Does your hormonal well seem to be running dry? It happens to nearly all of us. Some women have had hysterectomies. Men may have experienced gonadal injuries or infections. For many men and women, though, hormonal fluctuations are simply due to age. However it happens, balancing your hormones is possible when you visit a clinic that specializes in treating hormonal imbalances.

How do I know it’s Hormone-Related?

Hormonal imbalances look different for men and women, and, of course, symptoms fluctuate between individual people. Women may experience: 

• The dreaded hot flashes
• Menstrual irregularities and eventual cessation
• Hair growth in new and exciting places
• Insomnia
• Vaginal dryness and/or painful intercourse
• Urinary tract infections (UTIs) or urinary incontinence
• Brain fog
• Depression or anxiety
• Decreased sex drive
• Changes in skin texture

Male symptoms of hormonal imbalance are:

• Loss of lean muscle mass
• Erectile dysfunction
• Fatigue
• Loss of libido
• Fatigue
• Difficulty concentrating
• Low energy
• Irritability or depressed mood
• Weight gain, especially around the abdomen

Some of these symptoms overlap while some of them are relevant to each gender. Not everyone will experience all symptoms, but even just a few of them can be detrimental to one’s quality of life.

What Can You do?

There are traditional hormone replacement therapies available, but they are not customized to individual needs. Although they can be effective, bioidentical hormone therapy, found at an integrative hormone clinic like CrispAZWellness, is more effective because the treatment is created according to what your body needs instead of being a generalized, one-size-fits-all treatment.

Bioidentical hormones are an effective treatment option that generally offers:

• Fewer side effects than traditional HRT
• More effective treatment because they mimic the body’s own hormones more closely than synthetic hormones
• More individualized, tailored treatment options

Synthetic hormones are not always metabolized as effectively as bioidentical because they are not as close to our body’s hormones as bioidentical hormones are. Bioidentical hormones are very close to the “real thing.”

Where can I Find a Hormone Clinic?

For those in the Virtual/Telehealth area, CrispAZWellness uses both traditional medical practices and complementary medicine to treat your hormonal imbalance. The first step in treating the imbalance is recognizing and diagnosing it. Vianka Cesena, board-certified Nurse Practitioner at CrispAZWellness, meets with you to take a complete medical history and does a comprehensive lab work-up to determine your hormonal baseline. Based on your specific needs, Megan will develop and individualized treatment plan that will help provide your body with exactly what it needs to optimize your hormonal balance.

CrispAZWellness is unique in that our Virtual/Telehealth clinic provides integrative healthcare where the patient is the focus. Our goal is to diagnose and treat hormonal imbalances for both men and women, and our clinic focuses on the entire you: your mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health so that you can be the best you regardless of your stage of life. Call our office at 623-850-8264 to make an appointment today. Our clinic is committed to helping you feel like a younger, more vital version of yourself. 

Disclaimer: The information contained here was not written by a medical doctor and is intended for informational purposes only. This is not a substitute for medical advice.

Ah, the holidays. We muster up memories of family gatherings, gifts, lights, and delectable delights as we prepare to live that holiday gloriousness again this year. Maybe you’ll have potato latkes and kugel or grandma’s famous cookies. Maybe there’s a four-course holiday meal or all your favorite foods served at the numerous holiday parties you attend. Whatever your holiday food lifestyle is, you can manage it so that you don’t have an extra ten pounds to lose as part of your New Year’s resolutions. 

Just Like Santa

There are many effective tips and tricks to employ so that you don’t achieve the same pant size as Santa. The most important of them is to have a plan for navigating all the tantalizing temptations that await you during the next few weeks. Your plan can include:

• Maintaining your exercise routine
• Eating some of those delicious treats but monitoring your portion sizes
• Giving yourself permission to indulge on a specific day or at a specific party
• Eating healthily for most of the holiday season
• Having an accountability partner if you think you’re going to overindulge
• Don’t beat yourself up if you indulge more at an event than you intended
• Journal or do some creative activity to help you release any unwanted feelings you have about food

You Look Marvelous!

