Wow, wouldn't it be great if we all had a group like this in our cities?

I just saw this article in the St. Louis newspaper, a group that meets once a month to discuss women's health issues. Wow, that's something I would love to start in Charlotte.

How To Fix Health Care: Four Weeds to Remove

This came up this morning from Time Magazine, and I think it's an excellent article. Pay particular attention to the part about medical billing, I hear an awful lot of complaining about doctors who will not accept insurance reimbursement for services. I've been mired in a nightmare system with insurance companies for 17 years and I am absolutely appalled by the reimbursement rates, I guarantee you they do not allow my doctor to make any profit on me after the hassle he has to go through to get any payment at all. It makes me sick, which of course, is not good for my health! Read this article, it's important and affects all of us.

Interesting Study on How-----

Taking birth control pills can affect a woman's ability to build muscle mass. Read about it here.

Quote of the Day

Oh, there are so many catagories this could fit into: doctors who blow off their patients, people who would rather whine and complain than at least read some websites/articles/books on BHRT, big Pharma-----here's the quote:


"Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege."
- Unknown

The Latest on Nutrition and Menopause

From the website Third Age. I tried black cohash for hot flashes and it didn't work for me, but for some women it provides a measure of relief. Get out there and enjoy this spring day, everyone, it's beautiful here in Charlotte!

Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis

This article is from Web MD, and it talks about how using very large doses of Vitamin D (which is quickly becoming the new wonder vitamin) can drastically reduce the number of relapses in people with MS.

I Know For Many Of You, Menopause Is No Laughing Matter----

But if you ever get a chance to see Menopause the Musical when it comes to your town (I believe it's again on a national tour), be sure to go see it. I laughed so hard I cried, and it was before I got hormonally balanced! Read about it here.

Oprah Show Doctors "Weigh In" on Weight Gain

Drs. Oz and Roizen, the two doctors who appear regularly on the Ophan Winfrey Show, have written and article on four of the common reasons women (and men) gain weight as they age. Click here to read the article, some of it (most of it) relates to hormones!

Here's the link to the message boards for the show "The Doctors"

The message boards over there are not as busy as the Dr. Phil show last week, but there are a number of people posting. Click here to get to the message boards.

Review of the TV Show "The Doctors"

I went into watching this show with absolutely no hope that anything substantial would be discussed, because quite honestly, I thought the Dr. Phil show last week was more interested in promoting Robin's book than actually educating women on the facts surrounding bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

However, I will say that I thought this presentation was marginally better than the Dr. Phil Show last week. Of course, there were the requisite shots of Robin playing with her dog in the front yard of her home, and of her posing for the cover of her book, and I think that time can be better spent. She sat at the table with the four doctors who are the "regulars" on the show. One of the annoyances for me was this whole hype of how talking about menopause is "shameful" and women were shown in taped pieces saying they never talk to their girlfriends about this, that their mothers and grandmothers went through this behind closed doors (who cares, this is 2009), and on and on. Again, wasted time.

Robin talked about how she was in full blown menopause at the age of 43, and her doctor told her "life as you know it is over". I've heard that until I am ready to barf. She talked about having night sweats and hot flashes, which as most of you know, are very common, and sometimes debilitating symptoms of menopause. Then she went to a doctor who put her on bioidenticals, and suddenly menopause is "ok", "fun" , and my personal favourite, "the time of your life". OK, Robin, we get it, that's enough now.

Of course, the next step is to take a perimenopausal woman to the Prudence Hall Center in Los Angeles. I swear this is giving women the idea that she is the only hormone doctor on the West Coast (if you want a great one in the Palm Springs area, email me, his name is Dr. John D. Carr, he is without a doubt the most knowledgeable and compassionate doctor I have ever dealt with, and he is super easy to talk to---phone number is 760-779-5511). Dr. Hall spoke to the woman (with Robin sitting right there, of course, for moral support) and Dr. Hall told the woman she has hormone deficiencies and that they will only get worse without bioidentical hormones. Next stop, a compounding pharmacy (I don't know where the pharmacy was located, I suspecct its the one that the Hall Center sends its patients to). Actually, I have to say that segment at the pharmacy was pretty interesting, they showed how the creams are prepared, how troches are prepared (they're a gummy/candy like substance you take orally, another delivery system for hormones, I think the example they used was DHEA).

