A healthy woman’s body maintains appropriate ratios of estrogens, progesterone, and testosterone throughout life. A complex set of feedback loops determines how much or little of each hormone is being made at any one time. This ongoing communication takes place between the brain, the ovaries, and the adrenal glands, acting in concert with all your other bodily systems.
That’s why we use the phrase hormonal balance when we talk about “normal” ratios of hormones. But hormonal balance doesn’t mean a steady-state, equal balance — like the scales of justice or a perfectly balanced see-saw — but a dynamic equilibrium. Within this dynamic there are reference ranges. When your hormones fluctuate outside of these ranges, that’s when you are most likely to experience symptoms.
Fluctuations in estrogen can have dramatic effects on how we feel, think, and function. Compared to other hormones, estrogen is very tightly regulated by the body, and it’s more powerful in smaller amounts than other steroid hormones. Even tiny changes in estrogen levels can cause symptoms.
By Dixie Mills, MD, FACS
It is recommended that married couples start hormone therapy together. Yes, it is that serious! A man starting on testosterone therapy alone will almost certainly outpace his wife of the same age, leading to frustration for both, but for different reasons.
Other relatively immediate benefits might also include an increase in a fun-loving spirit, more desire for romance, less sleep required because of better sleep when you get it, a better ability to lose weight, and interestingly enough – some people report fewer trips to the bathroom. This is particularly nice in the middle of the night.
Again, these are beneficial side effects and you may or may not experience them all as each individual is different.
From Senior Magazine On-Line
