Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy vs Testosterone supplementation Therapy

[Mrbill]

I was wondering whats the difference between Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy and Testosterone supplementation Therapy?

I've watched videos on both and they seem so similar.

[rollingthunder]

"hormone replacement" is a broader category. it can refer to estrogen or to testosterone (since both are hormones). testosterone supplementation is more specific, obviously.

i believe the term "Bio-identical HRT" originally was used to distinguish that treatment from using synthetically produced estrogen to treat menopausal women. the synthetic hormones had REAL BAD side effects and therefore gave estrogen replacement a bad reputation. then "bio-identical" hormones were developed which work much better, but many people, including doctors, still associated "hormone replacement" with the bad side effects from the synthetics, and therefore avoided it.

[kerplunk]

I too didn't fully understand the difference between the two. Thanks for clearing that up.

[GotNoBlueMilk]

Bio-identical is a hormone that 100% matches the human hormone. Any oil-based testosterone does not meet this requirement fully. Test Cyp, however, is 100% identical except it has a oil molecule attached to a specific, single location. Gel and creme is 100%.

The closer it matches human form, the lower the risk of unknown sides.

[HRTstudent]

I wondered this when I got involved in TRT... because it is confusing.

And the reason it's confusing? Because it's just marketing lingo MADE to confuse people. It wants people to think less about "steroids " and more along the lines of "natural". We all know how the whole "natural" word in health is bastardized. Well, bioidentical serves a similar role.

What it boils down to is if you're taking testosterone they can call it bioidentical or synthetic. Either way it's right. "Bioidentical" has more mass appeal to people, regardless of what it means.

Now, the real interesting part here is that that's the testosterone they give (and we take), but is not 100% "bioidentical". There are slight differences in the Carbon isotope ratios. Now, does that mean it has any different role(s) in the body? I can't tell you that, but I can tell you it's the best substitute available right now if you can't get your natural testosterone levels up.

[Brohim]

Well no one knows what the oil carrier can do to the body after thousands injections over time. Most pharm. companies use Cotton Seed Oil as their carrier. They do this because CSO is basically a waste product in the cotton industry. You can google dangers of CSO and judge for yourself.

[HRTstudent]

Well no one knows what the oil carrier can do to the body after thousands injections over time. Most pharm. companies use Cotton Seed Oil as their carrier. They do this because CSO is basically a waste product in the cotton industry. You can google dangers of CSO and judge for yourself.

That's an interesting point as well.

I'm not freaking out about it, but hey, if I had the choice of someone putting in foreign oil into my body for years vs not... I'd choose "not."