Archive for October, 2009

Menopause Symptoms and Bio-Mimetic Hormone Replacement Therapy

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

In the last century, medical practitioners and women alike are used to talking about bio-identical hormone replacement therapy in menopause medicine. While this is a good sign, the problem can be found in the terminology itself. In the real sense, you cannot replace your hormones. Instead, hormones can only be copied.

The newest trend is the use of multi-phasic rhythmic dosing of bio-mimetic hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) with the use of natural hormones in a bio-mimetic manner. In the United States, more than two million women are using this type of treatment for menopause symptoms. In the words of the author T.S. Willey, “natural hormones are not bio-mimedic unless the body can recognize them as hormones, and they are not considered restoration unless what has been lost is truly restored.”

A registered pharmacy system was created though, in the absence of the standards of legitimacy and availability, and is ready for testing and study.

In addition, a University of Texas study shall be carried out; the Bioidentical Hormones on Trial, or B.H.O.T. The primary goal of the research will be to examine clinical outcomes and quality of life indicators of patients receiving BHT at 10 to 12 primary care provider’s practices.

In addition, the findings will help generate a standard of BHT administration patterns and dosage.

It is important to note that regardless of their participation in the study, the respondents will not receive a change in clinical care. Quality of life, symptom relief and impact of BHT on physical health such as breast, endometrial and cardiovascular measures are among the outcomes that will be monitored in this research.

Furthermore, the results of the study will be presented nationally and internationally, and they’ll be submitted for publication in different women’s and medical journals. Results will be used in designing a prospective, randomized clinical trial with the aim of standardizing BHT dosing and administration patterns.

Among the main objectives of the study are: (1) to evaluate the quality of life indicators of the patients who are currently receiving bio identical hormone replacement therapy at 10-12 practices of primary care providers (2) to check the effectiveness, safety and overall quality of life of subjects who are using 1 among 3 dosing patterns (3) to monitor the women’s laboratory results (4) to track the adverse effects experienced by the respondents in relation to BHT and (5) to assess the compounding pharmacies’ compliance to the standards.

Understanding Menopause Dryness

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Regardless of a ladies’s age, a woman has the potential to experience dryness. Frequently the onset of the symptoms are fast and usually affect all kinds of girls, in any case to whether or not they are premenopausal, postmenopausal, or menopausal. More than eighty % of all girls just entering menopause go through the experience of menopause dryness. Commonly, many of the women impacted by dryness are between the age of 40 and sixty five.

Dryness in the vaginal area is one of the commonest signs of menopause experienced by girls. More than 50 percent of women continue experiencing menopause dryness after the completion of menopause. Many of these who have not experienced dryness in the gonads, may think of the condition as nothing less than anuisance, however, the entire experience may turn out as devastating to some. Menopause dryness has the potential to spoil a women’s sex life.

Additionally, some women feel, as they’re inadequate or feel guilty. At this time however things have changed fantastically. No longer, a woman has to feel badly about something that she’s not ready to control. Many different kinds of treatments are available so that the man and woman can enjoy sex.

Vaginal dryness also called vaginal atrophy happens when the levels of estrogen decrease inside a ladies’s body, while they’re going through the process of menopause. Estrogen is one of the important hormones inside agirl for the health and elasticity inside the vagina. Additionally, it aids the mucus surfaces found at the mouth of the uterus in the production of lubrication, which helps to keep the vaginal area robust, soft, and moist, while serving to guard from infections and bacteria.

When there is less estrogen in the body, then there is less mucus produced by the vagina, therefore making the environment one thatis dry and thin, among other stuff. One of the commonest symptoms of menopause dryness is unpleasant intercourse, as well as itching. Additionally, the weakening of the walls of the vagina can cause sex becoming intolerable.

