Factors to Consider for Hormone Therapy

I was recently interviewed for a Huffington Post article (December 2011) about hormone replacement therapy.  The article discusses the recent history of hormone therapy for women in the U.S., and addresses the following questions:

• Why were concerns raised about hormone therapy in the early 2000′s?
• How are synthetic hormones different from bioidentical hormones?
• Why does the dosage form of a hormone (for example, a capsule vs. a patch) make a difference?
• Why is age an important factor to consider when prescribing or taking hormone therapy?

In the article, two California gynecologists, Dr. Susan Podolsky and Dr. Ricki Pollycove, also weigh in on the topic. I hope that you find it helpful!  ~Peter

Health Tips from Koshland Pharm

Koshland Pharm has launched its first health-related, quarterly newsletter, Prescriptions for Health.

This first newsletter includes articles about a Bay Area Naturopathic Doctor who supports women in regaining their energy, tips for preventing the transference of hormone creams, and some highlights from a recent practitioner summit about bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

You can click on the newsletter to the left to check out the articles.  I welcome your feedback!  ~Peter

Testosterone Stories

There was a fascinating radio program that focused on testosterone on NPR’s This American Life back in 2002.  The stories covered include:

• An interview with a man who lost his testosterone. He explains that life without testosterone is life without desire—desire for everything: food, conversation, even TV. And he says life without desire is unexpectedly pleasant.
• An interview with a person who started life as a woman, but began taking massive testosterone injections seven years ago, and now lives as a man. He explains how testosterone changed his views on nature vs. nurture for good.
• The men and women on staff at This American Life decide to get their testosterone levels tested, to see who has the most and least, and to see if personality traits actually do match up with hormone levels.
• A novelist tells the story of a road trip she took with her fifteen-year-old son.

If you have any doubt about the degree to which hormones influence our experience of life, this program will definitely be enlightening.

Check it out on This American Life’s website.  I’d be interested to hear your comments!

~Peter

BHRT Best Practices Summit in San Francisco

Happy first week of November!  I am pleased to share an upcoming event that Koshland Pharm is hosting in San Francisco.  The Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy Best Practices Summit will take place on Saturday, November 12, 2011.   An all-day event (10am-4pm) geared towards doctors, nurses, and other health care providers, this summit will go past the hype and straight to the science behind bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

While the presentations at the BHRT Best Practices Summit will be addressed to doctors and nurses, people from the general public who are interested in learning more about medical research related to bioidentical hormones can also register and attend.  Pre-registration is $85, which includes lunch and all of the day’s presentations.

The featured presenter, Dr. Ricki Pollycove, is a board certified ObGyn who is committed to knowing the research behind hormone replacement therapy and applying it to her clinical practice approaches.  She has spoken widely and published both scientific articles and books about this subject, most recently, “The Evolutionary Origin and Significance of Menopause” (J. Menopause, March 2011) and The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Bioidentical Hormones (Alpha Books, 2010).  She will be presenting on the history of women’s biology and the research behind hormone replacement therapy and its implications for clinical practice approaches.  I will also have the opportunity to present on a topic that I feel passionately about: quality considerations in bioidentical hormone products.

For more information, you can visit the registration page for the BHRT Best Practices Summit at www.koshlandpharm.com/events.  We are looking forward to  meaningful discussions on November 12th amongst Bay Area practitioners about evidence-based approaches to bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

Have a great rest of the week,

~Peter

A Well-Argued Case for Individualized Medicine

Here’s a recent blog post where an Ob/Gyn Nurse Practitioner makes a strong case for an individualized approach to medicine, and particularly to hormone replacement therapy.  Marcelle Pick writes,

“Taking hormones remains a controversial topic. What’s frustrating is that patients and healthcare practitioners alike have gotten very good at lumping things into ‘all good’ or ‘all bad’ categories. Hormones are a perfect example of something that requires individualized medicine….The bottom line is that we don’t have one magic bullet for aging that works for everyone. Don’t get me wrong, there is magic to staying young. It’s just not the same for everyone…. My hope is that we as patients and healthcare practitioners can stop putting certain treatments into ‘all good’ or ‘all bad’ categories. Each of us has a unique set of genes, life experiences, and outlook on life. Let’s leave the question about using hormones to individuals and their health care providers.”

