November 2005 | Palm Beach Post

By Carolyn Susman, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Talk about a downer.

Women who turned to specially compounded plant-derived hormones to escape the dangers of hormone replacement therapy may be rubbing themselves the wrong way.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is warning there is no proof the so-called bioidentical hormones - often made in cream form - are any safer than the combination estrogen/progestin therapy that menopausal women had been relying on for years to fight hot flashes, vaginal dryness and all those nasty side effects of aging.

In July, 2002, findings were released showing that combination estrogen/progestin therapy increased the risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and pulmonary embolism, so many women began turning to the bioidentical products.

The thinking was the specially compounded bioidentical hormones would be safer because they are made from plants and are similar to hormones produced by the body.

But ACOG, the organization representing more than 49,000 gynecologists and obstetricians, says these products "have not undergone rigorous clinical testing for either safety or efficacy and there are concerns regarding the purity, potency, and quality of compounded products."

This could stick a pin in the burgeoning bioidentical industry. But the self-styled bioidentical hormone doctors with BodyLogicMD, a national network of physicians that specialize "in treating male and female menopause with natural bioidentical hormones," are standing by their products.

"There aren't any long-term studies," agrees BodyLogicMD practitioner Dr. Jeffrey Thackrey of Fort Lauderdale. "What it comes down to is taking the best information we have and combining it with intuitive reasoning and it just makes sense to me.

"When it comes to bioidentical hormones ? if used and monitored properly - there is a very wide margin of efficency. There are a lot of medications considered effective that, if not used properly, can become very toxic."

In a follow-up e-mail, he outlined a five-point plan he uses with patients "to optimize safety" that includes meeting with them personally "at least the first time" and using a "reputable compounding pharmacy."

Now that hormones are being used more for menopausal symptoms short-term, they are recovering somewhat from the bad black eye they deservedly received three years ago when they were touted as a woman's fountain of youth.

But if we have to wait for long-term studies to prove the safety of bioidentical hormones, we'll probably be waiting a long time.

So it's good for women - and men - to refuse to delude themselves into thinking that these therapies are without risk.

Ditto for the women who slapped on the birth control patch produced by Ortho Evra. Now that the Food and Drug Administration has warned users the patch is exposing them to more hormones, and a higher risk of blood clots, than previously disclosed, we can remember that when we patch up or rub in hormones we wouldn't normally have, we may be exposing ourselves to serious side effects.