BHRT/Women's Health

Bioidentical Hormone Replacement (BHRT)
Bioidentical Hormone Replacement is a natural way to treat menopause, premenopause, or PMS symptoms. Bioidentical hormones are exact copies of the hormones your body naturally produces. Changes in your natural hormone levels can cause uncomfortable symptoms during menopause, premenopause, and PMS. Correcting this hormone imbalance with the exact same hormones is a great way to help you feel your best.

Symptoms of Hormone Imbalance Include:

Hot Flashes
Night Sweats
Low Sex Drive
Weight Gain
Foggy Thinking
Irritability
Mood Swings
Fatigue
Irregular Periods

Every Woman Is Unique, Hormone Therapy Should Be Too
Bioidentical hormones are mixed by compounding pharmacies based on your specific needs. Every woman is different so the one-size-fits-all approach of manufactured synthetic hormones does not work for many women. The hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA) are derived from a soy or yam base and combined based on your individual needs.

Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement

Here's The Breakdown of Your Hot Flashes

Portions of the brain, which control body temperature, react to dips in the blood level of hormones.
The brain's insular cortex, which controls perceptions of heat, cold, pain, and pleasure, turns on.
About 20 minutes before a full-blown hot flash, your core body temperature begins to rise.
About 10 minutes before a flash, skin temperature rises. Vessels dilate and blood flow increases to prepare the body to get rid of the extra heat.
An aura--dizziness, a racing heart and a sense of anxiety or unease--may also precede a flash.
You feel hot, sometimes intensely, mostly on the upper third of your body.
Sweat glands prepare to start pumping out perspiration.
Blood rushes to skin across your chest, neck, and face, causing flushing.
You begin to sweat, mostly on the upper part of your body.
Peripheral blood vessels, in your arms, torso, legs, and face, fully dilate, and heat shoots out.

Total time of thermal chaos: under five minutes. Flashes are most common in the morning and evening, according to researcher Robert Freeman of Wayne State University. Originally published in More magazine, December 2005 / January 2006.

More information about BHRT...
In 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative study was abruptly discontinued, as it was determined the risks of continued treatment with conventional hormone replacement therapy (with commercially available synthetic drugs) outweighed the potential benefits. As a result, long-held assumptions about hormone replacement were suddenly and swiftly declared invalid by many physicians. This left many thousands of patients scrambling for answers. Since that time, Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) has steadily gained momentum and has received a great deal of press.

BHRT Defined
While the phrases Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy” (NHRT) and BHRT are often used interchangeably, it's important to point out the distinct difference between the two. Typically NHRT refers to weaker plant-based estrogens also known as phytoestrogens. While NHRT is naturally occurring, they are not identical to estrogens produced by the human body.

Estrogen
The term “estrogen” refers to a group of sex hormones found both in men and women. Estrogen deficiency creates a host of uncomfortable symptoms for pre-, peri- and post-menopausal women. Hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, anxiety, memory lapse, depression, bone loss, weight gain, headaches, and decreased sex drive top the list. Fortunately, BHRT can restore a patient to levels at or near her physiologic norm, helping to alleviate many of these symptoms and improve her quality of life. Three estrogens are primarily used in BHRT to achieve this outcome: Estrone (E1), Estradiol (E2), Estriol (E3).

Estrone (E1)- Accounts for 10-20% of the circulating estrogens. It is found in equilibrium with E2 and therefore can be approximated by knowing the E2 level. Metabolites of E1 are carcinogenic, thus there is virtually no need to ever supplement with E1.

Estradiol (E2)- It accounts for 10-29% of the circulating estrogens and is the strongest form of estrogen. When elevated, it has been linked to breast and endometrial cancer. It is found in many commercial products was as Estrace®, Vivelle®, and Climara®.

Estriol (E3)- Is a weak estrogen produced primarily in the liver and it accounts for about 60-80% of the circulating estrogens. Studies have indicated that Estriol may play a role in the prevention of breast cancer because of its nonproliferative effects on breast tissue when given in appropriate doses.

Progesterone
This very important hormone is produced by the corpus luteum via the conversion of pregnenolone (which is another hormone). Progesterone is needed to enhance the positive effects of estrogen and to counteract the negative effects of estrogen dominance. It acts as a precursor to other steroid hormones and has a number of functions. It plays a role in regulating menstrual cycles along with thyroid and blood sugar levels. It has a natural sedative effect, which may help counteract sleeplessness, a common complaint of menopausal women. Many clinicians feel that patients who have undergone a hysterectomy do not require progesterone supplementation, however, even women who have gone through surgical menopause can benefit, as there are progesterone receptors present all over the body. Please be aware that may physicians intermix the word progesterone and progestin. Progesterone is a bioidentical hormone found in women’s bodies. Progestin is a synthetic hormone that is not found in a woman’s body naturally.

Testosterone and Dehydroepiandrosterone
Testosterone plays a major role in activating the sexual circuits of the brain, which helps to promote a healthy libido. Many postmenopausal women are deficient in testosterone, and decreased sex drive is a common symptom. Research as found proper levels can help maintain energy, promote a healthy sex drive, and build and maintain bone mass and muscle tone.