I agree that the question of whether to use hormone replacement therapy is best answered on a case-by-case basis.  It’s great to read another practitioner’s argument for this kind of individualized approach to health.

In her blog post, Ms. Pick also gives five concise tips for healthy aging that are similar to our Healthy Living Checklist at Koshland Pharm.  She adds an important idea to the ones we’ve listed on our Healthy Living Checklist: find more joy and fun as it’s good for our health!

Here’s to finding joy and fun in your day today!  ~  Peter

Recent Article Comparing Conventional and Bioidentical Hormones

I often get requests from doctors and patients for links to recent studies about bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

This recent article in the latest issue of the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding is a nice summary of the research to date on this topic.  The study summarizes and compares randomized, controlled trials in human females (published between 1995 and 2010) looking at conventional and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and their impact on cardiovascular and breast cancer risks.

The authors conclude that conventional hormone replacement therapy (the use of conjugated estrogens and medroxyprogesterone) is detrimental to cardiovascular and breast health, while the use of bioidentical estrogen improves some markers of cardiovascular health but may induce breast epithelial proliferation if administered without progesterone.  For a link to the ten page article, click here.

It’s important to keep key questions in mind when reading an article such as this one about hormone replacement therapy, such as: What hormones are being studied? and, What disease end points are being looked at?

For a full list of questions to ask when reading articles and studies about this topic, see Koshland Pharm’s website that gives an overview of bioidentical hormones.  Also remember that when making decisions about your own health, it is always important to talk with a knowledgeable practitioner about the research and its implications for your treatment approach.  Thanks for reading,

Peter

Healthy Digestion

Healthy digestion is a key component to our overall well-being.  Several common illnesses and conditions, such as food allergies, eczema and psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Chron’s disease, can actually be attributed to gastrointestinal dysfunction.   Taking specific supplements can be an effective way to address the root cause of some of these health challenges.  Click here to read more about seven supplements that can heal the GI tract by targeting multiple areas where the system might have broken down.

Of course, it is always important to talk with a knowledgeable practitioner when deciding if a particular healing protocol is right for you.  To see a list of Bay Area doctors who specialize in a holistic, integrative approach to health, see Koshland Pharm’s referral page.  Here’s to healthy eating, healthy digesting, and healthy living!  ~Peter

Healthy Weight

Weight loss is something many of us think about, especially as we get older.  As we age, our metabolism often diminishes, which can make it increasingly difficult to maintain a healthy weight.  I am pleased to share here an evidence-based supplement program that I recently learned about that helps address healthy weight management.  This program helps to restore healthy metabolism at the cellular level.  Click here for more information and to find out if this program might be right for you.

Of course, anytime that we are working on our own weight, it is important to think about general practices for healthy living, such as exercise and nutrition.  Click here to go through a checklist to make sure you are on the right track in your daily life with exercise, relaxation, sleep, and nutrition.  –Peter

Overview of Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy

I am happy to announce Koshland Pharm’s updated webpage devoted to bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.  The goal of this webpage is to summarize many of the discussions  and posts from this blog into a concise format.  It addresses the commonly asked questions:

• What is bioidentical hormone replacement therapy?
• When is bioidentical hormone replacement therapy used?
• How does a person know if she or he could benefit from bioidentical hormone replacement therapy?
• What are the hormones that are most often used in bioidentical hormone replacement therapy?
• How is bioidentical hormone replacement therapy administered?
• What makes bioidentical hormone replacement therapy controversial?
• What is Koshland Pharm’s approach to bioidentical hormone replacement?

Koshland Pharm’s webpage also provides useful, downloadable checklists that can help anyone take charge of their own health.  These include our comprehensive list of hormone imbalance symptoms and our checklist for healthy living.  Check them out!

Take care,

Peter

Bioidentical Hormone Survey

A pharmacy student here in California is doing a survey of patients about their experience with Bioidentical Hormone Replacement (BHRT).  If you have a couple of minutes to help him out, it would be greatly appreciated and would allow him to compile much needed information about people’s experience with BHRT.  Click one of the links below to be directed to the survey on Survey Monkey.

Previousor Current BHRT Users:  Click here!

Not a BHRT User:  Click here!

Thank you for adding your experience to this research project.  –Peter