Power Surge Forums > Where do I begin?

shobbsie

Jun 24 2007, 06:32 PM

I'm new here and have been reading the boards for over 2 hours!! I'll be two weeks post hyst (LAVH/BSO) tomorrow and turn 51 next month.

I had my hyst due to atypical endometrial hyperplasia. I've had the same gyn for over 10 years. We've been dealing with hyperplasia, off and on, for 5 years. When I had my last D&C, the path came back atypical. Anyway....

At my pre-op I asked about bio's, saying that's what I'd like to try. My gyn (a woman) said that the body processes synthetic and bio the same, our bodies can't tell the difference. She wouldn't even entertain the thought of compounded bio's?? In the recovery room I had a climara patch slapped on, but she sent me home with a prescription for .625 premarin. I have objections to premarin because of the animal treatment issue. I have my 2 week post op appt. tomorrow and will broach this subject again.

I called my primary care docter (also a woman) who said she does have a few patients on compounded bio's. I've made an appt. with her to discuss this, but will have to work through a pharmacy an hour away from me. She said her nurse practioner works with those patients.

My questions are, what kind of MD do you see and do you have the blood or saliva test? My ovaries were still working, but I was getting cysts frequently. I've only had one hot flash since removing my climara patch a week ago. I am overweight (40 pounds) and have read that estrogen is stored in body fat, so if that's true, I hope it carries me through until I can make up my mind what I'm doing!

I know I need to read the articles on this site, which is where I'm headed off to now. I'd just like to hear some of your experiences.

Thanks

Sharron

Ann123

Jun 24 2007, 08:00 PM

Hi Shobbsie--- I don't agree with your doc about synthetics and bios being the same. In fact, thats what my OBGYN said initially to me as well. She put me on prempro and I stayed on it for 3 months with no relief. I went to another OBGYN and asked to be put on bios. I asked her to put me on vivelle dot 0.05mg patch. Within 3 days I felt like my old self. I also have to take prometrium to bring on a period since I still have my uterus. The prometrium part is the part that stinks because it makes you feel like crap. Other than that, the vivelle which is the estrogen part really helped me alot. My symptoms were hot flushes that made my face red and burn like I had acid on my face(rosecea) , anxiety,insomnia, achey joints, dry skin,nails,hair. I initially had blood taken ---estrogen 26 FSH 84 . Good Luck to you, there is so much info on this site that you can literally spend hours on it. ------Ann

Aviano

Jun 25 2007, 10:21 AM

I agree with Ann..there is a vast difference in the way your body responds to equilin estrogens and bioidentical. The kind of doc you should see is the kind that will best respond to your needs..Ann, I sympathize with your blood levels...I've had my estrogen looked at in urine, saliva, and serum (I trust serum the most)..Serum levels are NOT DETECTABLE at 15 pg/ml..(for some reason I find this embarrassing since I'm only 48).
As far as body fat is concerned..it is true that estrone is produced in body fat and will convert a little into estradiol; however, you probably will not reach the levels produced prior to peri/meno. The Climara patch is bioidentical..if you can get your docs to keep you on that (and you're doing well on it)..then that might be a good place to start.
Avi

Ardan

Jun 26 2007, 12:59 AM

Hi Sharon,
A great place to start is by calling Bellvue Pharmacy (they help sponsor this site). You can get a phone counseling session with a pharmacist, they can arrange for you to get a saliva test, they can recommend a doctor in your area who works with bio-identicals and they can discuss various dosing options with you and give you recommendations to take to your doctor. The counseling costs a bit but if you later fill your prescription with them the cost of the counseling session goes toward your prescription costs.

I started by getting as much information as I could from compounding pharmacists. I used Bellvue and a pharmacist close to my home and then continued to do my own research. (Read Susanne Sommers' "Ageless", Dr. Uzzi Reiss, T. S. Wiley, Eldridge Taylor, John Lee). There are lots of approaches to using and dosing bio-identicals, but in any case bio-identical hormones are ENTIRELY different than synthetic hormones as they attach differently to the receptor sites.

Bellvue has worked with bio-identical hormone patients for years and are quite experienced. If you are in a large city many of the compounding pharmacies have some sort of pharmaceutical counseling and can usually refer you to a doctor familiar with bio-identical hormones.

