Hormonal Imbalance: Symptoms and Treatments

 

Are you exhausted yet unable to get to sleep or stay asleep?  Are you moody and irritable, even when it is not that time of the month? Have you recently gained weight and are unable lose it? Are you experiencing hot flashes? Have you completely lost interest in sex or has sex become painful for you? If you are a woman are experiencing these symptoms, it could be due to a hormonal imbalance.

Hormonal imbalance is a very real problem that can negatively affect your life, if not properly treated. Hormones send important message throughout your body and have an affect on many processes in your body including mood, growth and development, metabolism, sexual function and reproduction. Your hormones will naturally fluctuate at different stages in your life including puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause and menopause. Stress, improper nutrition and lack of proper fitness can also contribute to declining hormone levels in our bodies.  So what can be done to give you some relief?

If the symptoms mentioned above are negatively affecting your quality of life and making it difficult to work and handle the demands of your family, the first step is to visit your doctor. Your doctor can perform a physical examination and conduct any tests that he or she feels are appropriate to accurately diagnose your condition and to rule out other, more serious causes for your discomfort. In many cases, hormonal imbalance can be dealt with using lifestyle modifications such as bringing your diet into balance, increasing your fitness and getting more sleep. In other cases, more aggressive treatment is needed.

Hormone pellet therapy is one method that can be used to treat hormonal imbalance. It involves painlessly inserting bioidentical hormones in pellets the size of grains of rice, under the skin. The hormones are then released into the body similar to the way that working ovaries release hormones in women who have not yet begun perimenopause or menopause. If you have tried lifestyle modifications and are still not able to find relief from your symptoms of hormonal imbalance, you may be a candidate for hormone pellet therapy. Talk to your OBGYN today to find out of this advanced gynecologic treatment is right for you.

Posted on behalf of Dr. Carlos Alarcon, Marietta OB-GYN Affiliates, P.A.