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I don’t care what the numbers say I KNOW how I feel !!! August 26, 2010

Posted by Lyn in : Case Studies In Natural Compounded Hormone Therapy, Hot BHRT Topics, Uneducated doctors , add a comment

I just received this e-mail from a friend about her recent interaction with her doctor: “When he asked if I had concerns I told him I was going to the cottage his face got red and he laughed.  He said my labs didn’t indicate I was premenopausal.  BUT, he didn’t offer any other solutions or address my concerns in ANY way.  I am SO frustrated with that attitude.  I don’t care what the numbers say I KNOW how I feel.  Thanks again for helping me get better !  Most of all for understanding and listening to us ALL !”

YOU GO, GIRL!! You are exactly right. Until we women stand up for ourselves to our current non-validating practitioners, we will never be treated any differently. Just because natural hormone replacement therapy isn’t taught in medical school, does NOT make it a non-option. Especially because we are out of the big pharma network does not make us a wrong option. WE are ALL about women’s health and we have your back because quite frankly, no one else does. Isn’t it interesting that he determined you can’t possibly be having hormone issues because your blood levels indicate that. IF he would have used saliva testing, he could have seen your hormone levels at the tissue level of cells where it really matters. Of course that isn’t taught in medical school either. Heaven forbid he also check cortisol levels (only found in saliva-not blood) for adrenal heath AND the T3 in thyroid. Even endocrinologists don’t check T3 levels. Why? It wasn’t taught in medical school. I bet if a drug company came up with a drug to fix T3, it would be taught in the medical community tomorrow!
And let’s talk about bone health, shall we? If I hear one more woman say that she had a dexascan and discovered her bone density is in the osteopenia range (next step-osteoporosis) so her doctor told her to take calcium AND SHE BELIEVES him, I might just slap her! Seriously! The only way to build new bone is to signal the osteoblasts in the bone to make more. Guess what does that?? Customized Natural Homones! We check your current hormone levels and, if your testosterone levels are below range, we recommend testosoterone. NOT those drug coompany drugs currently on the market that actually interrupt the bone-building process. And guess what?? Just taking calcium will NOT build new bone. How stupid are we to believe that? we have to ask why our bones lose density in the first place as we get older? What is different? Is our diet different? Are we suddenly drinking less milk to lose bone mass? And why isn’t drinking more milk fixing the issue? The same reason taking calcium supplements isn’t. One loses hormones through the aging process, so replacing those hormones with natural hormone therapy is the answer.
Until WE stop taking our doctors’ word as law and start thinking for ourselves, things won’t change. YOU are exactly right! YOU know how YOU feel and YOU know there are answers for YOU. YOU are in charge of YOUR journey. Congratulations to YOU for stepping up to the plate and being an advocate for YOUR body. Thank you for your trust in us at the Happy Hormone Cottage and our Piqua Medicine Shoppe. We have your back and I promise you, you WILL feel better.
Warmly,
Lyn

THIS IS TO GUINEA PIGS EVERYWHERE!!!! August 17, 2010

Posted by Lyn in : Case Studies In Natural Compounded Hormone Therapy, Hormone Therapy Joy, Menopause , 1 comment so far

I just had yet another phone call from one of our clients, who will be meeting with me later today to get started on her natural customized hormone replacement therapy. She has been to the cottage for her consultation, has had her saliva tested to check her hormone levels at the tissue level of cells; had our team at the Piqua Medicine Shoppe craft a treatment strategy specifically for her; and went to her practitioner to get our strategy approved via a prescription. We compounded her therapy in our state-of-the-art compounding lab and are now meeting with her today to get her started. When she called to confirm our appointment, she was practically quivering with excitement!  “I can’t wait to get started,” she says.  “I have been telling EVERYONE what I am doing because I am SO excited!! They are all waiting for me to get better before they come in to see you.”  SO ANOTHER GUINEA PIG!!
We love guinea pigs. Do you know why?  Ever since we opened one year ago, we have had a plethora of guinea pigs come to the cottage. These are those
brave women who:
-have done the research on hormone replacement therapy
-think outside the box
-have a voice with their doctor in the strategies for their care
-won’t settle for drug therapy for a hormone imbalance
-don’t blindly accept standard of care in this area just because it has always been done that way
-prefer holistic health options over drug therapy that just band-aids the issues
-are assertive in the anti-aging process and have great respect for aging healthfully
-understand that DISEASE HAPPENS BEFORE SYMPTOMS OCCUR, so are being proactive with their health
Do you know what has happened over this past year? OUR GUINEA PIGS HAVE GOTTEN BETTER! So they are sending in their guinea pig friends;
who are sending in their guinea pig friends and we have exploded! They have even sent in their husbands for treatment of male menopause (andropause).
It has been an amazing adventure! We are so excited to be in the business of educating our women on hormone imbalance, so they will know they have options!
Get tested, get treated, get better!!

