Are Hormones Making You Crazy?
BY Brenda Reed
“I explain to my patients what their choices are in horomone replacement therapies,
and also share how bio-identical hormone replacement is a customized formula that
can meet her specific needs,” explained Dr. John R. Baird of Healing Options in
Louisville.
Not all women need to be on hormone replacement therapy as they go through
menopause, he said, but for those that are having symptoms, or have a history of
osteoporosis or Alzheimer’s, hormone replacement therapy offers protective
services including cardio protection.
“With bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT), we can fine-tune the
compound to meet a woman’s individual needs depending upon her symptoms” he
added. Women produce hormones, and as they lose these hormones, their memory
fails and their risks factors for other diseases increases. “We’re here to improve
their quality of life,” he said. Baird explained that he has seen drastic improvements
in the quality of life in many of the women he treats using BHRT.
When her hormones are out of balance, a woman may experience hair loss,
moodiness, weight gain, have PMS, her libido may be down, or her marriage and
other relationships may be suffering. But, when you get the hormones in balance,
everything else falls into place, Dr. Baird said. “Her memory and concentration are
better, she isn’t moody so her relationships are better, her libido goes up and her
marriage is better. I had a patient that was suicidal due to symptoms, and now that
everything is hormonally balance, she actually glows. A woman that is in hormonal
balance will feel great and have a beautiful glow about her,” he added.
What is Bioidentical HRT?
The popularity of bio-identical hormone replacement therapy has increased over
the last few years. BHRT is specifically designed for an individual and is customized
by a compound pharmacist. New as it may sound, bio-identical hormone
replacement therapy has been around for over 20 years. Bio-identical hormones
are derived from natural sources such as yams, soy or other plants, and are made
to have the same molecular structure as the hormones in our own bodies.
Therefore, our bodies can process them with little or no side effects.
Women suffering from pre-menopausal or menopausal symptoms such as hot
flashes, headaches, decreased libido, memory loss, just to name a few, have
choices in treatment but may feel they’ve hit a roadblock in trying to get their doctor
to prescribe bio-identical hormone replacement because of the lack of long-term
studies.
Some of the benefits of BHRT discussed in What Your Doctor May Not Tell You
About Menopause, by Drs. Lee, Zava, and Virginia Hopkins, are that natural
progesterone helps protect against fibrocystic breasts, uses fat for energy, is a
natural diuretic, a natural antidepressant, facilitates thyroid hormone action,
restores sex drive, normalizes blood sugar levels, zinc and copper levels, restores
proper cell oxygen, and prevents endometrial cancer.
You’re giving your body back the same hormones your ovaries were once
producing. Your body will respond more appropriately, by reducing any negative
exposures and metabolizing back to a healthy balance. Any negative effect of
estrogen can be avoided by use of progesterone.
Women who are post menopausal can continue BHRT to help aid in promoting
healthy bones and sustaining heart health. Dr. Arlene Kraut of Jeffersonville uses
bio-identical hormone replacement therapy as her first-line treatment for patients.
Trained at Mt. Sinai, Kraut recently located to the Louisville area. After treating all of
her former patients in Kansas using BHRT and having so much success, she
prescribed this for most of her patients. “BHRT just seems to work better. Even
though there are not a lot of long-term studies showing this, patients seem to have
a much better quality of life. If a patient is already using synthetic hormones and
having success with them, then I probably would not suggest she change to BHRT.
However with my new patients, I educate them on the benefits of BHRT and make
that my suggested treatment,” said Dr. Kraut.
Dr. Kraut explained she does baseline lab work and prescribed a low-dose regimen
to begin, and follows up with the patient to see how well the hormone replacements
are being absorbed into the body. She believes the difference between synthetic
and BHRT is not necessarily that one is safer than the other, yet she's seen better
success of symptoms in her patients by prescribing BHRT. She says BHRT offers
women a safe alternative to synthetic hormone replacements.
“Patients react differently to how the doseage is administered,” she says. “While a
patient may not need to have their doseage increased, it may be that they need it
administered in a different manner. Some patients react better with a pill, and others
might react better by administering a transdermal doseage.”
Denise Orwick, of Davis Drugs in Corydon, Ind., attends conferences across the
country that relate to hormone and adrenal gland treatments for women and shares
some of the latest findings. “One of the latest developments we’ve seen is the
development of the Estrogen Metabolizing Test, Orwick says. “Depending on the
results of your estrogen metabolizing tests, it might be that your symptoms are
caused because your body is metabolizing hormones in an unhealthy way.”
Getting Treatment
The Kentuckiana area has several compound pharmacists helping you to work with
your doctor in determining the best treatment options. Most often, your doctor will
perform tests such as hormone blood panels and/or saliva tests then send the
results to your compound pharmacist. The compound pharmacist reads the results
and makes a recommendation to your doctor, who can then write a prescription to
be filled by the compounding pharmacist.
“With the rise in baby boomer women undergoing menopause, we’re seeing more
doctors willing to understand and work with compound pharmacies in prescribing
BHRT to their patients, basically because their patients are very well informed and
demand that their doctors help them in making a choice as to what types of
hormone replacement therapies are available, and which ones are best for them to
use,” shared Judy Minogue, R.Ph. of Louisville Pharmacy.
She suggests the following website: www.womeninbalance.com to help women be
better informed about hormone replacement therapies.
Brenda Reed has printed other information about bioidentical hormone
replacement. You can email Brenda Reed at breed@iamtodayswoman.com.
BY Brenda Reed
“I explain to my patients what their choices are in horomone replacement therapies,
and also share how bio-identical hormone replacement is a customized formula that
can meet her specific needs,” explained Dr. John R. Baird of Healing Options in
Louisville.
Not all women need to be on hormone replacement therapy as they go through
menopause, he said, but for those that are having symptoms, or have a history of
osteoporosis or Alzheimer’s, hormone replacement therapy offers protective
services including cardio protection.
“With bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT), we can fine-tune the
compound to meet a woman’s individual needs depending upon her symptoms” he
added. Women produce hormones, and as they lose these hormones, their memory
fails and their risks factors for other diseases increases. “We’re here to improve
their quality of life,” he said. Baird explained that he has seen drastic improvements
in the quality of life in many of the women he treats using BHRT.
When her hormones are out of balance, a woman may experience hair loss,
moodiness, weight gain, have PMS, her libido may be down, or her marriage and
other relationships may be suffering. But, when you get the hormones in balance,
everything else falls into place, Dr. Baird said. “Her memory and concentration are
better, she isn’t moody so her relationships are better, her libido goes up and her
marriage is better. I had a patient that was suicidal due to symptoms, and now that
everything is hormonally balance, she actually glows. A woman that is in hormonal
balance will feel great and have a beautiful glow about her,” he added.
What is Bioidentical HRT?
The popularity of bio-identical hormone replacement therapy has increased over
the last few years. BHRT is specifically designed for an individual and is customized
by a compound pharmacist. New as it may sound, bio-identical hormone
replacement therapy has been around for over 20 years. Bio-identical hormones
are derived from natural sources such as yams, soy or other plants, and are made
to have the same molecular structure as the hormones in our own bodies.
Therefore, our bodies can process them with little or no side effects.
Women suffering from pre-menopausal or menopausal symptoms such as hot
flashes, headaches, decreased libido, memory loss, just to name a few, have
choices in treatment but may feel they’ve hit a roadblock in trying to get their doctor
to prescribe bio-identical hormone replacement because of the lack of long-term
studies.
Some of the benefits of BHRT discussed in What Your Doctor May Not Tell You
About Menopause, by Drs. Lee, Zava, and Virginia Hopkins, are that natural
progesterone helps protect against fibrocystic breasts, uses fat for energy, is a
natural diuretic, a natural antidepressant, facilitates thyroid hormone action,
restores sex drive, normalizes blood sugar levels, zinc and copper levels, restores
proper cell oxygen, and prevents endometrial cancer.
You’re giving your body back the same hormones your ovaries were once
producing. Your body will respond more appropriately, by reducing any negative
exposures and metabolizing back to a healthy balance. Any negative effect of
estrogen can be avoided by use of progesterone.
Women who are post menopausal can continue BHRT to help aid in promoting
healthy bones and sustaining heart health. Dr. Arlene Kraut of Jeffersonville uses
bio-identical hormone replacement therapy as her first-line treatment for patients.
Trained at Mt. Sinai, Kraut recently located to the Louisville area. After treating all of
her former patients in Kansas using BHRT and having so much success, she
prescribed this for most of her patients. “BHRT just seems to work better. Even
though there are not a lot of long-term studies showing this, patients seem to have
a much better quality of life. If a patient is already using synthetic hormones and
having success with them, then I probably would not suggest she change to BHRT.
However with my new patients, I educate them on the benefits of BHRT and make
that my suggested treatment,” said Dr. Kraut.
Dr. Kraut explained she does baseline lab work and prescribed a low-dose regimen
to begin, and follows up with the patient to see how well the hormone replacements
are being absorbed into the body. She believes the difference between synthetic
and BHRT is not necessarily that one is safer than the other, yet she's seen better
success of symptoms in her patients by prescribing BHRT. She says BHRT offers
women a safe alternative to synthetic hormone replacements.
“Patients react differently to how the doseage is administered,” she says. “While a
patient may not need to have their doseage increased, it may be that they need it
administered in a different manner. Some patients react better with a pill, and others
might react better by administering a transdermal doseage.”
Denise Orwick, of Davis Drugs in Corydon, Ind., attends conferences across the
country that relate to hormone and adrenal gland treatments for women and shares
some of the latest findings. “One of the latest developments we’ve seen is the
development of the Estrogen Metabolizing Test, Orwick says. “Depending on the
results of your estrogen metabolizing tests, it might be that your symptoms are
caused because your body is metabolizing hormones in an unhealthy way.”
Getting Treatment
The Kentuckiana area has several compound pharmacists helping you to work with
your doctor in determining the best treatment options. Most often, your doctor will
perform tests such as hormone blood panels and/or saliva tests then send the
results to your compound pharmacist. The compound pharmacist reads the results
and makes a recommendation to your doctor, who can then write a prescription to
be filled by the compounding pharmacist.
“With the rise in baby boomer women undergoing menopause, we’re seeing more
doctors willing to understand and work with compound pharmacies in prescribing
BHRT to their patients, basically because their patients are very well informed and
demand that their doctors help them in making a choice as to what types of
hormone replacement therapies are available, and which ones are best for them to
use,” shared Judy Minogue, R.Ph. of Louisville Pharmacy.
She suggests the following website: www.womeninbalance.com to help women be
better informed about hormone replacement therapies.
Brenda Reed has printed other information about bioidentical hormone
replacement. You can email Brenda Reed at breed@iamtodayswoman.com.