The Four Rules of Prescribing Hormones
By Dr. Michael Galitzer (Read Profile)
The following four guidelines should be taken into consideration by individuals who are administering or undergoing hormone replacement therapy.
- Identify the missing hormones. Never replace a hormone unless they are low or missing. Specific hormones can be identified as low or missing through bloodwork and knowledge of human physiology. Some labs do not run hormone levels well. To assist in identifying low or missing hormones, you may see the female symptoms list.
- Always replace the correct hormone. Always replace the missing hormone with the same BioIdentical hormone that your own body used to make. This is the rule that is most often broken. An example would be when premarin is prescribed to a postmenopausal women instead when estradiol is the hormone that is missing. Equinol, found in premarin is not the same as Estradiol. Premarin has twenty different chemicals in it whereas Estradiol is the natural estrogen that your own body used to make and should be the hormone that is replaced.
- Replace hormones in a fashion that mimics normal physiology. Thirdly, is how to replace the hormones that are missing. Our philosophy of BioIdentical hormone replacement therapy is to give the hormones in a fashion that mimics normal physiology. The human body was designed effectively and we should continue to follow it. In the case of estradiol and progesterone we mimic the normal menstrual cycle.
- Track the progress of hormone replacement therapy. Finally, the last rule is tracking. This means keeping track of the effects of the hormone replacement therapy. In hormone replacement therapy for menopause we track the following: Your overall well-being, monthly withdrawal bleeding from cycling with hormones (if the woman has a uterus), cholesterol levels, bone mineral density to measure bone mass, and the hormone levels themselves.