Bio-identical hormone replacement

Jude, how long can you stay on the bios?

Its for the rest of my llife. My dr. ( Holistic )  a MD,  practiced traditional medicine for 24 years before leaving that doctoring behind and going Holistic. His 75 yr old mother has been on bio identicals for years. If proper bloodwork and monitering is done by a dr. that knows what their doing your body is getting only what it needs to bring back healthy levels of hormones. It is health and happiness. Synthetic HRT is a different story. These hormones are altered by things that don't belong in our body. For me, the decision was easy. We all see and know women that have all kinds of problems after menapause. Strokes, heart attacks, dementia, weight gain and many other health problems. Why does this happen after menapause? Depleting hormones that are not protecting our bodies anymore. When are we our healthiest? When our hormones are fine. To my knowledge so far I have not seen a study that has shown women being hurt and or dieing from BHRT. You do see it with the synthetic HRT though and they still prescribe sythetics. Drug companies that generally run these tests and safey of drugs do not put their money into testing Bio Identicals. For them, it is about profits from drugs. Bio Identicals cannot be patented because they are a natural substance. Drug companies instead will put their money into testing what brings in profits like premarin. There is so much GOOD information out there in books and videos online if you look. The key is a dr. that is on board with you all the way and knows their stuff. If you educate yourself through books and video reviews you will know you have found the right dr, when you get there. Hope this helps.

Just wanted to tell you how refreshing it was to read your post. I started BHRT about 14 weeks ago after a lot of terrible mood problems and no period for 8 months. Everything you wrote is so true. I too found a doctor who only deals with hormones and is very respected in the field. I had bleeding when first started my treatment which he said is normal and he has adjusted my bios once already and I'm feeling a lot better. Its about having all your hormones balanced and I have a combination of estrogen progesterone & testosterone. He did extremely thorough blood work plus all my symptoms and this has given him a starting point. I too will be on bios for the rest of my life with careful monitoring. I believe this is something we actually need as we enter menopause and age so we can be mentally and physically well.

I really have no idea what state I would be in now if it wasn't for the care and of my amazing doctor and his level of understand of what we go through.

Hi I was hoping to find someone who is somewhat new to BIHRT. I just turned 52 yrs old yesterday and today is 3 weeks since having my pellet insertion. I definitely feel like a changed person. I too suffered with nasty hot flashes, no sleep, mood swings, sadness, weepiness, brain fog etc. Just to be able to have a good nights rest is worth a million dollars to me! Even though I am sensitive to the Progesterine. But that wears off quickly. My question to you is do you still feel good even into your 14th week?

Hi Kim, things are going good but I'm still not perfect yet. Don't think I mentioned originally that my biggest problem by far was my moods and its due to high estrogen and when it spikes through the month it literally makes me crazy. My mother suffered from bipolar disorder and from the mood problems i'v been experiencing with Peri im starting to think there has to be a hormone connection and my doctor agrees. I'm a lot better than I was and have no Peri symptoms now except for mood swings which are probably 80% better than they were. I'v had my BHRT adjusted three times so far and am currently on progesterone only with an anti estrogen as my doctor wants my moods completely under control which won't happen till he stops my estrogen from spiking. There's also the possibility that my own testosterone and progesterone are converting to estrogen and if that's the case I might always have some issues. In saying all that I'm a lot better and the progesterone only has stabilized my moods but I'm sort of a bit flat a lot of the time now. Its not bad and I'd much prefer that to the crying and anger etc. Once he feels i'v been stable for a while he wants me back on a small amount of testosterone estrogen & progesterone again but I'm very nervous about taking any estrogen now. Did u mean all your symptoms have gone? I do luv waking up without horrendous brain fog. Mine would last all day sometimes. Has yours gone too?

Hi Azzumi,

Just wondering if you are taking a DIM supplement? It balances estrogens. Might be what you need to keep your estrogens right while on BHRT.

Thanks for your comments to my posting above 3 months ago. Just read it. 

Yes I'm on dim. I'v taken it on and off for a few years and always feel better when I'm on. I take from 2 a day to 4 a day. Tapering up then after a few months back down then try and have a break for a couple of weeks. They say your body gets used to it. Who knows. My boyfriend recons he can tell when I'm off it. Says I'm much nicer on dim..lol I had a little break from it when I started BHRT so we could work out if the hormones alone would be enough but had to go back on. If it is conversion that would explain why dim helps.

Just wanted to add. When Peri hit me hard the dim alone just wasn't helping. That's how I knew my hormones were completely stuffed. Before that the dim worked wonders.

I've been on dim since I've started my BHRT. The doc took me off it for about 3 months and some of my estrogens went up too high so he put me back on the dim and all has been well. I take 400 mg capsules, one a day. 

