I was thinking about asking a doctor about it, but then started doing some research on it and became hesitant. Only certain doctors work with the protocol, and only certain compounding pharmacies are approved. A search of Texas pharmacies pulled up only a very few, and it's a big state!
The pros, as I understand them, are that they more naturally mimic the body's natural rhythm, and therefore help women feel more like their younger selves. The hormone level that the creams reproduce are the levels of a 20-year-old. In that time of our lives, our hormones fluctuate on a daily basis within a monthly cycle, and these bioidentical hormones are meant to do just that as well.
The cons, again as I understand them, is that many women have difficult side effects and do not feel that the therapy has helped them. Some people say the hormone levels are too high. And there are the questions about whether even a very educated person but one who's not trained medically has enough expertise to correctly devise such a protocol. Studies on it are incomplete to this point. But some doctors do use it and feel that it's a good therapy.
So I became interested in the experiences of any of our readers who have explored this therapy or tried it for themselves. We are in both an exciting and a confusing time regarding hormone replacement therapy right now, aren't we?
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I was thinking about asking a doctor about it, but then started doing some research on it and became hesitant. Only certain doctors work with the protocol, and only certain compounding pharmacies are approved. A search of Texas pharmacies pulled up only a very few, and it's a big state!
The pros, as I understand them, are that they more naturally mimic the body's natural rhythm, and therefore help women feel more like their younger selves. The hormone level that the creams reproduce are the levels of a 20-year-old. In that time of our lives, our hormones fluctuate on a daily basis within a monthly cycle, and these bioidentical hormones are meant to do just that as well.
The cons, again as I understand them, is that many women have difficult side effects and do not feel that the therapy has helped them. Some people say the hormone levels are too high. And there are the questions about whether even a very educated person but one who's not trained medically has enough expertise to correctly devise such a protocol. Studies on it are incomplete to this point. But some doctors do use it and feel that it's a good therapy.
So I became interested in the experiences of any of our readers who have explored this therapy or tried it for themselves. We are in both an exciting and a confusing time regarding hormone replacement therapy right now, aren't we?
March 4, 2009 - 9:34amThis Comment
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