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.

Hormone imbalance can effect the lifestyles of men and women as estrogen, testosterone and progesterone all have important roles in our lives. An imbalance can cause mood swings, hot flashes and a loss of energy. Bio identical hormone replacement therapy is used to treat these symptoms. Because of the Premarin synthetic hormone problems with breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes and cervical cancer many physicians stopped prescribing hormone replacement for their patients and women refused to take it out of fear.

Bio identical hormones have gained in popularity in the last few years due to celebrity endorsements. They have been around for many years but not many doctors understand much about them. They can be very effective in treating women as they can be custom made to fit each woman individually by 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.

When considering going on a bio identical regimen a hormone panel will be needed to check out what ones levels are. This will then determine the dosage of bio identical hormones needed. You will be monitored every three months initially to make sure your hormones are maintaining a balanced level and then checked annually thereafter. The lowest dosage of hormones will be prescribed.

You will need to be carefully monitored to make sure your hormone levels are in balance, this will be done every three months initially and then once a year. Your prescription can be tailored to your requirements by your compounding pharmacist. This method will ensure that you are not taking too many hormones or not enough to relieve your symptoms.

Bio identicals are appealing in that they are natural and our bodies can metabolize them with very little side effects. Synthetic hormones tend to be stronger drugs, harder to metabolize and the side effects are serious. The beauty of using a compounding pharmacy for bio identicals is the prescription can be altered when needed very easily.

Building a relationship with your veterinary pharmacy Toronto and doctor is the best approach to finding relief from disruptive menopausal symptoms. Going back to the way we used to interact with our pharmacist give us a personalized approach that is healthier for us. With the correct treatment menopause does not have to be uncomfortable. - 42635

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