Are you having trouble remembering things?

Estrogen and memory

Are you having trouble remembering things?

Did you know that Estrogen is a powerful hormone that remarkably improves memory and cognitive thought processes? Estrogen positively enhances neuronal structure, function and the conduction down neurons or nerve channels in your brain. Basically, increasing the speed of the electricity traveling throughout the brain, this enhances memory, accelerating the thought process.
Now associated with the lowering of their natural estrogen levels with menopause, women may experience changes in memory and normal thought processes. Of course they often write it off as "just getting old." Often, I hear women talk about walking around in a cloud, and amazingly proper estrogen replacement lifts this cloud making, their thinking crisp and sharp again. If estrogen replacement could do that, then why not use it?

How does estrogen improve my thought process, and are there studies that support its benefit?

There are estrogen receptors within the brain that are critical for memory and processing of information. If estrogen is low, then these critical functions will either occur at a slower rate, or not at all, thus resulting in a form of “brain fog”. The association with memory changes and menopause with the resultant decrease in estrogen has been studied. Two studies by Birge et al in 1996, and 2004 have identified that two out of every three women report poor memory either during menopause or with perimenopause. A study by Yaffe et al in the journal of the American Medical Association concluded that estrogen hormone replacement therapy would improve cognition in menopausal women.

What type of estrogen therapy will help me think more clearly?

There is a significant difference in improving memory when comparing the use of bioidentical estrogen, against the synthetic conjugated equine estrogen or “horse urine” estrogen. In fact recent follow-up studies have demonstrated a higher incidence of dementia in women who used the synthetic estrogen, Premarin. The oral estrogen replacements result in lower and less stable levels of estradiol than when the preparation is administered transdermally, or as a paste. Studies support that the use of transdermal bioidentical hormones are safe, and will improve longevity and quality of life.

An interviewer once asked Suzanne Somers, why don't you wait for twenty years to allow thorough randomized prospective trials on hormone replacement therapy to be performed. Her response was, "By then I'll be 80 and I will have missed out on all the benefits of proper hormone replacement therapy." Interestingly, there are already numerous large clinical trials already completed in Europe that prove the benefits of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, but the U.S. literature has dramatically fallen behind because of the powerful pharmaceutical companies forcing "horse urine" estrogen on patients and doctors.
The practice of Age Management Medicine, an extension of preventative health care, is about providing solutions to health problems before they become unmanageable. At Andlos Preventative Care Institute, Dr. Carlson is successfully treating many aspects of the aging process through the careful application of the safest hormone replacement therapies available – using bioidentical rather than synthetic hormones. By regulating hormones, Dr. Carlson says, millions of Baby Boomers could be enjoying a vitality of health and lifestyle that allows them to live their best lives possible – no matter what their chronological age.

And though bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can be extremely effective in treating the physical effects of aging, it can be even more successful on an emotional level. When the body is functioning at an optimal level, individuals sleep better, think more clearly, and enjoy higher energy levels – and all these factors influence their emotional state as well.