Estradot bioidentical hormone therapy VS Compounded BHRT

Posted by andreamayo @andreamayo, Mar 31 12:32pm

Hi!
I am 56 years old, 5 years post menopausal and am considering bioidentical hormone therapy (BHRT) for the next 5 years for bone health.
My spine is -3.7. Hips - 2.4.
My Naturopath doctor has suggested Compounded BHRT and my MD is also open to prescribing BHRT (which would be Estradot I presume).
My question is how do I decide between Estradot, estradiol 17B BHRT from the package prescribed by an MD or Compounded BHRT.
Health benefit either way?
Is there a big cost difference? I'm in Vancouver, Canada.
I don't have a private medical plan so will be paying for the medication out of pocket either way.
Thanks in advance for any insight.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Osteoporosis & Bone Health Support Group.

@mayblin

Hi@dooshie, it’s good to know from a cardiologist’s point of view! Did your cardiologist think HRT has minimal cardiovascular effects to older women, aged 65 or 70 years old? Are you going to be checked for bone turnover markers?

Could you share your cardiologist’s views, or any updated information?

I’m in the same situation as you are in. Will go off forteo in a few months and am exploring HRT.

Thanks a lot for any input!

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Investigate the bioidentical pellets. I did the creams for 20 years . I just started the pellet testosterone/estradiol and compounded progesterone pill. Good luck to you!

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This is not an easy journey for us. We want to do what will improve our bone density without the side effects. I’m 72. Tymlos definitely improved my spine numbers and I’m very thankful for that. Very few side effects and definitely tolerable. My hormones have been non-existent since I had a complete hysterectomy in my 30’s and only stayed on hormone replacement for a short period of time. Therein the extreme bone loss at an early age.
My cardiologist is very educated on hormone replacement and says the studies done in 2002 were flawed. He says we need them and without them we risk so much. He believes they protect our bones, heart, moods, sleep, etc. I trust his judgement and have recently read many articles agreeing with him. Praying he’s right. So I’ll give that a try when I go off Tymlos in June. Rose

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@nme1985

Hurray for you! You will fell like a different person. If your levels are low this will give you a better quality of life. Good luck to you🙏

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I certainly hope so. I’m very active but my energy levels at night are low. Hope I’ll have better sleep as well.

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Forgot to mention that my rheumatologist does bone marker turnovers every six months or so. They’ve shown good results since I’ve been on Tymlos.

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@dooshie

Forgot to mention that my rheumatologist does bone marker turnovers every six months or so. They’ve shown good results since I’ve been on Tymlos.

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Do you know through this group I learned about bone turnover markers. None of my doctors ever talked about c-telepeptide even though my endocrinologist tested me for it every year. Through the site I learned that it is a big marker for how fragile your bones are so I looked at my trends for the past 10 years, and I have never been at a high number about 200-300! am I crazy to think that this is just so unprofessional of the medical doctors. All they have wanted to do for the past 15 years is put me on medicine! No one talks about hormones, nutrition, vitamins, resistance, exercises, etc. it has been up to me to find out on my own, Thank God my numbers have remained steady but I do owe that to all of the above and taking the bio identical hormone creams for the past 20 years. Do you have any thoughts on this? I know money is at the bottom of a lot of this big Pharma is making a fortune. No wonder the FDA doesn’t approve bio identical hormones I come from a medical family. My dad was a doctor. My son-in-law is a surgeon
, daughter-in-law‘s a nurse. I guess I was taught to always question doctors that they are just humans like everybody else.

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@nme1985

Investigate the bioidentical pellets. I did the creams for 20 years . I just started the pellet testosterone/estradiol and compounded progesterone pill. Good luck to you!

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Could you tell me more about pallets vs cream? My gyn said to use patches or gel, while she uses gel herself. Would pallets deliver hormone more consistently or more conveniently or both? Are pallets compounded? If they are, then are they FDA approved?