Hiya I can say most of my symptoms have gone away since starting therapy 3 weeks ago. The first 4 days after the pellets were aweful! I was in bed for 3 days miserable, week, body aches, no appetite BUTTT not one hot flash ! I just gave into all of it and hoped it was just my body getting back what it lost a long time ago. So that 4th day I woke up and the weekness was gone an a tiny bit of body aches remained. And from then in It has been wonderful. My energy is high and the fuzzy head is almost gone. I have my moments lol! But the body aches and hot flashes are no more! So I will stop rambling lol! All in all its been pretty positive. I go next week for bloodwork to see my levels. Hope today is a good one for you!!

Haven't come across many other women using dim but its great stuff. My doctor was surprised how high my estrogen is and how hard its been to get it down as im very lean and carry no abdominal fat and don't look at all as though its high. Funny thing was the first time I went to him he took one look at me and said your body hates estrogen. He certainly nailed that. I'v had three lots of blood work done over 7 months the last being 6 weeks ago and even on dim was still way too high. My testosterone was through the roof too but thats settled a bit. Also all this was after no period for eight months. One thing I have learn from all this us how much we don't know about hormones yet and the way they shape who we are. When I said to him I can feel like I'm going completely crazy he nodded and said yes, thats what hormones can do. I almost cried when I realized someone finally understood me. He's quite amazing.

Great to hear you're feeling good. Think sometimes I'm guilty of over analising how I feel and also I have to remind myself that even with perfect hormones i might have a crappy day occasionally. So at the moment things are good, I'm at work chatting with all my customer feeling good so I'll be happy with that and I also spent the last few days painting and decorating our living room so I know things are looking up. For quite a long time I couldn't bring myself to do anything. Looks like we're both moving forward thankgoodness..😃

I know you mention the word dim to people and they go huh? It is one of the first supplements my dr. put me on when we started the hormones. Good to see someone else having success with bio identicals.

I learnt about dim a few years ago as a competitive body builder and its worked wonders for me. My boyfriend uses it too. Its such a simple natural supplement that you'd think more people would know about it.

I am happy to hear your doing well! I think as women we put so much on ourselves and YES its ok to have those crappy days!! It took me sometime to realize that. But on the other hand when your days are more crappy than good ...thats when you take charge..as we did...and do the best we can to help ourselves! Have a great weekend! Thanks again for sharing! Its great to know I am not alone in this journey!

This is the first place I have heard of it.  I just ordered some!

This is the first place I have heard of it.  I just ordered some!

Your definately not alone. To share my experiences with someone who understands can be the best therapy there is😃

Think one thing i'v learnt from all this menopause stuff is there's no instant fix but with some patience and determination we can get better. I hope it gives you some relief. Let me know how you go.

Hi Azumi, I m 43 years old and already on the perimenopause with all the horrible simpthoms and I'm surching for a good Dr to understand what I need . My question is can you help me to get in contact with your Dr. Thank you

Hi Nicoleta,

I live in australia so might not be of much help to you.

My best advice is to look on the internet for someone who specializes in bio identical hormones and peri/menopause. They are out there but you will probably need to do your homework to find one.

Also as iv said before even when you find a suitable doctor to treat you just be patient. Its a long slow process.

Hope this helps a bit.

Hi Azzumi, 

I'm not n Australia also and have been seeing someone for my BHRT but I'm really not sure how good they are and am searching for a Dr who specialises in BHRT. 

I've been doing it for a few months but haven't found the balance as yet. I'm getting my period more now than what I was prior to taking the bioidenticals! 

Any chance I could get your Dr's details?? 

Thanks Azzumi 

Hi Azzumi, 

Below should read that I AM in Australia too...would love a Dr's details  

Hi Jude. I stopped getting my period this past, just 2 months ago and I am having full on hot flashes all through the night and day. Had UTI's bacterial infection which was because of the change in hormones. I am finding myself greatly confused. I want to go on the safest biodentical hormones. Through my research I found out there are two types of biodentical hormones. The ones I got prescribed by my family doctor which is Claimara and she also perscribed Progesterone 2 tablets for 12 days but when I called they said it is synthetic but made with plant hormones and is biodentical. Then I talked to a Naturopath and she said they perscribe Biodentical and send it to the compounding pharmacy and when I called them they said theirs is made with Wild Yam and its plants and they said there is a small percentage that is still synthetic. Theirs is not FDA approved and when I read on the internet it says it has no safety measures in place but they said they do. What I like about their progesterone is it is a cream or jel instead of pills. So I was wondering if it's possible to get the climara through the pharmacy and use th biodentical progesterone cream through the compounding pharmacy? Or I could go the route of compounding or pharmacy. Their both biodentical seems confusing. Did you come across this situation?