Best to you

Ardan

shobbsie

Jun 26 2007, 10:14 AM

Thanks Ardan, Avi and Ann. I have Suzannes book "The Sexy Years" and have read bits and pieces. I will look into "Ageless" and the other authors suggested. I've read several articles on this site and am starting my journey. I live in a town of 45,000 in Kansas, several hundred miles west of Kansas City. I could only find two compounding pharmacies in Topeka and several in K.C. I need to check to see what my insurance will cover. I'm not working at the present time as I'm going to school full time, finishing up a degree I should have done years ago. Never too late, right

Plus, youngest DS is in college, so funds are a little tight.

While I was looking up pharmacies, I noticed one pharmacist had more initials after his name of "FIACP", does this make any difference? I would imagine that finding the right pharmacist, like finding the right Dr., would be key to satisfaction. Out of all of the pharmacists I found in my area, this was the only one with FIACP after his name. I imagine the "CP" would stand for compounding pharmacist, right?

Geesh, I'm glad I didn't take any classes this summer, because of my hyst., as this is quite an education in itself! So far I feel pretty good, though I caved and started taking the Premarin as I was starting to have hot flashes. I'm having problems sleeping and Doc wants to up my estrogen.

Thanks for your replies. This is a wonderful website!
Sharron

Ardan

Jun 26 2007, 02:31 PM

QUOTE (shobbsie @ Jun 26 2007, 09:14 AM)

Thanks Ardan, Avi and Ann. I have Suzannes book "The Sexy Years" and have read bits and pieces. I will look into "Ageless" and the other authors suggested. I've read several articles on this site and am starting my journey. I live in a town of 45,000 in Kansas, several hundred miles west of Kansas City. I could only find two compounding pharmacies in Topeka and several in K.C. I need to check to see what my insurance will cover. I'm not working at the present time as I'm going to school full time, finishing up a degree I should have done years ago. Never too late, right

Plus, youngest DS is in college, so funds are a little tight.

While I was looking up pharmacies, I noticed one pharmacist had more initials after his name of "FIACP", does this make any difference? I would imagine that finding the right pharmacist, like finding the right Dr., would be key to satisfaction. Out of all of the pharmacists I found in my area, this was the only one with FIACP after his name. I imagine the "CP" would stand for compounding pharmacist, right?

Geesh, I'm glad I didn't take any classes this summer, because of my hyst., as this is quite an education in itself! So far I feel pretty good, though I caved and started taking the Premarin as I was starting to have hot flashes. I'm having problems sleeping and Doc wants to up my estrogen.

Thanks for your replies. This is a wonderful website!
Sharron

Hi Sharron,
I have to say I would have STRONG concerns about talking Premarin. Premarin is NOT at all identical to a woman's natural estrogen and can have very bad effects on the body and the estrogen receptors in your body. If you need to use a commercial product ask your doctor for Vivelle or Climara instead. They are both bio-identical forms of estrogen (estradiol).

Bellevue Pharmacy can get work with you and let you know what your insurance will cover. They are very helpful. But I would switch off Premarin and onto some bio-identical estrogen as soon as possible.

Ardan

584296a

Jun 26 2007, 05:35 PM

QUOTE (Ardan @ Jun 25 2007, 09:59 PM)

(Read Susanne Sommers' "Ageless", Dr. Uzzi Reiss, T. S. Wiley, Eldridge Taylor, John Lee).

For a more balanced (IMHO) opinion on hormones read Elizabeth Lee Vliet. She has several good books and has a new one coming out very soon (The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Hormone Headlines: What America Got Wrong About Estrogen). Her testosterone book is very good and talks about estrogen and progesterone also. The Revised It’s My Ovaries Stupid book is very good and detailed. Screaming to Be Heard (Revised) is also very good but long. Vliet makes sense and relies on real studies to support her recommendations. She believes in low dose estradiol treatment and appropriate dose progesterone for those with a uterus plus low dose testosterone if your levels show that you need it. She will give you all the options in her books unlike the other doctors who are very biased toward their particular hormone regimen.

I would not recommend Ageless to a newbie because Suzane has jumped of the deep end with her Wile protocol stuff. With Wiley you take excess progesterone and estrogen which can have long term side effects (for example bad hair loss). I think in several years Suzanne will be back talking about how the Wiley thing really messed her up.

Kathy