Can Hormone Replacement Therapy Help Parkinson’s Disease?
Treating Treat Parkinson’s Disease with Hormone Replacement Therapy –
The brain regulates every aspect of the body – including voluntary functions like thinking and involuntary functions such as heartbeat, breathing and even hormone production. The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus are located within the brain and are responsible for controlling hormone production.
Parkinson’s disease, however, causes the failure and death of the critical nerve cells in the brain called neurons. Parkinson’s mainly affects neurons in an area of the brain that produces the dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter that sends messages between nerve cells that controls movement and coordination.
Recent ground-breaking research has begun to suggest that hormone replacement therapy may be able to help Improve neuromuscular functioning in patient’s with Parkinson’s disease.
Studies Supporting Hormone Replacement to Treat Parkinson’s Disease
In August of 2019 the website Science Daily reported the results of a cutting-edge study from the Society for Neuroscience. There it was reported that brain-selective estrogen treatment had improved the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in male mice, according to research published in JNeurosci.
It was also postulated in that report that women’s protective estrogen levels may be the reason that two times more men than women are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The authors expressed optimism that these findings could eventually lead to estrogen-based treatments for Parkinson’s disease .
In another study, the Neurology Solutions Movement Disorders Center conducted trials on approximately 80 Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The hope was that bringing the patients’ hormone levels closer to the hormone profile of their youth would improve mobility, motor activity, cognition, mood and overall quality of life.
Encouragingly, about 50 percent of Parkinson’s patients in HRT study reported benefits including improved energy level, better cognitive performance, increased muscle tone, higher sex drive, and less depression. And, 10 to 15 percent of those patients reported experiencing “remarkable” results, that included better physical mobility.
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) delivers hormones that are identical to the estrogens and testosterone found in the human body. And, research seems to indicate that hormone therapy may benefit certain symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease, in two ways.
Estrogen Replacement & Parkinson’s Disease
Recent literature has indicated that two forms of bioidentical estrogen, estradiol and estriol, may help provide protective benefits that arrest the progression of Parkinson’s Disease, as well as other neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, dementia and multiple system atrophy.
Additionally estrogen (estradiol) replacement increases dopamine production and decreases inflammation in the female brain.
Testosterone Replacement & Parkinson’s Disease
Low Testosterone is quite common in older patients – and, interestingly, the symptoms of “low T” overlap with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, including loss of muscle mass, decreased sex drive, anxiety, depression and fatigue. In both healthy individuals with “low t” and patient’s with Parkinson’s disease these symptoms do not respond to antidepressant therapy or other traditional treatments.
Early tests have suggested that testosterone replacement aids patients with Parkinson’s in exercise and physical activity. It is believed that testosterone replacement improves the patient’s motivation, endurance and stamina to improve their physical fitness, in the same way that it helps aging men who do not have Parkinson’s. just as it does in those without the disease.
Additionally testosterone replacement increases dopamine production and decreases inflammation in the male brain.
Can Hormone Replacement Help Parkinson’s Disease?
Hormone Replacement is not a cure for Parkinson’s Disease. However, some studies, as well as reports for Parkinson’s patients and their doctors indicate that patients using bioidentical hormone replacement can experience some significant improvements in their symptoms.
If you are suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, and you and your doctor believe hormone replacement therapy might be a beneficial treatment for you, BHRT pellets offer the safest, most consistent, most effective and easiest to use form of hormone replacement.
Or, schedule a consultation with hormone replacement expert Dr. Ali for a full hormone blood analysis – to see if perhaps hormone replacement pellets may help improve your quality of life.
