These Signs May Mean You Have A Hormone Imbalance
Getting older is a normal part of life. It's often associated with "slowing down" or even decline, but it doesn't have to be. If you've been feeling more tired, gaining weight easily, noticing changes in your mood, or just not feeling like yourself, it may not simply be age catching up to you.
Sometimes, the real reason you feel off is because your hormones are changing. Hormones influence nearly everything: your mood, metabolism, sleep, sexual health, and how clearly you think. So if these hormones become imbalanced, you can feel the effects in ways that are hard to ignore.
These hormone changes often happen gradually, making them hard to recognize. But once they're detected, treatment can begin. So let's dive into exactly why this happens.
Why Do Hormone Levels Change in Men and Women?
The most common reason hormone levels change in both men and women is aging. While everyone experiences hormonal shifts throughout their lives, these changes become more noticeable as we get older.
For women this often means entering perimenopause or menopause. For men, hormone imbalances usually present as age-related low testosterone, also known as hypogonadism.
Perimenopause and Menopause
Perimenopause typically starts between ages 45 and 56, but about 5% of women will experience it sooner. During this time, estrogen and progesterone levels start to fluctuate, which leads to many different physical and emotional symptoms.
Over time, estrogen and progesterone levels continue to decrease. This eventually leads to menopause, which is officially 12 months after a woman's last period (menstrual cycle).
Male Hypogonadism
After the age of 30 years, testosterone levels in men can decrease as much as 0.4-2% every year. Some men only have a slight reduction in testosterone over time. But other men can have a more significant drop in testosterone from male hypogonadism, which is when the body doesn't make enough testosterone.
How quickly testosterone declines varies from person to person and depends on several factors like increased age and whether or not you have certain medical conditions. Medical conditions that are linked to low testosterone include:
Obesity
Poorly controlled type 2 diabetes
Obstructive sleep apnea
Kidney disease
Cirrhosis of the liver
HIV/AIDs
According to studies, about 40% of men over the age of 45 and 50% of men older than 80 years old have low levels of testosterone. However, it's important to note that not all men will experience the symptoms of low testosterone and require treatment.
10 Common Signs of Hormone Imbalance in Women
When women's hormone levels begin to change, the symptoms can be subtle at first and become more noticeable over time. These are some of the more common signs of hormonal imbalance in women.
1. Fatigue
Low levels of estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone can leave you feeling exhausted, even if you're getting enough sleep.
2. Weight Gain or Difficulty Losing Weight
Changes in the hormones estrogen and progesterone can change your metabolism and even affect how and where your body stores fat. Because of this, you may notice that your body looks different or your clothes fit differently even if the scale stays the same.
3. Brain Fog or Trouble Concentrating
Many women notice temporary changes in brain function during perimenopause like difficulty concentrating, slower processing, or feeling like they're thinking through a fog.
4. Mood Swings
When going through perimenopause and menopause, up to 70% of women have changes in their mood. These mood changes vary between women but can look like:
Anger
Irritability
Anxiety
Depression
Loss of self-esteem and confidence
5. Irregular Cycles
During perimenopause, it's common to have changes to menstrual cycles. This may look like shorter, longer, heavier, lighter, or more irregular cycles as hormones fluctuate.
6. Hot Flashes or Night Sweats
Hot flashes, night sweats, and even palpitations are some of the most common symptoms of low female hormones in menopause. They're classified as vasomotor symptoms. About 75 to 80% of menopausal women have these symptoms, and it's primarily due to low or fluctuating levels of estrogen.
7. Vaginal Dryness
Over half of women going through menopause will have symptoms like vaginal dryness. When estrogen levels drop, the lining of the vagina thins, which causes dryness, burning, itching, and overall irritation.
8. Urinary Symptoms
In addition to vaginal dryness, some women also feel like they need to urinate more. Low estrogen can cause thinning of the urethra (the tube that drains urine from the bladder), and this can make some women have burning and pain when they urinate.
Some people may have increased urinary tract infections due to changes in bacteria levels from low estrogen levels.
9. Poor Sleep
Some women may have changes in sleep from night sweats but also from sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome. Due to these conditions, women can experience trouble falling asleep, waking up earlier than planned, or waking up multiple times throughout the night.
10. Low Sex Drive
For women going through perimenopause and menopause, a drop in estrogen can lead to loss of libido as well as pain with intercourse from vaginal changes.
Are These Symptoms Sounding Familiar?
If you relate to more than a couple of these symptoms, your hormone levels may be changing more than you realize. Many women chalk these changes up to stress or aging, but hormones can affect us more than we realize.
But here's the good news: hormone testing can easily reveal whether these changes are due to your hormone levels.
To get further evaluation for a possible hormone imbalance, start by completing our symptom checklist at the link below.
8 Common Signs of Hormone Imbalance in Men
Hormone imbalances in men can show up gradually and are often easy to overlook. Here are some of the most common signs that low testosterone may be affecting your health.
