What is a Compounding Pharmacy?

A compounding pharmacy is a pharmacy that makes drugs specific to individual patients.  A majority of compounding pharmacies make special compounded medications for patients that are allergic to certain medications that are present in mass produced prescriptions.  Recently, with the growth of bioidentical hormone replacements, many more compounding pharmacies have begun to manufacture specific hormone mixtures for individual patients.  Every person is different.  Therefore, the effects of aging may cause one person’s body to decrease the production of certain hormones more, or less than the next person.

By using compounding pharmacies to get specific hormone combinations, it enables us to give people a better chance at feeling back to normal after the effects of aging begin to take place.  The question many people have is whether or not the use of compounding pharmacies, for the purpose of compounding prescriptions, is a safe alternative to mass produced hormone replacements.  The answer is yes.  The FDA has indicated that the use of compounding pharmacies is in fact a safe choice, as long as the prescription that is intended to be compounded is prescribed by a licensed doctor. 

The prescriptions you receive from a compounding pharmacy are prescriptions that are prepared on-site.  This means that rather than receiving a shipment of mass produced drugs, the pharmacy itself actually puts together the required mixture for your prescription. 

Using a compounding pharmacy gives you and your doctor more flexibility when it comes to strength and dosage of medications.  This is particularly important for hormones, since as mentioned above, everyone needs a different amount of different hormones.  Many of the standard prescription hormones contain too high of a dosage, and this can in some cases, cause more harm than good. 

Another benefit of compounding pharmacies is the method in which the prescription is taken.  For example, many of the hormone replacements come in creams, pills, patches, or injections.  Compounding pharmacies give you the option to choose which method is most effective and convenient for you.  Once your doctor has given the okay to your choice and written a prescription, that specific combination of hormones can be made for you, at a compounding pharmacy near your home, rather than a huge drug company warehouse in who knows where.

The benefits of compounding pharmacies are growing immensely every day.  With our growing knowledge of bioidentical hormone replacement, the benefits and conveniences of compounding pharmacies will only continue to expand, opening many more doors for a more comfortable aging process.

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