Rosie, My Beloved Cat
Thursday, August 6, 2009
By: Nadine B.

Compounded medication helps my cat who has seizures.

I have a loving cat that I have had for years that suffers from seizures for about 7 years. With the advice from my vet she is on two different medications that prevents her from having them, and one of them is a compounded medication. If it wasn't for these medications she would have died many years ago. Please help me in continuing to get this medication.

"Face it, you're getting old!"
Sunday, April 12, 2009
By: Nancy B.

I was being told that the symptoms I was experiencing were "all about getting older" and that short of a hormone patch or pills, I was just going to have to live with it. And this was from a female gynecologist!

It didn't happen all at once. It was so gradual that I couldn't put a finger on what was happening to me. I was getting cranky, short tempered, depressed, forgetful and generally just out of sorts. I, as many other women in their early 50's, was tested for thyroid, low blood counts, etc. I complained of nearly daily headaches. I woke up drenched in sweat. I also was seriously considering suicide. I really thought I had Alzheimers due to my forgetfulness. I couldn't keep a thought in my head and felt stressed all the time at work. Then I read a book by Suzanne Sommers which talked about HRT bioidentical creams. I went to my doctor and asked her to do a hormone test. I told her about the book and my symptoms. She almost laughed in my face and said, "Face it, you're getting old". She had kept me on birth control pills well past the time I stopped menstruating and told me it was perfectly ok to do that. I didn't want to take them anymore so she put me on a hormone patch. She did this without any tests to see exactly what my levels were. I started getting excruciating migraines, nausea, and gained 10 lbs in one month. I came off the patch and things continued to be miserable. Then I spoke about all this with an older co-worker who told me about a woman's health practice that worked with a pharmacy that did the bioidenticals. I made an appointment that very day for a week later. I was interviewed about my health for at least an hour and the clinician was so kind and caring. She patted me on the arm and told me I wasn't crazy and that we could fix it. They took my blood and I went back for a consult with the doctor. It turned out that I had no testosterone and very little else. They prescribed a cream that I rub on my hips and thighs twice a day and within a week I was already feeling like myself again. Within a month, I had regained my libido too! I felt like I did in my thirties and I am 54! People started noticing my change in mood and my skin tone, telling me I looked younger or something. My nights sweats, gone, my forgetfulness, gone! The only negative thing I can say is that occasionally I had a period again or spotting until they were able to get my hormone levels situated. If I didn't have the compounding pharmacy I don't know how much longer I could have coped. If your doctor can't help you, look for another one. I did, and I am so much better for it! Don't let the big pharmaceutical companies take away this very needed and life changing "cure" for menopausal women and other patients who need compounding medications.

HRT & My Quality of Life
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
By: Dianne K.

Without the natural hormones I have been taking for some time now, I am not a very fuctional person.

I have autoimmunity that makes me sensitive to chemicals other than the compounded prescriptions my gynecologist prescribes for me. Due to a surgery, which caused a permanent hormone deficiency, I do not sleep without these prescriptions. When I go without sleep for any length of time my body goes into a fibromyalgia state and my health takes a nose dive, making me a fairly dysfunctional person. I am upset that the FDA has urged my insurance company to not cover these vital medications that I require. If these medications are taken away from me, I am doomed to a miserable existence.

Compounded Medicine Saved My Life
Sunday, August 31, 2008
By: Mary H.

I don't know what I would do with them.

When I was in my late twenties I had to have a hysterectomy. Over the next 10 years, I tried premarin, provera, and any other hormone replacement on the market. They either did not work or they endangered my life. I was on premarin for so long it was giving me severe chest pains. I still suffered from night sweats so bad I had to sleep with towels under me and change them every couple of hours, as well as hot flashes all day every day. I quit taking premarin and a few weeks later my chest pains went away, but I started suffering physically.