Generally, the only way to treat menopause dryness involves accelerating the quantity of sex in some circumstances. The reason for this is related to the stimulation of the mucus glands, thus making the vagina wet. Regularly, lubricants work well to help with making intercourse less unpleasant and to a certain degree delightful. Also, there are moisturizers that work well to alleviate the dryness also. If all else fails, many find that estrogen therapy alleviates a lot of the issues related to persistent vaginal dryness.

Visit signsofmenopause.org to know more about first symptoms of menopause

Take Control of Your Unbearable Hot Flashes and Night Sweats Without Harming Your System

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

For many women, it is absolute torture when they go though LA menopause but it is a complicated decision whether or not to begin LA hormone replacement therapy with so much conflicting information that is circulated regarding the safety of using such therapy on a long-term basis. Luckily, there are a number of other effective options that work naturally to help alleviate the horrendous symptoms that women experience.

One such alternative therapy is a bioidentical progesterone cream that is all natural and derived from plants. This type of cream contains plant phytoestrogens which reduce the intense symptoms and discomfort and without the side effects associated with synthetic chemically derived therapies. This cream is so safe that you can get it without obtaining a prescription from your doctor because there have been no reports of adverse side effects reported by women using bioidentical progesterone cream. Unlike synthetic, natural bioidentical ones are what the body wants for the female body to operate like when it was younger , so supplying proper bioidentical progesterone can meet this requirement.

Not every women suffers from the identical clusters of symptoms during her change of life, but the most common and serious that may be remedied are recurring night sweats, hot flashes, urinary incontinence, uterine fibroids, vaginal dryness, skin conditions including acne, severe mood swings, depression, low libido, osteoporosis, hair loss, infertility, insomnia, anxiety, bone loss and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. This type of cream is very pleasant to use because there is no need to worry about synthetic products, the formula is not oily and does not leave a residue on the skin, and a small three ounce bottle will usually last about two months.

The reason why progesterone cream applied to the skin is used by the body more effectively than artificial or synthetic drugs is because in progesterone deficient women, much of the progesterone can be taken in by the body tissues initially. After repeated doses sometimes occurring twice a day over a period of time, progesterone levels return to normal. While most women are stunned to feel some relief within just a few days it does take a little longer for others.

Studies have shown that that trans dermal or skin application allows it to be absorbed easily and faster without the complication of poor absorption or deactivation by liver enzymes. Most people do not realize that only a small percentage of any medication or supplement is really absorbed by the colon and made available to treat the targeted problem. Extremely important Information of which you should be aware is that while undergoing bioidentical progesterone therapy, you must avoid synthetic estrogens and progestins. Failing to head this warning will cause the treatment to not be as effective. Long-term, chronic exposure to extraneous sources will cause the estrogen receptors to be over stimulated and possibly stimulate cancer growth. Unfortunately, these harmful agents that have deeply infiltrated their way into every corner of our environment include pesticides, detergent, shampoo, plastics, carpet, paint, herbicides, and fungicides just to name a few.

What’s New in Hormone Replacement Therapy and Environmental Endocrinology

Monday, October 19th, 2009

The latest trend today in the field of medicine is environmental endocrinology - this is the branch of medicine that covers how stressors on multiple endocrine systems control aging and the quality of life. Environmental endocrinology addresses the effect of daily stressors such as light, food and crowding on multiple endocrine systems and they, in turn, control the aging and quality of life. Darwinian principles have been extremely successful in explaining otherwise confusing aspects of the living world. The human body definitely qualifies as a part of the living world. It would therefore be surprising if Darwinian principles were not useful in explaining how our bodies work, and why they frequently fail to work as we think they should. Amazingly, however, it’s only lately when evolutionary biologists and physicians have teamed up to understand the evolutionary causes of “why people get sick.” This new science is also called the “Darwinian Medicine.”

Today’s fervor for environmental preservation has also hit the medical industry because researchers, scientists and physicians are slowly realizing the significance of the latest emerging field called environmental endocrinology.

