Should You Test Before Taking Bioidentical Hormones?

Some people believe that with all the new information we have about bioidentical hormones and its advantages that the testing should be standard routine.  But there are several factors why it’s not.  First, it is not "standard of care" or deemed medically necessary.  This means that when you have a problem that may be related to your cycle and the hormone fluctuations that go with it, your doctor is not required to order a test to measure your hormone levels before you are treated.  Actually, they can prescribe birth control pills or synthetic HRT at any time, with only personal information or a feeling that these drugs may be right for you.

The reasons why hormone testing, and prescribing natural hormones, is not standard practice has more to do with patent law and the pharmaceutical industry than anything else.  There is also the fact that most medical schools have until recently ignored natural hormones as an option in treating women's hormonal imbalances.  Drug companies are out to make money.  Natural, plant-based hormones cannot be patented and marketed as exclusive products, therefore giving no advantage to the pharmaceutical companies.  Even though safe, plant-based sources for making bioidentical natural progesterone and estrogen are readily available, pharmaceutical companies rarely use them (although the harm and findings of new studies about synthetic hormones is beginning to propel them in that direction).  Instead they use lab-formulated synthetic progestins and estrogens to make their HRT formulas.  When sales representatives talk with doctors, they offer flashy brochures and literature about double-blind studies conducted and/or financed, of course, by the drug companies. For some drugs, such as Viagra, manufacturers appeal directly to consumers, who in turn request that their healthcare providers prescribe these drugs.

Nobody is advertising for the use of natural hormones to medical offices because, at least for now, there is no money to be made.  In fact, mainstream healthcare providers who are familiar enough with natural hormones to prescribe seem to be in the minority.  So it is no surprise that mainstream medical practitioners are reluctant to initiate hormone testing to determine dosing for medicines they know little or nothing about.

The same goes for natural supplements and herbal remedies. These alternatives have neither private funding nor representatives hounding medical offices to tout their benefits. If medical providers want to find out about these alternatives, they must do just as you are doing, and educate themselves.  Given their hectic schedules, time constraints, and demanding practices, it isn't too surprising that most healthcare practitioners haven't done so.

Most likely, the use of bioidentical hormones will eventually come into use because patients are going to demand it, many are already.  Women are justifiably scared of synthetic HRT, and more information is getting out that therapy using natural, bioidentical hormones is a safe and effective alternative for relieving unpleasant symptoms.

Medical practitioners who lack education about hormone testing and treatment with the natural alternatives nevertheless claim that hormone testing is inaccurate because levels change constantly as a woman cycles through the month.  It’s true that hormone levels do fluctuate and every woman is unique, but those facts don't cancel the value and accuracy of carefully conducted hormone testing, especially through saliva testing.  It is being done successfully and has been absolutely invaluable in my medical practice and those of informed colleagues across the nation.

 

http://www.bioidenticalmedicaldictionary.com 

Source:  http://hormonesurvival.com/intro.html.  © 2006 Larkfield Publishing.  Updated on 5 January 2006.