Health & wellness
BY JOVANNA AGUILAR
Doctor breaks down bioidentical hormone replacement therapy Dr. Carrie Blades originally grew up in Humble and went on to earn a medical degree from Louisi- ana State University in Shreveport. She worked at the North Cypress Medical Center emergency room from 2007 to 2018 and opened her own practice, Blades Wellness & Aesthetics, in 2017. Blades is certified in emergency medicine and has advanced training in hormone replacement therapy and functional medicine through organizations such as Worldlink Medical, The Institute for Functional Medicine and the American Academy of Anti-Aging. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. What led you to create a business practicing bioidentical hormone replacement therapy? I was diagnosed with autoimmune thyroid issues as a teenager. At the time, I was told that it was something that probably ran in my family, and it was something that I would have to live with for the rest of my life. I wasn’t really offered any way to try to reverse the autoimmune issues. My autoim- mune thyroid condition was so severe that by the time I was a second-year medical student, I had developed thyroid cancer. ... After facing thyroid cancer and then being concerned about possible breast cancer, I really started to do a deep dive into how our hormones, as well as environmental and genetic risk factors, play a part in our overall health. My own personal journey trying to figure out how to improve my own health is what led me to move from practicing emergency medicine to practicing bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.
Can you briefly explain what BHRT is? As we age, our body slowly stops producing all of our hormones. For most of us, it’s a gradual progress. ... We start to put more fat on places we’ve never had. And sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you exercise [or] how clean you eat; it can be very difficult to maintain a lean body mass. A lot of that has to do with our hormones changing, and so as our bodies get weaker, we start to develop certain chronic diseases. ... Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy helps a person optimize their hormones to not only get them feeling better, but also to help them be able to build lean muscle again, strengthen bone density, improve cognitive function and reduce visceral fat so that we can reduce our risk of things like cardiovascular dis- ease, dementia, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. There’s so many different hormonal issues that people can have symptoms of yet their labs don’t always indicate that there’s an issue. What specific symptoms indicate someone could benefit from BHRT? Acne, abnormal or irregular cycles, weight gain, insomnia, fatigue, PMS, hair loss, anxiety or depression, memory fog, concentration issues and mood changes can all be symptoms of someone who could benefit from BHRT. What therapies does Blades Wellness & Aesthetics provide? We offer hormone replacement therapy in various routes. There are oral medications, patches, creams, injections and pellet options for replacement of certain hormones. Hormones that we commonly help patients optimize depending on their needs are thyroid, DHEA, testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, vitamin D3, melatonin and oxytocin.
COURTESY BLADES WELLNESS & AESTHETICS
How long does it typically take to see results from BHRT? Most of our patients feel significantly better within the first four to six weeks of starting our program. If a patient has been suffering for several years, it may take several months or even up to a year to get their disease process reversed to get them feeling back to their best self. Typically, we have somebody optimized and feeling their best by the second or third visit.
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10242 Greenhouse Road, Ste. 201, Cypress www.bladeswellness.com
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