1. Loss of Muscle or Strength
Testosterone is the main hormone men need to build and maintain muscle. So if your testosterone levels are low, you may have a harder time gaining strength and building muscle.
2. Low Energy or Fatigue
Low levels of testosterone can also cause men to feel tired and have poor energy levels, even though they're getting enough sleep.
3. Erectile Dysfunction
Difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection, or noticing fewer morning erections, may be a sign of low testosterone.
4. Weight Gain
Some men with low testosterone may find that they've gained weight, particularly body fat. Testosterone directly affects the metabolism, and low levels of it can make it easier to gain body fat and harder to maintain muscle.
5. Mood Changes
Some men with low testosterone may notice changes in their mood like depression and irritability.
6. Brain Fog
Low levels of testosterone can cause some men to experience brain fog. This may present as slower mental processing, a shorter attention span, or trouble remembering things.
7. Decreased Libido
Testosterone is the main hormone that drives sexual desire in men. So if you don't have enough testosterone, you may have a lower sex drive.
8. Hair Loss
When testosterone levels drop, men may notice a gradual decrease in armpit and pubic hair.
How Are Hormone Imbalances Treated?
If you relate to one or more of the symptoms above, your hormone levels may be imbalanced. Fortunately, hormone imbalances are treatable, and many people feel so much better once they start treatment.
The most effective treatment for age-related hormone decline is hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
The goal of HRT is simple: restore hormone levels to an optimal level so you can feel more like yourself again.
Types of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
HRT isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. What works best for you depends on your symptoms, lab values, lifestyle, and preferences. Because of this, we offer several different types of HRT:
Topical creams or gels: These are applied daily to the skin and deliver steady amounts of hormones. They can be used in both men and women.
Injections: In men, testosterone can be injected into the muscle once weekly. For women, estrogen and progesterone is available and can be injected into the muscle usually every two to four weeks.
Oral medications: In both men and women, there are oral forms of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
Vaginal estrogen: Estrogen creams, tablets, or rings can be applied vaginally in women to help relieve symptoms of vaginal dryness, discomfort, and pain.
If you don't want to have to take medication regularly, this last option may be a great one for you.
Evexias Pellet Hormone Replacement Therapy
Evexias pellet hormone replacement therapy, also known as the EvexiPEL Method, is a long-acting form of bioidentical HRT. It's designed to provide consistent, steady hormone levels with no daily dosing.
This method involves inserting long-acting bioidentical hormone pellets just under the skin. Because the hormones used are bioidentical, this means that your body is able to recognize and use them the same as the hormones your body naturally makes.
The pellets are placed in a simple in-office procedure that only takes several minutes. Plus, they're only about the size of a grain of rice, so it's unlikely that you'll notice the pellets once they're placed under the skin.
Once the pellets are placed, they start releasing hormones right away. The pellets last between three and five months for women and four to six months for men, making them a convenient and effective option for HRT.
Are There Risks to HRT?
As with any medical therapy, HRT does have potential risks. The good news is that most side effects are mild and temporary, especially when HRT is done by a trained provider.
Possible Side Effects For Women
When looking at the risks of HRT in women, they include:
Weight gain
Nausea
Breast tenderness
Headaches
Skin irritation for topical HRT
Allergic reactions
Blood clots (rare)
Gallstones (rare)
In the early 2000's, a large study called the Women's Health Initiative published that HRT increased the risk of breast cancer, stroke, and heart disease. However, this has since been proven wrong.
This large study was re-evaluated and showed that if HRT is started before the age of 60 years or within 10 years of the start of menopause, HRT doesn't increase the risk of breast cancer and heart disease.
Possible Side Effects For Men
Men receiving HRT can also have side effects including:
Skin changes like acne
Gynecomastia (enlarging breasts)
Worsening sleep apnea
Infertility
Skin irritation from topical forms
Mood swings
Decreased testicle size
Increased prostate size (benign)
Increase growth of existing prostate cancer
There's also some studies that suggest that HRT in men can increase the risk of blood clots and heart disease, but more research is needed to verify this.
How Do I Know If I Need To Be Evaluated for HRT?
If you're relating to several of the symptoms above or you simply feel "off" and don't know why, it may be time to have your hormone levels checked.
Pam Eaton, NP is a board-certified adult nurse practitioner and a certified Evexias hormone replacement provider who specializes in helping men and women understand their hormone health and feel their best again.
When you work with Pam, you'll start with a detailed review of your symptoms and medical history. Then, you'll get a comprehensive panel of blood work to check your hormone levels, blood counts, kidney and liver function, cholesterol, and thyroid function.
Once your results are in, you'll meet with Pam to review your blood work and see if HRT is a good fit for you.
Ready to take the next step? Complete your symptom checklist at the link below to get started.
