I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I would marry HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) if I could. I was in my late 40s and experiencing hot flashes – nay – nuclear flashes, several times an hour, round the clock. As a result, I was absolutely miserable and irritable and I was losing hope …
Continue ReadingRethinking ERT to Ease Menopause Symptoms
The New York Times wrote a blog about rethinking the use of hormones to ease menopause symptoms. The biggest debate over Estrogen Replacement Therapy or ERT is whether the risks outweigh the benefits. Such risks include breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and blood clots. The Women’s Health Initiative was a large randomized study that showed …
Continue ReadingShould Women Be Worried About Using Local Estrogen For Postmenopausal Atrophy?
Many women are concerned about using estrogen for relief of menopausal symptoms, due to all of the negative press that estrogen has received. But there is a difference in safety and side effect profile based on how the estrogen is used. If your symptoms are mostly related to dryness and painful intercourse (vaginal atrophy) then …
Continue ReadingTopical hormones — keep away from children and pets!
Pediatricians and veterinarians around the country are reporting a strange phenomenon: children are showing signs of premature puberty and spayed dogs and cats (even puppies and kittens) are suddenly becoming hormonal. Although there can be a myriad of factors contributing to this trend, one culprit has concretely been identified- topical hormone transference. Estrogen and testosterone …
Continue ReadingHow your birth control pills could be preventing pregnancy and your interest in sex!
I am seeing an increase of younger patients coming to our office complaining of low desire or having no interest in sex. Some of these patients are in their early 20’s. Yup…20’s. Hormone levels naturally begin to decline in your 30’s, so what is going on? Although it is difficult to isolate one major cause …
Continue ReadingAnother type of birth control — IUD.
Decisions about birth control can be very stressful. Although birth control pills are praised widely on television commercials, magazine and internet ads, not all women react so positively to birth control in their system. Not all women act like the actresses in the commercials. We often see women coming to us complaining about changes in …
Continue ReadingPerimenopause.
Perimenopause is a stage of a woman’s life that can start at any age but typically, “starting at age 43 the female brain becomes less sensitive to estrogen, touching off a cascade of symptoms that can vary month to month and year to year, ranging from hot flashes and joint pain to anxiety and depression…For …
Continue ReadingDHEA…we thought so all along.
A new small scale study out of Italy seemed to show that DHEA can be helpful with menopausal symptom and can also positively affect a woman’s sexual desire. So why is anyone surprised? The truth is that DHEA is a precursor hormone (or a “mother hormone” – but that title might suggest that it yells …
Continue ReadingThe estrogen conversation.
OK, gal pals. You know, I’m not a doctor. So this is not a recommendation. But I am in a tizzy over the recent article from the NY Times Magazine on April 18, 2010 on estrogen replacement in perimenopausal or early menopausal women. The article is called The Estrogen Dilemma, written by Cynthia Gorley. The …
Continue ReadingBioidentical hormones.
There is so much confusion and misinformation when it comes to “bioidentical hormones.” Let me see if I can set the record straight. “Bioidentical hormones” does not mean that the hormones are “organic.” “Bioidentical hormones” does not mean that the hormones are “natural.” “Bioidentical hormones” does not mean that the hormones are “not really hormones.” …
Continue Reading