I am in Florida this week with my husband at his annual winter meeting. I have had the opportunity to talk with countless women associated with the major health center through which they and my husband are employed. They tell me that this major health center poo poos bioidendical hormone balancing and saliva testing. One of the field reps lives in St. Louis. She has read the books I have recommended and has a good understanding of all I have taught her about bioidentical hormone balancing. However, she cannot find a doctor in St. Louis to help her. She has all sorts of symptoms that she needs help with. My goodness, St. Louis is a big place – and no one there treats women with natural hormone balancing??
This morning I am grappling with how to go about helping women find MDs that understand natural hormone balancing – not just the sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA), but also the thyroid and adrenal hormones. So frustrating! I feel like we are the pioneers. One day this won’t be an issue, but for now it is. I am grateful for Oprah’s programs this month because it gives national exposure for a much needed treatment regimen.
I want so much to help women, including me, to find qualified MDs in our own geographic areas who will provide affordable care. I am aware that some see this as a money making opportunity and have consequently put in place an exorbitant fee structure which is not conducive for most women, particularly in these economic times. Plus, it is just so wrong to take advantage of a situation to make money. What happened to the notion of just plain helping other people, at a reasonable cost?
If we could find a knowledgeable MD, or one who doesn’t have a big ego and would allow the expert Naturopathic Doctor in our area to teach him/her, we could create a center in the Midwest. Women could come from all over. How cool would that be???!!! We know that there are centers in California. Perhaps the thing to do is set up centers in select geographic areas so women don’t have to fly across clear the United States to get the help they need and deserve.
Hmm, this is what I am pondering on this morning. I am sending the intention out there…
Hi there,
I am a health educator specializing in menopause and perimenopause…for the last eight years have been the Director of Education at ZRT Laboratory, one of the major hormone testing labs in the country…doing all their communications, website, print, press, consulting etc…….a woman I have been working with (canaryclub.org) sent me the link to your blog which I just read with interest…ah, yes, finding a provider…this is one of the biggies…fidning a savvy provider who understands the importance of testing hormone levels and prescribing bioidenticals (as needed) in doses individualized to patient need…please tell your readers to go to zrtlab.com and/or womeninbalance.org both of which have recently added “provider locators” to their websites… enter your zipcode and if there is a provider within 50 miles of locale a list of names will come up….by the way, it is not imperative to see an MD for testing and prescribing of bio-identicals. An increasing number of Nurse Practitioners (NP) and Naturopaths (ND) are leading the charge toward this new paradigm in safe menopause management.
I have recently struck out on my own and am soon to be available to contribute to blogs or web content as well as online consulting for women seeking the right help…I was inundated with hundreds of requests per week, which is why I decided to leave the corporate scene and get back on the frontlines to do all I can to help change the dialogue around women’s health.
All the best,
Candace Burch, MA
candacebwell@yahoo.com
503-730-8127
P.S. Women in Balance the website I mention above (www.womeninbalance.org) is one of the best resources for exploring all the options and the science around natural hormone balancing. It is the only national non-profit on the scene doing this worthy work. Highly recommend!
Hi Candace!
I am so new to this blogging thing, I hope you can see my response! I may also send you a response the “old fashioned way” via email just to make sure I can communicate with you! : )
Thank you SO much for your comment! I love the ZRT Lab and all the wonderful research and info from Dr. David Zava! How exciting that you have worked there and to be able to interact with you! In fact, I would love to talk with you…sounds like we have similar interests going forward. Perhaps we can help each other.
I too promote the http://www.womeninbalance.org site. I did see that their site has a “provider locator” but I didn’t realize the ZRT site has one also. Great info, and I will post that, but first let me ask…do you know how providers get listed? Do they have any criteria to meet? The reason I ask is I know of providers who are advertising that they practice bioidentical hormone balancing, but their advice is not sound and I know of women who ended up in worse shape after being treated than before before being seen. I know of some who see this bioidentical craze as a cash cow and they are charging exhorbitant rates…requiring multiple office visits and extreme charges for saliva tests. Seeing this behavior has really made me leary of recommending someone without really knowing their capabilities.
In our state the NDs cannot prescribe medication – they have to work under an MD, which is so limiting. The ND I know is extremely knowledgeable, but we have no MDs in our area at her level of understanding, so she is always running into a brick wall. But the NPs CAN write prescriptions…hmm, that is an avenue to pursue.
Again, thank you, Candace, for taking the time to share your knowledge with all of us! You are awesome! : )
Rosie
Hi Rosie,
I too am new to the blogosphere…I’ve just been roaming around in it trying to get a better idea of how it works, what people say and do, and whether I should start one as well… the OPRAH show has launched a wave of interest in the concept of hormone imbalance, testing, and restoring balances with bioidenticals and life style improvements, but you’re right, too many practitioners see this as a cottage industry, and do not yet have the experience, or the training, to interpret the tests correctly and prescribe appropriately – one can safely say that many of the providers listed on the ZRT and Women in Balance websites have received CME training in hormone testing as well as the ‘bioidentical hormone restoration model’ through PCCA (Pharmaceutical Compounding Centers of America and ZRT sponsored conferences, there are also other trainings out there (Diagnostechs Lab) and physicians are flocking to them…the really big issue for practitioners is
physiological dosing…a hormone is a hormone, whether natural or not, it can easily be over prescribed and/or carelessly applied …as you mentioned, many of your friends have tried bio-identicals and ended up feeling worse – that should not, does not happen when working with an experienced provider; all the more important for people to ask the right questions, of a provider before they begin working with them. The WIB site has a list of 10 questions you should ask a physician about hormone balancing….this is critical as it is all too common at this early stage in the game to see high dosing going on – (we saw the results time and time again in followup test evaluations at ZRT)…Please see Virginia Hopkins website and newsletter for her Open Letter to OPRAH…she raises all the key issues about physiological dosing and delivery among other important factors.
Here is the link to Virginia’s site: http://www.virginiahopkinstestkits.com/hopkinshealth.html
What are you aiming to do with your blog? Lets keep the dialogue going…
Best,
Candace
Hi Candace,
Oh, so you are new to blogging too? That’s great! I have just done this a short while and I have already met some really nice people! It is amazing what we can learn from one another! Thanks for the info about the CME and PCCA training. That makes me feel better. I agree, some practitioners are just not experienced as of yet. I appreciate them working to educate themselves. I think we are in a steep learning curve at the moment. I recently spoke with a family practice resident and was told that they received no training whatsoever on bioidentical hormone balancing – thought progestin and progesterone were one and the same. Yes, I did see the Open Letter to Oprah – well done! She had so much good information in that letter. What a great idea to review the WIB 10 questions to ask a physician about hormone balancing.
What am I aiming to do with my blog? My personal goal is to develop my writing skills while offering a service to others. I am a nurse and I want to be able to work from home. I have worked in all sorts of health care and corporate world positions, and I just want to be home. We have a log home out in nature and I love it here. I am hoping to eventually submit articles to magazines to earn an income. Writing the blog also helps me with finalizing the manuscript I am working on. I am disciplining myself to write an article every day, Monday thru Friday. That’s where I am with it right at the moment.
It is interesting because the past few weeks I keep getting all sorts of messages from various sources that point to the need for developing some sort of holistic health center. I am not sure what all that means, but I am trying to pay attention to messages coming my way. The need is so great. There’s a group of individuals I interact with who are coming up with the same “nudges.” Who knows what all that means. Life is such an adventure! How about you? What is your vision going forward? It sounds like you have a ton of experience! I agree, it is great to dialogue with you! : )
Rosie