'It's just your age, you'll just have to live with it' - this is often what is told to people when their hormones are at fault.
 
Both men and women go through a stage in their lives, where their hormones decline and go out of balance. This can lead to many symptoms - the most commonly known being flushes in women, and the lack of erectile function in men.
 
However, there are many other symptoms which are put down to getting older, which can be related to hormone changes.

Women often have a variety of symptoms including -

• weight gain
• depression
• tiredness
• irritability
• insomnia
• breast swelling and cysts
• heavy or irregular periods
• loss of memory
• craving for certain foods (sweets and chocolate are common)
• loss of libido
• mood swings,
• water retention, etc.

Men can have -

• tiredness
• depression
• memory loss
• indecisiveness
• loss of mental firmness
• loss of muscle
• low libido
• aches and pains
• thinning skin, etc.

Not everyone experiences these symptoms, and many of us breeze through 'the change', however more of us try to cope with one or more of these symptoms, often not being aware that it could be hormonal.
 
HRT for women has been around for decades and recent studies have given some fears about its safety.
 
Newer forms of treatment are being used for both men and women. One of these, is Bio identical (which used to be called 'Natural') hormones, which replicate exactly the hormone that is out of balance - and cannot be patented by any drug company - in contrast to artificial drugs (which are different to your natural hormones and can be patented by drug companies).
 
It makes sense that if you are deficient in one specific hormone, then you replace it in your body with one that is identical to the one that's missing (like for like), not something similar that differs in many ways.

Read more about Bio-identical Hormones -

• Hormone Imbalances
• Oestrogen Dominance in Pre and Postmenopausal Women
• Postmenopausal Women
• Measuring Hormone Levels
• Types of Oestrogen
• Comparison of Progesterone and Progestogens (Progestins in the USA)
• Men's Health - Andropause