I FEEL THE LOVE!! (not) June 8, 2010

Posted by Lyn in : Case Studies In Natural Compounded Hormone Therapy, Hot BHRT Topics, Uneducated doctors , 2comments

I have never been one to blog unless I felt I had something significant to say. Boy, do I have something to say now! You will never believe what happened today! We had a client come through our cottage a few weeks ago for her free consultation. We listened to her and together, developed a strategy to deal with her hormone imbalance. In essence she was on board to “get tested, get treated and get better.” At least that was our game plan! Unfortunately, when we got her lab results back and sent our recommendation for her hormone balance to her practitioner to sign off on it, and fax it back so we could make her customized therapy, there was a glitch! This client went to a practitioner who we advise against because she is non-supportive of customized therapy. She would rather slap an estrogen patch on you or presribe a one-size-fits-most progesterone capsule based on your symptoms and be done with it. We strongly, passionately disagree! We feel women deserve to be respected enough to actually check their hormone levels. How is this difficult or even controversial?? Don’t doctors check every other level known to man (and woman)?? Again I beg the answer to “WHY NOT HORMONE LEVELS?”
Why NOT check hormone levels and then plan a strategy for restoring hormone balance via natural options? Why not just customize the therapy for that client?? How hard can this be really?? You guessed it! This practitioner talked our client out of customized hormone therapy that we recommended based on HER body’s levels, and instead prescribed the commercially available prometrium capsule. Although both are bioidentical progesterone, we get far greater success with our compounded progesterone cream because we can make necessary dosage adjustments during the process of balancing your hormones. From our point of view, using progesterone cream is a superior way to treat progesterone deficiency. Being able to adjust therapy is the key to success. I fully expect to hear from this client in the future when she isn’t experiencing the success she was promised. And we have no options to adjust her dosage when she is taking prometrium capsules. OUR focus is helping women get better with strategies that are customized for them.
In this case, this client loses.

I’m forever and always excited!! Customized hormone replacement therapy at its best!! June 3, 2010

Posted by Lyn in : Case Studies In Natural Compounded Hormone Therapy, Hormone Therapy Joy , 3comments

You’ve heard of the “aha” moments??? I always get the “whoopie!!” moments every time I read an email from one of my clients who is experiencing life-changing moments on our therapy. Dawn, who began her natural hormone therapy 3 weeks ago just emailed me this morning. She says, “Thanks. I have to tell you I know it has only been a few weeks, but I totally feel like I have my life back and if it keeps getting better I can’t imagine what I will be able to do! I am so excited about this. I have been able to do more in a few weeks than I have in months and I actually have the desire to do things I didn’t have before! I feel like I am coming back to life!!” What’s not to LOVE about that??!!! My response is always the same. “I’m so happy for you, but I am not surprised. This “bio-cream” is doing exactly what it is meant to do: replace your hormone levels that your body needs to function correctly! By actually checking your levels first so we have the necessary data to make informed decisions, we can then customize the proper therapy for YOU!”
It works! Again, I say….”it’s not rocket science!!” So why the big deal? Why aren’t all the doctors on board yet?? I think a big reason and one that I hear practically daily from my clients is that their doctors tell them that “compounded hormone therapy is not FDA approved so buyer beware!” My response to this is simple. The FDA approves drugs that are manufactured. Compounding is customizing a therapy for just one person. So the FDA can’t approve it. That doesn’t mean we are free to run rampant and not follow any rules or regulations. Quite the contrary! Compounding labs are under the strict jurisdiction of state boards of pharmacy, so our Piqua Medicine Shoppe is strictly regulated by The Ohio State Board of Pharmacy. So when practitioners try to scare their patients away from what we do based on THAT argument, it’s just silly. It makes no sense. It’s like saying, “you know…you can’t make lemonade from apples.” Yes, and your point is?????? Again I urge everyone with a hormone imbalance issue to do the research and take charge of YOUR journey. The research IS out there in favor of what we do. You just have to look for it!

