Bio-Identical Hormones

I was going to tough it out...take nothing to help my bizarre set of symptoms. My doctor (who is a woman, by the way) advised me to take off a jacket or open a window... I tried that for three years and when a friend told me it took her EIGHT YEARS of symptoms...I thought I'm not going to survive that...

So I went to a private clinic and now I'm on some bio-identical hormones. I feel somewhat human again for the first time in a long time. Not 100%, like before menopause...but much better.

I just wonder...is anyone else on bio-identical hormones? How long would one be on those? With all the negative press on hormone therapy I'd think this should only be a temporary solution (a couple of years maybe)...

Is anyone taking these kinds of hormones...for how long and what results have you experienced?

SM

I have been on hrt - synthetic early on, and bio-identical for the past 5 years. I was taken off of synthetics when the results of the nurses study hit. I went cold turkey for awhile, but finally pleaded with my dr. to put me back on. After reading about bio's from Suzanne Somers, I talked with my dr. about trying them. She was willing to work with me - and I've been on them ever since. Initially, I did the saliva testing every 6 months to try to keep everything at optimum levels. I did take a 6 month break last year - but was shocked at how quickly things changed. Hot flashes returned, my skin aged overnight - and basically everything that could dry up dried up. I am back on a low level of hrt, just enough to help take the edge off of this thing called aging. I will stay on them forever. I will be 61 on Tues. I've kept myself fit, stopped coloring my hair years ago and get enough compliments on the gray that I feel I did the right thing. Aging is really a state of mind - and I believe if there's something that can help you along the path - why not.

I did the bio-identical but finally had to stop because the price kept going up and my insurance wouldn't cover it. No way was I taking Premarin because of the animal cruelty issues. I have had good results with Estroven, Extra Strength. It's a blend of herbs, vitamins, and minerals. My main symptoms were the hot flashes and night sweats. This doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me. I had to do something - when my Mom died at 82, she was still having hot flashes. No thanks!!

I'm on the pill which certainly helps, but isn't perfect.

Do you know about the National Association of Baby Boomer Women, www.nabbw.com, our sister site? Once a member you can listen to over 50 archived teleseminars, or you can print them and read them if you prefer. There's a good teleseminar about this topic in the archives.

Well, one can only try...everyone is different and different things work for different people. I've found that more maintenance is required than when I was younger. I'm sure if my diet was better and my exercise regime more consistent, I'd feel better...but sometimes trying to fit everything in just causes more stress. Browser57, good for you for letting your hair go grey...I haven't had the guts yet. I'd be pretty grey already and feel maybe it's too soon. I turned 50 this year. But, I am planning on transitioning to letting the hair grow out. Dotsie, I was on the Pill for 30 years (I feel like a science experiment). I wanted to have tubes tied when I was younger but every doctor refused stating that I could still meet Mr. Right who'd insist on having kids...still waiting! Life just never quite works out like you plan--but that just may be the fun of it all.
SM

I tried it, but gave it up after a year. I hate taking pills.
My meno period lasted close to ten years... began when I was in my 35th year. I was worried about bone density (last test @ 25% loss), but the mental anguish I had over taking pills was just too much for me.

Hi gims,
I have the bone loss too; that's most of the reason I'm doing the hormone thing...the hormones are administered via cream which I like better than taking pills but what are you doing about calcium? anything? I hate taking pills too and somehow taking calcium pills, I always think they won't dissolve or something. I am taking a liquid calcium/magnesium concoction together with some Vitamin D. I used to eat so many dairy products, I should have the bones of an ox. Now I'm not so much into the dairy anymore because of all the negative press and it seems to not have done a darn thing for me in any event.
SM

I'm doing nothing (except treadmill)... I do take a multiple which has calcium/vit D in the mix... but I'm sure it's not enough. I've heard of topical applications, and understand they are safer.
I DIDN'T do dairy - never in my life... I've never liked milk, only like certain cheeses and only with certain things... don't like yogurt... you'd think I'd have more bone loss than I do...
I know I need to do something, tho. Every time I see Sally Fields on the Boniva commercials, I think 'hmmm.'
Once my gyno sent me to a Chinese herbalist because of my aversion to pharma... I went but didn't get the 'script filled. That was a couple of years ago.
Let us know what you think of the cream after you've used it awhile, would ya?

There is so much conflicting information, you just don't know what to do. I met a lady once who said she took Fosomax (spelling?) and she ended up with enormous digestive problems and her bone loss had increased after all that. Stories like that really turn me off these medications.