Maybe you’ve worked hard this year to lose weight, or you really want to maintain your current weight without adding any holiday pounds. The plan outlined above will give you some tools to achieve your goal. Fortunately, there are other support options available. CrispAZWellness, located Virtual/Telehealth, has a myriad of options available to support you in your holiday-related weight goals. Our clinic employs these techniques to support your journey to a healthy weight. We: 

• Take a complete medical history
• Do lab work to thoroughly evaluate your unique biochemistry
•  Serve as accountability partner and coach
• Suggest lifestyle modifications
• Work to balance hormones if needed
•  Use prescription medication

Our approach is inclusive and long-term so that weight loss can be a sustainable success. Our mission is to support you now, through these fattening next few weeks, and continue that support while you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. 

Why CrispAZWellness?

CrispAZWellness provides both primary care and integrative medical care to provide you with the most balanced and sustainable weight loss program possible. Our practitioner, Vianka Cesena, is a board-certified Nurse Practitioner who works to find the root cause of illness or, in this case, weight gain. Megan provides holistic, skillful care with  compassion and sensitivity. Her goal is to help you live your happiest and healthiest life.

Megan prefers using an integrative approach to weight loss because it addresses the causes of weight gain, whether they’re physical, emotional, hormonal, or a combination thereof. Call our office at 623-850-8264 to make an appointment today so you can be Santa without the bowl full of jelly.

Disclaimer: The information contained here was not written by a medical doctor and is intended for informational purposes only. This is not a substitute for medical advice.

In the words attributed to playwright George Bernard Shaw,” Youth is wasted on the young.” As we’ve gotten older, how many of us have felt the same way? Our aches have pains and our pains have aches. We don’t have the same vim, vigor, or get-up-and-go that we did when we were too young to appreciate it. We attribute it solely to aging, but some of those unexpected changes can be attributable to hormonal fluctuations, too. Changes in the hormones that relate to gender/sexual function are a reality that leave us longing for the days of yore.

Gender-Related Hormones

Most of us know that estrogen and progesterone are related to female sex characteristics while testosterone is related to male sex characteristics. Information about menopause is available for women who seek it out from their doctors, friends, or other sources. Men are less likely to seek out information about changes in testosterone levels, though, because they feel embarrassed or stigmatized by doing so. They shouldn’t. Low testosterone is extremely common and has a variety of causes.

Symptoms of Low Testosterone

Low testosterone has a myriad of symptoms:

• Low sex drive
• Erectile dysfunction
• Loss of lean muscle mass
• Depression
• Irritability
• Fatigue and/or low energy

Causes of Low Testosterone

These symptoms, or any combination of them, are extremely common among men. They are not your fault, nor are they unique to you. Low “t” is less common in younger men, but it becomes far more common as men age. Looking at men of all ages, it is estimated that approximately 2.1% of men have low testosterone. Age is a significant cause of decreasing testosterone levels, however, affecting about 50% of men 80 years and older. In addition to aging, there are numerous other possible causes of low testosterone:

• Injury to the testicles
• Testicular infection
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Thyroid imbalance
• Other chronic illness
• Alcoholism
• Chronic stress/high stress
• Some medications

The causes of low testosterone are as varied as the men experiencing it, making it crucial to discover the root cause before making a treatment plan.

Treating Low “T”

Low testosterone has a wide array of causes, so an accurate diagnosis of the “why” of it is just as important as the treatment protocol prescribed for it. CrispAZWellness Virtual/Telehealth, provides a holistic approach to treating low testosterone using the best of both traditional and integrative medicine to get to the root, or the “why”, of your low t. Vianka Cesena, practitioner at CrispAZWellness, is a board-certified Nurse Practitioner. She is trained in, and uses, both traditional and integrative medicine in caring for her patients.

After a thorough examination and comprehensive testing, Megan will work with you to determine what course of action is most beneficial to balancing your testosterone level and creating a more fulfilling life. CrispAzWellness provides one of the most comprehensive testosterone replacement therapies in the country, which can help you regain some of your lost vitality.

