When women enter menopause about 45-50 years of age, their estrogen and progesterone drop precipitously, causing a long list of unpleasant symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings, and sleep disturbances. The drop in estrogen also leads to greater risk for cardiovascular disease and accelerated bone loss that may lead to osteoporosis and increased fracture risk. Women are faced with making a decision to start taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to hopefully alleviate most of the symptoms and risks associated with menopause.…

Tags: Menopause, Estrogen, Progesterone, Hormone Replacement Therapy


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Summary: 10 Key Takeaways for Hormone Replacement Therapy Webinar

Menopause can be a confusing time for many women and their families, and as a society we tend to steer away from having open, honest conversations about this very important transition in a woman’s life. At ZRT, we aim to change that and equip all woman with the tools and resources necessary to maintain optimal health during their menopause transition and after. In this post, ZRT’s Clinical…

Tags: Menopause, Progesterone, Estrogen, Depression, Anxiety, Weight Management, Sleep, Thyroid Health


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Menopause: Your Most Common Questions Answered

Growing up, I never thought of myself as a runner, or really a good athlete in general. I played every sport possible as a kid growing up in Minnesota, but I was never great, which is why I never played high school sports (other than trying cross country skiing the one year we didn’t end up having any snow…). As an adult, I started playing team sports again and eventually was convinced to run a…

Tags: Athletes, Testosterone, Estrogen, Progesterone, Thyroid Health, Vitamin D, Neurotransmitters


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How Your Hormones Affect Athletic Performance and Why You Need to Start Testing

In 2002 several large-scale clinical studies were published on the risks of breast cancer in postmenopausal women using conventional FDA-approved hormone therapy. These were the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) and Million Women’s studies of women using FDA-approved estrogens and progestogens in the United States and Great Britain, respectively. Both studies came to the same conclusion – that…

Tags: Progesterone, Estrogen, Menopause, Breast Cancer, Brain Health


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Topical Progesterone, Not Synthetic Progestins or Oral Progesterone, Should Be Considered as a Companion for Estradiol Replacement Therapy

Having just entered my forties, my radar’s perked for solid information coming out of the research community on the perimenopausal transition. What can I do to make this 10 or so years of transition useful and even helpful to the future postmenopausal me? As women, we’re no strangers to functioning in some level of consistent discomfort – whether cycle-related, birth control related, pregnancy or…

Tags: Menopause, Cardiovascular Disease, Estrogen, Progesterone, Hormone Replacement Therapy, Metabolic Health, Cortisol


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A Perimenopausal Game Plan

ZRT is a company made up mostly of women. It’s not that we don’t have men working here, but 80% of our employees happen to be women. A combination of a company mostly of women, working in the health field, and having gone to medical school which tends to take away that filter that says “perhaps certain topics are off limits,” can lead to hilarious conversations like our one today on the favorite…

Tags: Menstrual Cycle Mapping, Estrogen, Progesterone, Saliva Testing, Blood Spot Testing, Menstruation


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Periods: The Miracle of Bleeding for 7 Days Without Dying

Delivery of the bioidentical hormones estradiol (E2), progesterone (Pg), and testosterone (T) through the skin as a cream or gel (topically) has become a mainstay of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) for women and men. A plethora of FDA-approved pharmaceuticals, compounded, and even over-the-counter topical BHRT products are available. The popularity of these products lies not only…

Tags: Bioidentical Hormones, Estrogen, Progesterone, Testosterone, Dried Urine Testing, Blood Spot Testing, Serum Testing, Saliva Testing


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Topical Delivery of Sex Steroid Hormones and Distribution in Different Body Fluids

When I turned 12, all of a sudden all of my friends were getting their periods, and I just couldn’t wait to get mine! I was so ready to join the ranks of glamorous women who had the privilege of being initiated into the menstruating club. I wanted to belong with them - everything about periods was synonymous with femininity for me at the time. I had to endure witnessing so many of my classmates…

Tags: PMS and PMDD, Estrogen, Progesterone, Menstruation, Menstrual Cycle Mapping


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Your Guide to PMDD: Causes and Treatment

A symbol of femininity for so many women, our hair demands attention. Both deeply personal and superficially public, changes in the looks of our hair can inspire a range of emotions, driving us to willingly partake in its cutting, straightening, curling, bleaching, darkening, or other aggressive chemical treatments. Hair is part of who we are and how we present ourselves to the world. This is why…

Tags: Stress, Menopause, Cortisol, Progesterone, Estrogen, PCOS, Thyroid Health, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12


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Understanding the Connection Between Hormones and Hair Loss

The practice of placentophagy – a woman consuming her placenta after she gives birth – is a bit of a hot topic these days. For those of you not familiar with the practice, if you're imagining the Dothraki queen devouring the giant, bleeding heart of a horse with her bare hands, you're probably not alone. In reality, there's much less of a "yuck" factor associated with the process when consuming an…

Tags: Elements Testing, Fertility, Estrogen, Progesterone


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Evidence Shows Placentophagy (Placenta Encapsulation) Works

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