Have you heard about the new non-surgical treatment for incontinence?

Do you have incontinence?  Don't want to have surgery?  There's a new option!

Incontinence, or the leakage of urine, is very common in women, and I see women complaining of this problem every day.   In some studies, up to 50% of women suffer with incontinence!  This can be an embarrassing problem, and can also lead to hygiene issues.  Aging tissues and childbirth are two common causes of incontinence.

In the past, we did not have very good treatments.   If symptoms were reasonably mild, women could wear a pad "just in case".  If more severe, surgery could be done.  The surgical procedures available require inserting a mesh or sling (foreign materials) into the body to help support the tissues, and come with some risks.  This is not really a good option unless the symptoms are pretty severe.

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can also help with incontinence.  Hormones are very important to help keep tissues healthy, including the tissues of the urinary tract.  In some cases, incontinence can be greatly improved or even resolved with use of hormone replacement, and I see this regularly in my practice.

But in some women, bioidentical hormones do not completely resolve the problem.  We now have a new solution that is so exciting because it is simple and very effective.

What if I told you that you could treat your incontinence in 20 minutes, with near zero risk and no down time?  Sounds too good to be true, but a new treatment, called the O-Shot, can do just that.

The O-Shot is a medical procedure performed by specially trained doctors using Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP),  the fraction of the blood that contains growth factors.  PRP has been used to help professional athletes heal from orthopedic injuries by injecting it into joints. It has been used to help improve wound healing in surgical patients by injecting it into the incision site.  Over the past 10 years it has been used in hundreds of thousands of procedures around the world in various parts of the body with no reports of any serious complications.  Now we can use PRP to help women with incontinence.

Here's how it works.  We draw blood from your arm, and prepare the blood in a special centrifuge to extract the PRP (which contains the growth factors).  Then the PRP is injected into the vaginal wall and clitoris near the urethra.  Topical numbing cream  is used and the needle is very tiny so you feel little to no discomfort.  The growth factors stimulate stem cells in the area to regenerate tissues - including blood vessels, collagen and nerve fibers.

It takes approximately 20 minutes to draw your blood and prepare the PRP, and the injection takes approximately 5 minutes.  Once the procedure is over, you can resume regular activities with no down time. The tissue regeneration typically starts after 3 weeks and full effects will be noted in 3 months  There are no reported serious side effects, and while results will vary, initial reports indicate that most women have significant improvement if not resolution of their symptoms.  We are really excited about the results that we are achieving.  

The O-Shot has an added benefits for some women.   Many women note improvement in sexual function, including increased lubrication, sensation, and often a reduction in pain (for women who have discomfort during intercourse).

If you are interested in learning more about the O-Shot please contact us at 704-752-9346, or visit the website www.signaturewellness.org.

Now offering Acupuncture Services

We are pleased to Welcome Sarah Newman Kalb, Lac, AP to our Team

An Acupuncture practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine and owner of Vitality Acupuncture, LLC., Sarah Newman Kalb, Lac, AP is a specialist in treating Women’s health and vitality.  

Sarah holds a Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine degree from the New England School of Acupuncture in Boston, a B.A. in Holistic Health with a focus on psychoneuroimmunology, and studied naturopathic medicine in Portland, OR. She is an experienced healthcare practitioner, having started and run her own acupuncture practices in St. Augustine, FL and Charlotte, NC.

 In addition to acupuncture, Sarah also spent over 10 years treating cancer patients as a radiation therapist in the Boston area, worked on an organic foods farm in her hometown in Vermont, and has practiced massage therapy. These experiences have influenced her approach toward healing as an acupuncture practitioner, to integrate the best of western and eastern medical philosophies along with nutrition to create a holistic treatment and wellness program for each individual.

Women with low estrogen look older

A study published in the medical journal The Lancet found that women with low estrogen look significantly older than women the same age with more optimal levels of estrogen

Low estrogen levels are associated with loss of collagen and moisture content of skin, which leads to increased facial wrinkling.

In this study, independent reviewers estimated the ages of 100 women. The women’s estimated age was then compared to their real age and their estrogen level
. The women in the study were between 35-55 years of age. The reviewers estimated the women with low estrogen to be significantly older than their age and those with more optimal estrogen levels to be much younger than their age.
 The women with the lowest level of estrogen looked 8 years older than their age and those with the most optimal levels looked 8 years younger than their age (a 16 year differential).


According to the authors, “The age of women with low estradiol serum concentrations was systematically overestimated; with increasing serum estrogen levels the reverse was the case. Women with high estrogen concentrations looked younger, women with low estradiol concentrations older than they really were. The discrepancy between estimated and real age could be as high as 8 years in either direction [16 year differential]. These data suggest that serum estrogen concentrations have a pronounced impact on the estimation of age.”


Lancet. 1999 Jul 17;354(9174):224.
Oestrogen and age estimations of perimenopausal women.
Wildt L, Sir-Petermann T.

Bioidentical progesterone restores sleep

This study looked at insomnia in menopausal women and found that different types of progesterone replacement had different effects.

Twenty-one postmenopausal women were studied. They were randomized to receive estrogen plus synthetic medroxyprogesterone acetate or estrogen plus bioidentical progesterone.

Sleep efficiency was found to be significantly improved in the progesterone group with no such increase observed in the medroxyprogesterone acetate group. Time spent awake after sleep onset was also significantly improved in the progesterone group but not in the medroxyprogesterone acetate group.

CONCLUSION: This study suggests that bioidentical progesterone might better improve the quality of sleep in postmenopausal women taking estrogen.

OUR COMMENT: We regularly see women complaining of poor sleep during perimenopause and menopause. Chronic sleep deprivation may contribute to weight gain, insulin resistance, mood problems, cognitive function and daytime fatigue. Restoring healthy sleep can make a profound difference in a woman's quality of life.

Menopause. 2001 Jan-Feb;8(1):10-6.
Sleep in menopause: differential effects of two forms of hormone replacement therapy.
Montplaisir J, Lorrain J, Denesle R, Petit D.

The North American Menopause Society released a new position statement.

We have been advocating individualized dosing and the importance of using the smallest dose possible. Here is an excerpt:

"The lowest effective dose of estrogen consistent with
treatment goals, benefits, and risks for the individual woman
should be the therapeutic goal, with a corresponding low
dose of progestogen added to counter the adverse effects of
systemic ET on the uterus. Lower ET and EPT doses are
better tolerated and may have a more favorable benefit-risk
ratio than standard doses."

Youtube Channel

We have added some videos about bioidentical hormones, risks, options and other health related issues on a new youtube channel. You can view videos at

http://www.youtube.com/user/bittere96

There is an option to subscribe and that will notify subscribers about new videos.

Deb Matthew MD
Signature Wellness
http://www.signaturewellness.org
Charlotte, NC
704-752-9346

Bio-identical hormones improve bone density

A 2003 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA 290:1042-1048) studied whether hormone replacement at low doses would be effective at maintaining bone mineral density. Lower doses are desirable as higher doses are associated with more adverse events. Bio-identical hormones were used in this study (hormones that are an exact chemical match to human hormones).

This was a “gold standard” double-blind, placebo controlled trial done at an American university research center from 1998-2002, following 167 healthy women 65 years and older.

The bone mineral density of the hip, spine, wrist, and total body was measured annually for 3 years. Mean bone mineral density increased at all sites for participants taking low-dose bio-identical hormone replacement (BHRT) compared with placebo . There were no statistically significant differences in breast tenderness, changes in uterine thickness, or annual mammographic results between women on BHRT and the placebo group. There were no reports of breast cancer during the study.

For more information visit http://www.signaturewellness.org