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with Nurten Rasid, MD By: Nurten Rasid, MD As the Baby Boomer population reaches middle age and beyond, millions upon millions of women are entering menopause. While conventional Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) has for decades been the default choice for menopause symptom management, an exciting alternative that better matches women’s own natural hormones – Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) – is now experiencing a massive surge in interest.
Why is BHRT so hot right now? Although the emergence of conventional Hormone Replacement Therapy was a breakthrough back in the 1960s, subsequent years revealed shortcomings. A massive study tracking over 170,000 postmenopausal women who were taking conventional Hormone Therapies was cut short in 2002 after only four years of its intended ten-year span – because researchers found that the therapies’ negative effects outweighed their expected benefits.
Confusion ensued – suddenly, women no longer knew where to turn for menopause symptom management. Just as women began searching for alternatives, actress Suzanne Somers emerged as a powerful celebrity BHRT advocate. In her books Ageless and The Sexy Years, along with countless lectures and media appearances, Somers revealed how BHRT had alleviated her menopause symptoms safely and naturally. Somers’ enthusiastic endorsement elevated BHRT to even greater prominence – but the skyrocketing demand for BHRT also presents a challenge.
“The challenge is that women seeking BHRT do not know where to get it and how to get it,” explains Dr. Nurten Rasid, a Compounding Pharmacist and BHRT expert. “Over 40 million potential patients will benefit from BHRT; there is a tremendous demand for this therapy.” As BHRT continues to gain notoriety as an effective, natural therapy, the number of potential patients will rise even higher – while more practitioners become motivated to offer BHRT to their patients.
BHRT’s Customized Advantage
No two women undergo the same menopause experience. With variables approaching the infinite, the standard “one-size-fits-all” approach of conventional Hormone Replacement Therapies simply cannot optimally manage the fluctuating needs of women facing menopause.
BHRT offers a compelling solution: customization. Using the latest advancements in custom compounding, BHRT precisely tailors each hormone therapy to match each woman’s unique needs. And, as opposed to the synthetic or horse-urine derived hormones of conventional Hormone Replacement Therapy, BHRT derives its hormones naturally from either wild yams or soybeans. BHRT formulations can be prepared only by a Compounding Pharmacy.
“As a Compounding Pharmacy, we buy superior, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) grade ingredients for these hormone formulations,” says Dr. Rasid. “We then compound these USP ingredients in any combination, form, shape, strength, or route of administration, whether it be a tablet, capsule, cream, gel, or suppository . . . ultimately providing an individualized, customized formulation based on the doctor’s prescription.”
Customization is just the beginning. Unlike synthetic solutions that imitate hormones, BHRT is biologically identical to what the human body makes – therefore, the body can distinguish no difference between its own hormones and those used in BHRT. This, says Dr. Rasid, further helps BHRT “deliver results that are virtually free of the side effects encountered with conventional HRT.”
“Not only BHRT helps restore the body’s hormonal balance, but it helps restore the physiological functioning it had years ago,” Dr. Rasid continues. “This is also why BHRT is at the core of anti-aging medicine. Achieving hormone balance will help women get healthier, feel better, even go back in time… get younger and stay younger. All this is possible with BHRT in combination with other healthy lifestyle choices.
Like a finely tailored dress that is created to fit a woman’s unique body perfectly while matching her personal preferences for color, fabric and style, BHRT enables women to face the most important change in their lives with optimism, hope and assurance. “When it comes to hormones, one size does not fit all,” concludes Dr. Rasid. “We want to offer more choices to women.”
Dr. Nurten Rasid is the managing Compounding Pharmacist at Health Max, specializing in providing patients with customized products and services, and practitioners with educational services: BHRT symposiums. She can be reached directly at: (800) 419-2804 and www.hmpharmacy.com
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