I am a professional woman who recently partially retired from 47 years in the court management industry. The job was/is very stressful, and I work a minimum of 11 hour days - sometimes seven days a week.
Menopause started late for me, but it arrived with a vengeance. The hot flashes were absolutely intolerable; they felt like strikes of lightning piercing through my body. The many effects of menopause hampered my abilities to do my job sufficiently, in my humble opinion. I read the WHO study that warned women about HRT using Pemarin, so I was concerned about the risks, although the study's flaws were evident, as well. Thankfully, my doctor, with whom I had a long-standing relationship, was well versed on bioidentical HRT and ordered a script to provide me with bioidentical HRT treatment using compounded medications. That was 13 years ago, and I continue to use compounded medications, although modified over the years, to successfully mitigate the effects of menopause with no additional medical concerns. My two older sisters also use compounded bio-identical medications to help manage the ongoing symptoms of menopause and have had no related medical issues. In fact, all of us are healthy, active, and are truly thankful for the benefits of the bioidentical HRT using compounded medications as alternatives to traditional medications which appear to present greater risk to the patient.
Big Pharma may have its place in our medical continuum of services, but compounding medication is of equal importance. It provides the patient with alternatives to synthetics and/or offers the opportunity to modify HRT to meet the specific needs of the patient, as needed/recommended. Women are intelligent and know their bodies better than anyone. Let them make decisions about how they approach menopause and other female-specific health issues. Without compounding HRT, women are subject to fewer, riskier, alternatives or... living in continual misery.