The Hormone Cure by Sara Gottfried

Author:Sara Gottfried
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Scribner

Step 3: Bioidentical Hormones

I commonly see women on hefty doses of testosterone who are not having their blood levels monitored carefully. Sometimes the result of excessive dosing is cystic acne, head-hair loss, or excessive sweating and body odor. When I measure testosterone levels in women with these symptoms, they are often closer to the normal levels for a man. Once the dosage drops, their symptoms resolve.

If, after meticulous informed consent, you choose to take testosterone, I recommend checking several things in your blood: your free, total, and bioavailable testosterone levels; cholesterol levels (because testosterone can lower HDL, your good cholesterol); and liver enzymes (because testosterone can damage your liver). Part of your informed consent should include that we do not know the long-term effects of augmenting your testosterone levels. The longest duration of the randomized trials of testosterone in women is six months.

Sometimes women read online or in a magazine that DHEA is a good idea for dealing with low energy. They go to their local health food store, buy a bottle of pills, and start taking a dose of 25 mg/day, the level usually recommended for women. But side effects inevitably ensue: greasy skin and hair, acne breakouts. When I lower the dose to 2 to 5 mg/day, the side effects often resolve. If they don’t resolve, I strongly suggest stopping the DHEA.

Other than reducing excessive doses of testosterone or DHEA, however, I can’t make any recommendations for bioidentical hormones—none are proven to lower your androgens.

Women who take cortisol or adrenal extract—ground-up adrenal gland from animals—can lower their DHEA, the prehormone to testosterone. However, I advise extreme caution with glandular extracts because they are over the counter, with no regulatory oversight. If you take glandular extracts, you do so at your own risk; please consult your local physician.

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