Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT)

Between the 1960’s and 1990s, HRT had established a reputation as the gold standard treatment for Menopause. Relieving symptoms such as hot flushes, decreased risk of osteoporosis and improved cardiovascular disease it was felt that the benefits of HRT greatly out weighting the risk.

Im 1993 a ‘Women’s Health Initiative Study’spread fear amongst menopausal women and the medical fraternity. The study followed the health of over 27,000 women undergoing HRT, the data began to reveal an increased risk of cardiovascular problems, cancer and stroke sparking huge media interest and causing doctors against prescribing HRT therapy.

Unfortunately in reality the study had many flaws, many of the women had pre-exisitng health conditions and not all types of hormones were studied, the HRT that was analysed used synthetic rather than bioidentical hormones.

Therefore the damage to the reputation of HRT was unjustified and discouraged from women getting the treatment they needed in order to improve their quality of life. Since then many studies have been conducted which show that there is no increased risks of disease with HRT use including breast cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Bioidentical hormones and body identical hormones are made with the same ‘ingredients’ – hormones extracted from natural sources that are identical in chemical and molecular structure to those occurring naturally in the human body – but there are differences between the two including the manufacturing process.

Body-identical hormones are produced by large pharmaceutical companies in a licenced set doses and application methods. This one-size-fits-all approach works for some patients, but body-identical hormones cannot be altered to cater to those with more specific needs.

The crucial aspect of bio-identical hormones is that they are prescribed for each individual person’s needs, everyone is unique. Bioidentical hormone therapy (BHRT) uses processed hormones that come from plants, commonly prescribed hormones are oestradiol, oestriol, progesterone, pregnenolone and Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a hormone produced by the body's adrenal glands.

Bioidentical hormones are produced by compounding pharmacies and specialist licence pharmacies that are regulated however bioidentical hormones are not licenced because it would not be feasible to conduct clinical trials on individual dosages.

At River View Clinic we prescribe bioidentical hormones, from pharmacies that have both compounding and specialist licenses. This means that pharmacies are able to prepare customised doses and application methods to address the individual needs of a patient, under regulatory processes, from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and a special license regulated (MHRA).