By Peggy O'Farrell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A new best seller by actress and QVC perennial Suzanne Somers has women asking their gynecologists for more information about bio-identical hormones.

Somers' book, The Sexy Years (Crown Publishing; $25) - one of the top titles on Amazon.com - praises the benefits of individually prescribed bio-identical hormones for treating menopause symptoms, including hot flashes, dry skin, fatigue and loss of sex drive.

Somers says that neither commercially prepared hormones, such as Premarin and Provera, nor herbal treatments worked for her. So she underwent a series of blood tests to check her hormone levels and then visited a compounding pharmacy - a pharmacy that custom-makes medications - for hormones made to her specifications.

Chasing 'seven dwarfs'

Somers raves about the results: The hot flashes and fatigue went away, the sex drive came back and what she calls "the seven dwarfs of menopause - Itchy, Bitchy, Sweaty, Forgetful, Bloated, Sleepy and All-Dried-Up" were vanquished.

But, experts say, most women don't need to go to such lengths to get relief: the tests are time-consuming, and many insurance companies won't pay for the customized hormones.

Dr. Margery Gass, a gynecologist at the University of Cincinnati, is one of the researchers who participated in the Women's Health Initiative's national study on the safety and effectiveness of estrogen and estrogen plus progesterone for treating menopause symptoms and preventing other ailments, such as heart disease and bone loss.

She says bio-identical estrogens are synthesized from yams and, after the synthesis, are chemically identical to the estrogen produced by women. But, Gass says, they are synthetic - the form of estrogen found naturally in yams can't be metabolized by humans.

Regulation inconsistent

Bio-identical hormones are "not necessarily" more effective for most women, Gass says, and no data show they are safer than commercially prepared varieties.

She also warns consumers that preparations from compounding pharmacies aren't regulated in the same way commercially prepared medications are, so hormone levels could vary from dose to dose.

Scientific debate aside, the book includes an important message that menopause doesn't spell the end of life as we know it for women; it's possible to treat the symptoms and get back to normal.

E-mail pofarrell@enquirer.com