I'll let you know how it goes.
SM

I was on Fosomax for several years but stopped when I started reading about women's bones becoming very brittle (ceramic like) - so yeah, it strengthens them to the point that they shatter???

Have you read The Wisdom of Menopause by Dr. Christiane Northrup. She covers both sides of the hrt issue, natural, bio-dentical. I keep her book by my bedside - because although I'm 61 and consider myself past menopause - I still have things pop up (right now, it's bloating) and found that my diet is too high in wheat and of course sugar.....

Hi fab women,
Maybe late to the table here but had to chime in. I've been on bhrt for about 4 years--what a life saver. I had been on Tri-Est in a pill, very low dose but recently switched to Bi-Est cream for two reasons. 1) to get rid of the Estradiol which is the potentially damaging one and 2) to get rid of a pill which the liver has to conjugate which has some concerns associated.
I also swear by Progesteron cream (Although just to be contrarian I'm on a pill for 6 months only, trying to remedy something) It helps with weight gain, deep sleep and balances the estrogen just like when the old ovaries were working.
Midlife women's is my area of expertise and I just did an audio postcard on what one should include and take out of their diet for bone health. I was really surprised but dairy is not the best for bone health.
On the home page of my blog there is a graphic for a book I recommend called The Bone Health Revolution. It's a great resource for all of us at this age.
There is a link in my signature to the blog if anyone is interested.
All I know is my life is so much better in so many ways since I started on them!

Hi MsCoach

Thanks so much for the information...I've got an appointment with a holistic MD next week and he ONLY uses bio-identical approaches. I've reached my limit with the various aspects of this stage of my life, although I swore I was going to go au naturale. After suffering my extreme exhaustion, serious weight gain, a better goatee than my son, and a host of other conditions, I decided I was DONE....grin. Although I'm just weird enough to get a kick out of playing martyr...at least sometimes...(Teashing)

I'm so grateful for the wisdom in this forum and will take a look at your blog!

Have an amazing day filled with passionately powerful possibilities.

Mama, your post reminds me of all the boomers who gave birth au naturale the first time around, and then changed their minds with the second child.

Absolutely! Grin...funny how living an experience can change the most strongly held decisions prior to being in the middle of the fray! Kinda like those folks who don't have kids telling those who have them how to raise them. They suddenly realize, when *they* become parents, that it ain't so dadblasted easy!

Question: Is it the pill for 6 months or the cream(s) that help with weight gain, deep sleep and estrogen balance? I'm reading it to be the Progesterone cream, but want to make it clear in my mind (for future reference).
Would you share with us what is?
I hope to hear such positive claims from others.
I have a couple of issues I need to remedy (or at least get help for)... but, I don't want to take pills.

Thanks shipmate for bringing this topic up once again. It's one of the things that seems to get put on the back burner for some of us.

Another question... have you noticed a change in the quality of your hair with the bhrt?

Anyone watch Oprah yesterday? Suzanne Sommers was on there talking about bio-identical hormones. I'm still confused on all of it. Is it safe, not safe? Whom do you believe when there is so much disagreement on the topic of hrt and bhrt. Also, the average person does not have the resources to run to all the doctors that these women have gone to, to get their hormones back on track.

The NABBW did a teleseminar about this. If you're a member, you can go to the Members Only section of the site and listen or read. It was rather informative.

Cookie,
Everything I read says to avoid the bio-identicals. Progesterone occurs naturally in plants and it can't be patented. The bio identical stuff is a way to make money== once again -- by endangering women.

I saw this on Oprah. Were these things available 15 years ago? Is it too late for me at 62? Not one doc ever mentioned this to me. I have to demand blood tests every year and I have to ask for specifics. I'm angry because now I have to pay big time for my insurance since losing my job. I'll make extra demands because I'm paying so much.

Bio-identical hormones can't be patented, true. But there has been no research that I can find that says whether or not they're safe. The main difference is that bio-identical hormones contain all three types of estrogen made naturally by our bodies; Premarin contains only one type and it's made from the urine of pregnant mares, which is a whole other story.

I took the bio-identicals for a while until the price went up so high that I couldn't afford them any more; my insurance wouldn't pay for them but would pay for Premarin. I felt so much better on them. Now I'm in my 6th year of menopause and still get hot flashes. Granted, they're not as bad as they used to be, but it's very frustrating! I can't do too much soy - at least not enough to make a difference - and the creams don't do anything for me. I did have some relief with some of the herbal remedies. Problem is I'm really bad about taking anything - I will be good for a week or two then forget all about taking medicine or supplements.

I don't believe the pharmaceutical companies' hype at _all_, with regard to women's health. I'm convinced that my mom's breast cancer was a result of her 30 years on HRT. and then they put her on drugs that my sister and I believe led to her blindness.

I personally cured an orange-size ovarian cyst and debilitating fibroids in about 6 months, by changing my diet and using over-the-counter progesterone creme from Arbonne, created according to Dr. John Lee's specifications. It also cured my hot flashes and helps me sleep.

Let me add in here that my gyny's response to my miracle cure was "I didn't tell you to use that. You could have sued me if it didn't go well." Actually, yes, I did ask you what you thought about progesterone creme and you said, "It doesn't work, but try it if you want to."

I fired her, of course. Never went back. Though I should've written her a not to say why.

Start by reading Dr. John Lee's web page (if it's still available) or his books. Progesterone is the hormone from which estrogen derives. Too much estrogen leads to all sorts of female problems. Male ones too.

Bio-identicals = synthetic. Think about it. If it's the same as natural, then why not use natural? It's just another way for pharma companies to exploit women. My sister had a ton of negative information about them to the point where I got sick of reading it -- it should be available out there.

Soy is also a problem. If you look at the way it's manufactured in the US you wouldn't want to ingest it! Maybe you can get organic imported soy, but not likely.

ShipMate, I was born in Vancouver a very long time ago. I had the same experience with no doc wanting to tie my tubes. I have no kids and no guy and my doctors should have done it. I think we know what we want.

I've been on Fosomax for years. It's kept my bone density below the danger level. I've been taking prednisone, too, which does the opposite of Fosomax for bone density. I'm still happy with the Fosomax. My doctor told me the one that Sally Fields advertises is an impossibility. "Nothing stays in your system for one month," he said. The pharm companies must have gotten to him because he prescribed it for a couple of friends.

Saundra,
From what I hear, you're taking a risk. There are now advertisements in the newspaper for lawyers representing women whose jawbones have deteriorated because of Fosamax. My gyny told me that the drug helps create bone density, but not bone strength -- so the test comes out well, but it's meaningless.

Prednisone leaves you at risk for glaucoma because it increases the pressure in your eyes -- my husband used it for really bad asthma and learned this from an opthamologist in the hospital where he works. He's trying to stay off it completely now.

DJ, I have read that somewhere too. From what I remember reading on the Fosamax pamphlet in the tiny tiny print.....I think it mentioned that taking Fosamax does not prevent breaks or factures, and it STOPS the natural regeneration of our bones.

Our bones do not regenerate as fast when we get older. It's slower, but they do regenerate! Therefore, when we go in for a DEXA scan, our T-scores are compared to 30 year olds...not women of our own age, and that is why so many are diagnosed with osteopenia.

Yeah, Cookie, I forgot about the use of 30 year olds as the standard (though it may even be younger than that). There are also some who think that bone flexibility is more important than density, but has that been measured? So if you fall and have flexible bones, are they less likely to break? who knows.

When I was younger I wanted a BMW. Now I don't care about the W...

can you say how you done this DJ, publicalie or privatlie it all one and i won't sue you lol

Just what I said -- the progesterone cream by Arbonne is air-tight which makes it more effective that the others. Progesterone occurs naturally in plants and animals -- pharma companies have to change its composition in order to make something original they can sell, but the artificial (including bio-identical which is a trick word for chemical) stuff isn't safe, according to sources I've read.

Then I changed my diet by eliminating all hormonally treated meat and all chemically treated fruit and veggies.

I'll be 61 next month and was post menopausal at 42 and have never taken anything because it was always so confusing. Plus, I didn't want to start having periods again! LOL

Now, my Mother took Premarin for years and then I convinced her to change doctors so she started on something else (I'm not sure what it was), and is taking it to this day and she's 78. She says the hot flashes get too bad if she stops.

My sister who is two years younger than me started bioidenticals a few years ago and says she feels great! I'm not sure if she will decide to go off them some day or not, but if she does and can't tolerate the hotflashes, etc., she'll probably stay on them.

This is the quandry as I see it....if you stay on them for a long time, your risk goes up for cancer. But if you go off them, your quality of life may be reduced dramatically! That's why it's such a personal choice. I'm always wondering if I would be feeling 100% better if I was taking them? Or am I prolonging my life by not taking them? What a mess!! LOL

I quit having any hot flashes at all when I changed my diet to all organic food, no pesticides, no hormones and no antibiotics. If I have meat with pesticides (like at a potluck -- because usually I'm able to avoid it), I'll have a hot flash within 10 minutes. I'm in my 50s and don't use anything else except progesterone cream.