HRT
Imbalanced hormones can be a nightmare for women and men. But here’s the thing—it happens. Hormone levels change as we age; they’re one of those things nobody thinks about until they get between you and the life you want to live.
Symptoms of a hormone imbalance range from physical (decreased muscle mass and low energy) to sexual (low libido and sexual dysfunction) to emotional (irritability and depression). While many of our patients are over the age of 40, hormonal imbalance or deficiency can happen at any age.
You deserve to live your best life, and we can help make that happen. At Regain Functional Medicine + Aesthetics, we provide bioidentical hormone replacement therapy in Leawood for women and men looking to feel like themselves again.
Treatment Details
Treatment Type
Hormones & Weight Loss
# of treatments needed
Ongoing
DURATION OF RESULTS
Ongoing with continued treatment
downtime
None
What it Treats
Changes due to aging in both men and women, including fatigue, lack of motivation, weight gain, loss of muscle tone, thinning hair, lack of focus, muscle and joint pain, mood changes, poor memory, difficulty sleeping, and low libido.
Specifically in women: painful intercourse, night sweats, hot flashes, migraines, and worsening urinary incontinence.
Personalized Treatments
It all starts with a comprehensive blood panel where we test hormones like estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. Based on your results, we tailor your dosage to your specific, unique needs.
With different administration options, we discuss your preferences between injections or pellets. We usually recommend injections, but ultimately, it’s your decision. During your visit, we will discuss which method will work best for your lifestyle.
You can stay on hormone replacement therapy for as long as you would like, continuously experiencing the benefits and youthful vitality that come with this treatment.
Let’s Pause to Talk About Menopause
Menopause is a natural life stage that every woman will experience at some point. It’s most often recognized for the long list of symptoms that come with it, including hot flashes, mood swings, and night sweats.
What people don’t often talk about are the stages of menopause. From perimenopause to postmenopause, we want to educate women on what to expect from these transitional life events.
Perimenopause (The Transitional Phase)
What most people think of as menopause comes in stages and happens more gradually than you would expect. It starts with a decline in hormone levels that you can expect as early as your late 30s to early 40s.
During this window, called “perimenopause,” women experience irregular periods, mood changes, and vaginal discomfort.
Many women start experiencing these symptoms:
- Hot flashes and night sweats – Sudden waves of heat, sweating, or flushing that can last 5 to 10 minutes.
- Urinary incontinence – The inability to control your bladder, causing you to leak pee when you cough or sneeze.
- Mood changes – Feeling more irritable, anxious, or “off.” As a reminder, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone impact neurotransmitters in your brain that keep your mood stabilized.
You can begin hormone replacement therapy in Leawood during perimenopause to ease these symptoms and more.
Menopause
Menopause is a specific point in time marked by the absence of a period for 12 consecutive months, which signals the end of estrogen production in your ovaries. This stage typically happens in the late 40s to early 50s, with the average age being 51.
Although perimenopause is associated with a gradual reduction in hormone levels, menopause marks a rapid hormonal decline. This leads to additional symptoms on top of those experienced during perimenopause.
- Sleep disturbances – Women may have a more difficult time falling asleep or staying asleep. This happens because the body also produces less progesterone, making it harder to relax.
- Vaginal dryness and discomfort – Less estrogen means less vaginal lubrication. This can cause pain and itchiness and even increase your risk of urinary tract infections.
- Brain fog – Women report having a difficult time concentrating during menopause. This may be caused by sleep disturbances as well as the decline in estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
Menopause doesn’t have to interfere with any aspect of your life. With hormone replacement therapy in Leawood, we restore your levels of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone so you can more easily sleep through the night and feel productive and comfortable during the day.
Postmenopause
Postmenopause is the stage that a woman stays in for the remainder of her life; most women enter it around the age of 52. During postmenopause, a woman’s hormones settle but remain low. This may ease some symptoms, but cause others to linger.
Common health-related issues from postmenopause include the following:
- Bone loss – Estrogen and testosterone support bone health and density. Low levels of these hormones may result in your bones breaking more easily.
- Cardiovascular disease – Estrogen regulates your cholesterol and blood sugar levels, while testosterone enhances red blood cell formation. Low hormone levels put you at a greater risk of heart-related conditions, like heart attack, stroke, or plaque buildup.
Weight gain – Menopause and low levels of hormones change how your body stores, distributes, and burns fat. Many women experience weight gain during or after menopause.
