Hormone Replacement Therapy for Women

Unraveling the Confusion

After the negative outcomes of several studies in recent years, millions of women do not really know what to do about taking hormones. After decades of being pushed to take them, women are now told to stay away from hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and/or take chemical drugs for their symptoms. Interestingly, many women already did not want animal and chemical hormones even before the studies.

So was HRT really a bad idea? We do not think so and were not surprised by the results of these studies.

WHY? When the media says estrogen is bad, the question is which one are they talking about?

Human estrogen?
Proprietary chemical formula look-a-likes?
Horse urine derivatives? (Pregnant mare urine= Premarin)

The media is only talking about the last two.

Did you know that? Did you know that every time doctors and the media talk about hormones they talk about substances that have little in common with your own?

Therapy with human hormones is virtually unknown. FWSI refers to human hormones as natural, bio-identical, bio-equivalent, iso-molecular, or ortho-molecular HRT. It all means the same thing— using your own stuff.

Stop for a minute and really think about that. Nature is very strict on chemistry. Even at a gross level, if you had blown a carburetor in a Ferrari, would you go to Ford to replace it? If you filed one key tooth, would your door open? Or if you changed one digit dialing home, would your family answer?

Along with the British doctor, Sir Charles Dodd, who developed the first ARTIFICIAL estrogens in 1938, FWSI believes that administering these man-made proprietary chemical formula look a likes and/or horse-derived substances is fraught with danger. Sir Charles Dodd said it clearly. His voice got lost in the profiteering. It took from 1938 to 2002 to prove it.

The technology to create identical human hormones was present back then. In 1939, bio-identical hormone pellets were already in use in the United States, and yet to this day they have not found their way into the mainstream of American medicine.

WHY? Pellets are created in a laboratory, but are a compound of all natural components. The formula is human, and therefore by nature. Pellets, consequently,cannot be patented. This prevents any of the pharmaceutical companies from owning the preparation rights that would cause them to heavily promote and sell their product. That is why hardly anyone has heard of them, and not because there is any lack of evidence for how well pellet therapy works. Pellet therapy has been well studied and researched, particularly in Australia and England.

Our Approach

We help patients who do not have enough hormones. They have run out or are low enough in their levels to have adverse health effects.
Patients with hormonal imbalance problems and normal levels usually do not need bio-identical hormone therapy (BHRT). The need to clean up their diets, exercise, stop bad habits, improve their hormone detoxification systems such as their liver, and possibly take hormone modulators like herbs, essential fatty acids, and vitamins.
Patients with no or low hormone levels enough to cause symptoms and problems such as those related to osteoporosis and its prevention, and who desire to be treated, are considered for natural BHRT.
People should not have too little hormones, and they should not have too much hormones. They should have enough to do the work to keep them healthy.
We determine if there is a need for BHRT, and then develop a customized strategy.

What is the process for me?

An initial questionnaire to evaluate your personal needs and goals.
Blood work to check hormonal levels and any other tests determined as necessary from the first appointment.
Appointment to discuss tests results. Therapy will begin, and if deemed appropriate, the pellet insertion will be performed during this appointment.
One month after insertion, another blood test will be performed. An appointment will be scheduled to discuss the results and how you are feeling.
Approximately 6 months after insertion or when symptoms begin to recur, a new blood test must be completed followed by another appointment to review the results and subsequent pellet insertion.

What are some ways FWSI collects information about you?

Estrogen Metabolites Identification

Estrogens take many different forms. There are estrogens that are more dangerous than others. On the other hand, some are more desirable to have. We measure these forms in EVERY WOMAN if they agree. If they have abnormal ratios, we work to change that.

Estrogen Detoxification Genetics

We can perform genetic testing on the liver detoxification power of our patients. Some people are deficient from birth of enzyme families such as CYP 450 1B1 that clears dangerous estrogen. This creates risk for some women for more problems, including breast cancer. If they have these glitches, then we give them supplements to help correct that. There are enzymes called COMT that also have the job of detoxifying estrogens. We evaluate those as well. If deficient, we give supplements that do similar work.

Fatty Acid Ratios

N-6/N-3 are important ratios in overall health and also breast cancer prevention. We check them. If they are unfavorable, we teach women how to create a healthy ratio.

