Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy

Are you ready to get your groove back?

Are you suffering from hot flashes, flushes, night sweats, loss of libido, irritability, dry vagina, mood swings, depression, trouble sleeping, weight gain, irregular periods, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, incontinence, or hair loss? Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy could be YOUR solution!

Hot flashes are the most common menopausal
symptom in Western societies.

Hormone Therapy: Is it right for you?

Hormone replacement has been the gold standard in medicine for the last 100 years. Neither physician nor patient would think twice about taking thyroid medication, insulin or cortisol if they were diagnosed with thyroid disease, diabetes or adrenal insufficiency. Men routinely take testosterone if they are diagnosed with that deficiency. Yet, when it comes to hormonal imbalance in peri-menopausal women, many physicians are hesitant to restore normal physiologic rations in their female patients.

Do our hormone levels decrease because we age or do we age because our hormone levels decrease? By replacing and balancing the body’s hormones, physicians have been able to turn back the clock on the aging process. Helping patients prevent age-related illnesses and improving the quality of life can be accomplished through natural hormone replacement therapy.

A Choice Worth Considering

All women eventually reach menopause; there is nothing you can do to prevent or delay it. The average age of menopause is 51 but symptoms of estrogen and progesterone deficiencies usually occur long before.

When women's hormone levels start to fall they have four choices:

1. Take no action and suffer from the symptoms of low hormone levels.
    The most common symptoms are:

2. Attempt to mask the symptoms:
    with herbal remedies, anti-depressants, and/or the birth control pill.

3. Take synthetic hormones that are foreign to the body.
    The most commonly prescribed synthetic hormones are Premarin and Provera.
    Premarin is natural to a horse and is derived from pregnant mares urine, hence the
    name.

4. Take bioidentical hormones, which is true hormone replacement therapy.
    Bioidentical hormones have the exact molecular structure of the hormones that a
    woman's body produces naturally.

What is Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy?

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) is a term for the treatment of the hormone deficiencies in men and women using only molecules that are identical to the endogenous hormones found in the human body. BHRT differs from traditional hormone replacement therapy which includes animal-derived and invented molecules that are similar to, but not identical, to human hormones. The body produces (or previously produced) these same hormones, so there are much fewer, if any, negative side effects. Bioidentical hormones, contrary to synthetic hormones, are extracted from natural sources, plants like soybean and wild yams, and their molecular structure is identical to that of the hormones produced by our bodies.

Making the Right Decision for YOU

What is the big deal?

For years hormone replacement therapy was the norm for menopausal women. All that changed dramatically in 2002 with a report from the Women’s Health Initiative, a collaborative study sponsored by National Institutes of Health. The trial was ended early in 2002 when the researchers found that the subjects with estrogen plus progestin had a greater incidence of coronary heart disease, breast cancer, stroke and pulmonary embolism than the subjects on placebo. Hormone replacement therapy use declined in the U.S. and around the world even though the WHI study was based on the use of drugs that originated from horse urine, compounds similar to but not identical with the natural hormones produced by women.

Women’s Health Initiative 2002 suggested that:

HRT did not protect women from getting heart disease, and actually increased risk of breast cancer, blood clotting and stroke. A 2008 reanalysis concluded that hormone therapy from conjugated equine estrogens and synthetic progestins, not bioidentical hormones, is associated with an increased risk of stroke, regardless of when a woman starts the regime. The WHI studies on the effectiveness and health risks of HRT were based on synthetic/equine-based hormones, and the average age of the women at enrollment was 63.

Are bioidentical hormones safer than synthetics?

No drug can ever be guaranteed to be completely safe. European medical studies suggest bioidentical hormones are safer than synthetic versions; but they have not been well studied for long-term use.

Hormone Replacement Therapy May Reduce

Coronary heart disease. If HRT is initiated within ten years of menopause or in women under 60, it may help reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease. Women who still have a uterus should take a form of progesterone to “oppose” potential risks of estrogen alone.

Hormone Replacement Therapy May Improve

Cognitive health. The 2004 WHIMS (Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study) study showed that initiating estrogen therapy or estrogen/progestogen (synthetic progesterone) therapy in women over 65 had a negative effect on the brain’s function — particularly if they had already experienced some cognitive decline. But another study looking at younger women, between the ages of 50 and 63, showed that those on hormone therapy had a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease than those that weren’t.

Hormone Replacement Therapy May Improve

Cholesterol and triglycerides. Women aged 45–60 on bioidentical estradiol delivered transdermal (across the skin) had reduced triglycerides

Hormone Replacement Therapy May Increase

Blood clots. Estrogen has long been known to increase blot clotting, and this is why certain women couldn’t use birth control pills. Estrogen, on the other hand, if given transdermally (across the skin), comes with no increased risk of blood clot. Why this is true is not really understood.

Hormone Replacement Therapy May Affect

Breast health. Women need to know that the relationship between HRT and breast cancer risk continues to be the subject of intense debate. Women in the WHI who were between the ages 50–59 and who had undergone hysterectomy and who were on estrogen therapy alone did not increase their risk of breast cancer. However, women of that same age group who had not undergone hysterectomy and who took estrogen with a progestogen (synthetic progesterone) did. In a recent large study in France, researchers following over 80,000 women observed a much lower risk of breast cancer when they used estrogen combined with bioidentical progesterone than when the women used estrogen combined with most nonbioidentical progesterones — as long as they used it for less than about six years. But for users of estrogen alone, compared to “never-users” of HRT, the researchers noted a significantly increased risk of breast cancer.

What’s a girl to do? The Oprah affect.

What should a woman make of all these findings? The WHI studies reflected studies of synthetic progesterones and equine estrogens (estrogens derived from a pregnant horse). These hormone forms are molecularly different from the hormones we make in our bodies. Bioidentical hormones, on the other hand — those that have the same molecular structure as those made in our bodies — are becoming more popular, especially with Oprah’s recent discussions. Risks and benefits of HRT — individuality is central Hormone therapy, synthetic or bioidentical, is not the right choice for every woman — because we all have our own unique set of circumstances Do the benefits outweigh the risks for you?

Consider these questions while making your decision about HRT:

• Are you less than 60 years old?

• Are you close to menopause and still having symptoms?

• Does your personal or family medical history include breast cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, or liver disease?

• Is your quality of life being seriously compromised by your symptoms?

Each woman has a different set of circumstances that determine her personal risk. The safety of HRT is enhanced if the following guidelines are met:

• It is given to younger women (under 60), who are close to menopause and whose hormones are still fluctuating.

• The woman does not have a history of breast, ovarian or endometrial cancer, or liver disease.

• The woman uses bioidentical hormones as opposed to synthetic HRT.

• The woman uses transdermal forms of HRT instead of pills that need to be swallowed.

• Hormone replacement therapy doesn’t go on for more than five to seven years.

Visit Indian Shores Walk-In Clinic Today
Phone: (727) 517-1500
Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
20001 Gulf Blvd., Suite 7, Indian Shores, FL 33785