After all the hype, it's becoming increasingly clear to conventional medicine that the benefits of estrogen simply do not outweigh the risks. That is why it's not a mystery to me synthetic HRT for women is loaded with dangerous side effects.

Remember, synthetic progestins like Provera are responsible for nearly all the side effects and should rarely be used by any woman. And, the most popular estrogen women use--Premarin--comes from horse estrogens. There are far better estrogen options. The one that seems to work the best for most women is a transdermal preparation of human estrogen. Application through the skin allows lower doses than oral and also decreases the production of potentially dangerous estrogen metabolites.

One should normally avoid using animal estrogens for hormone replacement, as there are excellent human estrogen hormones easily available through any compounding pharmacist.

Bioidentical Hormone Supplements

For most women, all they need is some estradiol, which is bioidentical to the primary human female hormone. What the FDA and most doctors and patients do not realize is that bioidentical hormone supplements can actually optimize your health. Ideally these levels should be monitored by either blood, urine or serum so they reach a target level that correspond to the reference ranges for healthy young women.

I started working with bioidentical hormone therapy a few years ago. However, I was using saliva testing and did not understand how to optimize hormones. Thankfully, one of my mentors, Dr. Gary Oberg from Crystal Lake, IL, encouraged me to reconsider this valuable tool, as he felt I was missing a major piece of the puzzle.

As it turns out, he was right.

Now, I regularly check serum (not saliva) levels of DHEA (a steroid-like supplement version of a naturally occurring hormone that is often promoted as an anti-aging solution) in more than half of my patients, and I have learned that a large percentage of the men and half of the women I examine would benefit from DHEA. I even found that I had levels that were less than 20 percent of what they should have been, so am currently taking DHEA replacement therapy to optimize the aging process.

Additionally, I am convinced that women should not take DHEA unless they are also using bioidentical estrogen and progesterone therapy.

Researchers emphasized lifestyle changes really do the trick and the results are measurable too. So, if you haven't made the move yet, you have all the tools and information on my site to make those changes today. Here's how:

• A better diet based on your personal metabolic type
• Balancing your omega-3 and omega-6 fat intake
• An exercise program, even of the low- to moderate-intensity variety
• Eliminating grains (unless you are normal body weight) and sugars as they cause yeast overgrowth that worsen hormone levels
• Eliminate caffeine as it can also have adverse effects on hormone levels

Making these simple lifestyle changes are a lot safer than following some of the common treatment protocols practiced in the field of conventional medicine such as estrogen therapy.

This topic has recently become an interest of mine, and you will see many more articles published regarding it. Also, it is likely I will be publishing a book relating to this very topic this year (Spring 2005) with one of the world's leading natural endocrinologists, Dr. Thierry Hertoghe.

Related Articles:

Hormone Replacement Therapy Reverses Effects of Aging

Hormone Replacement Increases Risk of Dementia

Hormone Replacement Therapy When Is It Necessary?

Hormone Replacement Therapy Linked to Breast Cancer

Soy-Based Foods No Good As A Hormone Replacement