About Bio-Identical Hormone Therapy – From the FDA

Note:  This Blog is now being published at www.menopausetheblog.com. Please visit and continue reading about Menopause there. For an explanation of Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) — a term that the FDA does not recognize — and the issues that led to the FDA’s action this week against certain compounding pharmacies, see the agency’s latest [...]

Is the FDA Looking Out for Women or Wyeth?

Note: This Blog is now being published at www.menopausetheblog.com  Please visit and continue reading about Menopause at this new URL.   The FDA announced that it will be “cracking down” on pharmacies that sell customized hormone mixtures prescribed by physicians to alleviate menopause symptoms.   This is the latest move in an ongoing debate over the growing [...]

A Second Try

Note:  This Blog is now being published at www.menopausetheblog.com. Please visit and continue reading at this new URL. I came home from the naturopathic doctor with a shopping bag full of products to try.  Though I still have half-full containers of supplements prescribed by a nutritionist I consulted a year ago, I’m giving this approach [...]

The Consensus on HRT

Every time I have a miserable night’s sleep, and last night was the fifth in a row that I had to take Ambien to knock me out, I reconsider taking hormones for relief of the hot flashes and the associated anxiety that keeps me awake all night and cranky during the day. It would be SOOO easy [...]

43 Million Hot Flashes

There are 43 million women of menopausal age (45-54) in this country alone and if my conversations with friends on both coasts are any indication, the collective hot flashes of this demographic group must be contributing to global warming.  Now that I’m one of them, I’m noticing other “members” of this tribe wherever I go.  At a [...]

Going the Alternative Route

Last weekend, my husband insisted that I visit Pharmaca to look for some natural, over the counter products to alleviate my insomnia. (Poor guy, my insomnia keeps him up too). Pharmaca positions itself as an integrated pharmacy, combining traditional prescription services with natural remedies.  Elephant, which offers an herbal pharmacy, is another chain in this category.  [...]