Maybe you’ve experienced a hot flash on a night out with friends, felt your concentration slip during a work meeting, or noticed your energy waning when playing with your grandchildren.
Changes you might shrug off at first can start to pile up, leaving you feeling less and less like yourself. And it might seem taboo to talk about these shifts in your aging body, especially when they feel so personal.
But at French Med Spa + Health, you have nothing to hide. Our expert practitioners have years of experience helping patients navigate their health journeys, biohacking the aging process with thoughtfully implemented functional medicine.
Continue reading to learn how our specialists approach personalized hormone optimization, or schedule a consultation to begin planning your estrogen replacement in St. Charles, IL.
Understanding Your Changing Hormones
Before addressing your health concerns, it may help to understand why your hormones change with age.
As we grow older, many processes within the body naturally slow down. This change involves our cells, tissues, and organs, affecting widespread functionality throughout the body. Even our ovaries and other glands within the endocrine system become less active as we enter our 40s and 50s, leading to diminished estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone production.
This slowdown in the ovaries reflects the passage of your reproductive years, as your body no longer senses the need to prepare you for childbearing.
However, sex hormones like estrogen do more than just support reproduction; they also function as chemical messengers, triggering essential activity in your:
- Skin
- Hair
- Bones
- Muscles
- Gut
- Heart
- Brain
Symptoms of Hormonal Imbalance
Your hormones serve as a foundation for countless bodily functions, supporting smooth regulation in systems throughout the body. Without enough estrogen to regulate these internal operations, you might notice:
- Oily, textured, or dry skin
- Thinning hair + changing growth patterns
- PCOS symptoms
- Brain fog 🧠
- Low mood + mood swings
- Trouble sleeping
- Hot flashes
- Night sweats
- Fatigue
- Brittle bones
- Weight fluctuations
- Pain or discomfort during intimacy
- Reduced sex drive
Your Wellness Consultation
We understand how stressful, isolating, or overwhelming these internal changes can feel. That’s why we curate a space of privacy and luxury, designing our practice to be a safe haven for fine-tuning your health.
Prior to scheduling your appointment for estrogen replacement in St. Charles, our hormone specialist, Dr. Kolka, invites you to sit down for a one-on-one consultation. During this conversation, your physician listens carefully to your symptoms, health goals, and medical history.
Then, Dr. Kolka draws a small blood sample to perform lab testing. These results give us insight into your unique hormone profile and enable us to tailor your hormones to your biology.
Candidacy for Treatment
Many perimenopausal and menopausal patients can benefit from estrogen replacement. In St. Charles, our specialists take the time to understand your medical condition before proceeding with treatment.
Your provider may recommend alternative therapies if you:
- Are younger than 35 or older than 65 years of age
- Hope to plan a future pregnancy
- Have a family history of breast or uterine cancer
- Live with a blood clotting disorder, stroke history, migraines, or chronic liver disease
- Struggle with poor heart health
Once we confirm that personalized estrogen replacement therapy can advance your health goals, your provider collaborates with you to shape your optimal hormone strategy. At this time, Dr. Kolka also describes any pre-care steps you can take to prepare for treatment.
Pre-Care Instructions
Before administering your estrogen replacement in St. Charles, Dr. Kolka will ask you about any medications or supplements you are taking. He may advise you to temporarily stop taking them to prevent unwanted interactions with the drugs.
Typically, Dr. Kolka also recommends that you:
- Maintain healthy behaviors with consistent sleep habits and regular exercise.
- Limit your alcohol consumption and tobacco use in the weeks leading up to hormone therapy.
- Drink plenty of water and eat a light meal before the appointment so you feel at ease throughout the treatment process.
Following these instructions supports your comfort—and your body’s absorption of the hormones.
Navigating Your Pellet Therapy
At French Med Spa + Health, we don’t believe in masking your symptoms with superficial treatments.
Our hormone specialists, like Dr. Kolka, use sophisticated, science-backed therapies to replenish your depleted hormone levels. For women experiencing perimenopause or menopause, we have the power to personalize the bioidentical EvexiPEL pellet.
The plant-derived EvexiPEL system uses plant-derived compounds designed to mimic your body’s natural chemistry for more seamless assimilation. Rather than deliver hormones in fixed doses that may not fit your needs, Dr. Kolka tailors each pellet to your unique hormone profile.
Upon implantation, the pellet steadily secretes hormones into your bloodstream, gradually restoring your estrogen to an optimal level.
