female HRT

[ikke]

hi there,

the benefits of TRT for men are obvious.

what would be the female counterpart ?

my wife is pregnant now but is considering anti aging muscle sparing HRT afterwards ...

any advice would be appreciated, considering the female end. system is a well kept secret to me.

[JordanWFitness]

Birth control is the female counterpart

[ikke]

Birth control is the female counterpart

i'm assuming there would be a birth control pill that is preferable to that end ?

[Pitbull9]

Ive heard ITS VERY BAD for women to do HRT to the point of a huge cancer risk. WIth men for some reason its not as prevalent or as dangerous.

[ikke]

there must be something they can do to slow down aging besides eating right and exercising ?

[Pitbull9]

there must be something they can do to slow down aging besides eating right and exercising ?

Yeah HRT but the complications that may come with it, may not be worth it.

[ikke]

could you nevertheless elaborate a little on what can be done HRT wise ?

[Sassy69]

It would be really useful to know how old your wife is. Estrogen replacement therapy for aging women was abandoned back in the 90s or so when it was determined there are health risks that outweigh the benefits. That was for menopausal females, so completely not appropriate for your wife immediately post pregnancy. Testosterone therapy for post-menopausal women or women w/ libido issues is something that can be a very complicated thing to get into - requiring a lot of trial and error to find the best match / dosage for either truly "depleted" hormone levels or personal confidence in sex drive. IMO unless there's a real issue with w/ one of those, they should be pursued w/ a doctor. Self-medication w/ testosterone therapy for women also comes w/ costs.

Here's more on the topic from Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c...y/art-20046372

If your wife is say younger than 40, I'd say there's no reason to start screwing w/ hormone replacement and instead be sure that she is working w/ her doctor(s) for the best post-natal care for both herself and her child. It can take a while for hormones to settle post-preg anyway so for that reason alone I would not recommend playing w/ hormone therapy and in particular, not complicating her body chemistry while it needs to go thru the "return to normal" as well as if she is breast feeding as that will directly affect the child.

These are things I would suggest you have her discuss w/ her doctors both in terms of supplements as well as an optimized diet / training / recovery regimen both being post-pregnancy as well as just optimizing her lifestyle to support optimal body health going forward.

In the future if you wanted to play w/ things, maybe GH or one of the peptides / GH-ish. Particularly if she is interested in having more children, I'd really hesitate to even bring up steroids or prohormones for just "anti-aging" purposes - as I'm not totally sure if that's what you're trying to get at in this thread. All of them have consequences for women that they (not you) need to be very well researched and very comfortable with and should not be in use at any time around when you might be planning to have children.

[ikke]

tx sassy.

to be clear: she and i are just starting to read up on the matter, in order to be fully informed when the issue arrises, which will of course not be in the immediate future.

she is 39 right now.

TRT for men is quite straight forward.

i'm assuming the same is not the case for women.

if i read between the lines, it looks like you are not a fan of hormonal therapy, but rather GH, which is interesting.

diet, exercise etc. are of course in check.

i'll read the mentioned articles.

any more info would be greatly appreciated.

tx again.

[Sassy69]

tx sassy.

to be clear: she and i are just starting to read up on the matter, in order to be fully informed when the issue arrises, which will of course not be in the immediate future.

she is 39 right now.

TRT for men is quite straight forward.

i'm assuming the same is not the case for women.

if i read between the lines, it looks like you are not a fan of hormonal therapy, but rather GH, which is interesting.

diet, exercise etc. are of course in check.

i'll read the mentioned articles.

any more info would be greatly appreciated.

tx again.

The female endocrine system is extremely complex and not well understood. There was a time not so long ago when emotion from a period was treated w/ a full hysterectomy. There isn't a lot of research, with the exception of AI treatment for breast cancer in post-menopausal patients and estrogen therapy on post-menopausal patients. Both of these illustrate the area that no one wants to touch w/ "hormone therapy" -- pre-menopausal women who could become pregnant. Any testosterone-based treatment for women of child bearing age has the potential to produce androgenic side effects in a fetus if the women does (intentionally or unintentionally) get pregnant.

Further, it's not just estrogen, but also the balance of estro w/ progesterone & testosterone. I have some friends who are working w/ their doctors on bio-identical hormone therapy for their specific body chemistry / hormone profiles, but it's not a quicky thing to do but rather can be a very extensive trial & error approach to find the balance of everything that works for them.

If your wife is approaching menopause (I dunno, could be a family trait that it occurs earlier in life), then she could discuss w/ her doctor. But otherwise, it's really something you need to see how your body evolves w/ the actual aging process (specifically meaning how it expresses the changes in estro / progest going into menopause). Personally I'm 51. I have had a few bouts of maybe being over-tired, flaky brain a few years ago, but currently, short of not much in the way of periods anymore (also could easily be due to my use of an IUD), I'm not experiencing much of anything that would imply menopause. My mom is 75 now - back in the 90s I recall she was doing some estro therapy but stopped based on the research indicating the potential for cancer outweighed the benefit of estro replacement (see earlier link). At this time I don't believe she is doing anything other than eating more protein and is very active in terms of pilates and walking / being active.

