Click Here to Watch the Trailer

I found the topic of this  documentary very interesting, yet shocking! This film is a great example of pharmaceutical company’s taking advantage and harming  women’s sexuality while trying to  pocket millions of dollars.

Here is what IMDB.com has to say about the movie
“Extraordinary behind-the-scenes access reveals a drug company’s fevered race to develop the first FDA-approved Viagra for women – and offers a humorous but sobering look inside the cash-fueled pharmaceutical industry.”

The truth is that there are several things that can be causing your night sweats, and it’s important, for each reason, to see a holistic doctor and get it checked out, so that it isn’t just cast aside as a menopausal symptom.

• Excessive clothing: The first, and most common cause, is excess clothing. It is important to sleep in a cool room and wear breathable fabrics. Being over dressed during sleep can not only cause night-sweats, but you can become dehydrated, and even get kidney stones because the urine gets too concentrated.
• Sleep apnea syndrome: sweating can also be a sign of sleep apnea, which can be deadly. The first step is to ask your partner if they have ever heard you stop breathing in your sleep, even for a second. This can be so dangerous because of arrhythmia and even possible brain damage from lack of oxygen.
• Infections, like tuberculosis, can show symptoms like night sweats, and living in New York City, TB is very possible, especially on trains and other closed in areas. You need to be checked! See this article about how to protect yourselves from the basics: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ColdandFluNews/story?id=5826929&page=1
• Tumors: night sweats are a classic symptom of lymphomas.

It’s very important to go see a functional medicine doctor, to find out what can be causing your night sweats. As you can see, it is very dangerous to just say it is probably menopause and leave it at that. It can be deadly.

What about you?

• Are you sweating a lot?
• Do you wake up in the middle of the night with your closes and sheets soaked with your sweat?
• Do your partner tell you that you snore too much?

But that’s not always the case anymore. With the advent of modern treatments even miracles become the reality. Take a look yourself. Here are some images of Sharon Stone at the age of 50. Does she look like a mature woman? I don’t think so. She looks much younger than she actually is. And it is not only her face, but her whole body. So how does she have such a perfect body at her age?

Even though I have no knowledge how actually Sharon Stone did it, I will share with you some ideas on how you can have a great body after menopause:

1. Exercise regularly: it will help you to maintain your muscle tone. Work especially on your belly area.
2. Drink enough water: it helps to maintain your skin tone.
3. Get enough sleep to look refreshed.
4. Limit your calorie intake: having too much fat will stretch your skin, resulting in skin sagging with aging.
5. No smoking: it damages your skin, lungs and blood vessels.
6. Bioidentical hormone replacement would help you to maintain breast shape, skin tone and good sleep.
7. Stress reduction is absolutely necessary to restore your hormonal balance, to look and feel good and to prolong your life.
8. Plastic surgery may be the last resort to correct your sagging skin or breast shape.

Of course it is not easy.  And unfortunately there are no miracles.  But if you are persistent enough, you have a good chance to get what you want.

Should you have any ideas about how to keep great body after menopause please let me know.

Initially, they usually tell me, they put up with it for their mate’s sake. They do not want their partners to think that it was anything that their partners are doing. But eventually, they started avoiding intimacy, or coming up with excuses to not have it.  They tell their mates the truth and tried various positions, but eventually they get turned off at always being hurting their partners.  And they do not enjoy intimacy any more. Such patients are desperate.

Back pain is a very big issue for women when it comes to intimacy. Many women with hormonal imbalances complain of generalized pains, at least  80 percent of them. When a woman lays down, the constant movement and tension during love making is very painful and she cannot perform. A woman who is post-menopausal or has had an accident with back pain as a symptom, can put her totally out of business and make her partner crazy.

Another reason for pain during intimacy is vaginal dryness.  With age a woman’s estrogen level goes down, making her vagina dry.  This is  very uncomfortable for both the man and the woman.

Sometimes endometriosis (a condition in which the tissue that behaves like the cells lining the uterus (endometrium) grows in other areas of the body, causing pain, irregular bleeding, and possible infertility.) can cause severe pain during intimacy.  The pain can be so severe, that it can ruin any relationship.

So, what is the solution?

• First of all, the hormones should be balanced, because it will truly reduce the pain and brings comfort.  For vaginal dryness estriol vaginal cream works very well.  Long foreplay is also important.

