• 25Mar

  What is a Compounding Pharmacy?

  Medical Care, Pellets, Treatment 1 Comment

  Why are compounding pharmacies important in the market?

  This week, Brett and I are discussing the way drugs are made and marketed in the United States. We talk about the production and the distribution systems and how they work. One of the interesting things about this conversation is that there are often shortages of medicines. When you have a prescription for a med, you expect to go to a drug store and just get it filled. Sometimes you encounter the frustration of not being able to get it when you want it or need it at your local pharmacy. Sometimes though, it is more than mere frustration. Sometimes you desperately need the drug. It might even be a life threatening situation if you don’t get it. Then your are way more than frustrated, you are frightened and at risk.

  “How can this happen in the United States? What can we do about it? Large industrial pharmaceutical companies plan production and distribution runs. There are many factors that go into that planning process. Sometimes there are emergent situations like an epidemic that throw everything off balance, once in awhile there are shortages because of the limits of the manufacturing process, and finally shortages happen because administrative decisions are made to manufacture high profit high demand drugs and others fall off the radar and don’t get made.

  When there is a need and the drug stores don’t have them, where is a person to go? They go to a compound pharmacy. These pharmacies, using their own raw ingredients, make the drugs to order on demand and provide them to the individual or the hospital or the vet who need them.

  This is much more common than you would think. Fully 40% of all IV drugs used in American Hospitals are manufactured by compound pharmacies. At least compounding pharmacies makes 20% of the veterinary medicines used in the United States, particularly in veterinary hospitals.

  Today there is a great deal of lobbying and maneuvering going on in Washington as our government endeavors to make changes in the laws regarding Compounding Pharmacies. We want you, as informed consumers, to monitor these efforts and make your voices heard to your Congressman about the importance to us all of Compounding Pharmacies and the jobs they do.
• 27Jun

  Orgasm and Hormones

  Andropause, Bioidentical Hormones, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Orgasm, Pellets, Relationships, Research, Sexuality, Symptoms, Testosterone, Treatment No Comments

  How Our Hormones Effect our Orgasms.

  

  How our hormones operate plays an important role in our libido, ability to climax and overall sense of sexuality. This podcast goes into detail of the in’s and out’s of male and female hormones and how it determines ones ability to reach orgasm.
• 28Apr

  The Cost of Long Term Care

  Andropause, Anti-aging, Bioidentical Hormones, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Pellets, Progesterone 1 Comment

  Decrease the number of years in long term care by replacing hormones.

  

  Download the transcription of this podcast.

  This episode of the BioBalance Healthcast podcast delves into the cost of long term care for our aging population. As people age, the burden of care falls on families. With hormone replacement therapy adminstered earlier in life, we can offset disease and aging symptoms so that we can stay healthier longer into our old age. This keeps us out of nursing facilities and hospitals posibly until only the last couple of years of life.
• 23Apr

  The Cost of Hormone Replacement Therapy

  Andropause, Anti-aging, Bioidentical Hormones, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Medical Care, Pellets, Testosterone, Treatment 1 Comment

  Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) compares favorably to other anti-aging treatments.

  

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  Episode 75 of the BioBalance Healthcast covers the cost of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for both men and women. Brett Newcomb and I compare the cost of hormone pellets with the cost of treatments for age-related health problems that occur when you don’t have your hormones balanced. The truth is that the difference is minimal, and often, HRT is less than the total cost of traditional medicines and treatments.
• 13Apr

  Progesterone and the Cascade of Aging

  Andropause, Anti-aging, Bioidentical Hormones, Depression, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Pellets, Progesterone, Research, Symptoms, Testosterone, Treatment No Comments

  How the loss of progesterone can affect your health.

  

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  As women age, hormone levels—including progesterone—begins to decrease. In this episode of the BioBalance Healthcast we talk about this decrease which causes an imbalance in the estrogen levels. Without progesterone, estrogen increases and leads to fibroid tumors. These tumors lead to heavy bleeding and often, hysterectomies in peri-menopausal women. Progesterone is not needed by our bodies post-menopause with the drop of estrogen levels. We cover the role progesterone plays in our body and how it effects us when it begins to decrease.
• 06Apr

  Memory Loss, Dementia and Alzheimer’s

  Bioidentical Hormones, Dementia and Alzheimer's, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Pellets, Progesterone, Testosterone, Treatment 1 Comment

  With Age comes Cognitive Impairment.

