Pavilion for Women's Blog

On March 24, 2011 my husband, Arturo, and I found out that we were finally going to become parents! I was in such shock — I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. At our first appointment with the OB/GYN everything checked out great, as did every appointment after that until we hit 21 weeks.

Many women of reproductive age will take hormone pills, more commonly known as birth control pills, at some point during their lives. Many people may not realize that this medication can be used to treat other medical conditions. It is estimated that over 1.5 million women in the United States take hormone pills for reasons other than pregnancy prevention. In the Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Clinic at Texas Children’s Hospital, we see many patients seeking care for problems related to their periods. Period issues are very common in adolescents.

My husband, Jered, and I are one of those couples that can’t wait to give each other gifts. Every birthday, Christmas or anniversary we end up exchanging presents days before the actual celebration. That being said, it was no surprise we couldn’t wait to find out the sex of our baby so we could spoil him or her rotten. I secretly (or not so secretly) wanted a girl, but knew I would be ecstatic about either. Jered and I felt giddy walking into our 20-week scan. I will never forget August 6, 2010. After finding out our little munchkin was a girl, we were filled with so much joy. Smiles on our faces, we finally felt the reality of parenthood setting in.

Bio-identical hormones, herbal products and chondroitin tablets, to name just a few, are promoted as being beneficial for treating menopausal symptoms and conditions including osteoporosis. But are they really doing any good? Are they really a good substitute for pharmaceutical-derived therapies? Many products sold by health food stores avoid the scrutiny of federal regulating bodies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because they are sold as nutritional supplements and not as pharmaceuticals. In some cases, these alternative treatments may be beneficial, in some cases, not.