You can’t afford to ignore! 

If you want to age healthily, managing your hormones is one of the most effective ways to help reduce aging-related diseases and maintain bodily balance. If you ever took birth control, you were practicing hormone management with synthetic hormones. Managing hormones as we age involves working with bio-identical hormones, which are naturally produced, not synthesized by Big Pharma. For example, bio-identical estrogen is derived from sweet potatoes. 

After conducting some research, I discovered various HRT platforms available online. The HRT Club is a membership that offers a low-cost product; however, you need to find your HRT Specialist to interpret the lab results and design the hormone plan based on those readings. Only the HRT expert can begin to develop the plan, as they are educated in this field. Gynecologists, urologists, and other medical professionals typically do not specialize in this field or become experts in this field. A Genogologist receives one week of training on menopause and perimenopause during their studies or residency. To learn more about the doctors who are experts in this field, I will share here. My goal is also to provide local expert HRT support on the north shore of Chicago. 

Below are the online platforms on which I have begun my research.  My personal experience so far has been limited to JOI. My need to get help fast kept me from searching more. As time passes, I will have researched all of these so that I can provide an informed, honest answer. The main goal is to find both qualified experts and the compound pharmacy offering the best product and pricing.  Please note that I collaborated with a doctor to establish a hormone management clinic in 2010. I had to learn more about compound pharmacies and private label supplements. This experience, then, helps me sift through the barrage of information today to determine the best direction for all of us, while minimizing our costs by selecting the best experts and products. To be transparent, all of these organizations also want to guide you to purchasing their supplements, which is a billion-dollar industry, especially when they private-label products. No matter how they are labeled, I do my homework. My go-to is ConsumerLab, a non-profit, independent laboratory. I like to believe they are not taking funds from anyone that would steer them in one direction or another.  I maintain a paid subscription to ensure I have access to all the product information. 

NOTE: Your primary doctor, your gynecologist, and any other doctor you already have, most likely is not HRT Trained, and may not believe in the management of hormones. If this is the case, you really need to do your own homework and make the decision for yourself. You have to become your own advocate, the CEO of your own body. Many health practitioners do not take the extra step to ensure they are up to date with the latest information for hormone treatments. They are trained to prescribe medications for diseases, which is not hormone balance. 

Online Platforms

Local HRT Experts, Chicago’s North Shore