Hormone replacement therapy in Leawood can prevent these concerns from surfacing and help you maintain your youthful vitality through the stages of menopause.
Bioidentical is Better
You’ll hear the term “hormone replacement therapy” used quite a bit as a functional medicine treatment, helping patients regain their health and well-being so they can live and thrive at optimal levels. BHRT & HRT most often treat women, helping with symptoms associated with menopause.
However, as a patient, you should know that HRT and BHRT do not necessarily mean the same thing.
What the Hormones Do
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) involves medication(s) containing hormones that rebalance a patient’s hormone levels. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) accomplishes the same goal. The critical differences: where the hormones are sourced and how they match our bodies.
BHRT Hormones
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy uses hormones that are molecularly identical to natural human hormones. The body can more readily utilize these kinds of hormones with far fewer possible side effects. Bioidentical hormones come from plant sources, commonly including wild yams.
HRT Hormones
Non-bioidentical hormone replacement therapy involves hormones that don’t chemically match our own natural hormones. Estrogen hormones in HRT can be derived from equine sources. For example, Premarin comes from pregnant horse urine.
In-House Prescriptions
We are thrilled to announce that progesterone is now available in-house! To take advantage of this convenient and affordable option, simply reach out to us using the contact details below or speak with your provider during your next appointment.
Regarding Pick-Ups…
- To ensure your prescription is available, please submit your refill request at least 1 week in advance. No exceptions.
- Please check with the front desk to ensure your prescription has been delivered before coming to the office.
- For prescription requests or to check delivery status, please call, text, or email our office.
Thank you for your business!
Dr. Kathy Gaumer joins host Daniel Gouw on Episode 117 of the Beauty Talk Podcast to uncover the most common hormone therapy mistakes women make and how to avoid them. Learn what to look for in your provider, how to recognize imbalance symptoms, and what every woman should know before starting HRT.
What Are Hormones, and What Role Do They Play in Women’s Overall Health?
We talk a lot about hormones and how they can affect everything from cognitive function to skin health to energy levels. That’s quite a broad set of influences that hormones have on your overall health.
To understand how hormone replacement therapy in Leawood can benefit you, we start by understanding how hormones function and what roles they play in regulating key bodily processes.
Estrogen and Women’s Health
Estrogen is the primary female sex hormone. Besides its key roles in reproductive health—like supporting women’s menstruation and fertility—it also regulates the following bodily functions.
Cardiovascular Health
Estrogen protects your heart by lowering your cholesterol, regulating your blood sugar levels, and encouraging proper circulation throughout your body. All of these functions keep your heart healthy and minimize your risk of heart disease, stroke, or a heart attack.
Skin Health
Estrogen contributes to healthy skin by supporting key structural components, such as collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid.
Collagen and elastin are 2 proteins that help your skin stay firm and flexible and bounce back into place after being stretched. Hyaluronic acid retains moisture and keeps your skin hydrated and plump. Together, these elements help you maintain a healthy, youthful appearance.
As you age, your body’s production of collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid declines, leaving your skin susceptible to thinning, sagging, and wrinkling. Estrogen slows down this decline, keeping your skin fuller and tighter for longer, and supports your skin health from the inside out.
Hair Health
Additionally, estrogen plays a vital role in encouraging hair growth. This preserves greater density and fullness because it prevents hair from shedding prematurely.
If you’ve noticed significant shedding or newly thinning hair, hormone replacement therapy in Leawood may be the first step to rescuing your locks.
Urinary Tract Health
Estrogen supports your pelvic floor muscles and gives your vaginal tissues elasticity and lubrication. This function also gives you better control over your bladder and helps to prevent vaginal dryness, which can lead to discomfort and infections.
Progesterone and Women’s Health
Progesterone is another hormone that plays a major role in women’s reproductive health. Its primary purpose is to protect the uterus and prepare for potential pregnancy by thickening and then shedding the uterine lining during each menstrual cycle.
Beyond the reproductive benefits of progesterone, this hormone also regulates and supports several other bodily processes.
Mood and Anxiety
Progesterone can enhance the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter activity in your brain. The GABA calms your nervous system and allows your brain to process information at a relaxed pace. This function promotes relaxation and supports emotional regulation.
Sleep Quality
Progesterone improves sleep by regulating your circadian rhythm. Patients who struggle with insomnia may find that including progesterone in their hormone replacement therapy in Leawood can make it easier for them to fall asleep and stay asleep.
