Women generally start to see changes and symptoms of hormonal decline anywhere from mid- forties to mid fifties. Furthermore many women experience menopausal symptoms many years following achieving menopause . These symptoms include mood irritability , hot flashes , vaginal dryness , decreased libido , weight gain , sleep disturbances and more .
Men however tend to have a more gradual decline in the male hormone called testosterone that starts in their forties and continues throughout their life . This drop in testosterone can cause sleep disturbances , sexual side effects , fatigue , depression , irritability , weight gain , and the inability to gain muscle mass . This phenomenon has gone unrecognized for many years and we are only starting to gain more insight into this topic in the past decade.
There has been a lot of hype about hormone replacement for women, testosterone replacement for men , and bio identical hormones. There is unfortunately a lot of incorrect information on the internet . Hormone therapy can be a wonderful life changing therapy for many people but it is not for every patient . In my practice I spend a great deal of time testing for hormonal imbalance and subsequently evaluating each patient and their risk factors to see if they are the ideal candidate for hormone replacement .
I strongly believe that my role as a doctor is not only to treat disease but also to help my patients achieve a high quality and productive lifestyle .