Hormones exert a powerful influence over many facets of our growth and development, our sexual and reproductive capability, our behaviour and intelligence, our energy and our memory, and of course, ageing!

Everyday, millions of women suffer uncomfortable and often disabling symptoms, associated with the hormonal imbalance of premenopause and menopause, which in turn contributes to the formation of diseases such as endometriosis, womb cancer, fibroids and breast cancer.

For years now, women have been treated with HRT, based upon the erroneous assumption that menopause was an estrogen deficiency ‘disease’.
Recent objective, scientific research, now reveals that premenopause and menopause symptoms are caused by a relative excess of estrogen, and a deficiency of the other, often ignored, female hormone, progesterone.

Progesterone, made at ovulation, normally ‘balances’ estrogen’s growth effects. They are in a critical ratio.
When ovulation ceases, progesterone production ceases.
Ovulation ceases when egg numbers are exhausted in the premenopause, or when women use the oral contraceptive pill. As a result, progesterone levels plummet, but estrogen levels remain high; the critical ratio is destroyed, and estrogen dominance occurs.

The classic symptoms of correctable estrogen dominance are:-

• Exercise and diet resistant weight gain,
• Breast tenderness and headaches,
• Anxiety and tearfulness,
• Hot flushes and insomnia,
• Foggy thinking, reduced libido, and
• Fatigue, mood swings and depression.

In time, this ultimately leads to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and breast cancer.

Unfortunately, commercialism and drug company propaganda, is seeing the haphazard application of high dose, synthetic and natural hormones, without consideration of one's individual hormone status or long-term medical interest.

No herb or vitamin, no synthetic HRT, and no amount of black cohosh, dong quai, red clover, anti-ageing therapy, or brain massage, will create the necessary hormone to correct the imbalance, other than the exact amount of bio-identical natural hormone, that that the body made naturally, without any side effects, years before!

The key to good health is hormone balance using natural, bio-identical hormones. The exact molecule that women have made since puberty, to restore the previously more youthful and asymptomatic hormone levels. Never accept synthetic, ‘one-dose-fits-all’ prescribing.
When the hormones are in balance, we feel invigorated, look good and have the energy to take control of our lives.

Dr Graeme Williams, is one of Australia's foremost medical authorities on menopause, hormone control, andropause and disease prevention.