Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
Benefits of BHRT include reduction in hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, and feminine dryness; increased concentration and clearer thinking; increased libido; improvement in sleeping patterns; prevention of osteoporosis; increased bone mass; and increased muscle strength. A consultation with a certified pharmacist in hormone therapy will help you decide if you need BHRT or if exercise, diet and vitamin and mineral supplements would be the correct course to get your hormones back in-balance.
If you are interested in a consultation please complete the Consultation Form and click the submit button. A representative of our lab will call you to schedule an appointment.
Entering menopause
Every day in the United States 4,900 women enter menopause according to the North American Menopause Society. There are currently over 50 million menopausal women in this country. It is estimated that 15 to 30 percent of these menopausal or post-menopausal women are on HRT synthetic hormones. That's over 8 million women taking synthetic hormones today.
Women have another choice that is sensible, effective, safe and free from most of the side effects of synthetic hormones - Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) or Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy (NHRT)
What Is BHRT?
Bio-identical Hormones are those chemicals that are derived from yam or soybean plants and are exact duplicates of the hormones your body produces. These plant-derived bio-identical hormones are almost entirely without the side effects of the synthetic or semi-synthetic HRT drugs commonly prescribed. The goals of natural HRT are to alleviate the symptoms caused by the natural decrease in production of hormones by the body and to bring the body back to hormonal balance.
Another goal of BHRT is to imitate the body's natural processes as much as possible, thereby eliminating most of the unwanted effects and long term risks of the traditional synthetic hormone replacement therapies.
The natural estrogens, progesterone, and testosterone are available from compounding pharmacies such as ours. They can be prepared in various dosage forms such as capsules or pills (oral), troches (under the tongue), and transdermal creams or gels (topical), and can be tailored to a woman's individual hormone requirements.
So where do I start?
Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy is customized for each woman (or man in andropause) who receives the therapy. For that reason it is good practice to first test hormone levels before therapy begins.
Click here to read about beginning BHRT
Probably the best source for comprehensive discussion of natural hormones and their effects is Dr. Jonathan Wright's book Natural Hormone Replacement for Women Over 45. Also, Suzanne Sommers speaks to these issues in her book, The Sexy Years. The Medicine Shoppe highly recommends these best-selling books to every woman over 40.
