DEPO AND TESTOSTERONE SHOTS

Have your testosterone checked by your physician. I'm glad I did. Instead of injections, he recommended to take the Dr Max Powers Testosterone Boost - and I have been on it for over one month now. What a difference this has made in my life. I was about 70 lbs. overweight. Within days of taking the testosterone, I lost my fatigue and my energy levels sky-rocketed. My wife has had to deal with new and increased interest from me, but we have been working that out between us. My testosterone level was 166. I feel like I'm 25 years old again.

thanks for the info.

Hi, Anon. In terms of my friend's hair, she quit taking the medicine and after a little while, it started growing back. She had to deal with tiny brand-new hairs growing in, so it was a pain since the rest of her hair was so long. She ended up cutting her longer hair several inches to help the rest of it catch up. I would say it'll take her another year to get it all the same length.

Boy, when we hit the 50s, the 50s hit us, don't they? Hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms aren't easy to live with.

There are two primary categories of hormone replacement -- synthetic and bioidentical. Basically, both are formulated to help with a woman's loss of hormones in perimenopause and after menopause, but they are different.

Synthetic hormones (which are the most common, and include the ones you listed) are the ones that come in manufactured pills and patches in regulated doses. The hormones they contain are made from horse urine and are similar in structure to our own.

Bio-identical hormones are made from plants and have a molecular structure that is identical to the human hormone molecule. These hormones come in creams that are made for each individual at a compounding pharmacy (that's a pharmacy that takes the ingredients and makes your cream according to your prescription. Not all pharmacies do this). What this means is that your doctor can specify exactly the levels of hormones that should be in your cream, and the pharmacy will make that for you.

There is some controversy over which is better, and the answer is different for each woman. But it's good to have the conversation with your doctor, and it's good to know your own hormone levels for estrogen, progesterone and DHEA.

Here's a good article on the differences between synthetic and bio-identical:

http://www.mdcustomrx.com/Bio-Identical_Hormone_Therapy.htm

Dr. Christiane Northrup has written a book that many women consider to be the best available on menopause. It's called "The Wisdom of Menopause" and it talks about symptoms, hormones and medicines specifically.

Here is her page on bioidentical and synthetic hormones:

http://www.drnorthrup.com/womenshealth/healthcenter/topic_details.php?topic_id=129

Women also have different hormonal needs if they have had a hysterectomy and/or have had their ovaries out. And if there's a history of breast or ovarian cancer in your family, your doctor will need to know that too.

There are also some natural treatments for menopausal symptoms and hot flashes; have you tried any of those? Here are a couple of pages that discuss this:

http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/menopaus1/a/naturalmenopaus.htm

Keep persevering until you find the right solution for you. Menopause brings on a lot of symptoms in addition to hot flashes -- mood swings, a dip in libido, changes in our skin and hair, insomnia, weight gain and more. The correct balance of lifestyle and medicine is the one that gets each of us back to feeling like our normal self. Here's a page of the symptoms of menopause; you may be experiencing more than you realize:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/menopause/DS00119/DSECTION=symptoms

Hang in there. See your doctor, get those hormone levels checked, and explore the possibility that there's a better solution for you. And let us know what happens!

Hi, Mamie,

So sorry you're dealing with this. A good friend used that same medicine and had the same side effects and ultimately stopped the medicine. (Her hair is waist-length and gorgeous, and it was coming out by the combful every day).

Can we ask how old you are?

I'm assuming you're in perimenopause, the years before your periods actually stop altogether; how long have you been dealing with hot flashes?

What other treatments have you tried?

It's great that your doctor wants to test your thyroid. Will she also do a check of your hormonal levels overall?

Have you tried bio-identical hormones for your symptoms?

You might be interested in today's episode of Oprah, if you get this message in time to watch or record it. It is the second show she's doing on hormone replacement therapy in general and on bioidentical hormone treatment specifically. I watched the first one and found a lot of information was very relevant to me.

We'd love to do some more research for you. Give us a few more details as to what you've been dealing with and for how long, and we'll see what we can find.