Call our office at 623-850-8264 to make an appointment today so you can regain your youth and appreciate it, too. 

Disclaimer: The information contained here was not written by a medical doctor and is intended for informational purposes only. This is not a substitute for medical advice.

This runs through the minds of every woman of a certain age. After decades of PMS, periods, and maybe childbirth and its recovery, we get to look forward to menopause. At least it’s talked about openly now and we can share some of the gloriousness and gore of this time of life. Information and humor about menopause abound in the year 2022. There’s even a YouTube channel called “Hot and Flashy.” Isn’t it grand?

What is a Hot Flash?

For those who don’t know or have yet to experience them, hot flashes are precisely what they sound like. A flush of heat that rushes over your body unexpectedly, leaving you feeling flushed and perhaps even perspiring. You may also experience:

• A rapid heartbeat
• Anxiety
• Being cold after the hot flash subsides

Hot flashes can happen during the day or at night when they’re also referred to as night sweats. They happen because of hormonal fluctuations that occur during and after menopause. The Mayo Clinic says that it’s not exactly clear how hormonal changes cause hot flashes, but may be due to decreased estrogen.

Triggers For Hot Flashes 

While hormonal fluctuations are the cause of hot flashes, there are a number of things that can trigger them, including:

• Highly spiced foods
• Smoking
• Heat or hot weather
• Stress
• Alcohol
• Caffeine

Is There Any Relief for Hot Flashes?

Yes! There is relief for these hot hindrances. They don’t have to rule your life! There are many options that are easy to incorporate into your lifestyle. For example, wearing layers of clothing that can be added or removed as your body temperature changes is simple to incorporate into your day-to-day life. Adding plant-based, phytoestrogen foods (which produce weak effects similar to the effects of estrogen) into your diet may help, too. Some of these foods may include:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Soy
• Chickpeas
• Grains
• Beans

There are other medical interventions, including hormone replacement therapy, which can help minimize the effects and/or number of hot flashes you experience.

How Can HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) Help?

HRT using bioidentical hormones is extremely effective in managing hot flashes and other symptoms of hormone imbalance and menopause. For those in the Virtual/Telehealth area, CrispAZWellness provides both primary care and integrative medical care to ensure you have the best balance of both worlds: traditional and adjunctive medical treatments. Vianka Cesena, board-certified Nurse Practitioner at CrispAZWellness, uses both healing modalities to create personalized, holistic care for her patients.

When treating hot flashes, she will begin by doing comprehensive testing and continue by developing an HRT plan specifically based on your needs. Megan prefers bioidentical, natural hormones because women feel significantly better when using them. Call our office at 623-850-8264 to make an appointment today. Your future, cool self will thank you.

“Hot flashes – Symptoms and causes”. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hot-flashes/symptoms-causes/syc-20352790#:~:text=A%20hot%20flash%20is%20the,you%20might%20feel%20chilled%20afterward. Accessed 13 October 2022

Disclaimer: The information contained here was not written by a medical doctor and is intended for informational purposes only. This is not a substitute for medical advice.

…bellows Gaston, antihero of Beauty and the Beast, as he boasts about his extreme manliness. His braggadocio is rooted in the stereotype of manly appearance: muscles, a chiseled jawline, and – obviously – body hair. Gaston is, clearly, the consummate male specimen. Good thing he’s animated and a caricature. It alleviates the pressure on we mere mortals to rival the matchless manliness exuded by this movie villain.

In the real world, masculine attributes ebb and flow with time. Male hormones, at their peak during our adolescence and young adulthood, begin to decrease as we age.

Balding and More

A decrease in testosterone, the male sex hormone secreted by the body that creates masculine attributes, is extremely common as we age. Some symptoms of decreased testosterone include:

• Loss of lean body mass
• Fatigue
• Loss of libido
• Erectile dysfunction (ED)
• Weight gain
• Depression
• Irritability
• Hair loss

Low T, or low testosterone, affects millions of men – as many as 13.8 million men ages 45 and older in the US. You are not alone in your experience.

