Hormones travel through your blood to various parts of your body and help regulate various functions of your organs and tissue. They act as your body’s chemical messengers. An imbalance in hormones can affect your:

• Metabolism
• Reproduction
• Mood
• Physical growth
• Sexual function

The body naturally produces hormones, but as we age, shortages can begin to appear. These shortages can cause issues in how men and women’s body function. The most common deficiencies of hormones are often estrogen in women and testosterone in men, although women can also experience an acute shortage of testosterone

Generally, 80 percent of hormone imbalances are women while the remaining 20 percent of men. For women, hormone imbalances may start to show when they are in their late 30’s or 40’s. For men, symptoms of hormone imbalances generally appear in their late 40’s, or 50’s.

The most common symptoms of a hormone imbalance include:

• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Lower than usual energy
• General fatigue
• Weight gain
• A confused or disorganized feeling, also known as “brain fog “
• Discomfort during sex
• Vaginal dryness

Usually, a simple blood or saliva test is all that is needed to determine a hormone imbalance. If detected, our provider will also check you for any issues with your thyroid, which can often throw hormones into imbalance. Other conditions can cause hormone imbalances that we will also screen you for. If no underlying conditions exist, a hormone replacement treatment plan will be developed for you.

Generally, we use bioidentical hormone replacement therapy cream. We will prescribe you the proper cream to match the hormones in your body where you are currently experiencing shortages. Multiple hormones can be in the cream if there are several imbalances to be addressed.

Initially, a low amount of hormones will be in the cream that you will directly apply to your skin. These hormones will be easily absorbed through your skin, and amounts can be increased as needed to ensure a successful treatment.

Unless an underlying condition is causing your hormone imbalance, hormone replacement therapy is generally long term. Your body is unlikely to restart production of any missing hormones unless disease or condition was preventing it. We will monitor your health and make any adjustments to your treatment as needed.

Most patients report improvement of their hormone imbalance related symptoms in a couple of weeks.

InShape is located at 107 Edinburgh S. Drive, Suite 215 Cary, NC 27511. Our hours of operation are:

We are now open
Monday – 9 am to 6 pm
Tuesday – 9 am to 6 pm
Wednesday – 9 am to 6 pm
Thursday – 9 am to 6 pm

Would you like to learn more about hormone imbalances or make an appointment for an evaluation? Call our friendly staff today