Thyroid Function Support
Your thyroid makes and releases specific hormones, controls your metabolism, and influences your energy levels. Progesterone supports your thyroid function by increasing the levels needed to support hormones that influence your digestion, muscle control, and even brain development.
Testosterone and Women’s Health
While it’s most often recognized as the primary male hormone, women’s bodies also make and rely on testosterone to support the following processes.
Sexual Health
Testosterone helps maintain your libido and interest in sex. With lower levels of testosterone, women can experience hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). While estrogen improves vaginal lubrication, testosterone targets the brain pathways to reactivate your desire for sex.
Muscle and Bone Health
Testosterone binds to specific receptors to help maintain muscle mass and strength. It also supports the building and maintenance of bone mass and bone density. Without enough testosterone, both men and women are at risk for muscle weakening and osteoporosis (a disease that causes weak and brittle bones).
Energy Levels
Testosterone helps create red blood cells, which provide oxygen and nutrients to tissues for energy. So not only does testosterone and hormone replacement therapy in Leawood support your energy levels and motivation, it also improves your heart health.
How Hormone Replacement Therapy Helps
As you grow older, your hormone levels naturally decline, resulting in a host of unwanted symptoms that negatively affect your mood, sleep pattern, cognitive function, weight, and appearance.
Hormone replacement therapy restores your estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone levels to a state of equilibrium.
With HRT, you are enhancing your health on a cellular level so you can experience improvements in the following concerns:
- Sexual function
- Cognition
- Immunity
- Energy
- Sleep
- Weight
At Regain, we personalize your hormone replacement therapy in Leawood to your specific needs. This means you receive a customized dosage of estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone, alongside any other hormones or supplements to optimize your health and improve your quality of life.
Results
Frequently Asked Questions
You might be a good candidate for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) if:
- Hormone imbalances are interfering with your daily life
- Hormonal imbalances are interfering with your sex life
- Menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, trouble sleeping, and decreased libido are keeping you from living life to the fullest
- You have low bone density
- You’re experiencing mood swings or increased irritability
The best way to find out if you’re a good candidate for HRT in Leawood is to schedule your consultation. We’ll check your baseline levels and determine the best course of treatment from there.
For hormone replacement therapy, you can expect to start experiencing results after several weeks. It takes the vast majority of our patients about 8 weeks to function at optimal health.
For testosterone replacement therapy, you might start to experience positive change shortly after beginning treatment (i.e. within the first few weeks).
Regain Functional Medicine + Aesthetics provides hormone replacement therapy and testosterone replacement therapy in Leawood. So, how do you know which one is for you? Hormone replacement therapy balances estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, while testosterone replacement therapy—you guessed it—focusses exclusively on balancing testosterone levels. Your functional medicine provider will use your consultation and preliminary testing to determine if either of these treatments align with your needs and goals.
Yes! After you graduate from being a “new patient,” you receive a free Visia photoimaging skin consultation. This technology allows us to look below your skin to get a more accurate assessment of your full skin health. Using the information from Visia, we create a customized facial to address skin-related concerns like wrinkles, dryness, or laxity.
In addition to a customized facial, you receive 10 free units of wrinkle relaxers like Botox or Daxxify to soften fine lines and wrinkles. We also give you 20% off your first skincare purchase.
Even without extra treatments, HRT can still improve your skin and hair health—these aesthetic perks just enhance the results.
We provide a full lab panel at a much lower and more affordable price than what you can get through insurance or your primary care physician.
This panel doesn’t just measure your hormone levels, but also your kidney function, blood sugar management, thyroid function, lipid profile, and complete blood count. Testing more than your hormones gives us a better understanding of your overall health. That way, we can develop a personalized treatment plan to help you live a longer, healthier life.
Get Started
Use our Treatment Planning Tool to tell us more about your unique needs and goals. We’ll turn your input into personalized treatment recommendations for getting you to where you need and want to be.
About Us
At Regain Functional Medicine + Aesthetics, we are privileged to treat our patients to a whole-body health transformation from the inside out. Using a vast array of treatments and cutting-edge equipment, our experts provide customized care for restoring your functional health and meeting your aesthetic needs and goals.
Better care for your best life.
Start The Process
We offer a variety of different services and treatments to help you feel better inside and out. Explore more of our treatments by using our free treatment planning tool, or dive into our men’s service menu.
Feel Better
better energy, better mood, better sleep, better sex.
Function Better
better cognitive function, better cardiovascular function, better metabolic function.
Move Better
stronger with fewer aches and pains.
Look Better
look as good as you feel.