Signs of a Hormonal Imbalance

Your hormones are chemical messengers that are involved in or responsible for instigating and coordinating almost every process in your body. You may know that your hormones gave you secondary sex characteristics when you hit puberty. You may not know that they also regulate your metabolism.

If you’re feeling — or looking — out of sorts, you may have unbalanced hormones. Hormonal imbalance becomes more likely as you age, and you stop producing key hormones, such as estrogen in women and testosterone in men.

However, getting older doesn’t mean that you have to put up with hormonal imbalance. At Modern Wellness Clinic in Las Vegas, Nevada, our experts may recommend hormone replacement therapy so that you can feel normal again.

Do you think your hormones may be imbalanced? Here are a few signs and symptoms that are typical of unbalanced hormones.

You’ve lost interest in sex

No. It’s not your partner’s fault. Or even a sign that you’re too worldly, experienced, and cynical to ever fall in love again.

If your libido has dropped, your hormones probably have, too. Both women and men experience changes in their sexuality when their hormones are unbalanced.

Women may also have symptoms such as:

• Dry vagina
• Painful sex
• Loss of volume in vulva
• Difficulty achieving orgasm

Men may experience erectile dysfunction (ED), which is the inability to achieve or maintain an erection long enough to complete a sexual act.

You’ve broken a bone or have osteoporosis

Estrogen and testosterone keep your bones strong. When your hormone levels decrease, your body doesn’t make enough new bone cells to keep up with the natural dying off of old bone cells.

The result is bones that aren’t dense or strong enough to withstand an impact. Early stages of bone loss are called osteopenia. Later stages are osteoporosis. If you have osteoporosis, you’re in increased danger for fracturing a bone, particularly a hip or wrist. Restoring hormones can help prevent more bone loss and may even restore your ones.

You’re moody or unfocused

Without the proper balance of hormones, your brain doesn’t work at its best, either. You may find yourself having trouble staying focused or remembering things.

Fluctuations in hormones also affect your mood. You may feel depressed, fatigued, or even angry. Drops in testosterone are one reason why men sometimes become grumpier as they age.

Your skin sags and your hair is thin

Hormones even affect the quality of your skin, scalp, and hair. Because they regulate all of the body’s processes, they even affect how often you replace dying skin cells. Your body also needs the right hormones to create collagen and other proteins that help your skin and hair look young and strong.

You’ve gained fat or lost muscle

Even if you haven’t changed your diet or your workout routine, you may notice that you’re not as strong as you used to be. Hormones are involved in building and maintaining muscle mass, which is crucial to your health as you age. Muscles help keep you strong and prevent falls that could result in a fracture.

Hormones also influence your metabolism. As your hormones decrease, your metabolism slows so that you’re more likely to accumulate fatty areas. And, with less muscle mass, it’s harder to burn calories, which leads to further weight gain.

All of these unpleasant symptoms can be halted or even reversed with hormone replacement therapy. We offer testosterone injections for men and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) for women. Contact our office today to find out if you’d benefit from hormone replacement.