Lara Briden's Blog, page 13

4 Things to Know About Bio-identical or Body-Identical HRT

Looking for clarity around menopausal hormone therapy or hormone replacement (HRT)?

Modern hormone therapy is very different from the Premarin and Provera of old.

Here’s everything you need to know.

You’ll need progesterone before you need estrogen

Perimenopause or “second puberty” can start years before your periods actually stop. The earliest symptoms of perimenopause include heavy periods, insomnia, and anxiety, and are actually the result of losing progesterone, not estrogen.

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4 Things to Know About Menopausal Hormone Therapy

This post is for all you forty and fifty-somethings who are looking for some kind of clarity around hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or menopausal hormone therapy.

You want to know if HRT is safe and which type to choose. And you want to know if hormone treatment is actually going to help with the sleep disturbance and mood changes and crazy periods that you’re experiencing now (but really didn’t expect to see for a few more years).

Perimenopause or “second puberty” is the two to twelve y...

4 Things to Know About Hormone Replacement Therapy

This post is for all you forty and fifty-somethings who are looking for some kind of clarity around hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or menopausal hormone therapy.

You want to know if HRT is safe and which type to choose. And you want to know if hormone treatment is actually going to help with the sleep disturbance and mood changes and crazy periods that you’re experiencing now (but really didn’t expect to see for a few more years).

Perimenopause or “second puberty” is the two to twelve y...

4 Types of PCOS (a Flowchart)

Your diagnosis of PCOS may not mean very much. For one thing, you may have been mistakenly told you have “lean PCOS” when you actually have hypothalamic amenorrhea or are in a temporary post-pill situation.

Or, you may truly have PCOS but not the insulin-resistant type.

Here’s what you need to know about the four types of PCOS. (Full flowchart at the end of the article.)

First things first, what is PCOS? Despite the name, polycystic ovary syndrome has absolutely nothing to do with cysts on...

Why Progesterone Is Both Good and Bad for Mood (and How to Treat PMDD)

Progesterone calms the brain and promotes sleep. At the same time, progesterone might be involved in the mood symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

How can both things be true? The short answer is that progesterone is usually good for mood but can sometimes be bad.

Keep reading for the longer answer about progesterone and mood.

Contraceptive progestin drugs are bad for mood

Progestins are not the same as the body’s own progesterone, so they shouldn’t come into this conversation....

Is Progesterone Good or Bad for Mood? (And How to Treat PMDD)

Progesterone calms the brain and promotes sleep. At the same time, progesterone might be involved in the mood symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

How can both things be true? The short answer is that progesterone is usually good for mood but can sometimes be bad.

Keep reading for the longer answer about progesterone and mood.

Contraceptive progestin drugs are bad for mood

Progestins are not the same as the body’s own progesterone, so they shouldn’t come into this conversation....

Endometriosis? Treat the Immune System

[image error]Endometriosis is not a hormonal condition. It’s affected by estrogen but it’s not caused by estrogen or “estrogen dominance.”

Instead, endometriosis is a whole-body inflammatory and immune disease, and possibly a microbial disease.

What does that mean for treatment?

For one thing, it means that contraceptive pills and injections are basically the wrong tools for the job. They can relieve symptoms for some women (which is good), but contraceptive drugs are not evidence-based medicine for endom...

What If You Have Both PCOS and Endometriosis?

[image error]PCOS and endometriosis are two very different conditions but they’re also very common. It's possible to have both PCOS and endometriosis at the same time and that can make for some pretty tricky diagnosis and treatment.

Here’s what you need to know.

Continue Reading

The post What If You Have Both PCOS and Endometriosis? appeared first on Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary.

3 Signs Your Period Is Not Really a Period

[image error]A real period is the bleed that comes at the end of a proper ovulatory menstrual cycle. In other words, it’s the bleed that comes after ovulation and the making of progesterone.

Any other kind of bleed is either 1) the breakthrough bleed of an anovulatory cycle or 2) a pill-bleed.

They’re not real periods.

In this blog post, I’ll describe three easy ways to know if you’re having  “fake periods” and what to do about it. But first, what is an ovulatory cycle?

Ovulatory cycle

A proper menstrual...

How to Treat Heavy Periods with Diet and Progesterone or Prometrium

Natural treatment can work for heavy or flooding periods but you need the right treatment for your cause of heavy periods.

There are three main causes of heavy periods: 1) low progesterone or “unopposed” estrogen, 2) endometriosis or adenomyosis, or 3) thyroid disease.

Let’s look at each cause (and possible treatments) and then I’ll provide the top five general ways to lighten menstrual flow. (You still want to treat the underlying cause, if you can.)

Heavy periods from low progesterone or...