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is actually a precursor to testosterone. It performs many of the same functions of testosterone. Research has found DHEA often increases feelings of well being, helps to prevent bone loss, and may help reduce body fat.

Cortisol and Adrenal Imbalances
Cortisol is a hormone that is heavily involved in the body’s responses to stress. Cortisol is synthesized from progesterone in the adrenal glands and plays a role in balancing blood pressure and blood sugar and mobilizing energy reserves. Cortisol imbalance includes fatigue, weight gain, decreased muscle mass, thinning skin and hair, headaches, anxiety, depression, irritability, and sleep disturbances.

Women are remaining active well into their fifties, sixties, and beyond, and they are demanding and deserve a quality of life similar to what they experienced in their thirties. With proper BHRT dosing hormone levels of women in their thirties can be achieved.

Introducing ASEDs: dry eye drops derived from your own blood

If you are one of those patients who have failed to find long-lasting relief, have you considered autologous serum eye drops (ASED) or AST Drops (Autologous Serum Drops).

The use of autologous serum eye drops dates back to the 1980’s when they were first used to treat chemical burns of the eye. ASEDs are made from serum -- a component of your blood that is combined with sterile saline to create a lubricating fluid rich in certain nutrients and growth factors that may be missing in very dry eyes. The term autologous means that it comes from your own body.

What are autologous serum eye drops?
ASEDs are highly effective, well-tolerated and have ingredients that artificial tears just can’t replicate, but which promote healthy growth and healing of the ocular surface (called the cornea). Some of the ingredients in ASEDs that are found in natural tears, but which aren’t available in artificial tears include antibodies, albumin, Vitamin A, and special growth factors important for healthy eyes known as epidermal growth factors.

Do autologous serum eye drops work?
In our patients with moderate to severe dry eye disease, we have found that ASEDs often help their eyes feel better, see better and, in persons with damaged or operated corneas, heal better. A number of theories have been floated as to why ASEDs help dry eye patients who’ve failed to improve significantly with other therapies, the truth is that no one is exactly sure how the drops work. We believe it may have something to do with the fact that eye drops made from your own blood contain a lot of albumins (a natural protein also found in eggs) which creates a higher quality, protective tear film for the corneal epithelial cells (surface cells).

How are eye drops made from my own blood cells?
The process for making lubricating eye drops via your own blood collection is straight forward and convenient. A very small amount of your blood is drawn at our office by a professional phlebotomist using sterile technique and strict quality controls. This takes about 15 minutes and doesn’t require fasting. The blood is then placed into a centrifuge and separated into its components. The serum is passed thru a special filter for bacterial sterilization and clarification. Aseptic technique in a ISO 5 Biological Safety Cabinet (BSC) is used to produce a finished product by diluting with a sterile, preservative-free solution, to produce a tear substitute that is specific to the patient, and contains many important growth factors and nutrients normally found in patient own healthy tears. Since the blood and tears have an almost identical salinity and pH, there is no issue of burning or stinging upon instillation. The prepared eye drops are placed in the freezer to maintain optimal freshness and retard the growth of harmful microorganisms for up to 6 months (based on scientific studies). We instruct our patients to thaw one vial at a time in their refrigerator for daily use. A vial should last for several days if the eye drops are applied four times daily. Because the eye drops are preservative-free, once opened, a thawed vial should be used quickly.

How effective are autologous serum eye drops?
ASEDs have shown to be effective in treating moderate to severe dry eye over the 20 years since its introduction and has had few known adverse events. Serum drops have been used to treat a wide range of ocular surface diseases: from severe dry eye syndrome caused by rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren's syndrome, keratitis, or keratoconjunctivitis sicca, to moderate temporary dry eye symptoms following LASIK surgery. Because these eye drops are derived from the patient's own blood as opposed to that of blood donors, there is no risk of eye drop rejection (known as graft versus host disease).
Because serum drops are used to treat a range of ocular surface disorders, there have been few randomized, controlled studies performed using many subjects having one specific diagnosis. What's more, since these drops are custom made from patient's own tears and not manufactured, no clinical trials have been possible. As such, this treatment does not currently have FDA approval. Nonetheless, specialty ophthalmology groups such as the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society, and the International Task Force on Dry Eye all recommend ASEDs to treat moderate to severe dry eye based on their members’ success in treating dry eye symptoms with ASEDs.

At WELLHealth Rx for our local patients, we simplify the process by doing the blood draws and preparing the eye drops on-site so that our patients can get everything done at one location. Many of our dry eye patients who've had limited relief from other treatment modalities have had life-changing symptom improvement from serum drops and feel that keeping their eyes healthy is a worthwhile investment.

Disclaimer –
No compounded medication is reviewed by the FDA for safety/efficacy. WELLHealth Rx is a licensed compounding pharmacy that only engages in compounding in
response to a physician's prescription. A written prescription from a licensed physician is required for compounded medication. The information on the site is general in nature and is only intended for use as an educational tool. You should consult your physician or a WELLHealth Rx pharmacist if you have any specific questions relating to the diagnosis and treatment of any health problems. Information and statements about products and health conditions have not been evaluated by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), nor has the FDA approved the products to diagnose, cure or prevent disease. Office use/hospital use of compounded medications are not to be billed to Medicaid or Medicare. Such billings may be in violation of federal law.