Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy means using the actual hormones your body makes to replace hormones lost through menopause or andropause. (Instead of horse estrogens and synthetic progestins that do not have the same chemical structures as the hormones our bodies make, like Premarin and Provera).
It's a little harder to do than writing a one-size-fits-all prescription for Premarin, but it does work well. Pharmaceutical firms do make a couple of oral bioidentical hormones, but most docs who do this work use compounding pharmacies to mix the hormones into creams which are applied in measured amounts to the skin (estrogens, progesterone, and sometimes testosterone).
It's not for everyone, it's more work for doctor and patient to get it right, but the results can be really good. Debates still rage about the safety of hormone therapy in general. Some practitioners who use bioidenticals make it sound as though they can never hurt you because they're natural to your body; that's not really true. ALL hormones of any type cause problems in excess - or in deficiency. It's important to work closely with a doctor to get the dosages right. Still, there are lots of reasons to suspect that many of the reported problems with Premarin and Provera will not be such an issue with bioidenticals.
Much of the bad press you may read about it is due to the pharmaceutical industry. See, you can't patent a compound that is naturally made in your body, so the pharmaceutical firms make money by patenting molecules that are similar - but structurally different - from your natural hormones. Now that Premarin and Provera prescriptions have fallen off drastically due to the WHI study, pharmaceutical firms are lobbying for restrictions on the compounding pharmacies that are suddenly their competition.
