Depression is a very serious situation that may dramatically affect your life and well-being—and that requires medical attention because it doesn’t just go away on its own.
There may be many causes for depression, such as personal events that may have a serious impact on your emotional balance. Still, depression may also be tied to changes in hormone production or functioning—such as aging in men and women, or menopause and childbirth in women.
So the question becomes: is it true that hormone replacement therapy helps to treat depression? In a nutshell, yes. While there are no miracle cures for depression, the truth is that if you’re experiencing symptoms of depression that are connected to hormonal imbalances, HRT for depression is a helpful therapy.
Let’s review how hormonal imbalances affect men and women and how that may play into clinically depressive symptoms—and how Hormone Replacement Therapy can help.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy and Depression
In men, lower testosterone levels that start manifesting with aging affect brain functions and emotional balance. In our Virginia Beach hormone health clinic, we are frequently visited by male patients who describe depressive-like symptoms as part of the aging-related reasons that make them visit Fountain of You MD. While we see Testosterone Replacement Therapy in the context of the comprehensive benefits that this treatment can offer to aging men, there is definitely a compelling case to use Hormone Replacement Therapy for depression in men.
At our Virginia Beach clinic, we treat men with low testosterone with high quality, time-released intramuscular injections of bioidentical hormones on a weekly or biweekly basis. Our patients typically feel very significant improvements after two months of continuous therapy. Improved brain functions, a sharper mind, better memory, and significantly improved mood are commonly observed benefits that will significantly reduce symptoms of depression in men.
Hormone Replacement Therapy for Women and Depression
In women, aging also affects brain functions and changes in mood. Age-related hormonal imbalances may cause peri- and postmenopausal depression. Sleep is affected by menopause and the typical hot flashes, which may cause insomnia and help to contribute to depressive symptoms. Low libido caused by aging and how it may affect relationships is also a problem that may pose self-esteem issues and affect your personal balance.
That’s where Hormone Replacement Therapy for Women comes in. Women who seek medical help at our clinic in the Hampton Roads area will undergo hormonal treatment using natural bioidentical progesterone designed to replenish hormone levels. This treatment will rebalance the progesterone levels that ovaries and adrenal glands are no longer producing as they once were.
While HRT for women presents several advantages that go beyond treating depression, at Fountain of You MD we clearly see the benefit of using hormone therapy to treat depression symptoms. The significant number of successful cases that we have treated and observed confirm that this is a therapy that can significantly help men and women to feel better and overcome symptoms of clinical depression.
Call now to schedule an appointment to see how being treated for hormone health can help depression.
