Estrogen is a foundational hormone that regulates numerous systems within the female body. Its decline during the menopausal transition is often the root cause of disruptive symptoms. At Empower Women's Health, our first step is to understand how your specific hormonal shifts are impacting your well-being.

We utilize estrogen therapy to precisely target the most common symptoms of menopause. Systemic therapy (via oral or transdermal methods) is highly effective for managing vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats. For symptoms of genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), such as vaginal dryness and irritation, targeted low-dose vaginal estrogen provides relief directly to the affected tissues without significant systemic absorption.

Progesterone is far more than just a reproductive hormone; it's a powerful neuro-active hormone that has profound effects on the brain and nervous system. While its most critical role in menopause care is to protect the uterine lining for those taking estrogen, its job doesn't stop there. Replenishing progesterone is a key part of our strategy to address some of the most disruptive symptoms of the menopause transition.

At Empower Women's Health, we leverage the versatile power of progesterone to help our patients feel their best from the inside out. Beyond its essential protective duties, a tailored dose of progesterone can offer significant quality-of-life improvements, including:

• Aiding Restful Sleep: It acts as a natural sedative, helping you fall asleep and stay asleep through the night.

• Alleviating Anxiety: It soothes the nervous system, helping to dial down feelings of tension and being overwhelmed.

• Improving Mood: It can help buffer against the irritability and mood swings common in hormonal flux.

• Supporting Brain Health: It plays a role in memory and cognition, helping to lift the "brain fog" of menopause.

• Curbing Hot Flashes: It provides another layer of defense against the frequency and intensity of hot flashes.

Let's clear up one of the biggest misconceptions in women's health: testosterone is not just for men. In fact, we consider it the 'missing piece' of the puzzle for many women navigating menopause. This vital hormone is essential for a woman's energy, mental clarity, muscle health, and libido.

Like estrogen and progesterone, testosterone levels naturally decline with age, and the loss can be profound. At Empower Women's Health, we take a comprehensive look at your entire hormonal profile. If a deficiency is impacting your quality of life, we may recommend therapies such as DHEA (a precursor hormone that your body can convert to testosterone) or direct, low-dose testosterone therapy to safely restore your levels.

Replenishing this key hormone can be transformative, helping to address frustrating symptoms like:

• Persistent brain fog and difficulty concentrating.

• A noticeable drop in libido or desire.

• Discomfort or pain during sex.

• Deep fatigue that isn't resolved with rest.

• Stubborn weight gain and loss of muscle tone.

Building your hormone therapy plan is a meticulous process, tailored precisely to your body’s needs. The most important factor guiding your protocol is whether you have a uterus, which determines the specific hormones needed for a safe and effective outcome.

For women with a uterus, our protocol involves "combination therapy." We prescribe progesterone alongside estrogen to provide crucial balance. Estrogen alone can cause an unhealthy thickening of the uterine lining over time, and progesterone is the essential counterbalance that keeps this lining thin, healthy, and protected. Think of it as foundational safety built directly into your treatment.

For women without a uterus, the protocol is often simpler. Since there's no uterine lining to protect, an estrogen-only therapy is typically all that is needed to relieve symptoms.

Once this primary pathway is established, we then assess whether other hormones, like testosterone (often supported with DHEA), would be beneficial to help you fully achieve your wellness goals.