Treatment for Low Testosterone

There is very effective treatment available for low T! The treatment, Testosterone Replacement Therapy, or TRT, is very effective in managing the symptoms of low testosterone. There are a variety of ways to administer TRT:

• Topical, which includes creams, gels, and patches
• Oral (taken by mouth)
• Hormone replacement pellets (a pellet is placed under the skin via a small incision)
• Injection (a shot)
•  Intranasal (a gel-like substance is administered through the nostrils)

For those in the Virtual/Telehealth area, treatment is available at CrispAZWellness.  The first step is, of course, to diagnose low T. This diagnostic process occurs through both a clinical examination and various blood tests. CrispAZWellness has one of the most comprehensive TRT programs. Our clinicians offer a thorough evaluation and the development of an individualized TRT replacement.

The method of TRT treatment is something you can discuss with your practitioner. Some options, like intranasal and oral TRT, are taken two or three times daily. Injections are usually taken weekly, bimonthly, or monthly, while pellets are replaced every three to six months. Your CrispAZWellness practitioner can collaborate with you to discuss your lifestyle and determine the most effective treatment plan for you.

The CrispAZWellness Difference

CrispAZWellness, provides integrative and functional medical care. Our practitioner, Vianka Cesena, is a board-certified family nurse practitioner who specializes in traditional medical and alternative medicine practices to help you facilitate your best health, so you’re getting the best of both worlds. Megan’s diverse background enables her to look at you holistically – body, mind, and spirit – to determine the root cause of your imbalance(s) and create an individualized treatment plan for you. Megan is committed to providing personalized health care that optimizes health outcomes for her patients. Please call 623-850-8264 to make an appointment that will help you regain the testosterone you’ve lost.

Disclaimer: The information contained here was not written by a medical doctor and is intended for informational purposes only. This is not a substitute for medical advice.

Life is funny. We can be in a very difficult spot one moment, or even for a protracted length of time, but, suddenly, the wheel of fortune turns, and things get better. The opposite is true, as well. The most important lesson we can learn through the game of life is that – good or bad – nothing stays the same. Incredulously, that includes our bodies. Men wake up one morning and find no hair where there used to be some, while women wake up and find hair where there wasn’t any. Our hormones, once responsible for the virility or fertility of our youth, have nose-dived, leaving us feeling like we need to have our batteries recharged.

What Does Hormone Imbalance Look Like?

As we age, our hormones don’t provide quite the same “oomph” they once did. For women, some symptoms of hormonal imbalance or menopause can be:

• Weight gain
• Brain fog
• Skin changes
• Fatigue

Men may experience:

• Erectile dysfunction
• Loss of lean muscle mass
• Difficulty concentrating
• Depression

Is There Help?

Yes, there is! Fortunately, we live in a time when we have a variety of therapeutic options, including bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Bioidentical hormones are created in a laboratory from natural elements, making them molecularly identical to hormones made by the body. Bioidentical hormones are very effective as a treatment option because they have fewer side effects than traditional HRT and they mimic hormones produced by the body more closely than synthetic hormones do.  Bioidentical hormones can be administered in several different ways, including:

• Creams
• Oral capsules
• Hormone pellets

Hormone pellets are an interesting option because they provide the user with flexibility and peace of mind other options might not.

What Is Hormone Pellet Therapy?

Hormone pellet therapy is a little different than using either an oral medication or cream because the pellets are inserted under the skin in a quick, simple in-office procedure by a trained professional. A small incision is made, sometimes in the hip, and pellets are inserted subcutaneously for absorption as needed by the body. The incision heals in a few days and that’s it. Advantages of this method of hormone therapy are:

• The pellets last several months
• You don’t have to remember to use or take BHRT (bioidentical hormone replacement therapy) daily
• The hormones available in the pellets are used by the body as it needs them
• Pellets provide a more consistent dose of hormones, which can eliminate some of the fluctuations in absorption

CrispAZWellness Can Help

For those in the Virtual/Telehealth area, CrispAZWellness, provides integrative and functional medical care that helps you live a full, vital life. Our practitioner, Vianka Cesena, is a board-certified family nurse practitioner who specializes in traditional medical and alternative medicine practices to help you facilitate your best health, so you’re getting the best of both worlds. Megan does a thorough, medically based work-up including traditional medical testing, and she blends that with the treatment of you as a whole person. Megan’s diverse background enables her to look at you holistically – body, mind, and spirit – to determine the root cause of your imbalance(s) and create an individualized treatment plan for you. Call our office today at 623-850-8264 to make an appointment that will help you live vitally and not vicariously.