Also I was told by my gyn that there is no need for blood work for testing hormones b/c at my age 61, hormone levels are next to none. Dose wise she is flexible, whatever is need for bone health and up to my endo and me. How do you determine a good dose for bone purpose?

Testosterone is not mentioned at all by my gyn. She mentioned I need micronized progesterone with estradiol patches. Does testosterone serve for bone health here, or is it for other body function(s)?

Thank you very much!

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@dooshie

This is not an easy journey for us. We want to do what will improve our bone density without the side effects. I’m 72. Tymlos definitely improved my spine numbers and I’m very thankful for that. Very few side effects and definitely tolerable. My hormones have been non-existent since I had a complete hysterectomy in my 30’s and only stayed on hormone replacement for a short period of time. Therein the extreme bone loss at an early age.
My cardiologist is very educated on hormone replacement and says the studies done in 2002 were flawed. He says we need them and without them we risk so much. He believes they protect our bones, heart, moods, sleep, etc. I trust his judgement and have recently read many articles agreeing with him. Praying he’s right. So I’ll give that a try when I go off Tymlos in June. Rose

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Thank you very much @dooshie, for the info you described. My regular cardiologist had cleared me to use hrt, but I'm waiting for a second opinion. Fingers crossed.

Best luck to you!

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@mayblin

Thank you very much @dooshie, for the info you described. My regular cardiologist had cleared me to use hrt, but I'm waiting for a second opinion. Fingers crossed.

Best luck to you!

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Ur very welcome. If possible, do some research to help with your decision. Many doctors are still of the belief that older women should not take HRTs. But many doctors are not well educated or up to date on the positive effect they have on women.

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@mayblin

Could you tell me more about pallets vs cream? My gyn said to use patches or gel, while she uses gel herself. Would pallets deliver hormone more consistently or more conveniently or both? Are pallets compounded? If they are, then are they FDA approved?

Also I was told by my gyn that there is no need for blood work for testing hormones b/c at my age 61, hormone levels are next to none. Dose wise she is flexible, whatever is need for bone health and up to my endo and me. How do you determine a good dose for bone purpose?

Testosterone is not mentioned at all by my gyn. She mentioned I need micronized progesterone with estradiol patches. Does testosterone serve for bone health here, or is it for other body function(s)?

Thank you very much!

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Bio, identical, hormones are different than the hormones. She is discussing with you they are compounded and when you do compounding hormones, you must get your blood work done no matter how old you are. They are not approved by the FDA but they have been around for many many years, I have used the creams for over 20 years, and personally had great success, and felt good.
I am now using the pellets for a stronger delivery but I will be having bloodwork done every 3 to 4 months. My doctor is an integrative medicine specialist at Jefferson University in Phila Pennsylvania. You can Google his website and read about the information on the bio identical therapy. I know that my GYN is now using pellets in her office and many other mainstream physicians. I prefer to be with an integrative medicine specialist because they have much more experience in this. You can Google my doctor and read about the information. Dr Bazzan MD Jefferson University. The only information that’s really positive that I have about the palace is from one friend of mine that had osteoporosis, and after a year of using the pellet therapy she totally went into remission, but that is just one person story. You could also google YouTube videos on this subject and get information.

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@mayblin

Could you tell me more about pallets vs cream? My gyn said to use patches or gel, while she uses gel herself. Would pallets deliver hormone more consistently or more conveniently or both? Are pallets compounded? If they are, then are they FDA approved?

Also I was told by my gyn that there is no need for blood work for testing hormones b/c at my age 61, hormone levels are next to none. Dose wise she is flexible, whatever is need for bone health and up to my endo and me. How do you determine a good dose for bone purpose?

Testosterone is not mentioned at all by my gyn. She mentioned I need micronized progesterone with estradiol patches. Does testosterone serve for bone health here, or is it for other body function(s)?

Thank you very much!

Jump to this post

Here is a screenshot of the website. It is very informative.

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