Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy

Ever since the calamity of the Women’s Health Initiative at the turn of the century, when the group taking Premarin and the synthetic progestin, Prempro, was prematurely discontinued due to increasing risks for breast cancer, cardiovascular issues, stroke, dementia and pulmonary embolisms, women became fearful of, and doctors reticent about, hormone replacement therapy, and rightly so.

This research clearly demonstrated the increased risks of progestin, yet the stigma remains.

Haskell understands the benefits of all the bioidenticals and not only affirms the safe uses of bioidenticals but also explores the use of nutrition, supplements and herbs for the balancing of hormones.

There are clearly physical and mental symptoms associated with both elevated and suboptimal levels of estrogens, progesterone, testosterone and DHEA.

Education is powerful and paramount if you wish to take control of your health and to extend your quality of life.

You can click on the book Haskell recently published, taking you to Amazon for purchase.

He predicts that, after reading this book, you will be more informed about female and male hormones than your endocrinologist.

Multiple Causes

Considering the fact that Haskell’s book on the safe uses of natural bioidentical hormones is 350 pages, it is challenging to present our approach on how we assess and test to know whether someone has symptoms related to imbalanced sex hormones.

Then we must determine other imbalances or causes of a person’s symptoms which may be unrelated to sex hormones.

Sure, you can go to a physician who ‘specializes’ in compounded bioidentical hormones, but this is all they do.

They may not check thyroid hormones, blood sugar dysregulation, adrenal fatigue, chronic low-grade infections, low nutrient status, and many, many others, or even how to optimize sex hormones using natural supplements and herbs.

You must become educated, at least enough to know if you are seeing a physician with a broad perspective, who understands that someone can have multiple underlying causes for their symptoms.

BHRT Treatment & Prevention

Bioidentical hormones include both Estradiol and Estriol, Progesterone and Testosterone. These are all steroid hormones made by various glands and require cholesterol as the backbone of these hormones.

These can be used or prescribed in various ratios, usually more Estriol than Estradiol, always with progesterone and never Estradiol alone.

Progesterone can be cream or oral, depending upon what symptoms or conditions need to be addressed.

The preferred form of testosterone is a transdermal cream and included with the estrogens and progesterone.

These hormones are prescribed for symptoms as well as the results from saliva hormone testing.

Haskell knows that hormone blood tests are less accurate than saliva, primarily because blood results tells us the total amount for each hormone. Total includes both the hormone bound to Sex Hormone Binding Globulin and the hormone detached from this globulin, referred to as free and available.

Obviously, if SHBG is high and most of your sex hormones are bound up leaving very little that’s available, this is an issue and one cause of sex hormone symptoms.

This is why results of blood tests for sex hormones can be misleading.

Is SHBG is elevated there are ways to decrease it through supplementation, herbs and nutrition.

The use of bioidentical hormones can be used to prevent many chronic conditions including those which can appear later in life.

This may be the strongest, most compelling reason for using bioidenticals, conditions such as…

Osteoporosis
Cardiovascular disease
Senility and Alzheimer’s
Premature aging
Chronic Urinary Tract Infection
Painful intercourse
Insomnia
Headaches & Migraines
Depression

BHRT Conditions Treated

Here is a partial list of health issues for which bioidentical hormones can be effective.

Insomnia
Infertility
Lack of Libido
Urinary Tract Infections
Painful Intercourse
PMS
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
Erectile Dysfunction in Men
Breast Cancer
Various Menopause Symptoms
Endometriosis
Fatigue
Poor Memory & Concentration
Premature Aging of Skin
Anxiety
Breast Tenderness
Fibrocystic Breasts
Irregular Menses
Ovarian Cysts
Uterine Fibroids

Any of the above can be due to an imbalance between any of the sex hormones.

BHRT Information

If you are interested in proceeding, call our clinic, say you are interested to make an appointment, but first you would like to speak with Dr. Haskell.

He will try to speak with you the same day, and for sure by the next.

If you decide to take the next step, our staff will forward our intake questionnaire for you to complete on your computer.

Besides returning this completed intake to our email address, you are asked to forward any recent lab results.

When Haskell has reviewed your answers to the intake and your labs, he will likely recommend additional blood tests since most the time what you have had done are inadequate to fully understand underlying biochemical and hormonal issues.

We will provide instructions on getting additional labs depending upon either your insurance coverage or paying out of pocket.

For the saliva testing, which hormones are checked will depend upon your symptoms and whether you are pre-, peri- or post-menopausal.

You can reach out to us at any time.