• Another approach is to reduce the inflammation in your spine or joints, which is what causes the pain. The easiest way to do it — lose weight.  Sometimes you cannot do it without hormone balancing.

• Position is important too.  Two positions are known to help women who have back  pain during sex:

1. Woman on top. The movements here are minimized and pressure on the back is relieved.
2. More ferarum (most commonly known as doggie style in America). This position takes all the pressure off the back and relieves back pain, as the woman is on  her hands and knees.

Now what about you?

• Do you have pain during intimacy?
• Is it vaginal dryness?
• Back or joint pain?

Back pain can ruin your sex life and a bad sex life can ruin a relationship. Put a stop to it now. Dr Kalitenko’s website at For more information, www.doctorkalitenko.com to make an appointment or call our offices at 718-382-9200.

You may also find interesting:

• Menopause and Sex Drive
• How Does Low Testosterone Affect Women?
• Can Surgery Help Back Pain From Lumbar Stenosis?

If stress lowers testosterone, how come people in very high stress work places seem to have more of it?  Boosting your testosterone level may be good for sexual performance and this seems to be a well known theory. So, men look to keep their testosterone up, hoping that it will keep their sexual prowess at peak.

A study in London done in the last few years found that men who worked at the London stock exchange had a higher level of testosterone based on the amount of money they made. More money = more testosterone. The suggested explanation of this is that testosterone begets aggressiveness, resulting in more risky decisions. Another possible explanation is that thinking about money and sex ignites the same areas of the brain. Therefore there is the possibility that testosterone stimulates sex areas, which are at the same time the areas responsible for money making.

But studies also show that stress can reduce testosterone levels. How is that possible? One would assume that someone working as a broker is bound to be super-stressed? However, it is known that stress can work its way into cortisol and testosterone levels.

So, it seems that may be while mild to moderately intense physical stress, as in sports and sex, may actually boost testosterone production, severe mental and emotional stress can inhibit it.

So, it seems there is a debate on the issue. How do you keep yourself healthy, and your levels right? First of all, try to control stress in your life, eat right, sleep well and surround yourself with people who will add to your life not suck the energy out of it. Keep active. Testosterone is not just for fun, it is for survival.

Right now, the health care debate, as far as breast cancer and mammograms is concerned, is centered around women worried that they will no longer be covered for mammograms between the ages of 40 and 50.

Scores of women came into the public eye to make announcements that if they had not been tested at 40, their cancer would not have been detected and they could have been dead by now. The debate rages on, with the new published guidelines.

But, what’s not so much in the public eye, and never has been, is the rising amount of young teenagers, or teens, with breast cancer. No one seems to be able to come to a consensus as to why women, younger and younger, are getting a disease usually reserved for those near or after menopause.

According to a story on CNN.com, only about seven percent of breast cancer cases occur in patients under the age of 40. Check out the full story here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/26/tweens.breast.cancer/index.html

Though there is no way for sure to tell if you will get breast cancer or not, there are several printed guidelines as to what you can do to reduce your risks. Among those are

1.    maintaining a healthy weight,

2.    eating real foods like fruits and vegetables, and

3.    exercise, as well as

4.    limiting alcohol consumption.

Too much estrogen in the body as well as inflammation and lack of natural protection factors as vitamin D, for example, contributes to breast cancer risks. Checking how your body is at getting rid of excess estrogen can considerably helpful. This works by checking the gut, as it is the gut that estrogen elimination depends on. If the gut is working properly, the right bacteria is helping to get rid of estrogen.

There are tests available to see if estrogen is contributing to your or your child’s breast cancer risk, and they are available at our offices.

It is possible to survive breast cancer at any age. Here is another uplifting story. http://www.wvec.com/home/Teen-breast-cancer-survivor-raises-awareness-raises-concerns-about-panels-findings-70680522.html.

Call the office of Doctor Kalitenko to find out more about checking your child’s estrogen elimination and overall gut function.

And it’s understandable considering since the feud between them started, Oprah’s gained about 40 pounds and now weighs around 200 pounds. It’s obvious to anyone Michelle Obama is not the cause of the Daytime Diva’s weight gain. Chances are, Oprah’s stress levels are through the roof, but how would that make someone gain weight?

Because stress shuts down your mind. Imagine that you see a fast moving car about to hit you. You’re reaction? You jump out of the way. You don’t think about the make or model of the car. You don’t think about who’s driving and why they may hit you. You jump to save your life. Even though you’re mind is under immediate stress, it shuts down and the reactions are automatic.

