In the last century, medical practitioners and women alike are used to talking about bio-identical hormone replacement therapy in menopause medicine. While this is a good sign, the problem can be found in the terminology itself. In the real sense, you cannot replace your hormones. Instead, hormones can only be copied.
The newest trend is the use of multi-phasic rhythmic dosing of bio-mimetic hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) with the use of natural hormones in a bio-mimetic manner. In the United States, more than two million women are using this type of treatment for menopause symptoms. In the words of the author T.S. Willey, “natural hormones are not bio-mimedic unless the body can recognize them as hormones, and they are not considered restoration unless what has been lost is truly restored.”
A registered pharmacy system was created though, in the absence of the standards of legitimacy and availability, and is ready for testing and study.
In addition, a University of Texas study shall be carried out; the Bioidentical Hormones on Trial, or B.H.O.T. The primary goal of the research will be to examine clinical outcomes and quality of life indicators of patients receiving BHT at 10 to 12 primary care provider’s practices.
In addition, the findings will help generate a standard of BHT administration patterns and dosage.
It is important to note that regardless of their participation in the study, the respondents will not receive a change in clinical care. Quality of life, symptom relief and impact of BHT on physical health such as breast, endometrial and cardiovascular measures are among the outcomes that will be monitored in this research.
Furthermore, the results of the study will be presented nationally and internationally, and they’ll be submitted for publication in different women’s and medical journals. Results will be used in designing a prospective, randomized clinical trial with the aim of standardizing BHT dosing and administration patterns.
Among the main objectives of the study are: (1) to evaluate the quality of life indicators of the patients who are currently receiving bioidentical hormone replacement therapy at 10-12 practices of primary care providers (2) to check the effectiveness, safety and overall quality of life of subjects who are using 1 among 3 dosing patterns (3) to monitor the women’s laboratory results (4) to track the adverse effects experienced by the respondents in relation to BHT and (5) to assess the compounding pharmacies’ compliance to the standards.