|
|
| Health
concerns main page...
Menopause: Pros
and Cons of Hormone Therapy
by Clark Hansen, N.M.D.
See Copyright Notice
Menopause means the cessation of menses, but often brings in its wake a flood
of other symptoms including hot flashes, sweating, thinning of the skin, thinning
of the bones-osteoporosis, changes in mood, lowered energy level, vaginal dryness,
and decreased sexual desire. Many women feel that they have lost control of their
own bodies.
The good news is that this stormy and unpleasant course
does not have to occur. There are safe and effective natural
medicines that you can use to eliminate
the symptoms of Menopause. Life-style and dietary choices, including supplementation
with specific vitamins & minerals, and extracts of certain foods rich in
plant estrogen and progesterone can help make this natural transition a smooth
one.
To understand Menopause, you need to know a little about your hormones estrogen
and progesterone. Starting in a woman's 30s, blood levels of estrogen and progesterone
gradually decline. This is what nature intended. Estrogen is necessary for the
monthly production of new endometrial cells to line the uterus in preparation
for a baby. Progesterone increases the vascular development of the uterus and
breasts. When the child bearing years are over, the hormone levels decrease dramatically.
The use of synthetic estrogens, first isolated in the 1920s, did not become popular
until the 1960s, when it was touted in Feminine Forever, by Robert Wilson,
as the antidote to aging in women by preventing the otherwise inevitable thinning
and wrinkling of the skin, drying of the vaginal membranes, and thinning of the
bones that caused stooping of the shoulders. By 1975 more than half of the 30
million postmenopausal women in the United States were being prescribed estrogen.
However, about that same time, studies began showing that these women were five
times more likely to develop uterine cancer than women who did not take this
Estrogen Replacement Therapy. More recent studies have shown that estrogen also
increases the incidence of breast cancer.
There are three types of estrogen in a woman's body that work together to safely
produce the desired effects. The three types of estrogen are Estrone (E1), Estradiol
(E2), and Estriol (E3). Estrone and Estradiol have now been shown to be carcinogenic
when given by themselves, while Estriol has been found to be anticarcinogenic
and therefore protect the body from the harmful effects of the other two. However,
all of the current estrogen drugs used in this country are combinations of synthetic
copies of estrone and estradiol.
Rather than admit they were wrong and open themselves up to millions of dollars
in law suits, doctors and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. continue to make
the synthetic copies of the forms of estrogen that are known to be carcinogenic,
although the safe estrogen, Estriol, has been prescribed in Europe for a number
of years.
Doctors and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. are either afraid to learn the
truth and therefore don't investigate it, or they are involved in a horrible
cover-up that is killing thousands of women every year. They rationalize their
position by contending that although the statistics show that the estrogen drugs
are statistically associated with an increased incidence of cancer of the uterus
and the breast, it is impossible to prove a direct cause in any individual case.
They also contend that estrogen is also known to be positively associated with
a reduced indidence of hip fractures by preventing osteoporosis.
Since there are more than 1 million hip fractures annually in this country compared
to only 46,000 cases of uterine cancer and 175,000 cases of breast cancer, many
doctors believe that the risks of osteoporosis so far outweigh the risk of cancer
that it is justifiable to continue to prescribe the synthetic estrogens Estrone
and Estradiol.
To add to this bias, new studies have recently shown that adding progestin (synthetic
progesterone) for at least 10 days each month to the Estrogen Replacement Thereapy
exerts a protective effect against uterine cancer. Women are therefore now being
told that adding progesterone to their Estrogen Replacement Thereapy resolves
the health concerns. However, this is not true. Although synthetic progestin
may protect their risk of uterine cancer, it increases their risk of breast cancer
and heart disease, and it again causes them to have to suffer monthly bleeding.
The real question every woman needs to ask is, "Is there a safe hormone
replacement therapy?" The answer is a definitive YES! There are natural
sources of both estrogen and progesterone that have been shown to be safe and
effective.
