Peptides and hormone replacement

Women

The role of estrogen

Estrogen steadies body temperature, keeps vaginal and bladder tissue comfortable, and protects bone. It falls with age and through menopause, and earlier if the ovaries stop or are removed. Very low body fat, under-fueling, hard training, illness, and some medicines can suppress it. Extra body fat does not replace what the ovaries stop making. A lab that only says in range is not the same as feeling well.

• The most effective treatment for hot flashes and night sweats. Sleep, irritability, and brain fog ease when those symptoms do.
• Vaginal dryness, thinning tissue, and painful sex improve. Vaginal estrogen can also ease bladder frequency and repeat urinary infections.
• Standard-dose therapy protects bone and helps prevent fractures.
• Started within 10 years of menopause, it protects the heart: a lower risk of heart disease, and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

Studies: The Menopause Society, current patient page · 2022 hormone therapy position statement

The role of progesterone

Progesterone is the progestogen the ovaries make after ovulation. It falls when cycles stop, through menopause, and earlier if the ovaries stop or are removed. Very low body fat, under-fueling, and hard training can interrupt ovulation and lower it. Extra body fat does not replace what the ovaries stop making. A lab that only says in range is not the same as feeling well.

• If the uterus is still present, progesterone is used with systemic estrogen so the uterine lining does not overgrow.
• Micronized progesterone can ease hot flashes and night sweats, and it can help with falling asleep.
• If the uterus has been removed, estrogen alone is often enough.

Studies: The Menopause Society, current patient page · 2022 hormone therapy position statement

The role of testosterone

Women make testosterone. It falls with age and through menopause, and earlier if the ovaries stop or are removed. There is no blood cutoff that separates low desire from typical desire. A result that is merely present is not the same as optimized.

• After menopause, testosterone kept near a premenopausal level can support sexual desire: more satisfying sex, more desire, arousal, and pleasure, and less distress about sex.

Studies: Global consensus on testosterone therapy for women · The same statement, Endocrine Society journal

Men

The role of testosterone

Testosterone supports sex drive, sexual activity, and muscle. It declines with age. Extra body fat lowers it further. Illness, poor sleep, some medicines, and a problem in the testes or the pituitary can lower it as well. A value inside a wide lab range is not the same as optimized. Symptoms and a morning blood test guide the decision.

• When testosterone is low, sex drive and sexual activity improve.
• The day-to-day symptoms that come with low testosterone ease.
• A morning blood test confirms the low before treatment starts.

Studies: TRAVERSE sexual function, 2023 · The Testosterone Trials

The role of estrogen

Most of a man's estrogen is made from his testosterone. It is not waste. It helps keep body fat in check, it is part of sex drive and sexual function, and it is the main keeper of his bone.

• High estrogen can raise body fat. Carrying extra weight, and drinking regularly, both turn more testosterone into estrogen. What you eat and what you drink are part of that picture.
• Crushing that conversion does the other harm. Body fat rises, and sexual function needs both hormones, not testosterone alone.
• Some clinics try to crush estrogen with anastrozole (Arimidex) the day testosterone starts. That can be as bad as the high, or worse. Hydro Flow does not start there.

Studies: Estrogen, fat, and sexual function in men · Estrogen and bone in men