I was a surgical menopausal woman at 42 years of age. I am currently 58 years old. I fell apart physically and mentally when my ovaries were removed. I no longer was myself. I felt like leaving this beautiful world. I felt so horrible. It took me many years to get back up to something similar to the woman I once was. I have been on hormone replacement for 18 years and specifically bioidentical biestrogen cream and testosterone cream. It has given me 18 more years to live and experience life! My mother never used hormone replacement therapy and died with horrendous osteoporosis and several broken bones, two hip replacements and dementia. My bones at 58 are that of 20 year old as tested by bone density tests. I take creams because I cannot tolerate the patches or gels that are FDA approved. Those are way too strong for me. My hormone replacement is dosed to a dosage that I can tolerate and with being older, I do not wish to take my hormones in pill form for risk of stroke and clots. I need my compounded hormones to exist!