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Biomedical Hormone Treatment

Biomedical hormone treatment is used in hormone replacement therapy to treat the symptoms of menopause. Biomedical hormone treatments are still being perfected and developed. There are a number of potential risks associated with hormone treatment, and bioidentical hormone therapy is a recent development designed to minimize these risks.

  1. Menopause

    • Menopause is the end of menstruation and also marks the end of fertility. While it is not an illness, menopause involves a number of hormonal changes that may cause emotional and physical symptoms such as depression and mood swings, hot flashes, and cold hands and feet. The main change occurs because the ovaries stop producing estrogen and progesterone. Over the years, estrogen levels drop, the symptoms of menopause begin and periods become irregular. Menopause is considered over when you have not had a period for a year.

    Hormone Replacement Therapy

    • Biomedical hormone treatments are used in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and consist of prescription drugs that are used to replace the hormones that are lost during menopause. This is intended to combat the symptoms caused by the lack of hormones in the body. Ohio State University Medical Center states that HRT may be effective in preventing postmenopausal osteoporosis in some women.

    Drugs

    • Biomedical hormone treatments are made up of drugs intended to replace the hormones lost during menopause. Biomedical hormone treatments are usually made up of a mix of estrogen and progestin, a synthesized progesterone. These drugs can cause breast tenderness. According to Harvard Medical School, the estrogen in biomedical hormone treatments is derived from pregnant mares' urine.

    Risks

    • According to Harvard Medical School, in 2002 the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) released a study in which hormone replacement therapy was found to have a number of serious associated risks, including blood clots, breast cancer, heart disease and stroke. As a result, hormone replacement therapy, and the associated biomedical hormone treatments, began to be used less.

    Bioidentical Hormone Therapy

    • Bioidentical hormone therapy was developed as a substitute to hormone replacement therapy, and the biomedical hormone treatments that the therapy uses. Bioidentical hormone therapy replaces the hormones lost in menopause with hormones that are molecularly identical to the hormones that have been lost. These hormones are synthesized from yams and soy.

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