Heavy Metal Toxicity

Some heavy metals can be dangerous. For example, cadmium is a heavy metal with strong estrogen like activity. We can check for that and others.

Family History

We collect relevant information about your family history.

Customized Care

We see each patient as a person and unique individual. We make no assumptions. We do our detective work. We give you the best we have to offer. We monitor our patients one by one.

Which hormones do I take and how much?

You want to use the same hormones you were born with. Bio-identical means that the hormones are exactly the same ones produced in your body. Their chemical formula is 100 percent human. They are NOT simulations, or variations on the theme.

The dosages of hormones through this approach are almost always smaller than with the other alternatives. We decide your dose based on your blood work results, age, weight, risk factors, and metabolic characteristics. It is tailored to you.

It is very likely you will also be on natural progesterone. The three hormones lost at menopause— estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone—
will be replaced in physiological dosages.

How do I take the hormones?

For the method of delivery, we prefer the pellet insertion to any other form of orals, creams, gels, patches, and injections.

Hormones taken by mouth may damage the liver, require much higher dosages, and give a roller coaster effect in the blood.
In our experience, creams, gels, and patches work, but can be erratic, difficult to use, and sometimes do not deliver enough of the goods. Patients report mixed results, and we can confirm that by checking hormone levels in the blood. However, if the patient desires these methods even though they are inferior to pellets, we incorporate them into the treatment plan.
We do not believe in hormone injections.
The pellet is built in a tightly compressed manner that allows the hormones to release slowly. That’s why it lasts 4 to 6 months. It does not go through the liver first. It does not produce surges and ups and downs, but rather a nice steady state that the body needs. Furthermore, your body uses the pellets as a reservoir of hormones to draw from whenever necessary. People do not have to remember to take anything. The pellets do their job every day similar to what the ovaries used to do before menopause. Pellets are about the size of a grain of rice and are placed beneath the skin using a mild, local anesthetic typically in the buttocks area of the body. There is no pain. The procedure takes about 10 minutes and is repeated every four to six months. The incision is so small it does not even require a stitch. You wear a special band-aid for 4 days. There may be some soreness at the spot of insertion for a few days after.

How do I monitor their efficacy?

The efficacy of hormone therapy is monitored through the following methods.

Clinical results
Blood work
Bone density scans

When patients start to be relieved of their symptoms, they are the first ones to know and tell us. Women are enthusiastic about the way they feel. Many women significantly decrease the quantity of supplements they were taking for their symptoms. They do not need them any more. Eventually as the hormones are used up, patients notice that and call saying it is time for another pellet insertion. We also carefully check blood levels that give us medical confirmation that things are where they are supposed to be. For osteoporosis, we order DEXA scans at the beginning and then annually to exactly quantify the improvements in bone mass.

How do I monitor their safety?

There are well-known safety concerns about artificial HRT.

What about natural BHRT?

There is some literature that supports the use of long-term bio-identical hormones. The big landmark bio-identical hormone studies will most likely be done by the government, in other countries, or not at all. The pharmaceutical industry will not research non-patentable compounds. There is no profit for them without the capacity to patent.

Science is showing more and more that one size does not fit all. Increasingly, quality health care requires tailoring treatments to the individual with all their quirks and genetic variations. There are no two equal people, and not even identical twins.

We also believe that if certain formulas have been used by Nature in humans for a few million years, there has to be a reason why.

Our natural BHRT therapies are grounded within available published literature and experiences from colleagues that have treated thousands of women.

More studies are needed to confirm the safety of natural BHRT over longer periods of time. The reality is that health care is often lacking definitive answers. Do we tell women to go away and suffer because all the confirmed answers are not yet available? That is when the physician and patient sit together and make decisions based on the best available information.

According to the General Accounting Office of the United States, only 15 percent of standard allopathic medical practice has a clear scientific basis. That is standard allopathic medicine, and not alternative medicine.

We continue to monitor the scientific literature to collect more data in our constant quest to evaluate and refine our best practices. We keep in close contact with our colleagues offering similar types of health care.

FWSI employs all available methods to ensure safety.

For more information, FWSI recommends the following resources.

The Great Life Makeover by Daniel A. Monti, MD and Anthony J. Bazzan, MD
The Sexy Years by Suzanne Somers
The Greatest Experiment ever Performed on Women by Barbara Seamans