What should you do?

Hormone therapy during Perimenopause and Menopause can feel like the wild wild west!

Some people are doing different methods, and different doses.

Should you even take it?

And if so….what kind?

I hope to help break that down for you to better understand the types of HRT, the pros/cons of each, and when use is best.

At the very end, I provide support for brain health as well because 90% of menopausal symptoms are cognitive - so the more we can support the brain during this transition - the better off the body will be!

Before you start ANY HRT - you need to consider the following, as if you do not address these things, you may experience HRT creates more issues than it helps with:

1. Adrenal Health - If you are exhausted, burning the candle at both ends, not sleeping well, and feeling like you need caffeine daily to live, we need to look to our adrenals BEFORE going the route of HRT. Because HRT will be very short-lived support without helping our adrenal function. You can start with my STRESS guide.
2. Thyroid Function - Again, HRT support will be short lived if the thyroid is struggling. Get testing done! TSH, T4 and T3 Free, Antibodies are all ideal to look at. We want the following:
   1. TSH at 0.5-2.0
   2. T4 Free at 1.2-1.5
   3. T3 Free at 3.0-3.8
   4. Antibodies not present!

If we have anything other than that, we need to consider WHY the thyroid may be struggling, and what support it needs. We love Thyroboost Essentials and Thyroboost Glandular as options depending on what bloodwork looks like and what symptoms are. Use code FITMOM for discount.

1. Inflammation/Blood Sugars - If you are already dealing with bloating, or constipation, or weigh tissues, we recommend getting a full bloodwork panel to best understand the state of the body BEFORE adding in things that can truly just drive more inflammation in an inflammatory environment. You can get bloodwork with us HERE

TEST AND RETEST!

If someone is giving you hormones or recommendations on hormones without getting bloodwork done first to see your levels, RUN in the other direction. They should get bloodwork, retest bloodwork every 3-4 months while on them, and start at a very low dose. This is a non-negotiable in my book because issues driven by too high of hormones are a pain in the butt to deal with backing up and fixing.

LOW AND SLOW

I explain this below, but this is the reason I do not like pellets, as they are VERY large doses at once, and if you are sensitive to that hormone (which you truly don’t know until its in your body), then you have to deal with the side effects for 3 months until it wears off.