ME! ON A RADIO CALL-IN TALK SHOW! WHO KNEW??? May 2, 2010

Posted by Lyn in : Case Studies In Natural Compounded Hormone Therapy, Hormone Therapy Joy , 5comments

I had an interesting experience today in the span of 10 minutes that really showcases the Law of Attraction at its finest! I was between consultations at the cottage when I got an urgent text from a cottage client. The cryptic message read, “Quick! Turn your radio to whio 1290!” So I went to my car, turned on the radio just in time to hear my client talking about the Happy Hormone Cottage and her success story!! She was on the air with the host of an hour-long “Ask the Expert” show and the topic this afternoon was menopause. When she was off the air, she called me and said, “I can’t believe I just did that!” She went on to say that she was working in her kitchen, listening to this radio show when a 57-year-old woman called in with such a sense of hopelessness. She was menopausal, miserable, and could find no one to help her. When the host of the show didn’t respond the way my client thought he should, (the host of this “ask the expert” show was an ob/gyn in the area)she said, “Lyn, I just HAD to call and help that poor woman! I couldn’t stand it!!” So she did! Then she said, “Oh Lyn, now YOU have to call in!” I wasn’t convinced, but she insisted. So she gave me the number and I called. Unbelievably, I was on the air in about 2 minutes! I told the host (the doctor) that I was the director of the Happy Hormone Cottage that the previous caller had mentioned and that our passion is helping middle-years women navigate the waters of menopause. I went on to say that at the cottage we really listen to and validate women and beyond all else, we offer hope! We actually encourage our clients to get their hormone levels checked and then we recommend practitioners who think “outside the box,” and are willing to work with us on customized compounded natural hormone therapy. The host of this radio show was responsive and fairly affirming of what I was saying. I mentioned my website AND the inclusion of many clinical studies that show the safety and efficacy of our compounded natural hormone therapy. All in all, I felt what I had to say was well-received by the host and I was happy with our conversation. So in the span of about 10 minutes, I had a happy cottage client call in to a popular radio talk show, talk about her success with us, offer a testimonial to other women that this natural option is a viable one, AND got me on the air to confirm. Talk about a one-two punch! This was obviously meant to happen today! Don’t you just love the Law of Attraction??

WOMEN ARE HAPPY! April 20, 2010

Posted by Lyn in : Case Studies In Natural Compounded Hormone Therapy, Hormone Therapy Joy , 1 comment so far

Happy Spring! Nothing makes me happier than seeing the women who come to me to get tested, treated and finally get better! It is just life-changing! I want to share a part of an email my husband, Jeff Hogrefe R.Ph., wrote to one of our clients. She is married to a wonderful man, who also happens to be a family practitioner and owns his own practice, so this email is also from one small business owner to another. I think it will give you insight into the daily struggle we wage every day in our fight to save women from being drugged for a hormone imbalance. If we can just save one woman every day from this fate, then our day is worthwhile!

“Just wanted to drop you a line to see how your consultation with Lyn went. My wife has great energy and she really has a passion for helping women who are suffering with hormonal imbalances. Our high-touch model and our involvement in our “women” is just what is needed in this area of women’s health.

