Natural, Bio-Identical Hormones - What Are They And How Do They Apply To Me?

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Natural, Bio-Identical Hormones
What Are They and How Do They Apply To Me?

Natural, Bio-Identical Hormones

What Are Natural, Bio-Identical Hormones?
How Do They Apply To Me?
Natural Estrogen, Progesterone And Testosterone

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The new option for women . . .

Relief from hot flashes
Relief from night sweats
Relief from menopause symptoms
Relief from hormonal symptoms in general

The Natural Hormone Pharmacy offers a new option for women seeking relief from hot flashes, night sweats and other symptoms of menopause, as well as other hormonal symptoms in general.

Prescription natural hormones in cream form.

NHP is the only pharmacy in the United States exclusively dedicated to providing you with standardized natural hormones in cream form in pre-measured unit doses.

These unique features insure that patients receive a standardized amount of hormones every day and yet both the patients and their physicians have the flexibility to adjust the amount of hormones received within the standardization. No other pharmacy or pharmaceutical company in the country offers this method of dispensing natural hormones.

Natural hormones, also known as "bio-identical," are structurally the same as the estrogen, progesterone and testosterone that our bodies make. The human cells recognize natural hormones as their own and do not develop adverse reactions to their use. Natural hormones are produced from concentrated and purified yam and soy oils. They are FDA approved and have been available by prescription only for more than 20 years.

Synthetic hormones bear very little resemblance to any hormones that our bodies make. A large-scale study on synthetic hormone replacement therapy by the Women’s Health Initiative of the National Institutes of Health was prematurely halted in July, 2002, when it was found that synthetic hormones do more harm then good to women’s long- term health. As a consequence, women are now seeking "natural" alternatives within conventional medicine.

NHP was founded in April, 2002, in Hawthorne, N.Y., by Erika Schwartz, M.D., a clinician and author of The Hormone Solution (Warner Books). Dr. Schwartz said a pharmacy with standardized dosages was crucial to combat the dosing discrepancies that she found among other compounding pharmacies that dispense natural hormones. Dr. Schwartz has recently been added to the award-winning Power Surge Web site as Ask Dr. Erika.

Dr. Schwartz, who is conducting a research study on natural hormones through the International Hormone Institute, a not-for-profit group that researches and educates practitioners and the public about natural hormones, explains: "A standardized, regulated formulation is imperative. Before NHP, it was impossible for any doctor to provide adequate advice and monitoring for patients who wanted to take natural hormones. There were no guidelines to follow and a compounding pharmacy that dispensed natural hormones in standardized form and accurately measured doses, was hard to find."

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What Are Natural, Bio-Identical Hormones?

Hormones are good for you

Hormones keep you young

Hormones protect you from illness

Hormones are messengers. They are natural substances made by special organs in our bodies that provide communications between cells and send messages to the organs to do specific tasks. The balance of hormones directly affects how our bodies function. Good balance translates into energy, weight control, sexual vigor, youthful appearance and overall sense of well being. Imbalance leads to fatigue, sleep disturbance, sexual dysfunction, depression, impaired immune function, chronic illnesses, debility and aging.

Hormones are intimately involved in every body function. The amounts of hormones secreted into our systems are controlled by two glands in the brain- the hypothalamus and the pituitary. Hormones are also produced by the sex organs: ovaries and testes, and the adrenal glands. There are three sex hormones we are familiar with: estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Their actions are interconnected, interdependent and essential to our existence. Their actions are both positive and negative. The balance and interaction between the sex hormones determines the presence or absence of symptoms.

Estrogen and progesterone are the dominant hormones in women. A significant shortcoming in our understanding of hormones is the belief that estrogen, progesterone and testosterone can act independently of one another at any time during our lives. Unless we totally incorporate into our understanding the inseparability of the three sex hormones, we cannot solve the problems caused by their imbalances.

How Do They Apply To Me?

Hormones are good for you
Hormones keep you young
Hormones protect you from illness

Although hormones are critical to our well being, they do not protect us from all harm.

When our hormones are in balance, our bodies function like well-oiled engines, when the balance is off, we become squeaky wheels. Minute changes in hormone levels – almost imperceptible to even the most sensitive of lab tests - create significant symptoms. It is the suddenness of change in the levels of hormones that gives us symptoms at all stages and ages in life.

Laboratory tests cannot measure these infinitesimal fluctuations. They offer little help as we desperately try to right our lives while on the roller-coaster ride created by our fluctuating hormone levels. If no diagnosable disease exists, conventional medicine does not have the wherewithal to treat us.

Contact information for Natural Hormone Pharmacy can be found on the Resources page.

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Reproduced with permission from The Natural Hormone Pharmacy