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[lisauk]

Hi, has anyone seen either Dr Helen Fawcett at Surrey Park, or Dr Tina Peers please? They are both local to me, but I just don't know which would be best. Apparently Tina Peers uses body identical rather than bio identical (not sure what the difference is).

Can anyone recommend (or not recommend) either of the two please?

[Dotty]

Body identical hrt is oestrogen patches or gel and Utrogestan .  Dr Tina Peers has very good reviews x

[lisauk]

But what's bio-identical then? I'm on patches and Utrogestan currently, and told they're bio-identical 

[Dotty]

https://www.menopausedoctor.co.uk/menopause/body-identical-hormones  This explains the difference .  Bio identical hormones are not regulated in UK.  Body identical are so called because they are the nearest to our own hormones.  Patches and utrogestan are body identical x

[lisauk]

Thanks for that, Dotty. Very helpful. So I probably ought to be steering towards body identical and away from bio identical then, as they're not regulated? Surrey Park I think use bio-identical, so perhaps Tina Peers would be the better option. Does anyone know if she looks at Testosterone as well estrogen and progesterone though, as I know mine is low?

[Dotty]

Most consultants will use body identical hrt.  Bio identical is only available from specialist pharmacies and it costs a lot of money.

[lisauk]

It does! I'm taking 3 others, as well as Prog and patches. Don't feel any better for it at all though, and as they're unregulated I'll come off them and start again I think!

[Katejo]

Most consultants will use body identical hrt.  Body identical is only available from specialist pharmacies and it costs a lot of money.

i think you mean that bio identical is only available from specialist pharmacists don't you?

[Hurdity]

Yes they're all bio-identical - biologically identical hormones! However the term "bio-identical" was hi-jacked by the private compounding pharmacy industry notably in US but found its way over here too - at a time when much of HRT was the horse-pee Premarin stuff and synthetic progestogens. Therefore the term "bio-identical" is now used for BHRT = "Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy" to distinguish it from the bio-identical = body-identical hormones available on NHS in properly regulated doses ie estradiol and progesterone. These are the same hormones as in the compounded stuff which is just a marketing con and extremely expensive!!! It is very confusing to people and the misunderstandings are often perpetuated by the press and media. Testosterone does not have a licesned formulation available for women so prescribing it is sporadic and unlicensed although the products usually prescribed are at least licensed for men but prescribed in smaller doses for women ( although even the dosing when given is scarily erratic).

Hurdity x

[lisauk]

Thanks, Hurdity. I've made an appointment now to see Tina Peers (in a few weeks time). I'm not going to see the bio-identical person I was seeing anymore.

As well as estrogen patches and progesterone I am also on DHEA, pregnenolone and testosterone. Do you think I should stop those and just take the progesterone and the patches? The only part I'm a bit disappointed about is the testosterone because I presume Dr Peers doesn't prescribe that, and I do agree that women need it, and when mine was tested it was extremely low.

[Tinkerbell]

I saw Dr Tina Peers three years ago, i would certainly recommend her, she is lovely and sent a strongly worded letter to my GP about Vagifem being safe long term.
She prescribed Estradot and Utrogestan, although she also said I could try Estogel or the Mirena as an alternative.
I would definitely see her again, it was money well spent.

[Tinkerbell]

She also offered to prescribe testosterone if I felt I needed it.

[lisauk]

Great, thanks Tinkerbell. That's put my mind at rest 

Did she do blood tests and scans etc?