Unbalanced hormones can make you feel like a stranger in your own skin.

Anyone who has been through puberty knows that hormones have a powerful effect on one’s body. Hormones affect many areas of your health, including your mood, your metabolism, and your sexual and reproductive function. If your hormones become unbalanced, due to menopause or other factors, you may end up experiencing a variety of unwanted symptoms. Compounded bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) will restore balance and help you feel like yourself again.

BHRT is most often prescribed to ease the symptoms of menopause, but it can also be used to treat a variety of conditions that women of all ages may experience, including:

• Pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS)
• Irregular menstrual cycle
• Moodiness
• Infertility
• Post-partum depression
• Weight gain
• Endometriosis
• Fibrocystic breasts
• Sleep disturbances
• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Decreased libido
• Painful sexual intercourse
• Vaginal dryness

These conditions affect millions of women AND MEN!. As the number of men and women seeking hormone-related treatment has grown, so has the mass production of pills, patches and creams by the drug industry. It is important to realize that each person’s body is different and has its own unique needs. Unfortunately, commercially manufactured products tend to be “one-size-fits-all,” and do not always account for the differences between individuals. We understand that no two people are alike.

Pharmacy compounding is the art and science of preparing customized medications for patients. The advantage of compounded BHRT is that it can be adapted specifically to fit each individual’s body and hormone levels. BHRT utilizes hormones that have the exact chemical structure as the hormones made in the human body. The body recognizes them and allows them to mimic the function of the hormones the body produces on its own.

Annie’s Consultation Corner offers hormone testing and consultation services for both men and women. We recommend testing your hormones using our simple at home saliva test kit. Once your results are in, we will schedule a one-on-one consultation between you and our BHRT specialist, Dr. Rachel Krajewski, RPh. Before the consultation, we will provide a hormone evaluation for you to fill out in order to review your medical history, symptoms, and goals. The healthcare provider, pharmacist, and the patient will use the results of these diagnostic tools to help determine a course of treatment which will give the patient the exact amount of hormones his or her body needs.

Working closely with you and your healthcare provider, our pharmacists can help you start and maintain a hormone replacement regimen that brings your hormones back into balance and closely mimics what your body has been doing naturally for years. With a healthcare provider’s prescription, we can prepare hormones in a variety of strengths and dosage forms, including:

• Capsules
• Topical or vaginal creams and gels
• Suppositories
• Sublingual drops or troches
• Rapid dissolving tablets