The same happens when you are under any type of stress, including emotional. And most likely, it’s what happened to Oprah. Because of the stress she could not control herself, and her mind shut down.

Here are some solutions to take back control

1.  Use stress reduction techniques like meditation, etc.

2.  Take a deep breath to relieve the stress.

3.  Avoid sweets for two reasons: to lose weight and to avoid blood sugar swings, which can affect your mood.

4.  Get enough high-quality sleep.

5.  Improve your communication skills.

6.  Exercise.

7.  Spend time with your family.

8.  Avoid alcohol and caffeine.

9.  Take a vacation.

But stress may not be the only reason for Oprah’s weight gain. Another and may be more plausible explanation is: menopause.

The reason why women gain weight is mostly progesterone level decline, leading to fat accumulation, mostly in the waist area.

Bioidentical hormone replacement is an option here, because in contrast to synthetic or semisynthetic hormones used in traditional medicine, bioidentical hormones have the same molecular structure as our own. That is why our body knows what to do with them to get rid of them properly. Contrary to this, our body does not know how to get rid of synthetic or semisynthetic hormones suggested by official medicine. The result: abnormal byproducts, linked to cancer.

Does Oprah know about stress and how to cope with stress and menopause? Sure she does.  But what matters is what you do, not what you know.

10.  Just do all the above!

[tag]hormones, bioidentical hormone replacement, Oprah, weight gain, stress, menopause[/tag]

Could you imagine ever wanting your periods back after menopause? Most women would say no. And it is understandable: who wants to have this trouble again?

If you decide to get bioidentical hormone replacement, is this something you have to worry about again? Will you get your youth back, including your period again?

Well, no! Youth is back but with no periods and no worry of pregnancy. Another choice is to go back to cycling with periods again. There is no consensus as to which is better. And I usually recommended my patients’ BHRT without cycling. Until recently.

Two things changed my mind:

1.             With periods the uterus sheds its superficial part, getting rid of the old possibly damaged cells and regrowing new healthy tissue.  This may be considered a natural uterine cancer prevention.

2.        A recent animal study from Texas A & M Health Science Center showed that estrogen as a memory enhancer works only in a cycling state.  It makes me think that estrogen may work better for a woman’s brain if they are cycling.

No doubt, that some drugs are linked to weight gain. Among them: almost all diabetic medications except Glucophage, Prozac, Elavil etc. But are they really the cause of weight gain? Or there is some other cause?

Are the drugs are adding calories to your diet, or our metabolism is down, leading to weight gain, even if you eat only a handful of food?

Think about it: what is the reason for depression or diabetes? Why you are more likely to have these disease later in your life, but not when you are in you twenties or thirties? Because at this time your hormone levels like testosterone, estrogen and progesterone are in their normal range. The problems start when hormone levels go down. It is called menopause or andropause. Or you are eating too much carbohydrates. The first problem can be corrected by hormone replacement therapy, the second problem should be solved by eating food what cave men ate. Isn’t it simple?

[tag]weigh gain, obesity, drugs, hormone replacement therapy, hormones, menopause, andropause[/tag]

Lack of sleep and hot flashes can make your life a nightmare. Lack of libido and vaginal dryness may cause problems in your life. No fun at all! So can we improve the quality of life?  Definitely! We do have treatments. The question is, how to solve the problem: antidepressants and sleeping pills or hormones?

Since the results of Women’s Health initiative were published, the medical society and media put benefits of HRT in question. The reason: side effects. The awareness of bio identical hormone replacement has changed the situation: now we know, that the main problem with synthetic and semisynthetic hormones is disposal. Very simple: our body does not know, how to get rid of the synthetic hormones! The result — toxic byproducts. Bio – identical hormones should not have this problem, because they are chemically identical to our own hormones. But what is the purpose of HRT? Does it really changes lives?

The recent study from the WISDOM research group, published in British Medical Journal confirmed, that Hormone replacement therapy can change the lives to the better. How? Hormone replacement therapy increases quality of life because it improves sleep and life while decreasing hot flashes and night sweats.  Sex life improves, while joint pains decrease.

Bottom line:  if you want to have more fun in your life, you can do nothing, or consume antidepressants with sleeping pills or take HRT.