I did read about the 21% reduction in Medicare reimbursements to MD’s in our new health care reform package. I think this is beyond sad, when 1/2 of all medical expenses are to providers and the other 1/2 goes to administrative and insurance issues.  We have a problem and that problem won’t be solved by cutting payment to providers. It just makes the system worse. And while we are at it, let’s cut the drug companies profits 21% also! Sounds completely fair to me. I spent 20 years working as a pharmacist in a very traditional setting until I discovered our business model: that of compounding, consulting, and customized BHRT therapy. Taking time to consult with women, monitor their therapy, and be available to walk them through the transitions and their journey to good health does require resources. If we stayed with dispensing FDA-approved commercially available products, not only would our flexibility in modifying dose/therapy be gone, but also the paltry insurance reimbursement we receive from the “system” would not make it economically possible for us to continue our high-touch model. And that would truly, truly be a sad thing. Women need us and what we do. Health care is not paint-by-numbers. It is real people and every woman is unique and needs to be treated as a unique being.”

Here is an email from one of our younger clients, Terri, who is in her early 30’s. When I read this, I just laughed out loud:

“Hi, Lyn! I just wanted to let you know how great I’m feeling already. I swear I popped out of bed SO much easier this morning after I started the progesterone! It’s been WONDERFUL this week being able to wake up and my brain works instantly! Not to mention my son had had a couple of rough nights this week because of his tonsil surgery and I still haven’t taken ONE nap this week! Normally I am so exhausted I just sit around all day and then lay down with the boys at nap time. I’ve gotten so much done this week! Along with my energy, my head just feels so much clearer and I feel like my eyes are open wider. I can’t believe it! Oh….and I’m pooping normally and regularly! Ha ha! That alone makes me feel a lot better! I’m just so excited I can’t stand it!!! Thank you so much, Lyn!!!!”

Finally, here is a testimonial from one of our middle-years clients, Cheryl. She has been on her therapy now for several months:

“After going through menopause, I felt like someone had just wrung me out; that is, I had no energy, I hurt with a myriad of aches and pains, and I either couldn’t get to sleep or I woke up in the middle of the night and had problems getting back to sleep. I went to my general practitioner, and he suggested I start taking Aleve in the mornings. I did, and it helped the pains some… but not much.

One day while reading the Dayton Daily News online, I found an article about the opening of the Happy Hormone Cottage. I was very interested, because I had previously read about natural hormones but wasn’t sure where to get help in this area.  One of my “side jobs” is being the director of fundraising and promotion for the Our Mims Retirement Haven, a retired thoroughbred broodmare rescue based in Kentucky. I knew, no matter what, I would not/could not ever take Premarin. The use of pregnant mare urine in the manufacturing of Premarin results in the birth of many foals that either must be taken care of or slaughtered. I knew I could never be part of that process.

I filled out the online survey then called to make an appointment at the Cottage. I went through the saliva test and sent it in. While waiting for the results, I made an appointment with Dr. Pawloski, a gynecologist on the recommendation list on the Cottage’s web site. It had been quite a while (cough — years — cough) since I had had a regular gynecology visit, and I was eager to work with a doctor familiar with bio-identical hormones.

After a consult between the doctor and the specialists at the Piqua Medicine Shoppe, I was put on a progesterone regiment, very simple, supplemented with the Adrenal Support. Within days, I felt better. Not much longer after that, I was sleeping through the night. Although I still have little aches and pains from time to time (I am almost 51 years of age), I feel younger and able to do things I have not felt capable of for quite some time.

For example: I have always had a problem with my weight. With the added aches and pains, no energy, and sleepless nights, I had all but given up on the idea of taking up even the simplest exercise routine. Now, I regularly exercise with the help of some DVDs (I especially love the Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds series). I am able to walk up to four miles in one routine. (I’m working on getting through the five mile workout.) I am losing weight, but I am more impressed with my stamina and alertness. I no longer drag myself through the day then collapse on the couch when I get home.

I feel so good now, and I owe it to Lyn and those at the Happy Hormone Cottage, the Piqua Medicine Shoppe, and Dr. Pawloski. I am so grateful that these people have studied about bio-identical hormones and are promoting it. I shudder to think where I would be if I hadn’t read that article in the DDN a few months ago.

Thank you so much! Cheryl”

There you have it! Women are happy and so can you be, as well! Take charge of your journey! Get educated and informed. Talk to other women. Call and schedule a consultation. Whatever you do, do NOT let an uninformed practitioner talk you out of what you know is best for you! Stand up for YOU! Get your levels checked (we like saliva tests the best) and then demand that your treatment be customized. You deserve better than a one-size-fits-most therapy that is used, based on your symptoms alone. But even this approach is better than being offered an antidepressant. Why would you need an antidepressant for a hormone imbalance?? Why not just check your hormone levels and then replace them with customized bioidentical hormones to replace those levels?? THIS is NOT rocket science. It just makes sense!!