Disclaimer: The information contained here was not written by a medical doctor and is intended for informational purposes only. This is not a substitute for medical ad

Being a woman is a gift. In so many ways, it’s true. We have a connection to life in a way those with male anatomy don’t. The flip side of that statement, though, is a sarcastic, “Being a woman is a GIFT.” Most of us have forty plus years of periods and PMS, and some of us experience pregnancy and labor pains. Just about that time we’re ready to move into a new phase of life, we do. A hot and flashy phase. What a gift.

What Are Hot Flashes?

When we become a woman of a certain age, we realize that we’re no longer just superwomen, we’re  supercharged. How do we know? Because we begin to get power surges, also known as hot flashes. For menopausal and post-menopausal women, you know you’re having a hot flash when

• You experience a feeling of being hot
• Your face gets red
• You begin perspiring uncontrollably

These symptoms occur regardless of the temperature indoors or out. When experienced at night, these hot flashes are called night sweats. Your body, quite literally, surges with hormonally driven power that causes your hotness factor to increase exponentially.

What Triggers Hot Flashes?

Even though we can find humor in the capriciousness of our menopausal/post-menopausal bodies, hot flashes are uncomfortable and sometimes even embarrassing. Hot flashes happen at the most inconvenient times: in a meeting at work, while giving a presentation, or while having an intimate or intense conversation. A number of things can trigger hot flashes, including:

• Our old friend and foe, stress
• Spicy foods
• Caffeine
• Hot baths or saunas
• Smoking
• Alcohol

How Can You Manage Hot Flashes?

There are ways to mitigate hot flash symptoms. There are the things that are always suggested:

• Proper Diet
• Exercise
• Stress reduction
• Mindfulness techniques

But sometimes these first-line techniques just aren’t enough. In that case, you might want to consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

CrispAZWellness Can Help!

For those in the Virtual/Telehealth area, CrispAZWellness, provides hot flash relief, including menopausal and post-menopausal treatment options including the use of bioidentical hormones. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is very effective because bioidentical hormones are created in a laboratory from natural elements, making them molecularly identical to hormones made by the body. Bioidentical hormones are very effective as a treatment option because they have fewer side effects than traditional HRT and they mimic hormones produced by the body more closely than synthetic hormones do.  

Hot Flashes: How CrispAZWellness Can Make a Difference

Our practitioner, Vianka Cesena, is a board-certified family nurse practitioner who specializes in both integrative and functional medicine. She uses traditional medical and alternative medicine practices to help you facilitate your best health, so you’re getting the best of both worlds. Megan does a thorough, medically based work-up including traditional medical testing and modalities, but she blends that with the treatment of you as a whole person. Megan considers your mental, emotional, and spiritual health in addition to your physical health when creating an individualized treatment plan for you.

Call our office today at 623-850-8264 to make an appointment. We look forward to helping to create hormonal harmony for you!

Disclaimer: The information contained here was not written by a medical doctor and is intended for informational purposes only. This is not a substitute for medical advice.

Too fat, too thin, or just right. Weight is such a precarious topic. There’s even the infamous quote, “You can never be too rich or too thin,” which is attributed to several celebrities over the last century or so, including Wallis Simpson (who single-handedly changed the English royal succession), fashion designer Coco Chanel, and even comedienne Joan Rivers. That view is highly problematic, though, because we all know that you really can be too thin. Sadly, you can also gain weight without trying, even when you’re being mindful of what you eat because some people legitimately have a thyroid or other medical condition that makes weight loss difficult.