That's what I got for ya. The female system is very touchy and very complex, and suffers from limited research. You can go research the anti-aging literature - they recommend certain OTC supps like melatonin, etc. if you want. Otherwise, unless you can mention a specific thing that needs hormone replacement, I'd just focus on things like managing weight (e.g. post baby), paying attention to any whacky hormone fluctuations and just generally being very intune with her body in the coming years. Approaching age 40, I can speak to the value of things like continued resistance training, maybe going after max lifts until she notices more joint pain, then back off and focus more on solid form and less on max weight (this is a mindset change I've struggled with given I was doing mega max lifts prior to my last show in 2010, but since then I've had all sorts of joint issues that simply don't allow lifting like that and more importantly, the type of lifting that a balls-to-the-wall, take-no-prisoners lifting lifestyle dictated, and I've had to learn to live without). Additionally be aware that as those years come, the body doesn't recover as quickly and the biggest issue you start to encounter is things like less mobility, greater push/pull imbalance (because you can't muscle thru things like you used to and it starts to show more and hurt more) and consequently, increase in tendon / joint / soft tissue problems. Focus on mobility, solid warmups / cool downs, more attention to full body "functionally correct" motions (e.g. vs. per-muscle group lifting). THAT is the type of thing that will keep the body operating longer, in more balance, and subsequently allowing preservation of lean muscle mass, reduction in injury that forces more down time, which in turn, increases lack of mobility, etc. Evil circle.

Also note that as you enter menopause, it is extremely hard to measure levels of estro / progest because they vary wildly hour by hour. Along w/ regular blood work, good diet / exercise / recovery & stress levels, specific things can be addressed as they come up.

As mentioned earlier, there's GH, though its seems only the very rich or the very well hooked up can use that as a life-long support, but who knows, there's more and more of this type of stuff showing up every day: http://bioviva-science.com/2016/04/2...t-human-aging/

[ikke]

great advice, thanks a lot.

cancer being a concern i'm sure she'll stay clear of anything hormonal.

GH also not sounds like a viable option.

hi protein diet, compound full body resistance training, etc. combined with an active lifestyle is what she has been doing and will continue doing.

in terms of a little assistance:

might be a stupid question, but if retaining hard earned muscle for as long as possible, while keeping bodyfat levels in check is the goal, all the while avoiding test/estra etc., then why would low dose clen not be a good idea ?

it stays away from the test/estra balance, helps retain muscle, aids in fatloss and has cardiovascular benefits.

[Sassy69]

If you have a purpose for using clen, then sure. But there's a HEALTHY balance of retaining lean muscle mass & bodyfat - particularly women should not maintain a low % of bodyfat - some can if they tend to naturally have a lower amount of estrogen, but generally speaking bodyfat sub- say 12% is where the body may start seeing that as "starving" and will respond by beginning to store bodyfat as a survival tactic. My point - like most supplements, they are not intended to be a 'maintenance mode" or "forever" type of dosing. Have a purpose, meaning a near term goal that you don't necessarily plan on maintaining but rather using for a specific purpose - e.g. a competition, a wedding, some special event.

You're asking very general questons that to me, all lean towards "maintenance mode" - and most of the chemistry of bodybuilding are designed for specific goals that are done in cycles or phases and not taking the drugs forever. Sure go ahead and use a clen cycle for a specific purpose, but don't take as a regular daily dose that you take forever. I hope that makes sense. Any of these drugs are hard on the body so have a purpose because they have a cost to the body as well and the body should be given time to recover to its homeostatic state.

[ikke]

hi sassy,

i understand your concern.

some things may have gotten lost in translation.

the objective is twofold.

obtaining a 'bag of tricks' on the one hand to achieve a certain level after reaching 40 and a pregnancy.

on the other hand knowing what to do to make thing achievable/maintainable after 40 as in HRT for males.

hope this makes sense ...

[Sassy69]

i understand, but also what I am saying is that simple HRT like for guys after 40 or whatever doesn't apply to women. Much more complex. Also sure go ahead and use clen, but cycle it but don't use it like a maintenance protocol. It's hard on the system and continued and forever repeated use of it is hard on the system. Note that most of the people who die on stage / at or near stage time who are in their 40s are dying as a result of using chemistry that their bodies can no longer support - meaning as you get older, the usual tips and tricks in repeated / extreme / extended use stress the body that is, by the sheer act of aging, not able to support as well.

So my repeated point - you're looking for maintenance type support - very few of the chemicals that are used in the "how to cut" bag of tricks are designed for continued / maintenance use - you use them for a cycle and then come off to allow the body to recover and re-establish a state of homeostasis. So if you want to use clen or whatever, use it in cycles along w/ a tight diet & training progress that is focused in a "Sprint" like a 12 week cutter or something. Don't use it forever & perpetually with an on & off focused diet. I understand you are speaking in generalities about "clean diet, training" etc. but what i am saying is that if you want to go into specifics about specific drugs or protocols, they need to be used as a cycle - since you didn't go into that level, I"m just repeating the point I'm making.

The best & most reliable approach to health after 40 is going to be good diet, good training, good recovery. GH maybe. Clen, maybe if you have scheduled cutting phases. The rest in terms of HRT, very important to have a specific thing you're trying to rectify and work w/ an OB/GYN or endocrine specialist if there are specific issues, or even feel free to ask these questions generally as part of a post birth protocol from the doctor.

[ikke]

i'm hearing you loud and clearly.

tight diet, compound movements, cardio in check, forget HRT, use clen moderately and in cycles now and then.

how would the GH - if at all used - be implemented for best results, minimum risk ?