produce serotonin, which supports emotional balance. When lacking in these hormones, a woman will experience emotional instability that often results in increased anxiety, irritability, sleep disturbances, anger, sadness and depression. A lack of testosterone will also cause fatigue, low sex drive, mental fogginess, inability to loose weight and inability to gain muscle mass. Replacing lost testosterone will improve mental function, improve energy and endurance, replenish your love life and help in shedding those unwanted pounds that just wont come off. There has also been multiple occurrences of women being able to come off of their anti-depressants, mood stabilizers and other psychotropic drugs after pellet insertion.

 

How do I know so much about hormones, you ask?

Well first, I am the Director of Executive Care at Executive Medicine of Texas in Southlake, TX. Our physicians focus on overall health, well-being, anti-aging, and optimizing hormones through hormone pellet therapy. This has been my life for the past three months as our company has dove into hormone replacement and started changing lives!

Second….. I….I am a VICTIM of low testosterone. Yes, its true. I’m 28 years old and my hormones are wacked out! I just gave birth to my second child this past November, and boy, I did NOT bounce back well from that pregnancy. I went back to work when she was 10 weeks old, and even then I could tell I wasn’t my old self, and I know my husband could tell. I was incredibly tired ALL the time, I had NO sex drive, I could barely budge a pound and had accumulated the gross visceral belly fat that we hate so much. I finally sucked it up and checked my labs at work, and YUP, sure enough, I was low on testosterone. I was pretty much the poster child. I had every symptom in the book. Dr. Anderson, one of our physicians, convinced me to go ahead with the hormone pellet therapy (small hormone pellets placed in he fatty tissue of your bottom that slowly release a steady dose of hormones over a period of 4-5 months). And I’m VERY glad I did. I had my pellets placed 2.5 weeks ago. Within 4 days, the first thing I noticed was a rise in my libido and the frequency in which I was thinking about…. “it”. I wont go too much into personal detail, but we will just leave it at the fact that my husband and I are BOTH sleeping well these days! I felt my energy slowly start to creep back up, but two days ago was when I noticed the biggest difference. I went to the gym with my husband, and it felt SO good. No dread, no exhaustion. I went long and hard on the elliptical, then did weights and exercises with my husband. I left the gym saying multiple time “MAN, I feel good.” I probably said it 5 more times as the night went on. And then something scary happened. I decided to set my alarm for 4:30AM to get up to run. And I actually DID IT!!! I’m sure my husband thought I was crazy. But I still had that high from the work out the night before and I was motivated and empowered to keep going. I have been SO down on myself and the way I look, or the way I THINK I look, and I now finally have that motivation and energy to do what I know I should have been doing all along. And its paying off. I’m down 7.2 pounds in 7 days! WOW!

If you are suffering from any of the symptoms discussed here, I urge you to talk to a physician that is educated in hormone replacement therapy.  The first step is realizing the symptoms you have. The second step is NOT accepting them and letting them dictate your life. Do your research. You only want to use BIO-IDENTICLE HORMONES (hormones derived from natural plant sources to replicate the body’s normal hormonal levels), so find a practitioner that uses pellets such as BioTE. Its a simple, 10 minute office visit to have them placed once you have had your hormones blood levels checked and they are LIFE CHANGING. If you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, call me at the office and I will get you completely informed and set up for hormone pellet therapy. If you are not in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I will be GLAD to help you locate a reputable facility that believes in hormone therapy as much as we do! Anyone is welcomed to message me publicly or privately with any and all questions, comments, concerns or otherwise. Knowledge is half the power!

GET YOUR LIFE BACK!!!

Kim Larsen

Director of Executive Care

Executive Medicine of Texas

1545 E Southlake Blvd

Southlake, TX 76244