Oprah Winfrey writes that her hormone specialist told her that her "hormonal tank was empty" and gave her a prescription for bio-identical estrogen. "After one day on bio-identical estrogen, I felt the veil lift," Winfrey writes. "After three days, the sky was bluer, my brain was no longer fuzzy, and my memory was sharper. I was literally singing and had a skip in my step."

The primary distinction between Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy ("BHRT") and synthetic hormone replacement is safety. For most people, BHRT has proven a safer alternative than synthetic hormones. Synthetic hormones have been known to increase the risk of breast cancer and heart disease. Your practitioner will discuss the science and the research related to BHRT with you, as well as determine if you are a good candidate for BHRT based on your symptoms and test results. Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy can be administered in five forms: topically, sublingually (under your tongue), taken orally, via injection or hormone implants (pellets).