Factors That Influence Weight

There are many factors that contribute to weight. The myth, of course, is that a person gains weight when they eat too much and exercise to little, but it’s more complicated than that. There are numerous factors that affect weight gain or loss:

• Genetics
• Age
• Sex/gender
• Stress
• Certain medications
• Insufficient sleep
• Familial and cultural influences
• Geographical location
• Certain medical conditions

If your parents are (or were) large people, you really do have a genetic predisposition to being overweight. As we age, our bodies change, making it easier to gain weight that, in turn, is much harder to lose. Some people live in areas that are not conducive to walking or getting outside to get exercise, or where fried foods, for example, are the norm. And some of us really do have thyroid or other hormonal conditions that affect our ability to gain or lose weight easily. Those who have hormonal imbalances, for example, have many biochemical and metabolic factors at play that make weight loss significantly harder than it is for someone without them.

What Are Hormones?

Simply put, hormones are substances created in the body by our glands. Hormones control or are responsible for a considerable number of bodily functions:

• Blood pressure
• Blood sugar
• Metabolism
• Sex-related hormones
• Controlling inflammation
• Growth

Some hormones are responsible for weight loss or gain. For example, an imbalance in the following hormonal areas relate to weight gain/loss or the inability to lose weight:

• Estrogen/female hormones
• Cortisol
• Thyroid
• Testosterone

The inability to change your weight causes enormous frustration and can impact your health and the way you feel about yourself, but there is hope.

Help for the Hopeful

CrispAZWellness Virtual/Telehealth can help you lose weight with our healthcare provider-guided metabolic reset that is tailored to every individual’s biochemistry. You will have support throughout your entire journey whether you choose to meet us virtually or come see us in person.

Why Choose CrispAZWellness?

Vianka Cesena, our nurse practitioner, combines conventional healthcare and alternative medicine to help you lose weight and live a healthy life. We create a plan specifically for you that will result in long-term weight reduction with the help of accountability coaching and lifestyle change.

Call today so we can help you create an effective weight loss solution that allows you to achieve your best health and live your best life. We look forward to supporting you while you achieve your goal!

Disclaimer: The information contained here was not written by a medical doctor and is intended for informational purposes only. This is not a substitute for medical advice.

The truth is that hormones can play a role in weight loss, but they are not the whole story. Hormones can influence how much fat your body stores, how much energy you have, and how well your metabolism works. If your hormones are imbalanced, it can be more difficult to lose weight, and it may feel like your weight  loss efforts are not working.

So, what are hormones? Understanding  how they work can help you figure out if your hormones are keeping you from losing weight.

Hormones are chemicals that are produced by the glands in your body. They travel through the bloodstream and act as messengers, telling the body what to do. There are many different types of hormones, and they all have different roles in regulating various body functions. Both men and women have hormones, and having an imbalance not only can lead to weight gain, but also:

• Hair loss
• Fatigue
• Muscle weakness
• Mood swings
• Difficulty concentrating

So, this likely feels a bit daunting. After all,  if hormones play such a big role in our weight, how can we ever hope to lose weight? The good news is that there are steps you can take to help balance your hormones and improve your chances of losing weight.

But, before even embarking on your weight loss journey,  it’s important to speak with your healthcare provider. They can order tests to check your hormone levels and see if they are the reason you are struggling to lose weight. If they are, they can work with you to create a treatment plan that will help get your hormones back in balance and improve your chances of achieving your weight loss goals.

Here are several reasons why you should choose CrispAZWellness for Your Weight Loss Program

• Our weight loss program is guided by healthcare providers, and offers a metabolic reset that works with each individual’s unique biochemistry to help with losing weight. This includes hormone imbalance and other obstacles that may be contributing to your difficulties with weight loss.
• We are different in that we offer options for appointments in person or virtually, accountability coaching, lifestyle modification, and prescription medication into one customized program to help achieve sustainable weight loss.
• Our patients are the focus.  We tailor our programs to fit the individual. No two people are the same, so why would we treat them the same? We offer an approach to weight loss that not only helps our patients lose weight, but also teaches them how to keep the weight off for good.
• Our approach is both holistic and comprehensive.  With this approach, weight loss is achieved sustainably and for a longer period of time. Losing weight is hard, but you don’t have to do it alone. The team at CrispAZWellness is here to help you every step of the way.
• We’re medical professionals, not a random fad diet program or TikTok video.  When it comes to your health, you deserve the best care possible.

