Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods and hormones
Body-identical or bioidentical menopausal hormone therapy uses hormones that are exactly identical to human hormones. Bioidentical hormones are safer than other types of hormone replacement, both in terms of cardiovascular risk and breast cancer risk. Examples include transdermal estradiol patches and oral micronized progesterone.
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.
Bioidentical or body-identical hormones are estradiol and progesterone, which 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, while bioidentical is the term traditionally applied to customised hormone formulas dispensed by a compounding pharmacist when compounding was the only way to obtain such hormones.
According to a Lancet review, migraines tend to occur during the premenstrual phase due to prostaglandins, histamine, and the steep decline in estrogen (aka “estrogen withdrawal”) leading up to the period.
Body-identical progesterone can shelter the brain from that estrogen withdrawal and reduce the frequency and intensity of menstrual migraines.
Perimenopause, or “second puberty,” is the two to ten years before the final period. It’s different from menopause (or post-menopause), which is the life phase that begins one year after the final period. Symptoms can occur during perimenopause and are temporary.