Oprah has brought a great deal of attention to the suffering of women in the midst of menopause. She has featured doctors on her program to talk about BHRT versus traditional hormone replacement therapy, in addition to BHRT celebrity spokeswoman Suzanne Somers. BHRT was also featured in the February issue of O, The Oprah Magazine with an article titled, “What Nobody Tells you About Hormones.” With so much attention being brought to bear on the issue, and so many people coming out both for and against BHRT, a woman needs to do some research to get the information she needs to make an informed decision.

Bioidentical hormones and synthetic hormones are both made in labs. They are not naturally occurring. Many of the bioidentical hormones that are used are made from soybeans and wild yams. They are formulated into identical replicas of the hormones that the body produces. The most common forms of synthetic hormones are made from a mixture of urine from pregnant mares and progestin. Bioidentical hormone therapy is the treatment of the hormone deficiencies caused by menopause using only molecules that are identical to the hormones produced by women’s bodies. Hormone replacement therapy includes animal-derived and invented molecules that are similar but not identical to human hormones. BHRT is not FDA-approved and is not regulated in the United States, whereas traditional hormone therapy has been around for decades and studied significantly, according to www.womentowomen.com.

Dr. James O. Lowry, MD, a practictioner of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, answered some questions for Chicago health+wellness about this controversial treatment. Most sources say that a majority of women can mitigate the symptoms of menopause without drug therapy. They find relief by changing their diet, exercising and taking nutritional supplements. Dr. Lowry disagrees.

“Nearly all men and women need hormones by the age of 50 unless they have cancer, had cancer or some other illness/ disease that would make hormones a higher risk. At 50, our hormones have decreased to 50% ... and we should not have to live the remainder of our lives on 50% or less of hormones. Doctors give their patient hormones and look at the outcome. Giving them hormones cannot make the quality of life any less. You cannot mitigate the symptoms of menopause with diet, exercise and nutritional supplements. Let’s say you are suffering from hot fl ashes, you cannot think, cannot remember, you are irritable, you have a great deal of anxiety and no energy ... what diet in the world is going to fix this? You don’t have energy, so how are you going to exercise ... when you exercise, you break out in a sweat and you become anxious and frustrated because those 10 pounds are not going anywhere but toward 12 pounds. What nutritional supplements are going to reverse this?”

Regarding the fact that bioidentical hormone therapy is not FDA-approved, Dr. Lowry said he believes that bioidentical hormone therapy is being unfairly judged as a new therapy, though decades ago traditional hormone replacement therapy was untried and untested as well.

“No, the government has not approved the use of bioidentical hormones. You see, when they first named these hormones, they were called natural, and the doctors did not want any part of the word natural. They were already being hit with terms like holistic, alternative and now, natural, and they could not take it. So the companies marketing them renamed them bio-identical hormones (bio = body, identical = same). Thus, this is the body same hormone ... meaning this is the same molecule that is found in the body without trash or add-ons. In the traditional method of hormone replacement, Hormones Replacement Therapy (HRT), the patient was not routinely given testosterone. In BHRT, they are routinely given testosterone. The major difference between the therapies that no one is appreciating is that they don’t know the function of testosterone in women. Well, they did not know how Prempro (a traditional form of HRT) would react with a woman’s body either and yet doctors prescribed it anyway.”

Dr. Lowry says that bioidentical hormone replacement therapy has significantly improved the lives of his patients. They are given a new lease on life. They are no longer sweating, they can think, they have energy and they can have sex. They even want to have sex. Their husband/partner becomes much more enjoyable, much more pleasurable.

It is ultimately up to each and every woman to do the research and speak openly with her doctor to decide if bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is right for her.