Hormonal Imbalances and Weight Loss: Begin Lifelong Healing Today

Whether your issues with weight loss are due to a hormonal imbalance or some other contributing factor, the team at CrispAZWellness can help.

We offer a comprehensive and individualized approach to weight loss that can help you finally achieve your goals. Contact us today to learn more about our weight loss program Virtual/Telehealth and how we can help you lose weight and keep it off for good.

Image credit: 

Disclaimer: The information contained here was not written by a medical doctor and is intended for informational purposes only. This is not a substitute for medical advice.

When we hear someone say, “I’m hormonal,” we have visions of everyone in the vicinity running to hide. Those words, usually used in the context of someone having PMS, are used as cannon fodder for comedians and endless misunderstandings about (particularly) women’s health. Interestingly, men have hormones and hormonal imbalances, too, so hormonal difficulties can potentially affect everyone.

Hormones are, quite simply put, chemicals. These chemicals are sent through our body by the endocrine system, or glands, to regulate our most common and most complex bodily functions. Hormones play a role in regulating:

• Blood pressure
• Kidney function
• Heart rate
• Metabolism
• Growth
• The nervous system
• Development of sexual organs
• Regulation of menses
• Male sexual function
• Mood
• Bone health
• Red blood cell production
• Hair growth

So, while we automatically associate the word hormones only with gender-related bodily functions, they are really much more complex than that.

What are Bioidentical Hormones?

Bioidentical hormones are created scientifically from natural elements, so they are molecularly identical to the hormones produced by the body. This means that they are able to replicate the body’s exact response unlike traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which uses synthetic hormones that do not exactly mimic the body’s natural hormones.

Bioidentical hormones are made in laboratories from plant extracts, usually from wild yam, cactus, soy, or a combination of them. Bioidentical hormones are commonly administered as:

• Creams
• Hormone pellets
• Oral capsules

Why Bioidentical Hormones vs. Traditional HRT?

Bioidentical hormones are an effective treatment option that generally offer:

• Fewer side effects than traditional HRT
• More effective treatment because they mimic the body’s own hormones more closely than synthetic hormones
• More individualized, tailored treatment options

Synthetic hormones are not always metabolized as effectively as bioidentical because they are not as close to our body’s hormones as bioidentical hormones are. Bioidentical hormones are very close to the “real thing.”

How do I Know if I Need Hormone Replacement Therapy?

Hormones play a critical role in our well-being. A hormonal imbalance can occur due to the natural process of aging, stress, illness, injury, or other trauma. If you are experiencing these non-gender specific symptoms, you could benefit from having your hormonal levels checked:

• Fluctuations in weight
• Thinning hair or hair growth in unexpected places
• Dry skin
• Change in bowel habits
• Depression, anxiety, irritability
• Decrease in sex drive
• Fatigue
  

For men, other symptoms include:

• Loss of muscle mass
• Decrease of sexual function
• Difficulty concentrating

For women, other symptoms include:

• Brain fog
• Insomnia
• Hot flashes

The CrispAzWellness Difference

For those in the Virtual/Telehealth area, CrispAZWellness, provides a holistic approach to hormone health and overall well-being. Our individualized treatment plans are created after a thorough review of symptoms, lab test results, and any other testing that may be necessary to discover the root cause of your imbalance.

Our practitioner, Vianka Cesena, is a board-certified family nurse practitioner who specializes in both integrative and functional medicine. She is committed to using medical and alternative medicine practices to help you facilitate your best health.

Call our office today at 623-850-8264 to make an appointment. We hope to help you balance your imbalances and create a life filled with health and vitality!

Image credit: 

Disclaimer: The information contained here was not written by a medical doctor and is intended for informational purposes only. This is not a substitute for medical advice.