The choice is yours!

If you have any thoughts or ideas about this matter please let us know.

[tag]menopause, hormone replacement therapy, bioidentical hormones, bio identical hormone replacement, bio – identical hormone replacement therapy, hormones, health[/tag]

Are you suffering from tiredness, which starts early in the morning after you get up? If yes, then you may not be getting enough sleep. Most of my patients are suffering from lack of good sleep almost every day. The reason: too much cortisol because of estrogen and progesterone decline. So what needs to be done?

The first thing to do is to restore your hormone levels with hormone replacement therapy. A new study, published in BMJ on Aug 21, 2008, confirmed, that women who received hormone replacement therapy were getting more sleep. And this is very important, because without sleep you cannot function well. You have no energy, no quality of life.

One more consideration: during sleep you produce a growth hormone, which is very important for your health. Lack of the growth hormone can cause facial skin wrinkling and droop. The natural way to boost your growth hormone production is to get more sleep, more exercise and more protein, fruits and vegetables in your diet.

Another tip to improve your sleep is to make sure that your bedroom is completely dark, because your skin reads the light. Believe me, it works!

[tag]health, sleep, hormones, hormone replacement, hormone replacement therapy, growth hormone, insomnia[/tag]

Most of my female patients wear bras, but how many of them wear the wrong size?

According to the recent study from University of Portsmouth irreparable damage to the breast ligaments can be done by wearing the wrong bra size. Apparently the biggest problem is ill-fitting bras that are too tight. Another problem identified is the change in breast size and shape because of breastfeeding and menopause. But how can we choose the right size and type?

In my opinion the best solution is to go back to nature — do not use bra at all, if possible. If you need to wear bra, then the best choice is one not tight at all, just used for support.

[tag]menopause, breast, breasts, bra, bras[/tag]

If you have ever suffered from depression you will notice that your libido also decreased.  A new study showed that women suffering from depression and who are taking antidepressants may benefit from Viagra. But this is not the only way to help with libido loss.

Frequently women are suffering from depression, which is the result of menopause and lack of sex hormones. If this is the case, then maybe hormone replacement therapy should be tried. I do not suggest stopping antidepressants, but HRT may be a good adjunct for depression and libido loss treatment.

If anybody knows another ways to restore libido, please let me know.

[tag]health, libido, menopause, depression, hormone replacement therapy, HRT[/tag]

Can you live without love? Me? I can’t.

Love is a must. Love gives us energy; love gives us happiness; love gives us babies. Sounds easy? Not so fast.

The problem now is finding the right person, someone who can become not only your lover, but also your friend and supporter for life. This is difficult. But it is possible. How?

The most important thing in this difficult task is to be able to attract the right person. For that you need to have enough desire and energy. What substance in your body is responsible for libido and energy level? Testosterone! Estradiol!

The second thing is to make sure that you are emotionally prepared for a steady relationship.  What hormone is responsible for mood stability? Estradiol!

The third is to be beautiful. What helps you maintain your beautiful skin? Estrogen! Testosterone!

How about your eyes? What makes them shine? Estradiol!

What about your weight? What substance helps you be slim? Progesterone! Estrogen!

Bottom line: to win you need to be able to compete with younger and healthier individuals. How? Via hormone replacement therapy.

Any other thoughts, ideas or considerations? Please share your story or your thoughts.

As we all know men have Viagra. What about women? When their hormone levels start declining, libido is going down as well. I’ve heard so many complaints about libido loss, especially when vaginal dryness is also a problem.

This combination can ruin the marriage! And women understand this. So what can be done? Fortunately, there is the solution: testosterone replacement.

Despite the fact that testosterone is the main male hormone, it is crucial for maintaining the female libido. However, I do not usually give testosterone alone, because we also need to treat vaginal dryness. So we need estrogen as well. And estrogen has to be balanced by progesterone as well. So the solution is usually a triple hormone cream. And it works very well.

If you have any comments, ideas or suggestions please let me know. If you want to share your story, you are more than welcome.

[tag]heath, menopause, libido, women’s libido, low drive, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, hormone replacement therapy[/tag]

The eyes are probably the first part of your body to attract attention.  If your eyes are shining, your chances to impress someone are high. It is for this reason that eye cosmetics and beauty enhancers are so popular. But makeup cannot do much about droopy upper eyelids or swollen eyes.

