hormone therapy articles • Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary

A Safer Type of Hormone Therapy

May 11, 2022April 6, 2022 by Lara Briden

If you’re going to take hormone therapy, it’s safer to take hormones that are identical to human hormones. In other words, hormones that are body-identical or bioidentical. The concept of bioidentical used to be controversial but is now conventional and mainstream.

In episode five of my podcast/YouTube video, I discuss hormone therapy including why the concept of bioidentical was controversial when it didn’t need to be; oral micronized progesterone for heavy periods, mood, sleep, and perimenopausal migraines; and some facts about body-identical estrogen.

What Is Bioidentical or Body-Identical Hormone Therapy?

March 27, 2022March 27, 2022 by Lara Briden

Bioidentical or body-identical hormones are estradiol and progesterone that are molecularly identical to human hormones. Most (not all) modern menopause hormone therapy is bioidentical. Keep reading for a list of brands.

The difference between “bioidentical” and “body-identical” is that body-identical is the preferred conventional term and bioidentical the term traditionally applied to customised hormone formulas dispensed by a compounding chemist, back when compounding was the only way to obtain such hormones.

The Crucial Difference Between Progesterone and Progestins

April 13, 2022March 8, 2022 by Lara Briden

Progestins such as drospirenone, levonorgestrel, or medroxyprogesterone are not progesterone.

That’s because progesterone is not a generic term like estrogen. Instead, progesterone refers only to the hormone made by the corpus luteum or taken as oral micronized progesterone.

How Testosterone Causes Weight Gain in Women

March 25, 2022January 16, 2022 by Lara Briden

In women, too much testosterone can cause insulin resistance and abdominal weight gain.

That’s why androgen excess is a factor in the weight gain associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), menopause, and some types of birth control.