Bio-Identical Hormone Therapy involves the replacement of hormones in a way that most closely mimics the natural hormone homeostasis for health optimization and the treatment of diseases that are due to hormone deficiency. The hormones used are compounded to be atom for atom the same molecule that your body has always seen. The dosing is meant to mimic the levels that you body has always produced. This is an essential feature that keeps the process safe and natural.
The most common question that I get from patients is:
Is this Safe?
The Women’s Health Initiative looked at the use of conjugated horse estrogens and a synthetic form of progesterone. It turns out that using synthetic progesterone was the most dangerous element of that study and why a whole generation of patients were turned away from the appropriate use of hormone therapy. The horse estrogens can
lead to an imbalance of estrogen metabolites that can cause side effects that do not occur when bio-identical hormones are used in the appropriate context.
BHRT in a Functional Medicine Context
Bio-Identical Hormone Therapy is more than just the simple prescription of hormones to replace deficient levels. When practiced in the larger context of Functional Medicine, Bio-Identical Hormone Therapy becomes about relating digestive imbalances and detoxification impairment with adrenal dysfunction that is mediating hormone deficiency. Hormones are processed in the liver like toxins and certain metabolites can build up if the detoxification pathway is overwhelmed with other toxins. Microbiome, other digestive imbalances and food sensitivities can cause chronic immune stimulation that leads to adrenal stress, causing the body to shift into a catabolic (wear and tear) state and become deficient in anabolic (build and repair) hormones.
Through advanced Functional Medicine testing, we are able to evaluate nutritional deficiencies, hormone metabolites, digestive imbalances and food sensitivities in order to optimize the effect of the hormone replacement. In this way, we are able to ensure that the body is working with your hormones rather than trying to overcome what the body is doing that is causing the hormone deficiency.
Dr. Wardwell works with the highest quality nutraceutical companies to provide safe and effective means of enhancing wellness and treating illness or injury in conjunction or in place of using pharmaceutical drugs. He also works with compounding pharmacies to provide customized prescriptions tailored to the individual as well as intravenous therapies for more intensive nutrient replacement and detoxification protocols.
For more information please visit the websites of the compounding pharmacies that we utilize for our hormones:
https://www.koshlandpharm.com/services/hormone-replacement-therapy/
https://www.womensinternational.com/