Pellet Therapy
What is Pellet Therapy?
This is an old (as old as Premarin) and well-documented method of delivering bioidentical hormones that utilizes small pellets about the size of a grain of rice that are painlessly inserted under the skin (the procedure is less painful than having your blood drawn). We've found the easiest and best place to insert them is under the skin of the lateral buttocks. The hormones in the pellets are bioidentical (exact molecular match of human hormone) and consist of either estradiol, the most important of the three female human estrogens, and testosterone. Some women are surprised to hear that they might need testosterone r eplacement as well as estrogen replacement. Perimenopausal women and post-menopausal women usually need some of both. Testosterone levels are usually a round 5-10% that of a man. Testosterone helps with a number of issues including libido, mood stabilization, brain function, and bone density.
Pellets are synthesized from soybeans. They are either pure estradiol or pure testosterone. Other than a small amount of stearic acid as is common in pharmaceuticals, there are no other ingredients in them. They dissolve completely with no residual under the skin over a 3-6 month period. Even though they are made from soybeans, it's very unlikely that soy sensitive individuals would have a problem tolerating them.
Pellet therapy is used to defeat the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause. Inserting these little pellets into the body is sort of like inserting tiny new ovaries, because they do what the ovaries used to do - slowly release hormones into the bloodstream in a manner similar to how the ovaries did.
Many women have tried various kinds of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and have simply been dissatisfied with the way they have felt. Others have worried about reports of increased breast cancer or heart attacks. But because bioidentical subcutaneous hormone replacement is so different from conventional HRT, it is unlikely that negative data on conventional HRT even applies to pellet therapy. Many patients don't do well on any other form of HRT except subdermal bioidentical pellet therapy.
What is the next step?
Your hormone levels are checked before and after your first insertion, and as needed after that. The first step to feeling like your old self once again is to schedule an appointment at 602-314-5119 for an initial consultation and blood work with our physician.