Environmetal endocrinology developed as a response to the increasing necessity of understanding how hormones control the physiological processes of animals who are continuously exposed to the emergencies in their natural environment; it also has its origins in Darwinian Medicine. This has only been made possible through impressive developments in hormone replacement therapy which now make feasible hormone measurements on microlitre volumes of body fluids. The results of several recent research programmes working on animals in the field are reviewed. Some of these are the reproductive responses of migratory birds in the Arctic, the role of antidiuretic hormone in the survival of desert rodents and marsupial wallabies, a few interesting behavioural effects of glucocorticoids in reptiles, and the dynamic interplay between hormones and social status in primates.

As a result of ongoing environmental pollution, the already long list of environmental agents and toxins that can affect endocrine systems has required many updates during the past 20 years.

What is Environmental Endocrinology?

Environmental endocrinology has its roots in Darwinian medicine, the field of trying to look for evolutionary explanations for vulnerabilities to illnesses. Every trait requires an evolutionary and a proximate explanation. Since disease is not a product of selection, it was seen as an exemption from such evolutionary explanations. This is one reason why doctors haven’t thought that evolution might be useful. Also, medical research is focused in identifying differences among individuals in attempt to justify why a person gets sick while the other stays healthy. But Darwinian Medicine doesn’t look for evolutionary explanations for disease itself, and does not usually try to understand why one person gets ill when another does not.

Instead, it tries to comprehend why all people are vulnerable to each illness. It asks how it is possible that natural selection can shape the eye or heart or brain but cannot eradicate our susceptibility to nearsightedness, atherosclerosis, depression, or cancer. Darwinian Medicine applies the advances that have modernized evolutionary biology to the issues on medicine and tries to offer, for each disease, an explanation for why the body isn’t better. As a result, the following classifications of diseases explanation are obtained: defenses, infection, novel environments, genes, design compromises and evolutionary legacies.

In the concluding pages of the Origin of Species, Darwin has foreseen that his work would lead to far more important research in the near future, specifically concerning human beings. The prediction of Darwin is being fulfilled. Although today, the principles of Darwinian Medicine are merely at the theoretical, it’s not too long before these can be applied in the practice of medicine. Medicine should now shift its focus to the traits that make us vulnerable to diseases - this way, it may be able to create more effective treatments. At the very least, taking a gene’s-eye evolutionary point of view helps dispel some mysteries about health and sickness. Evolution isn’t concerned to amplify the health or well-being of organisms.

Rather, it’s merely concerned about successful genetic replication - as the person is just the temporary vehicle of the genes. Our genes and us are not identical, and even if our interests and that of our genes become parallel, the genes of others could often subvert ours with their own agenda. Therefore, it’s only by understanding and appreciating the evolutionary dynamics of health and diseases shall we be able to truly comprehend the origin, persistence and treatment options of the diseases that have been affecting the human body for years. The Wiley Protocol can give you more info.

Are you Perplexed About Hormone Replacement Therapy?

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

If you are questioning hormone replacement therapy, you’re not alone.

When it comes to your body it is important to know the facts. And one of the most important pieces of information is that there are several baby boomers living in the United States who are women.

In 2006, the oldest of the baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, began turning 60 years old. The US Census Bureau reports that as of July 1, 2005, there were approximately 78.2 baby boomers and 50.8% of them were female. That means, according to projections that 7,918 people turned 60 everyday in 2006, or about 330 hourly.

This is one of the reasons why countless women nowadays who are very uncomfortable with symptoms from peri-menopause or menopause. If you are one of more than 40 million women experiencing discomfort from menstruation to menopause, then you need to know the facts.

In simple terms, menopause is described as (a) the cessation of menstruation for 12 consecutive months (b) which usually occurs at ages 51 and 52 (c) marking the end of a woman’s reproductive years (d) where the ovaries stop producing the female hormone, estrogen. Another kind of menopause, called “immediate menopause,” can happen if your ovaries are surgically taken out. In either case, menopause affects women’s health and quality of life for the remainder of her lifetime.