Next segment was the patient and Dr. Hall sitting in the audience, and the patient gushing about how great she felt, and of course, thanking Robin for her help. Dr. Hall went on to speak about how bioidentical hormones are usually compounded so that each patient gets the dose best for her individual needs. One thing I did notice is that andropause (the male version of menopause) was not discussed.

On the upside, the show at least BROUGHT UP the topic of the cost of bioidentical hormone therapy, a subject that was totally ignored on the Dr. Phil show. The young female doctor said that actually some bioidentical hormones are commercially available (and she's right, the two most common are the Vivelle Dot --- which is a patch, and Climara, also a patch). I believe there are some oral hormones that are also considered "bioidentical" but are not used because they turn into a different hormone once they hit the liver. Dr. Hall said that she in fact, does use some commercially prepared hormones in some instances, but pointed out that some compounded preprations turn out to be cheaper than the copay for a commerical preparation. I think the example she used was estrogen, and that one was true for me, I was surprised by how cheap estrogen (estriol) is.

Another positive note is that Robin talked about how when she first went on BHRT, she talked to a compounding pharmacy, who directed her to a doctor for the proper care. That's another thing the Dr. Phil show never addressed, and boy, their message boards went CRAZY with women screaming that Robin/Dr. Phil just had to tell them how to get to a physician in their area (and many of them, I suspecct, strongly hinting that they should be whisked to CA to be "saved" at the Hall Center). This is information I have emailed to a number of women.

For those of you who are new readers to my blog (because you heard about it on the message boards for the show The Doctors), welcome, please look around, I hope you will like what you see. Feel free to comment or shoot me an email, I always love hearing from you! Enjoy the rest of your day, it's in the mid 80's in Charlotte today!

Soy offers natural estrogens....

The important lesson to be learned in this article in the Sacramento Bee is not what the article offers in the way of insight, but to see how often infomation on BHRT interchangably use the words progestin and progesterone------they are NOT the same hormone!!!!! Not even close.

Another show on Biodientical Hormone Replacement Therapy

The TV show The Doctors (executive producer is Dr. Phil's son Jay) is talking about the subject of menopause on tomorrow's show (April 27.) Robin McGraw is the guest. You can learn more about it here, and there is a message board (I have already commented twice). Check your local listings for the time and channel in your area, I know in Charlotte it's on at 3 pm on the NBC affiliate WCNC. I'll be watching, but honestly, I am not holding out much hope that this show will be any better than last week's Dr. Phil show, which quite frankly I thought was nothing more than an infomercial for Robin McGraw's book and the Hall Center in LA.

Oh, God, this is too funny and I had to share it!

I just ran across this article, some woman (who has been through menopause) actually figured out a use for all those extra maxi pads----she uses them for her Swiffer! You've got to hand it to her, that's ingenious! Read the article here.......

Eating Disorders and Women with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)

From the ADDitude Magazine, some insight into why women with ADD have a higher incidence of overeating/binge eating/bulemia. Read about it here....

Could Autism Be Caused by Lack of Vitamin D?

April 24, 2009 06:05 PM ET Nancy Shute
Could autism be caused by low levels of vitamin D? That’s a new idea that’s just starting to emerge, sparked by the large number of autism cases among children of Somali immigrants living in Sweden and Minnesota.
The mothers and young children are exposed to much less sunshine in their new homes than they were back in Somalia. Lighter-skinned people make more vitamin D than dark-skinned people do when exposed to sunshine, so it’s easy to imagine that the Somalis are getting relatively little vitamin D. And because most of the Somali immigrants are Muslim, they cover themselves when going outside, reducing their sun exposure even more. But there’s as yet no clear connection to autism. Read the rest of the article here.....