Hormonal balance is an important aspect of supporting a good quality of life. Anyone who has experienced hormonal shifts during adolescence, menstrual cycles, or around pregnancy and childbirth can attest to this. The perimenopausal and menopausal shifts are no different. For many people, this can be a time of great change, and for some, it can be prolonged suffering.

Fortunately, while menopause is inevitable, the suffering that can accompany it is not.

When it comes to perimenopause and menopause, naturopathic treatments aim to support the body’s transition by promoting hormonal balance, supporting the psycho-emotional shifts, and addressing the different nutritional and exercise needs for healthy aging.

Dr. Maiella has a range of tools that she offers to help people experiencing this life transition. Sometimes it’s talking. Sometimes it’s tapping, sometimes nutritional coaching etc. It’s never the same for for everyone.

While not the first modality chosen for everyone, one of the most effective therapies for a challenging hormonal transition is hormone replacement therapy (HRT). This is the use of prescribed hormones to address the decrease in levels of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone that begins to occur in perimenopause.

There has been a revival of the prescribing of HRT in the past few years and it has been exciting to be a part of it. So many women can be helped through peri-menopause, to a point where they are absolutely THRIVING! Additionally, HRT can help to prevent many of the health concerns connected to aging, such as the rapid rate of bone loss due to low estrogen levels occurs within a few years of hitting menopause. The use of HRT, specifically estrogen, can change the course of this progression. There are so many benefits, including greater cognition, a healthier sex drive and more muscle mass.

Many women has discontinued the use of HRT due to concerns that were raised by research two decades ago. Recently, however, researchers have been debunking those previous findings (due to study design flaws), and we as prescribing doctors now have even better guidelines and parameters to help make a safe HRT prescriptions. A good resource regarding this is the book Estrogen Matters written by an oncologist and social psychologist.

Dr. Maiella stays as up-to-date as possible in regards to the newest data and research, and every person is comprehensively screened for personal and family history contraindications.