I-Team

MIAMI (CBS4) ― They are hormones biochemically similar to those produced by a woman's body. Up until now, they've only made a wrinkle in the press and a lot of women and doctors don't know a lot about them, even though millions of woman are struggling for answers as they fight to stay young and healthy.

"I think woman are suffering for no good reason," laments an impassioned doctor and author named Erika Schwartz. In striking shape at 57-years-old, she doesn't look like a revolutionary but her message is.

"We have been oppressed too long and healthcare is not doing us any justice right now," implores Schwartz, who wears a message of optimism on her sleeve.

"Even five years ago, Menopause was a dirty word. The truth is there are 60 million women in menopause today. It is not a death sentence. It is not something wrong with us," she told CBS4 I-Team Chief Investigator Michele Gillen.

What's wrong, she says, is how much of mainstream medicine treats women going through it. She feels a revolution in medicine is necessary.

"Unless we change this, we are going to drown," she tells Gillen.

She's taking direct aim at menopause and her weapon of choice is Bio-identical Hormones.

"We are being brainwashed into believing that we have to accept less than wellness, less than heath, becoming old dried up prunes as we get older and it's not true" said Schwartz. "Wellness and disease prevention is in our hands and we have it available to us. It is not something of the future. It is the present."

Bio-identical Hormones are plant-based and a potential tool in a fight for women to remain vital and healthy. She lays out her thesis in a just-published article in the prestigious Journal, "Primary Care."

"This is not Voodoo. This is not Witchcraft. This is not non-science. This is established regular science, FDA approved products, prescription medication," explains Schwartz.

With a practice based in New York City, she has an eight month waiting list for new patients – many of whom are looking to explore hormone therapy with Bio-identicals. Schwartz sees them as molecularly similar to those produced by a woman's body and an alternative to synthetic hormones. Synthetic hormones have been prescribed to millions of women and are made from the urine of pregnant horses.

In 2002, a massive study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found an alarming linkage between certain synthetic hormone therapies and breast cancer, strokes and heart attacks."

"Between the physicians, the NIH, and the media, everybody got so scared that they decided that all hormones are bad and they muddied the difference," said Schwartz.

While Schwartz is convinced of the safely of Bio-identicals, other doctors have raised red flags and called for more research.

Gillen asked Schwartz whether women should be concerned.

"Absolutely," replied Schwartz. "The same way they should be concerned about synthetics, they have to be concerned about Bio-identicals or any medical advice they get."

Schwartz says the time is now for exploring answers for women – many of whom should be at the most dynamic time of their lives and careers and yet are confounded by their changing bodies.

The complaints and concerns of her patients are very real, she says.

"I was afraid to come out of the house, I felt like I was getting old. I couldn't think straight I was walking around in a brain fog, my hot flashed stopped me from going anywhere out. I thought I had to go through life suffering," she said, describing just some of the voices that haunt her as she proceeds to find the right protocols.

"There is no doubt in my mind that she is making a critical contribution," said nationally noted Dr. Isacc Schiff of Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital. He said more attention needs to be paid to Bio-identicals but that more research needs to be done.

What does he tell a patient who asks about them?

"I don't tell her that they are any safer because we have no evidence that they are any safer," said Dr. Schiff.

Bio-identicals are prescribed in pill or patch form, or are customized and compounded in a local pharmacy. The FDA has expressed concerns over some pharmacies exaggerating safety claims.

Gillen followed up on doctors who expressed concern that the patient nor doctor mightknow where compounded Bio-identicalss are being mixed or who is doing the compounding.

Dr. Schwartz says the concern is real, however, she insists, "it is the doctor's responsibility. If they're going to write a prescription for you, and they care enough about you, they should educate themselves."

She recalls the voices of the women she believes she has helped with Bio-identicals.

"They say thank you. My life is back, and It's mine. And you know, as we get older, we become sages, we become wiser. We are not just baby-making machines. We are women."

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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