Warmly,
Lyn

Are You Serious? Really?? April 5, 2010

Posted by Lyn in : Case Studies In Natural Compounded Hormone Therapy, Uneducated doctors , 3comments

You know I love meeting with and talking with “my women” who come to the cottage. I really like meeting with them at the end of the process and getting them started on their customized natural hormone replacement therapy. This is after they have already met with their (or one of ours)practitioner, so s/he can sign off on our recommendation for their hormone balance. I swear my life would be SO easy if I didn’t have to keep fighting with practitioners! I am so blessed to have the ones working with me that we have. They are wonderful people who truly respect and validate women-especially in this area of hormone balance-and they believe in what we are doing. They know that we have science on our side. It’s the doctors who don’t want anything to with anything that requires them to think outside the box and maybe, just maybe, approve of something that isn’t FDA-approved that is the most frustrating. You know that the FDA approves manufactured drugs.(drugs for the one-size-fits-all mentality) By the nature of our business, which is compounding, it is a customized dosage made specifically for an individual. So the FDA can’t approve it; it is not manufactured. So when a doctor tells their patients that they don’t like compounded therapy because it is not FDA approved, that isn’t really an argument. Compounding is NOT manufacturing for the masses; it is making a specific dosage with a specific delivery system for a single individual. So that argument doesn’t have any merit. So when THAT argument becomes a moot point, my new personal favorite is what I heard from one of my clients on Friday. She said that when she went to her doctor, (female ob-gyn)and said she wanted to work with the Happy Hormone Cottage and the Piqua Medicine Shoppe and Compounding Pharmacy, the dr said, “Oh, that compounding! It really is BS, you know!!” Really? Seriously? I wonder if she would like to tell this to the Hospice patients for whom we compound transdermal therapy all the time to help ease their pain, because they can no longer swallow (or make the delivery system sublingual, etc.)or the pet owner whose beloved pet needs a customized therapy to save its life, and their only hope is a compounding pharmacy. Or the cancer patient who is so ill, s/he can’t tolerate the FDA-approved manufactured drugs that are available. I like to think that compounding pharmacies are the pharmacies for the people. After all, compounding has been around for centuries. Drug companies have only been around for a few decades. Compounding is problem-solving for the patient. Drug companies are motivated by money. Big difference. So the next time your practitioner wants to put down compounding as a bunch of BS, I would highly recommend you find another practitioner; one who will listen, respect and validate you enough to think outside the box, and work as a team with us: the happy hormone cottage and our compounding pharmacy. Because our passion and goal is to make you feel better by getting at the root cause of your issues…..NOT just drugging you to make you feel better by prescribing a one-size-fits-most FDA approved drug. We need to challenge the accepted belief among some of our practitioners today, and that challenge starts with YOU. When YOU begin to stand up for YOUR beliefs and YOU REFUSE to be emotionally bullied by a doctor who refuses to listen to YOU, then change will begin to happen. It begins with YOU.

Piqua Medicine Shoppe and Compounding Pharmacy-THE compounding pharmacy of choice in Ohio! March 16, 2010

Posted by Lyn in : Case Studies In Natural Compounded Hormone Therapy , 1 comment so far