  

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  In our review of specific differentiations between memory loss, cognitive impairment, dementia and Alzheimer’s, Brett Newcomb and I discuss how some symptoms are more noticeable than others. Determining the cause during the early stages of memory loss is the best method of treatment and the replacement of estrogen and testosterone through bioidentical hormone pellets can offset dementia by 20 years in women.

  Cognitive impairment is defined as an inability to focus and concentrate, and often looks similar to Attention Deficit Disorder. Confusion, getting lost, difficulty remembering names of people and places, and the frequent need for someone else to finish your sentences are common signs of cognitive impairment. It is common for this change in memory to go unnoticed between married people because one partner is able to remember things, finish thoughts and remind the other of common information.

  Common symptoms of memory loss are exhaustion, lack of energy, diminished social relationships and problems with sexual relations due to lack of energy or desire. When memory loss progresses to the point that there is trouble functioning, an MRI for Alzheimer’s and/or dementia should be performed.

  People are often afraid to talk to a doctor about these symptoms out of fear of being told that they have Alzheimer’s and will need to be institutionalized. In spite of the fear, it is important to be tested so that proper treatment can help avoid early loss of mental function.
• 12Mar

  Breast Cancer and HRT

  Bioidentical Hormones, Breast Cancer, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Pellets, Testosterone 3 Comments

  How HRT can be used safely on breast cancer patients

  

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  Many people have questions about the balance between HRT and breast cancer treatment and prevention. A study has shown that testosterone pellets are effective at decreasing symptoms that can’t be treated with estrogen in most breast cancers. The study used testosterone and arimdidex which is an aromatase inhibitor. It stops the aromatization (testosterone converting to estrogen and estrone.)

  Estrogen is a hormone that can stimulate breast cancer. It is important to stop that process in breast cancer patients. In menopausal women who have a history of breast cancer, there is concern about taking testosterone in fear of creating more estrogen which may lead to the onset of cancer. However there is a way to offer this treatment to control the outcomes. Testosterone can be administered to women without risking breast cancer.

  Pellets are the safest method of delivery because they create the least amount of estrogen. When this is combined with arimidex, there is no estrogen converted from testosterone. The study’s results showed improvement in women’s menopausal symptoms. None of the study participants had side effects from treatments or re-occurrence of breast cancer and the cancer didn’t grow in three of the four women that had advanced stage breast cancer.

  If someone with a family or personal history of breast cancer gets this combined treatment early, they will significantly decrease their chances of getting breast cancer.
• 14Feb

  Progesterone and PMS

  Bioidentical Hormones, Pellets, Progesterone, Symptoms, Testosterone, Treatment No Comments

  Progesterone: The Second Domino to Fall after Testosterone

  

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  Premenstrual Syndrome

  PMS is the butt of many jokes but for those of us who have had this condition, it is no laughing matter. It has been ignored for years by the medical community, and is currently treated by prescribing the treatment of only one of the multiple symptoms, depression. This prescription is one of various anti-depressants, which has minimal effect on most patients with PMS.

  Because of the ineffectiveness of the standard, anti-depressant therapy, there are multiple therapies that have partial effect on most patients when they have a very effective treatment at hand—bio-identical progesterone given in the second half of the cycle.

  Option for PMS treatment can be any or all of the following:

  • Natural progesterone during days 14–28 of the menstrual cycle;
  • Progesterone pellets that give a constant low dose of progesterone
  • Oral contraceptives;
  • Testosterone treatment—non-oral, or pellet
  • Antidepressants such as Sarafem, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Prozac

  Sidebar: it is amazing to experience the relief that women feel when they are told that there is a natural cause and an effective treatment for this disorder. They are so happy to hear that they are not crazy and that being emotional wrecks is not due to some character flaw in women but rather is due to a chemical or hormonal imbalance that is treatable. Success is beautiful!

  Progesterone Therapy with Bioidentical Progesterone

  The most effective PMS treatment or progesterone deficiency, treatment is non-oral dosing of bio-identical progesterone. There are several important guidelines that make progesterone more effective and have fewer side-effects.