In the January 2, 1978, issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association,
Dr. Alvin H. Follingstad, M.D. wrote an article entitled Estriol, the Forgotten
Estrogen? Dr. Follingstad calls Estriol the neglected estrogen. "In
our country," he says, "it has been labeled as a weak or ineffective
estrogen and difficult if not impossible to obtain. Actually it is not weak if
given in adequate doses. A dose of 2 to 4 mg is the equivalent of 0.6 to 1.25
mg of conjugated estrogen or estrone and is just as effective. It has been available
in Europe for many years and is cited in articles on the equivalent doses of
various estrogens."
Dr. Follingstad reported, "Studies of ethnic groups
with low incidence of breast cancer compared with the high
incidence on our country and in Britain
have shown higher urinary excretion of estriol in the low-incidence countries.
Animal studies have shown that a high endogenous estriol level protects against
the tumor-producing effects of estrone and estradiol."
"According to an unpublished study by Lemon, Foley, and Kessinger, 2.5 to
5 mg and occasionally 15 mg of estriol, equivalent to a little more than 0.65
to 1.25 mg of conjugated estrogens was used, with the informed consent of patients,
in postmenopausal women with breast carcinoma and metasiases. Thirty-seven percent
receiving this small dosage had remission or arrest of metastatic lesions."
In conclusion to his article, Dr. Follingstad restates the
essential question
and then gives the answer "Do we have a safer and possibly a noncarcinogenic
estrogen that has been neglected, one that can be administered orally, maintains
its unique identity, and is as effective as estrone or estradiol? Enough presumptive
and scientific evidence has been accumulated that we may say that orally administered
estriol is safer than estrone or estradiol."
In spite of Dr. Follingstad's plea to his colleagues to investigate and use estriol,
most doctors continue to ignore the use of this estrogen. Instead, they continue
to prescribe Premarin (synthetic estrone and esradiol) and Provera (synthetic
progestin) which has some progesterone effects, but also has an additional 30
negative side effects that are listed in the Physician's Desk Reference.
Pros
and Cons of Hormone Therapy
|
Synthetic Estrogen
- PROS
- Reduces risk of osteoporosis
- Helps reduce vaginal dryness
- Eliminates hot flashes
- Decreases risk of heart disease by raising
HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol)
- CONS
- Increases the risk of uterine cancer
- Increases the risk of breast cancer
- Increases the risk of strokes by increasing
risk of blood clots
- Increases the risk of liver and gall bladder
disease
- Increases growth of uterine fibroids
- Expense of Drug, medical visits, and laboratory
testing
|
|
Natural Estrogen
- PROS
- Reduces risk of osteoporosis
- Helps reduce vaginal dryness
- Eliminates hot flashes
- Decreases risk of heart disease by raising
HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol)
- Protects against cancer
|
Synthetic Progestin
- PROS
- Decreases risk of uterine cancer
- CONS
- Increases risk of breast cancer
|
|
Natural Progesterone
- PROS
- Decreases risk of uterine cancer
- Prevents Osteoporosis
- Increases bone density
|
|
In my practice, I recommend a combination
of Estriol and Progesterone, extracted from natural
sources.
The Estriol is extracted from Soybeans and the Progesterone
is extracted from the Wild Yam. Estriol can prevent the typical symptoms of menopause
(see "PROS" in the table). Taking natural Progesterone helps to prevent
uterine cancer and can actually increase Bone Mineral Density (BMD). In 1990,
Dr. John Lee, M.D., reported a study entitled: Osteoporosis Reversal, The Role
of Pregesterone, Clinical Nutrition Review, 1990, 10:384-391. The study
showed that postmenopausal women who took natural progesterone increase their
BMD by 10-15% within 6 months and 20-25% in 3 years.
Naturopathic Physicians have been using natural hormones from plants for at least
a hundred years. Alfalfa, Soybeans, Dong Quai, Angelica, and the Wild Yam, all
contain natural plant estrogen and/or progesterone that are virtually identical
to the natural estrogens made by the human body. These are safe and effective
alternatives to synthetic drugs, providing all of the benefits and more, without
the negatives.
Back To Top |
|
|
