Understanding Hormone Imbalance

Hormones are your body's chemical messengers.

Produced in the endocrine glands, these powerful chemicals travel around your bloodstream instructing tissues and organs what to do. They help control a lot of your body's major functions, including metabolism and reproduction.

When you have a hormone imbalance, you have too much or too little of a particular hormone. Even tiny changes can have serious effects throughout your entire body.

Think of hormones like a cake recipe. Too much or too little of any one ingredient affects the end product.

While some hormone levels go up and down throughout your lifetime and might simply be the result of natural aging, other changes occur when your endocrine glands get the recipe wrong.

Signs or Symptoms in Females

In females of reproductive age, the most prevalent hormone imbalance is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Your normal hormonal cycle also changes naturally during these phases:

• puberty
• pregnancy
• breastfeeding
• menopause

Symptoms of a hormonal imbalance specific to women include:

• heavy or irregular periods, including missed periods, a stopped period, or a frequent period
• hirsutism, or excessive hair on the face, chin, or other parts of the body
• acne on the face, chest, or upper back
• hair loss
• darkening of the skin, especially along neck creases, in the groin, and underneath the breasts
• skin tags
• vaginal dryness
• vaginal atrophy
• pain during sex
• night sweats
• headaches

Causes Unique to Women

Several causes of hormonal imbalance in women are related to reproductive hormones. Common causes include:

• menopause
• primary ovarian insufficiency, which is also known as premature menopause
• pregnancy
• breastfeeding
• PCOS
• hormone drugs such as birth control pills

Treatment Options for a Hormone Imbalance

Treatment for a hormone imbalance will depend on what's causing it. Some common treatment options are described below.

Estrogen therapy

If you're dealing with hot flashes or other unpleasant symptoms of menopause, your doctor may suggest a low dose of estrogen

Be sure to go over the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with your doctor. 

Vaginal estrogen

If you're experiencing vaginal dryness or pain during sex, you may want to try applying an estrogen cream, tablet, or ring.

Using this local therapy treatment helps eliminate many of the risks associated with systemic estrogen, or estrogen that travels throughout the bloodstream to the appropriate organ.

Hormonal birth control

Hormonal birth control can help regulate your menstrual cycles. Sorts of hormonal birth control include the:

• birth control pill
• birth control patch
• birth control shot
• vaginal ring
• intrauterine device (IUD)

It can also help improve acne and reduce extra hair on the face and body.

Anti-androgen medications

Androgens are male sex hormones that are present in both women and men. Women with high androgen levels might choose to take medication that blocks the effects of androgens.

These effects include:

• hair loss
• facial hair growth
• acne

Metformin

Metformin is a type 2 diabetes medication that might aid some women with PCOS symptoms. The FDA hasn't approved it to treat PCOS, but it may help lower androgen levels and promote ovulation.

Flibanserin (Addyi) and bremelanotide (Vyleesi)

Addyi and Vyleesi are the only medications that are FDA approved for the treatment of low sexual desire in premenopausal women. Addyi is a pill, and Vyleesi is a self-administered injectable medication.

These drugs may come with some major side effects, such as extreme nausea and changes in blood pressure. Talk to your doctor to see if either one could be right for you.

Eflornithine (Vaniqa)

This prescription cream is designed specifically for excessive facial hair in women. Applied topically to the skin, it helps slow down new hair growth, but it doesn't get rid of existing hair.

For further information about Dr. Stengler’s practice and his clinic in La Jolla, California, please visit our website at MarkStengler.com or give us a call at (760) 274-2377