The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), was a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored study of over 161,000 women, ages 50-79, established to address the most common causes of death, disability, and impaired quality of life in postmenopausal women. It was an attempt to collect information on ways to avoid and lessen the incidence of heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer, and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, and to identify the benefits and risks of using menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) to prevent these chronic diseases. These conditions are said to increase their chances of developing among females who are on the menopausal stage of their lives.

Many women are not aware of the fact that the above-mentioned study only discussed about cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis among 65-year-old women who are on synthetic hormone replacement therapy using the brands PremPro and Premarin only. Unfortunately, in July 2002, the investigators stopped the part of the study which is involved in the combination of estrogen and progestin - citing safety issues as the primary reason for such an action.

Statistics show that as of November 2003, about nine million Americans were using some form of Premarin. Premarin(r) is the acronym for Pregnant Mares’ Urine (PREgnant MARes’ urINe); PMU for short As soon as the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) results were released, and there was a reduction of 25 percent of the approximately 12 million women using PMU-based medications in 1999.

About 1/3 of the approximately 55 million post menopausal women in the United States are using synthetic estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), or hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Of them, approximately 49 % currently use “PMU” based products, down from a high of 79 percent in 1999.

The idea of using bio-identical hormones is most intriguing for women who are still doubtful of taking any HRT. Still, this task has become so perplexing because of the countless products that have been circulating in the market. It’s a wonderful thing though that the government dipped its finger on the matter -controlling all bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) solutions that are circulated.

Women don’t have to be baffled about hormone replacement therapy. In menopause medicine, people have been openly discussing about bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT). But this term isn’t 100% correct since hormones aren’t really bio-identical. For one, natural hormones cannot be called restorative unless they really restore what’s been lost and they’re not bio-mimedic unless the body treats them as hormones. They can be mimicked, but they are not identical. They can only be restored, and never really replaced.

So how are biomimetic hormones different from bio-identical hormones? Derived from natural sources, biomimetic hormones mimic the undulating rhythms of the blood levels in a normal menstrual cycle. Undulating means to cause to move in a smooth wavelike movement.

To coincide with the chemical structure of natural hormones, bio-identical hormone products are made from plant sources. The premise is that, technically, the body cannot differentiate bio-identical hormones from the ones the female ovaries produce; however, different forms of human-produced hormones are recognized differently by cells. Thus, it makes sense that bio-identical hormone effects might also be different. Bio-identical hormone compounds should be presented biomimetically for them to be authentically similar to human hormones.

Biomimetic hormone restoration therapy is accurate, it is biomimetic and mimics the up and down rhythms of hormone blood levels in a normal menstrual cycle. That’s Biomimetic - not bio-identical.

How do you define rhythm? The rhythms of the body are regulated by a master clock that works much like a conductor. It activates one segment of the body’s orchestra as another takes a backseat, taking its primary cue from light signals in order to stay in tune with the 24-hour day. Figuratively, the hormones in the body ebb and surge at the wand of the maestro.

The circadian clock in our cells measures one 24-hour spin of the planet. For 28 days, the moon tracks the repeating of that sequence - and so does your body. The Wiley Protocol is an excellent example of a product that mimics the body’s natural production of hormones. To restore the hormone levels among the youth, topical creams differ - and the amounts of application are also different.

Among the latest treatment for women that employs the use of natural hormones in a bio-mimetic way is the multi-phasic rhythmic dosing of bio-mimetic hormone replacement therapy (BHRT). More than two million women in the U.S. use customized hormones for menopause symptoms.

According to forecast, in 2030, about 54.9% of the 57.8 million baby boomers would be female. That year, boomers would be within the ages 66 and 84. And by that time, they would hopefully still be living a comfortable life, thanks to the Biomimetic Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT).