Friday, November 5, 2010

The Latest Trends In Medicine

By Adriana Noton

As a woman approaches the time of her life when she goes through menopause she may have to rethink who she sees as her physician. Many doctors have no training in menopause, the medicine they prescribe may consist of supplements that do very little to ease the symptoms. They may advise their patient to read a book on the topic and send them off. Or worst yet they may tell them that it is not their specialty when they are a gynecologist. The woman is often left up to their own devises to find relief from hot flashes, mood swings and other symptoms that can accompany menopause.

Hormone imbalance can effect the lifestyles of men and women as estrogen, testosterone and progesterone all have important roles in our lives. An imbalance can cause mood swings, hot flashes and a loss of energy. Bio identical hormone replacement therapy is used to treat these symptoms. Because of the Premarin synthetic hormone problems with breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes and cervical cancer many physicians stopped prescribing hormone replacement for their patients and women refused to take it out of fear.

Bio identical hormones have gained in popularity in the last few years due to celebrity endorsements. They have been around for many years but not many doctors understand much about them. They can be very effective in treating women as they can be custom made to fit each woman individually by a compounding pharmacist.

Drug companies cannot make bio identical hormones because they cannot be patented as they are a natural structure. Therefore synthetic hormones are intentionally made to have a different structure so that can be patented. Bio identical hormones are produced in labs but have the same molecular structure as the hormones that your body produces. They have been around for a long time but not many doctors know much about them.

When considering taking bio identical hormones make sure you are going to a doctor that is familiar with them and has a relationship with a compounding pharmacist. You will need a hormone panel to check your levels of DHEA, testosterone, progesterone and estrogen. This will assist the doctor in giving you the proper dosage.

Initially women should try to balance out their hormones naturally through changes in diet, lifestyle, nutritional supplements and gentle endocrine support. If these methods show no improvement in symptoms then a prescription of hormone supplements should be tried to get through the transition period.

Bio identicals are appealing in that they are natural and our bodies can metabolize them with very little side effects. Synthetic hormones tend to be stronger drugs, harder to metabolize and the side effects are serious. The beauty of using a compounding pharmacy for bio identicals is the prescription can be altered when needed very easily.

With the right doctor and the right dosage of hormones you could be feeling great in no time. Years ago we all used to go to the veterinary pharmacy Toronto and the pharmacist would compound our prescriptions. Today medications are mass produced to treat large segments of the population. Compounding pharmacists can create custom dosages in delivery systems easily tolerated by the patient. The triad relationship of the patient-physician-pharmacist provides a unique approach to treating this issue. - 42634

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