EvexiPEL Insertion
On the day of your appointment, you can relax in one of our spa-like wellness suites. Dr. Kolka will once again review the steps of the implantation process, then begin treatment.
To begin, Dr. Kolka makes a tiny incision in the skin, typically near the hip or buttocks. Just beneath the skin, he inserts a hormone pellet that’s as small as a grain of rice. This small incision doesn’t even require sutures.
From start to finish, the pellet placement process takes 60 minutes or less. As your appointment draws to a close, your physician explains any post-care instructions.
Post-Care Instructions
After an appointment for hormone therapy, our practitioners typically advise that you:
- Take note of any changes in your symptoms to discuss at your follow-up appointments.
- Avoid strenuous activity for the first 24 hours after pellet placement.
- Follow your doctor’s guidance regarding lifestyle adaptations to support enduring balance.
Your body completely absorbs the pellet within 4 to 5 months of insertion. At this time, you return to our practice for regular pellet implantation appointments.
At each appointment, your physician continues to monitor your progress, noting improvements or changes in your overall well-being and your lab results to adjust your dosage as needed.
Feeling Lasting Relief
As we gently renew balance from within, we can ease troublesome symptoms and restore your quality of life.
Many patients feel enhanced energy and clarity within 2 to 4 weeks of their first pellet, with the positive effects only building in the subsequent months.
With a consistent EvexiPEL program, you should gradually notice:
- Improved hair + skin quality
- Stronger bone density
- Increased ability to build muscle
- Healthy sleep patterns
- Reduced frequency of hot flashes + night sweats
- More balanced moods
- Mental clarity
- Heightened energy levels ⚡
- Higher sex drive
- Enhanced intimate health
Maintaining Your Results
As you continue your EvexiPEL program, your provider helps you incorporate additional lifestyle adaptations. Often, these adjustments include:
- Getting 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night
- Eating balanced, nutritious meals rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants
- Exercising several times each week
- Regularly incorporating light movement, like walking
- Practicing proper stress management techniques to keep cortisol levels under control
Importantly, chronic stress can decrease the efficacy of your estrogen, as cortisol, a stress hormone, disrupts sex hormone activity within the body.
Just as your harmonized hormones support optimal systemic function, your behaviors enable maximum hormone absorption. Taking steps to preserve your whole-body health helps ease your transition into hormonal balance.
Supplementing Your Hormone Therapy
As you continue your regimen of estrogen replacement in St. Charles, we can further enrich your care experience with bespoke services. Depending on your concerns, goals, and response to therapy, your provider can guide you through additional aesthetic or wellness treatments.
Aesthetic Care
If you continue to struggle with thinning hair or a widening part, our aesthetic specialists can incorporate hand-selected peptides into a personalized hair restoration program.
Uneven skin texture, hyperpigmentation, oiliness, and dryness can also cause aesthetic concerns. Our aestheticians can give your skin some much-needed pampering, tailoring advanced facial treatments and skin rejuvenation techniques to address your concerns and restore your radiant glow. ✨
Though BHRT helps regulate metabolism and fosters a healthier body composition, patients seeking deeper support as they work towards their fitness goals may enjoy enhanced definition with body contouring treatments.
Wellness Therapies
Our wellness team can also advance your functional goals with supplemental therapies such as pelvic floor training, cryotherapy, or IV therapy.
Emsella pelvic floor therapy is ideal for patients struggling with bladder leakage or diminished sexual pleasure, as the noninvasive technology strengthens weakened pelvic muscles for improved control.
If fatigue or brain fog continue to hinder your wellness goals, short bouts in our state-of-the-art cryotherapy chamber can awaken endorphins, sharpen your focus, and improve energy levels.
Allergies and other food sensitivities can limit your ability to properly refuel between appointments. With custom IV therapy, we can replenish essential fluids, vitamins, and more to improve balance from within.
Find Support on Your Health Journey
You are not an island. Though age-related changes in your health can feel daunting—and even isolating—you are not alone. At French Med Spa + Health, we are your partners in wellness, working with you to achieve your aspirations on your terms.
Age at Your Own Pace With Estrogen Therapy
Contrary to popular belief, you can truly thrive at any age. With therapeutic estrogen replacement in St. Charles, IL, we can gently restore hormonal balance from within and help you feel like yourself again.
Men and women can benefit from the restorative effects of hormone therapy. Explore our approach to testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in St. Charles.
