Both men and women produce the hormone estrogen, although it’s present in significantly higher levels in women’s bodies. Estrogen, along with the other hormones naturally present in your body, regulates functions including sexual development and menstrual cycles for girls and women, as well as food intake, body weight, metabolism, and more.
If your levels of estrogen are too low, you might start to notice symptoms of the imbalance, such as reduced sex drive or unexplained weight gain. If your estrogen levels remain chronically low, you could potentially face complications, including an increased risk of osteoporosis.
Let the team at BCS Medical help you get your hormone levels back in balance this summer. We offer bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) from offices in Bryan, Texas.
The causes of low estrogen
Low estrogen is most common in women approaching menopause and girls who haven’t yet reached puberty. However, you could struggle with low estrogen and hormonal imbalances at any point in your life. Some lifestyle issues, such as excessive exercise or an eating disorder like anorexia, can cause low estrogen at any age.
Since women’s estrogen is primarily produced in the ovaries, issues impacting your ovaries can also lead to low estrogen. If your pituitary gland isn’t functioning sufficiently, you may not produce enough estrogen. And, if you suffer from premature ovarian failure, Turner syndrome, or chronic kidney disease, your estrogen levels could be negatively affected, as well.
For women older than 40 years, low estrogen may be a sign of perimenopause, the transitional time of life before menopause. In perimenopause your ovaries naturally start to slow production of estrogen.
The risks of low estrogen
While lower estrogen may be natural right before menopause, chronically low estrogen levels can have a lot of downsides for your personal health. Low estrogen causes issues around your body that can be uncomfortable, embarrassing, and even dangerous to your long-term health and wellness.
You might feel generally physically uncomfortable if you’re dealing with chronically low estrogen. From headaches to hot flashes, weight changes to irritability and moodiness, low estrogen can make you miserable. Chronically low estrogen even increases your risk of depression, and can make you feel fatigued even after a good night’s sleep.
Because of the role that hormones like estrogen play in women’s bone growth, chronically low estrogen makes bones less dense, and therefore more likely to fracture or break. Chronically low estrogen increases your risk of developing osteoporosis later in life.
Low estrogen can also negatively impact your reproductive system and fertility. Low estrogen causes your periods to become irregular or cease altogether. Over time, untreated low estrogen can leave your fertility damaged.
Low estrogen levels can interfere with a healthy sex life in several ways. You might notice increasingly painful intercourse due to lack of vaginal lubrication, or be more prone to urinary tract infection (UTIs), if you have chronically low estrogen.
Restoring your hormone balance
The team at BCS Medical can assess your hormone profile and, if needed, recommend treatment for your low estrogen. With BHRT, you can address your low estrogen issues and restore balance to your whole-body health.
BHRT uses hormones that have the same chemical structure as those produced naturally by your own body. So, you won’t need to worry about unpleasant side effects due to foreign chemicals. Once your body starts to process your hormone medication, your symptoms of low estrogen will begin to subside, leaving you feeling better, stronger, and more active than ever.
To learn more about treating chronically low estrogen with BHRT, get in touch with the regenerative medicine experts at BCS Medical today. You can schedule your initial consultation appointment over the phone, or book online.