  Premenstrual Syndrome

  PMS is the butt of many jokes but for those of us who have had this condition, it is no laughing matter. It has been ignored for years by the medical community, and is currently treated by prescribing the treatment of only one of the multiple symptoms, depression. This prescription is one of various anti-depressants, which has minimal effect on most patients with PMS.

  Because of the ineffectiveness of the standard, anti-depressant therapy, there are multiple therapies that have partial effect on most patients when they have a very effective treatment at hand—bio-identical progesterone given in the second half of the cycle.
• 09Feb

  The Cascade of Aging

  Bioidentical Hormones, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Pellets, Progesterone, Symptoms, Testosterone No Comments

  Progesterone: The Second Domino to Fall after Testosterone

  

  Download the transcription of this podcast.

  In episode 65 of the BioBalance Healthcast, we talk about progesterone. Our discussion is based on a chapter of my upcoming book, Testosterone, The Secret Female Hormone. The following is an excerpt from the draft.

  There is a cultural myth that women are emotionally reactive and unstable. The Myth has it that every 28 days or so women become raving emotional biohazards. This is beyond their control and everyone in their sphere of influence can only duck and cover until the storm has passed. We sometimes think that if men were the ones with this reputation and concern, medicine would have found a solution for the problem years ago!

  I started practicing medicine in 1981, when PMS was considered a psychiatric disease, and thought to be unrelated to the hormone progesterone. It was not until the 1990s that alternative doctors initially suspected that there was a hormonal imbalance causing this condition, specifically by a lack of progesterone. During the 1980s, I was treating women who had PMS with pure bioidentical progesterone and vitamins containing large amounts of magnesium. This treatment was remarkably successful. Even though mainstream medicine called this treatment crazy, I had a very high success rate when treating PMS with progesterone. I have always been willing to challenge the status quo and test new treatments with good scientific controls to actually see whether or not they were efficient and effective forms of intervention.

  I consulted with a compounding pharmacist, who I still work with. I credited him with helping me decide how to treat my patients with bioidentical progesterone for PMS. In the beginning, I first prescribed progesterone in the form of rectal suppositories, then vaginal suppositories, progressing to vaginal tabs and currently prefer sublingual (under the tongue) tablets or pure progesterone pellets that are placed below the skin. This widely-researched and confirmed source of PMS currently in 2012, is still not accepted by the American College of OBGYN as a condition that is secondary to the loss of progesterone, and one that can be cured by the addition of natural progesterone between day 14 and 28. If an OBGYN applicant answers that question on the National Board exam with progesterone insufficiency, and natural progesterone as the treatment, they will get it marked wrong! Yet, twenty plus years of practice in the field by myself and other practicing OBGYNs have proven otherwise for millions of women.
• 27Jan

  Testosterone and Men

  Andropause, Bioidentical Hormones, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Medical Care, Pellets, Symptoms, Testosterone, Treatment No Comments

  Low testosterone in men causes a variety of poor health conditions.

  

  Download the transcription of this podcast.

  Podcast 63 is about Erectile Dysfunction. Men and women both make testosterone but men show benefits of higher bone density which leads to less cases of osteoporosis in men.

  In the last 5-6 years testosterone has been huge subject in research. The Sexual Medicine Journal in 2009 said the risk for cardio vascular disease in men is about 1 and a half times more likely in men with slight erectile dysfunction and more than two times more likely in those with severe erectile dysfunction.

  Testosterone helps prevent erectile dysfunction and cardio vascular disease. Viagra doesn’t help with lack of testosterone. It helps with blood flow. Nitric acid is the chemical you need to have an erection which is what is in many medications that treat ED. However it’s important to not just treat the erection issues.
  Doctors should offer testing for heart disease in patients with ED. They need to look for compromise of the vessels. If a man has fat layers on the inside of his vessels, it causes those vessels to become very small. If his heart has the same problem, he’s at risk for stroke. If his pelvis has this problem, he’s at risk for ED. When men are younger they have higher testosterone levels so they don’t have this inflammation problem.

  Men under 50 have who have ED, have a 50 fold increase in the risk that they’re going to have a heart attack in the next 10 years. Heart disease, cancer and respiratory failure all increase dramatically with the decrease of testosterone. If you take care of the maintenance of testosterone, it can help avoid later diseases and conditions.

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