The Benefits of Hormone Replacement Therapy

Dr. Laurent: Hormone replacement is essentially replacing some of the sex hormones that our body naturally produces but go down as we age. Good candidates for hormone replacement are those individuals who've been documented as having actual hormone deficiency, such as a low testosterone, a low estrogen level. Dr. Baker: Generally, the average hormone patient comes to see me in their mid to late thirties or early forties. They're starting to feel tired, sluggish. They've lost their zest for life, libido. They're not sleeping well. Ideal candidates are also women who are going through menopause who are starting to have hot flashes, night sweats. Dr. Laurent: Men who have lost their libido, their energy, they're gaining midsection weight, lost muscle mass, lost that kind of type A personality. These are all very good patients for hormone replacement. Hormones come in small pellet forms, so they're very easy to insert. We do insert them just underneath the skin, through a tiny little incision. The patient will generally come in, get their pellets performed. They can go right back to work and relatively normal activity, other than extensive exercise, which they need to avoid for about five to seven days. Dr. Baker: Depending on what kind of hormones you have placed in hormone therapy, the results can be immediate to a couple of days to maybe several weeks, but by about a month after hormone replacement therapy, patients should notice a dramatic, remarkable difference. Dr. Laurent: We're taking care of thousands, literally, of patients right now that are receiving hormone replacement. And really they're just getting back their vitality, their libido. They're getting their lives back, and it's dramatically improved how these people feel and their overall health. They just want to have healthier lives. They want to be able to do normal active things. And hormone replacement can often do that.