Ok, so I had a lady stop at the cottage the other day and say that she could a get a saliva testing kit from another pharmacy for FREE. (we charge $4 for ours-it covers the cost of shipping AND it is about perceived value. People tend to value what they have to pay for) So I said, “Great! But just so you know your opportunity cost of going to another pharmacy (my 30 years teaching 6th grade economics taught me that the opportunity cost is the choice you GIVE up!). 1) Did you know that when another compounding pharmacy gives you a saliva kit and gets the results back in, they send your results to a local practitioner to make your recommendation. WE actually pull together not only your saliva test results, but the information you have either submitted to us online through my website OR at the free consultations we offer at the cottage and then WE ACTUALLY WRITE OUR RECOMMENDATION FOR YOUR BALANCE IN THREE AREAS: HORMONES, ADRENAL GLANDS AND THYROID FOR YOU. We just really don’t trust most doctors to do this for you. We have been doing this for 10 years; it is our niche; and we have clients all over the country who have literally been with us for years.Hormone balance is what we do and what we are known for. We are so well-known for this that Suzanne Somers lists US-The Piqua Medicine Shoppe in her last 3 bestsellers as THE compounding pharmacy of choice in Ohio! 2)Did you know that when you come to our Happy Hormone Cottage-either in person or via our www.happyhormonecottage.com website, that we spend time educating you, giving you materials to help you learn,
listening to you, validating you and respecting you? Our goal is to get you tested, treated and better and our passion is helping middle-years women navigate the waters of natural hormone balance with dignity. 3)When you do your saliva testing through us and ZRT labs, WE make your recommendation for your hormone balance and fax that to either your doctor or one of the 30 area doctors who work with us, get the signed prescription back, compound it in our new $200,000 state-of-the-art compounding lab, and then we take customer service to the next level. We sit down with you again and go over HOW to use your new therapy, WHAT to expect and HOW to stay connected. 4) Finally, when you visit our cottage and go through our PMS (!) Piqua Medicine Shoppe-you get ME! My passion is middle-years women. I am available 24/7 to talk to you, answer your questions, and discuss a concern. I call or email you every few weeks to check in with you. Your best health through natural hormone balance is my passion and building and maintaining relationships is everything! I think it is impactful that I am a middle-years woman who has gone through exactly what you are going through. I can relate and share with you my experiences so you won’t have to go through what I did. I love being with you on your journey and I embrace the opportunity to do so every day with every woman I meet! So when you get a chance to spend that $4 on a saliva testing kit-even though you could maybe get it for free someplace else, just know what that $4 gets you! Sometimes things are greater than the sum of their parts. The Happy Hormone Cottage and Piqua Medicine Shoppe ARE these things!

Shop Around For A Good Doctor January 14, 2010

Posted by Lyn in : Case Studies In Natural Compounded Hormone Therapy , add a comment

I have another story to share with you of an experience a good friend of mine had recently. She shopped for a new ob/gyn to both treat her for an existing condition (that he resolved) and to prescribe natural compounded hormone therapy for her. She has attended our happy hormone hours and came to the cottage for a consultation and knew this was the best decision for her. When she called the office and asked if their doctor did sign off on natural compounded hormone therapy, the receptionist said, “Yes, I believe he does.” So my friend went in for her appointment with this doctor, got a clean bill of health and when it came time to discuss natural hormone therapy, his response was, “I only prescribe BHRT. I don’t deal with natural compounded hormone therapy.” The reason is because it takes time, energy and effort to work with women once they are on their therapy and sometimes tweak it over the course of a few months to get it right. We have lots of doctors who work with us and do just that. These are doctors who think women are worth the time it takes to get it right! Other doctors, like my friend’s doctor, will prescribe the one-size-fits-most BHRT based on their client’s symptoms. It doesn’t matter that it makes sense to check your hormone levels first to see what you might need. For them it’s just easy to slap an estrogen patch on you! Even the lowest dose of the estrogen patch, in my opinion, is WAY too much estrogen. And IF you are lucky enough to be prescribed progesterone to balance out that estrogen patch, the most popular one on the market today is prometrium and it’s a capsule.  You know how I disagree with that delivery system because it impacts the liver. I believe that women are worth the effort it takes for a doctor to get it right: check your levels (preferably with a saliva test) and then prescribe a natural compounded therapy made for YOU based on your body’s needs. How hard is this?
The moral of the story is this: shop around for a good doctor who really does respect and validate women. Menopause is NOT in your head. It IS a physiological response to aging. Ask the tough questions. Demand to be heard. You know that doctors are not Gods who know it all. They know what their drug reps tell them. It is up to YOU to do the research in this area of women’s health and to think for yourself. You deserve it! Do what is best and right for you. Please don’t settle just because your doctor does. YOU ARE BETTER THAN THAT!
Take charge of your journey. Do it today. Do it for you.
Warmly,
Lyn