I
see women everyday struggling with hormone balance issues... Not enough estrogen (hello hot flashes!) or too much estrogen (think heavy, crampy, painful cycles). Many have been told they needed or have had a hysterectomy thinking it would be the holy grail of relief. Sometimes I believe it is absolutely the right decision. Other times, I feel like other things could have been tried first to naturally resolve the issue so that the woman could preserve the uterus and/or ovaries.
Let's dive in a bit. If you are reading this and feeling like a hysterectomy is your only option for relief, but want to try every other natural thing first, I want to encourage you. There are absolutely times when I work with women and that helps. I would say this is my norm. The heavy bleeding, the clots, the cramps... When you find the root cause you can roll up your sleeves and get to work on the real issues. Inflammation, stress, liver clearance, blood sugar dysfunction... those are just a few of the root causes I see being a factor. If you can identify them, in many cases you can improve them.
What if you have had a hysterectomy and on the other side of it, you still don't feel great. All of a sudden you are having hot flashes, gaining a bunch of belly fat, experiencing vaginal dryness, etc. Maybe you were placed on Hormone Replacement Therapy for a few years, but then told "It's not safe to stay on this" and now you feel like you have been abandoned. I actually see this way more often than I would like.
I think an honest conversation is in order. I like to help women connect to what is really going on (this is where a great history and lab review is essential) and then come up with a plan together to address what is really going on. Sometimes that involves bio identical hormones, sometimes it doesn't. It always involves lifestyle modification to work with your body to become healthier.
If you would like to connect on social media, check out my other content or schedule a FREE discovery health call to talk about a personal issue like hormone balance, please feel free to click below to access any of those options.
To your health!
Dr. Jeni
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