Friday, November 5, 2010

A Natural Approach To 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.

Doctors will no longer prescribe traditional hormone replacement therapy for their patients with symptoms of menopause due to the problems associated with synthetic hormones causing cancer and strokes. Hormones play an important role in our lives, some of the primary functions are aiding in thyroid hormone activity, restoring sex drive, acting as a natural antidepressant and using fat for energy. If you become imbalanced you can experience hot flashes and vaginal dryness among other symptoms.

With the advent of Oprah Winfrey and Suzanne Somers finding relief from bio identical hormones health professionals and their female patients are considering them as a viable option to assist in balancing out their hormones. They have been used for the past 25 years but not many doctors have experience with them. They can be customized to each patient with the help of a compounding pharmacist.

These natural hormones are made in labs and have the same molecular structure as the hormones produced naturally in our bodies. Conversely, synthetic hormones are intentionally designed to be different as drug companies cannot patent a bio identical structure. These two types of hormones work differently in the body and therefore have different side effects.

The first thing that must be done when considering bio identical hormones is to have a hormone panel done to determine the dosage of bio identical estrogens, progesterone, testosterone and or DHEA to prepare at a compounding pharmacy. Careful monitoring is done through follow-up hormone panels to ensure that relief is found at the lowest dosage possible. A hormone panel is done every three months in the beginning and then once a year once a patient is stable at the time of their annual exam.

Many women can find relief in balancing their hormones without the use of drugs by using a natural approach through medical-grade nutritional supplements, lifestyle and dietary changes and gentle endocrine support. Some women will need prescription strength hormone supplements to get complete relief and get them through a transition period.

The nature of bio identicals allows the body to easily metabolize them with very little side effects. With synthetic hormones they can be very strong as they are not custom made for you and they differ from how the body naturally processes hormones so there are often harmful side effects. Studies show that bio identicals are safer than synthetic hormones but they have not been studied for long-term use.

With the right dosage, women could be free of the discomfort of menopausal symptoms. It is best to try home remedies first to relieve symptoms but if that doesn't work well bio identical hormones at the lowest dosage could be prescribed to get your system balanced. Using a compounding veterinary pharmacy Toronto gives every woman their own unique dose of bio identicals. The delivery system of hormones can be customized to each woman. - 42534

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