Know Your Options For Getting Hormone Therapy Medication

Custom hormone therapy medication is available through compounding pharmacies. These type of pharmacies custom make medications for individuals based on a prescription from the individual's doctor. Compounding pharmacies are able to compound medications that may not be commercially available or that are ineffective for the patient in the commercially available dosage or have some ingredient that the patient cannot tolerate that must be left out of the formulation. Many doctors prescribe custom hormone therapy medication for their patients and this is the only effective way to treat their condition.

There are commercial hormone therapy medications that are widely available that have been the subject of long term studies and have been approved for use. These medications contain standard doses of the active ingredients that have been proven to be safe and effective overall. But there are many women who are not helped by these medications and their doctors prescribe different doses that must be compounded.

Custom compounded hormone medications raise concerns because the formulation or recipe prepared by the pharmacist based on a doctors prescription for the individual have not been scientifically approved. According to some science organizations, there is no way to know if the active ingredients are absorbed properly or result in predicable levels in the body once absorbed and there is no scientific evidence of the effects of these custom made medications on the body either good or bad. Obviously many doctors feel that the custom hormone therapy medications are effective and safe or they would not prescribe them. Compounding Pharmacies have been around for a long time. In fact prior to WWII most prescriptions were compounded. The commercial drug industry did not become big until after the WWII. Prior to that compounding pharmacies were readily accepted as the norm for obtaining all types of medications.

Many women need hormone therapy because of uneven levels of hormones at various times, especially during menopause. Often commercially available hormone therapy medications are ineffective because of the dosing. A specific individual may need more or less than the commercially available dose, which is determined by the individuals doctor. When this is the case the only alternative the individual has is to use a compounding pharmacy for the custom hormone therapy medication.

When a medication is compounded it is for a single individual not public mass consumption. It has always been common for a doctor to prescribe medications based on the individuals unique needs as determined by the patient and the doctor. If the medication is not commercially available in the prescribed dose than the only alternative is to have the medication compounded. Furthermore you want to make sure you work with a compounding pharmacy with professional and experienced staff. Only by working with them and telling them about how the medication made you feel will they be able to alter and change it for the next time. Through your experiences you will get the best medication available, and you just may help someone else as well by giving your pharmacist some inside information.