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By Dr. Patricia Yarberry Allen The following post first appeared on Dr. Allen's Huffington Post blog, as an urgent message to her fellow physicians. -- Ed.
Patients with menopausal syndrome are flocking to infomercial doctors. They find them online, referred by lists of bio-identical practitioners in lists of popular books referred by compounding pharmacies, or referred by female friends who have found that a practitioner is willing to give them hormonal medication that will ease their suffering.
I know patients who travel across the country to have their blood and saliva tested, and to have compounded hormone preparations created “just for them” yet the “unique prescription” requires more money and more time each visit in order to create “just the right dosage for each patient”. These same patients often end up in my office with enlarged breasts, heavy bleeding, weight gain and water retention and often with the well recognized and more serious complications of hormone use.
Their hot flashes, insomnia and fatigue may be controlled, but they are suffering debilitating side effects. And many of these women have been told clearly that “natural hormones” carry no side effects. The patients choose to believe that with this form of hormone therapy that there is no risk of breast cancer, endometrial cancer, blood clots, heart attack or stroke.
