Feeling Great Is The Goal!
Sunday, April 26th, 2009
I was having breakfast with a friend who proudly confided that she had successfully weaned herself off of all hormone support, less than one year after her total hysterectomy. “Why?” I asked, horrified. “I thought that was the goal,” she replied. “That’s what my doctor said and even you said so in your book.”
She was woefully misinformed. Hormones are not an evil to be avoided and weaned from. Let me clarify: stopping hormone support is not the goal. Feeling great is the goal. Staying healthy as we age is the goal. Having strong bones to dance at your 100th birthday is the goal. Enjoying sex, feeling joy at the sight of your great grandchildren, remembering phone numbers and how to drive your car in your nineties. These are the goals. Using natural hormones, safely, for the rest of your life will make this possible.
Why do we need hormones? Because our bodies are designed to last roughly seventy years, eighty max. If you win the gene lottery you may make it into your nineties- but it won’t be pretty. Tour a nursing home. Ask the ages. See for yourself what lies ahead. Ask how many women there had total hysterectomies without hormone support (they are the ones using walkers).
Studies have shown that women who use estrogen in the first 10 years of menopause have less calcifications (hardening of the arteries) around their heart. Studies have also shown that using hormones reduces memory loss, bone loss, depression, weight gain, and wrinkles. Hormones prevent sexual dysfunction, urinary tract infections, and vaginitis. The references are in my book.
Ask your doctor for estradiol (patch or cream), natural progestereone (pill or cream). Measure your DHEA-S, maintain your DHEA in the midrange- it will support your testosterone and it has been shown to improve sex drive. Keep your eye on the prize. The world needs more healthy women.
0 Comments | Permalink | Posted in Menopause, Progesterone, Natural Hormones, Osteoporosis, Estrogen, Heart Disease, Cardiovascular, Hormones, Uncategorized
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Confused About 1/29/09 Oprah’s Show? Natural Hormones ARE Regulated
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
In Oprah’s last hormone show an unnecessary battle waged over the safety of compounded hormones. On her show it was insinuated that compounded hormones are not regulated. But that is just plain false. I often have to clarify this (see below) and it’s too bad because it detracts from the bigger picture which is that hormones should be used, and can be used safely to live a longer, happier, and more satisfying life.
All women can safely use natural bioidentical hormones, FDA regulated or pharmacy regulated, to improve sleep, moods, energy, memory, bones, heart, skin, and sex drive. My website lists all of the symptoms of low hormones. You don’t need fancy tests to start. All doctors are capable of prescribing natural bioidentical hormones. Here’s how:
- To support estrogen: Ask your doctor for Estradiol (FDA regulated patches, gel, or mist, or compounded Estradiol lotion). The patches can itch and fall off but many women love them as they only require changing every 3 days. All FDA approved treatments are prescribed at a specific dose so they don’t work for all women. That’s where compounding lotions are helpful. Compounding pharmacies make estradiol in lotions that allow you to vary doses. This is particularly helpful in perimenopause and early menopause when estrogen levels are very changeable.
- Always balance estradiol with natural progesterone, even if you have had a hysterectomy. Natural progesterone is available in FDA approved oral capsules or vaginal cream. It can also be compounded into oral capsules, skin lotions/creams, or drops (taken under the tongue). Chapter 8 in my book discusses progesterone. If you are on too much estrogen or if you start and stop progesterone, you may bleed or spot, which you should discuss with your doctor, whether you are using FDA approved hormones or compounded.
- Many insurance companies cover bioidentical natural hormones. If finances are a problem talk to your pharmacist about price options as insurance coverage may vary. If insurance is not covering your compounded hormones ask your insurer which compounding pharmacies they do cover. Most insurance companies have an affiliated compounding pharmacy.
- All Compounding pharmacies are regulated. Compounded hormones can not be FDA approved because they do not come in standardized doses. Instead, they are regulated by state boards of pharmacy. The materials that make up the compounded medications are all sourced from licensed FDA-registered manufacturers. To learn more about this visit the IACP (International Academy of Compounding Pharmacy) website.
- All compounding pharmacies are not equal. They are not monitored as to how much hormone is actually delivered in their products. This is why you hear so much (unfair) criticism of compounded products. To ensure quality, many compounding pharmacies routinely submit their products to independent labs for testing to establish that their creams contain what they say. Ask if your pharmacy does this. Better yet, remember, “the proof is in the pudding.” If your symptoms improve with the product, then the product is doing it’s job. If you are not improving, talk to your doctor about increasing your dose, that is after all why you are using a compounded product- to match your individualized symptoms with your individualized needs.
1 Comment | Permalink | Posted in Natural Hormones, Progesterone, Menopause, Estrogen, Hormones
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Breast Lumps and the WHI Study:
Guess What, We Are Not Horses!
Friday, April 11th, 2008
Okay another week of misleading headlines. The confusion stems from a study that is about to be published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI)2 (View PDF). The alarming headline, “Estrogen Linked To Breast Lumps”, would lead you to believe that this is a new finding and that the researchers studied natural bioidentical estrogen and not synthetic horse estrogen, right? Wrong. They examined data from the World Health Institute (WHI) study published in 2002, which involved a group of women who used only Premarin, derived from horse estrogen, and keep in mind that this group had had hysterectomies, so we already know from the get-go that their hormone balance was not great.
The WHI gave this group of women horse estrogen (yes estrogen designed for 1200 lb mares and known to be much more potent than a woman’s own natural estrogen). And, guess what? These women had an increase in breast lumps. Go figure. They really should have titled the article, “Horse Estrogen Use Causes Breast Lumps” or “Estrogen not Properly Balanced with Progesterone Increases Breast Lumps”.
As I discuss in my book The Natural Hormone Makeover, breast lumps will occur if estrogen is in excess of progesterone. The women in this study did not have any progesterone to oppose the extra strong stimulating effects of Premarin, horse estrogen. Progesterone is naturally produced by women to counteract estrogen’s stimulating effects on the breast.
I have posted a great article on my website from Climacteric1 (View PDF) which shows that using transdermal natural estradiol with natural progesterone does not increase breast cancer or breast disease. Show this to your doctor. Other nations have been using natural hormones for years. When are more US physicians going to start? Ladies, when you begin to demand natural hormones. In order to stop being treated like horses we may need to act more like cougars!
1Lignieres, B. de, et al., “Combined Hormone Replacement Therapy and the Risk of Breast Cancer in a French Cohort Study of 3175 Women”, Climacteric 5, no. 4 (2002): 332-340. View PDF
2Rohan, TE, et al., “Conjugated Equine Estrogen and Risk of Benign Proliferative Breast Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial”, Journal of the National Cancer Institute 100, no. 8 (2008): 563-571. View PDF
0 Comments | Permalink | Posted in Breast Disease, Breast Lumps, Natural Hormones, Progesterone, Breast Cancer, Estrogen, WHI Study, Hormones
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