My doctor suggested bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, and I have to say it saved my life!!! I no longer suffer from night sweats or hot flashes, my mood is great and I don't have chest pains! I don't know what I would do without them. Please do everything you can to save them! I know I would have to live an insufferable life without them. I'm in my forties now so I have a long time of still taking them and I have no other choice. Thank you.

I Can't Imagine My Life Without Compounded Bioidentical Meds!!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
By: Jacqueline S.

Why I rely on compounded medications

I am currently 31 years old and rely on compounded bioidentical hormone cream. Without it, I wouldn't be able to enjoy my life and continue my passion: teaching kindergarten. Ten years ago I was diagnosed with endometriosis. After each laproscopy, my scar tissue kept fusing my organs together and after eight years of suffering, my Ob/Gyn said it was time for a full abdominal hysterectomy. At the age of 30, I had the surgery. About six months afterwards, I started having all sorts of problems. To name a few: memory loss, shortness of breath, no patience for anything, poor circulation (my hands and feet were constantly asleep), anxiety, sugar cravings, and the list could go on. At first, I didn't realize some of these were associated with my hormone levels.
My pharmacist recommended bioidentical hormone cream. He said it matches my own chemical make-up and has no side effects much different than the synthetic hormones I was on. I gave it a try. Within two weeks I was a new person. Within a month I was back to what "normal" should feel like. Now a year later, I can't imagine life without my compounded hormone cream. It is the only reason I feel as normal as a 31-year-old can after having a full hysterectomy. I am able to continue teaching Kindergarten and now have the energy, patience and fullness of life needed to perform such a demanding career. Please help me continue my passion for life. Keep compounded drugs available to consumers like me who can't imagine life without them!

It Wasn't In My Head After All!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
By: Brenda W.

If a doctor can't figure out easily, it must be in the patient's head.

I was a mother of three children and only forty years old when I was blind-sided by hormonal issues. I would wake up and would be having "power surges" almost every night at 3:00 am on the dot. I would lay there in complete fear knowing that I would be nauseated by 6:00 am. When my stomach hurts I am a miserable soul. I am a technology instructor for an elementary school and it all started on the last day of school. What should have been a great day was the beginning of the most miserable time in my life. I went to the local doctors and they said I was too young to have this problem. Since I persistent, they flattered me by checking my thyroid. Then I moved on thinking something was wrong with my stomach. I spent hours and hours on the Internet trying to self diagnose myself. The two OB/GYN doctors in my town had no idea about hormones in women. If it wasn't A, then it had to be B, if it wasn't A or B then it had to be C. C meant I needed anti-depressants!!! I told the doctors, "Something comes in at night and overtakes by body. I am not depressed, I love my husband, and I have three healthy children. None of my children can drive and they are all out of diapers. I am not depressed!"

Not to be too critical of my doctor, but someone should slap him for being stupid. I told him I was sure it was hormonal. He thought maybe going on the pill would help. However, I informed him that I could never take birth control in the past as it made me sick at my stomach. Keeping in mind I had suffered from nausea for two months, I knew it wouldn't work. I took it anyways, because I was desperate. I took the birth control orally and was I even sicker the next few days. Death was not an option, but it would mean my stomach would no longer hurt! (As it turns out, I could have bypassed my stomach by patches or vaginal inserts! Shouldn't an OB/GYN doctor have been able to figure that one out?)

To make a long story short, this ordeal went on until I finally collapsed with mental and physical exhaustion. My nerves were shot. One day, I went over to my mother-in-laws and told her that I couldn't take one more step. We went three hours away and as luck would have it, on the way home, my husband called to tell me that our house had been struck by lightning and was burning down. (My family was safe and the fireman saved my photo albums.) The house burning down really added fuel to the fire, no pun intended. It is four years later, and I am on bio-identical hormones. I feel good. I occasionally have some hot flashes at night, but as a rule I feel good. I am scared to death that some pharmaceutical company may be determining what I need when the motive is their own greed. Taking drugs off the market should be based on my health and not on someone else's greed.