By popular demand, we have invited Carol Peterson, BS Pharmacy, to discuss women's hormones and how they change and affect your health. 

For the last 25 years, Carol has been working with Women's International Pharmacy, specializing in compounded bio-identical hormone therapies.

In this short interview, we managed to cover several essential topics, such as: 

• Is hormonal balance vital to your health? 

• HRT vs Bio-Identical Hormones, is there a difference?

• What type of testing choices are available? The advantages and shortcomings of each method.

• What kind of health conditions or symptoms would indicate a hormonal imbalance?

Don't miss this informative interview; it's filled with valuable information.

To watch this interview, please click HERE

HRT increases the risk of Breast Cancer. In 2002, a huge double blind placebo study called “Women's Health Initiative” sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) was stopped early because it was proven during the study that HRT causes breast cancer. 

Natural Bio-identical hormones on the other hand are safe. They are made from botanical plants such as soy and yams. These plants are pharmaceutically processed to produce natural bio-identical progesterone or estrogen derivatives; they may come in cream or oral forms. 

It is not difficult to determine if one needs some form of hormone balancing – if you feel perfectly well and have no symptoms it is very unlikely that you need to do or change anything. However, a large number of peri-menopausal women suffer from the following symptoms: fatigue, pre-menstrual breast tenderness, fibrocystic breast condition, short menstrual cycle (less than 28 days), anxiety, headaches, sleep disorders, low libido, depression and PMS. Women in menopause may have some of these symptoms in addition to hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and memory loss. If some of these complaints are present in a patient it is important to identify any hormonal deficiencies. 

We can carefully monitor most hormone levels with blood tests, although they are not as reliable as saliva tests, which measure bio-available free-hormone levels, or 24-hour urine collection, which looks at what is excreted through metabolites over a 24 hour period. Once identified, single or multiple hormone deficiencies can be corrected by the use of bio-identical hormones, which have an anti-aging action by the nature of their activity. 

The effect of these hormones is dose specific, however in nature more is not necessarily better – if the hormones are prescribed in too high a dosage, they can cause adverse effects. Many women, hearing of the great effects of progesterone, decide to self medicate.  A word of caution here needs to be made – some progesterone products on the market have very little or no effect. Compounding pharmacies have a reliable and consistent product; however this would require a prescription from your doctor. 

Bio-identical hormone therapy should never be taken orally as it can result in many unwanted side effects. Transdermal (through the skin via a cream) is much safer and more effective because it bypasses your liver and avoids many side effects. I have been very fortunate to learn a lot about hormones from my extraordinary friend Dr. Alvin Pettle - ObGyn. You can learn more about bio-identical hormone therapy from this world renowned expert by visiting his website www.drpettle.com

Take charge of your health today, be proactive and help others to prevent breast cancer NOW!