Friday, January 13, 2006

My Menopause Blog: Bioidentical Hormone Scoop

As promised, here's a small scoop of information on bioidentical hormone replacement (BHR).

First off, one of the reasons that BHR is not sweeping the nation is money. Drug companies are not allowed to patent a bioidentical structure. No patent means no control.

Remembering that drug companies are businesses with a bottom line of making money, doing anything without a patent would be considered altruistic. Drug companies are capitalistic. So as a way of getting in on the big business of menopause, Hormone Replacement Therapy was invented. Synthetic hormones can be patent. Big steaming piles of money can be made.

BHT is created to have the same molecular structure as the hormones made by your own body. There are a few branded one-size-fits-all, over the counter BHT's available. Or you can take the individual approach.

I've never thought of myself as an off-the-rack kind of gal so this feature, the dose for Sue, appeals to me on a number of levels. In fact, even though I weigh in as a 'medium' pretty much across the board, I dislike the universal herding that goes on in our society. We are much more different than the same.

'Monoism' as it is being called, exists because it is easier to distill a group of people down to one belief. Plus, it's much more lucrative. Not that I want to keep suggesting that it's all about money.....or maybe I do.....since I seem to go on about that. But back to my point, I believe that it's best to keep the individual spirit alive.

Still, 'the dose for you' approach does come with responsibility and more effort than what it takes to belly up to the pharmacy bar and get a bottle of 'Pills R U'.

Individualized BHT users are closely monitored every three months until balance is restored. Monitoring includes checking your current hormone levels.

I like the sound of 'closely monitored'. Too often we hear about people who fall through cracks in the medical stream and suffer needlessly. Call me a suck, but I'm definitely not into needless suffering for any reason.

The close monitoring is to ensure that you are taking the lowest dosage possible while getting the greatest relief available. This sounds right up my alley. Why use a bomb to kill a fly when a fly swatter will do.

So there's a bit of BHR info to carefully chew on. More in another post as my gathering continues.

Sue Richards

Tags: , , .

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home