Health, Wealth, Wisdom & Fun

Link: http://www.billboardmama.com/what-is-menopause-in-women-p-448.html

There are many baby boomers living in the United States who are females. In fact, in 2006, the oldest of the baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 began turning 60 years of age. There were an estimated 78.2 million baby boomers, as of July 1, 2005, and 50.8% of them were women. Therefore, you would expect that each day in 2006, 7,918 people turn 60 - in hours, that would be 330. (Source: US Census Bureau)

This is the primary reason why there are a lot of women today who are experiencing menopause symptoms. If you are one of more than 40 million women feeling discomfort from menopause, then you need to know the facts.

Just exactly what is menopause? To define, it is the cessation of the menstrual cycle for a period of twelve consecutive months. Menopause marks the end of a woman's reproductive years, and usually happens naturally around age 51 or 52 when the ovaries stop producing estrogen.

There are several women, though, who experience menopause immediately - this happens when their ovaries are surgically removed. But whichever case, the symptoms of menopause impact women's health, mental state of mind, and quality of life for the remainder of her lifetime.

In 2003, however, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) scared both women and doctors with their warning of not taking hormones. Several women do not know the real facts about the WHI. Those women over 65 years old who are taking PremPro and Premarin, for instance, were found to have experienced cardiovascular diseases, cancer and osteoporosis - these results were comprehensively discussed, no less. Bioidentical hormones weren't part of this research.

The WHI also conducted an in-depth study on postmenstrual women - particularly on the most prevalent causes of death, disability and impaired quality of life. It was an organized attempt to correct the inequities in women's health research and therefore provide practical information to women and their doctors. The WHI focused on synthetic hormone replacement therapy, dietary patterns plus calcium and Vitamin D supplements including their effects on the prevention of heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. These 3 diseases were the primary focus of the research because they become more common in menopausal women.

There were about 9 million American women who were still taking some form of Premarin in November of 2003. One of them is PremPro. Another one, Premari- which stands for Pregnant Mares' Urine (PREgnant MARes' urINe); PMU for short. Both of them are synthetic hormones.

The release of the WHI results had an effect on the above-mentioned statistics. There was a reduction of 25% of the approximately 12 million women taking PMU based medications in 1999.

Around one third of the 55 million post menopausal women in the United States are on synthetic estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), or hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Interestingly, only 49% - rather than the high 79% in 1999- of those are presently using PMU based products.

There are still plenty of women who don't fully comprehend hormone therapy, and for those women who are scared, and still don't take any Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), the concept of natural bio-identical hormones is becoming more interesting. Given that there are so many products in the market, choosing one is a bit baffling. Plus the government continues to try to regulate all of the bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) products that are being sold.

The great thing is, women need not be confused about hormone replacement therapy. Interestingly enough, several women have gotten used to taking BHRT in menopause medicine. There is a confusion in the use of the terms, though, since hormones are not really bio-identical. Natural hormones aren't bio-identical unless the body can recognize them as hormones, and they are not considered restoration unless what has been lost is truly restored. They can be mimicked, but they're not identical. They can only be restored, and never replaced. Lastly,hormone therapy needs to be rhythmic, or biomimetic, for it to become truly accurate.

What is the difference between biomimitec hormones and bio-identical hormones? In simpler terms, biomimetic hormones are those that are derived from natural sources and have the capability to mimic the natural undulating rhythms of the hormone blood levels in a normal menstrual cycle. Undulating is to cause to move in a smooth wavelike motion.

Bio-identical hormone products are usually formulated from plant sources to match the chemical structure of hormones produced naturally by the human body. The premise is that, technically, the body can't distinguish bio-identical hormones from the ones the female ovaries produce; on the other hand, various forms of human-produced hormones are recognized differently by cells. So it makes sense that bio-identical hormone results might also be different.

For bio-identical hormone compounds to be genuinely the same, biologically, as human hormones, they must be presented Biomimetically. Recognition at the receptor cites are largely about presentation (such as serum level, timing as well as molecular structure.)

The more appropriate terminology then is biomimitec hormone restoration therapy - it's biomimetic and it mimics the rise and fall of hormone blood levels during a normal menstrual cycle. Note that it is not bio-identical, but biomimetic.

What's the rhythm then? The rhythms of the body are governed by a master clock that operates much like a conductor. It strikes up one section of the body's orchestra as another quiets down, taking its main cue from light signals in order to stay in sync with the 24-hour day. Our body's hormones gush and ebb to this maestro's wand.

The circadian clock that our cells follow is actually one 24-hour rotation of the planet. The moon - and your body - tracks that repetitive cycle for 28 days. There is only one patented bioidentical hormone product on the market that uses this natural rhythm of nature to establish the proper doses of estradiol and progesterone that mimic the natural hormones produced by your body. The topical creams and their amounts vary throughout the 28-day cycle to restore the hormone levels of youth.

The multi-phasic rhythmic dosing of bio-mimetic hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) using natural hormones in a bio-mimetic way is the most recent treatment for menopause in women. Over two million women in the United States use customized hormones for menopause symptoms.

In the future, there'll be 57.8 million baby boomers residing in 2030, according to projections; 54.9% would be female. By then, the age of those baby boomers will be between 66 and 84. Thanks to the relief of the rhythm of Biomimetic Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT), hopefully they'll all live more happily.