bioidentical hormones

[slowandfrumpy]

a friend was telling me about these today - but I didn't really understand the virtues versus other forms of HRT... and also the cost. she gets hers from the marion gluck clinic. is this something i can get on the national health,and if not, how much would i expect to pay for the medicines per month? thanks!

There's quite a lot of confusion over this generally.

It's important to differentiate between 'bioidentical'' ( same molecular structure as our own hormones) and 'compounded. (made in a private lab for each woman.)

The type Gluck gives is bioidentical & compounded. She takes saliva samples etc to try to match the dose to what is supposedly needed. If you google this you will find many top UK gynaes (eg Nick Panay) disagree with her approach because the tests she uses are unreliable. Also, the labs who make the products are unlicensed.

Bioidentical HRT is available on the NHS and most HRT except premarin and prempak is bioidentical. Finding the right dose is a case of trial and error, starting off with a low dose then increasing if needed.