The New Era of Hormone Replacement: What Every Woman Should Know

In the early 2000s, a misguided health initiative created a scare surrounding hormone therapies that has steered women away for more than two decades. In the years since, research has piled up in support of using hormone therapies for women, and the FDA removed the black box warning last year.

This is very good news for the two million women who enter menopause each year in the United States. While some lucky women sail through this reproductive transition with ease, most women face side effects that range from relatively minor nuisances to life-altering changes.

As health care experts who provide comprehensive care for women in every stage of life, the team at Alliance OB-GYN is pleased to offer hormone therapies for women. Read on to explore how hormone therapy can support your health and wellness on almost every level.

How perimenopause and menopause affect your body

Menopause is a simple enough concept — your ovaries stop releasing eggs, which effectively puts an end to your reproductive stage.

When your ovaries shut down, however, it also means they stop producing key estrogen hormones — hormones that influence many areas of your health outside reproductive duties. As a result, perimenopause and menopause can usher in a wide range of changes in your body, such as:

• Vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats) that affect 75% of women
• Vaginal dryness and pain, which affect about half of postmenopausal women
• Bone loss — menopause speeds up bone loss in women
• Hair loss
• Weight gain and muscle loss
• Pelvic floor dysfunction
• Urinary incontinence
• Brain fog
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Fatigue

While some of these symptoms are temporary and gradually go away, most are permanent — and often unwelcome — changes to your health. 

Reclaiming your health and wellness through hormone therapy

Given how dramatically your health can change when you make the transition through menopause, it makes sense that the best way to fight back is by replacing lost hormones.

And this brings us to the new era of hormone replacement — today, you have more options than ever before, including highly effective pellet therapy.

At our practice, Dr. Obianwu and Dr. Murji have had great success helping women to better navigate their health and wellness through menopause and beyond with Evexipel® hormone pellet therapy.

With this innovative approach to hormone replacement, we insert tiny pellets just below the surface of your skin, usually around your buttocks, during a quick in-office procedure. Once in place, these pellets slowly release the replacement hormones directly into your body for 3-4 months.

Before we get to this point, however, we first run a series of tests so that we have a clear picture of your hormonal health. Then we review your symptoms and your goals to come up with a precise and customized hormone therapy that’s designed to improve your health and quality of life.

After your first pellet insertion, you should feel the effects in a couple of weeks. Based on your preliminary experiences, when it comes time to refresh the pellets, we can keep the dosing the same or make adjustments. Of course, we also monitor your hormone levels throughout.

Is hormone therapy right for you?

If you want to address changes in your health that stem from hormone imbalances, but you’re not sure which avenue is best, it’s a good idea to come in and sit down with one of our experts. 

Pellet therapy is a fantastic solution that works well systemically, but there are other options. For example, if you just want to target vasomotor symptoms, we might prescribe a non-hormonal medication. Or, if you’re concerned only with vaginal dryness, a topical hormone cream might be best.

The bottom line is that you’re not without options when it comes to dealing with the life-changing effects of menopause, and we’re sure to find a solution that meets your needs. 

To sit down with one of our hormone therapy experts, we invite you to contact us at one of our offices in Delran, Lumberton, or Hainesport, New Jersey, to schedule an appointment.