Of course surgery can help in certain situations, but surgery is not for everyone.

What can be done for your eyes besides surgery?

1.  Optimize your estrogen level (for men — testosterone ). Because estrogen is responsible for mucous membrane function, if you have low estrogen (or low testosterone) levels, especially if you are in menopause or andropause, your eyes will not look bright and healthy. Restoring optimal estrogen (or testosterone) levels will result in significant improvement and your eyes will shine again.

2.  Optimize your growth hormone level. Reason: lack of growth hormone leads to upper eyelid skin sagging with small wrinkle formation.

3.     Optimize your progesterone level. Reason: progesterone is a natural water pill. Low progesterone levels, especially in menopause, may result in eye swelling. Therefore, restoring optimal progesterone levels may decrease eye swelling dramatically.

4.  Optimize your thyroid function. Reason: low thyroid function results in eyelid swelling. Normalization will result in young and healthy looking eyes.

Bottom line: to look younger enhance your natural beauty with hormone replacement therapy before it is too late.

Sleep is very important to all of us: no sleep equals no rest and no repair.  And a possible increase in the risk of cancer. Don’t forget more stress.  Decreased productivity. Depressed mood.

Who wants insomnia? Nobody.

But according to the recent study insomnia is the most frequent symptom of menopause. So what are the reasons for insomnia during menopause and what can be done?

There are several causes of insomnia in menopause patients. The most important are:

1.  Lack of relaxation manifested by difficulty in falling asleep. The most likely cause — hormone melatonin drop because of aging.

2.  Too much activation of adrenals in the middle of the night/early morning manifested by early waking with inability to fall asleep again.  Most likely cause — lack of estrogen (adrenalin and cortisol are not balanced by estrogen).

3.  Going to the bathroom to urinate in the middle of the night/early morning. The most likely cause — estrogen loss, because estrogen maintains mucous membranes, and lack of estrogen leads to mucous membrane hypersensitivity and inflammation including the urinary bladder.

What can be done? Answer is obvious: hormone replacement therapy to balance hormones and to repair mucous membranes.

You may be shocked when you learn that as per Telegraph.co.uk there is a 40 percent increase in the number of men who do not make love to their partners as often as they used to.

No wonder. Because at about age 30 testosterone level starts declining. With testosterone drop libido goes down as well as erections. So what can be done?

The solution is simple: replenish what is lost. You cannot get back what is already gone.

For men there are two hormones used: HCG and testosterone. Both work well.

For women there are about three: estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

So check your hormone levels and replenish if necessary, and you will get more fun, more happiness, more productivity and maybe save your marriage.

Hot flashes are traditionally linked to menopause, especially to estrogen deficiency. And it is probably the most common cause of hot flashes. However hot flashes can be caused by multiple other reasons. Some of them are even more important and may be life threatening.Estrogen deficiency is probably the most common cause of hot flashes. If found it needs to be corrected with transdermal estrogen, which is the most important component of hormone replacement therapy.

Progesterone deficiency can contribute to hot flashes, therefore it needs to be corrected as well with hormone replacement therapy.

Cortisol deficiency may cause hot flashes. Therefore at least 24 urine collections for cortisol should be done. If cortisol deficiency is found, then it should be compensated for with hormone replacement therapy.

Hyperthyroidism can cause hot flashes, indistinguishable from menopausal hot flashes.

Chills with sweating because of infection or tumors sometimes can be interpreted as hot flashes.

Bottom line: I advise a full workup in a patient with hot flashes, because the differential diagnosis is very extensive.

According to a recent study from the University of Missouri under the guidance of Professor Salman Hyder, synthetic progestin use may increase the risk of breast cancer.

The explanation is as follows:

Normally there is a protein p53 in our cells, which is responsible for killing cancer cells. However if there is no active protein p53 in the cell, which is exposed to synthetic progestin, cancer may develop. The synthetic progestin, used in this study was medroxyprgesterone acetat.

As we know, there is a problem with synthetic conjugated (horse) estrogens as well, because they are mainly metabolised via 4 OH pathway, resulting in production of metabolites, linked to breast cancer.

The bottom line seems to be that if our body is exposed to synthetic products, it does not know how to get rid of them.

Solution of the problem: think twice before using synthetic products, use them only if it absolutely necessary. Otherwise use the products with the same molecular structure as our own. Bioidentical Hormone Replacement is a safe alternative here.