Hormone Replacement

Released: Monday, June 1, 2009

By Devin Muller

A recent study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association on the use or rather the discontinued use of hormone replacement therapy, (HRT) reveled some interesting results.

The study’s researcher Gerardo Heiss, MD, professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  On the plus side, some risks associated with the use of the combined estrogen and progestin therapy disappear after stopping, including increased risks of heart disease (a leading killer among women) and stroke and blood clots in the lungs.

Unfortunately the protective effects the hormones provide for hip fracture & colorectal cancer also disappear.  Even two & ½ years later former users have an increased risk of breast cancer.

The WHI study was halted in 2002 after an average of 5.6 years of treatment, when researchers found an increased breast cancer risk among those who took the hormone therapy vs. those who took a placebo. However the risk of breast cancer stayed elevated during a follow up the team conducted from July 02 to March 05. It found “women on HRT had a 27% increased risk” of breast cancer compared to non-users. They do state that while 79 former HRT users developed breast cancer during the follow up, 60 nonusers did. However the differences are not statistically significant.

“When looking at the breast cancer risk it may have been to soon for the risk to decline, we do see a tendency toward the breast cancer risk going down”.

This information was taken from an article written by Kathleen Doheny published on Oprah.com(http://www.oprah.com/article/health/womenshealth/20090115_orig_HRT_health_risks). Referenced in this article is researcher Gerardo Heiss, MD, professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Dr. Rowan T. Chlebowski, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute in California (also a researcher on the study).

Keeping with the hormone replacement topic, many experts find disturbing effects of the use of conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) used in hormone replacement therapy.

The "estrogen" replacement most doctors prescribe today for menopausal and premenopausal women is a pill known generically as conjugated equine estrogens (CEE). The best known brand of CEE is Premarin®. Many studies suggest that in many women, Premarin does help reduce symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes, vaginal thinning, memory loss, and urinary incontinence. It also appears to reduce the risk of developing postmenopausal cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
It also may help to prevent a significant proportion of Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia.

So what's wrong with CEE? Premarin is horse estrogen! It is derived from the urine of pregnant mares, hence, its brand name. Premarin works great in female horses however replacing human estrogens with horse estrogens may be asking for trouble.

For the last several million years, the human female reproductive system has been running quite well on three separate estrogens: estriol, estrone, and estradiol. Premarin in addition to having larger proportions of estrone and estradiol, it also contains equilin and two other forms of estrogen found exclusively in horses.

Premarin is assoiated with a significant risk of breast and endometrial cancer, because one of the primary effects of equilin, estradiol and estrone is to promote the growth of tissue in the endometrial (uterine) lining and also in the breast.

Most conventional physicians, not to mention the self-serving pharmaceutical industry, are quick to rationalize the cancer and other risks of horse estrogens. Every treatment has its risks, they point out, but the risk of a postmenopausal woman dying of a heart attack or stroke if she doesn't take Premarin are far greater than her risk of dying from cancer or an osteoporosis-related fracture if she does.

So what do anti Premarin folks suggest? Triple-Estrogen a combination of natural estriol, estrone, and estradiol — using molecules identical in structure to those produced in the human body — in as close-to-natural quantities and proportions as could be calculated. Triple-Estrogen was formulated by Ed Thorp of Kripps Pharmacy. In the 16 years since triple estrogen was first prescribed, thousands of other progressive physicians — and their grateful patients — have found that it works as well as or better than conventional ERT regimens, while producing far fewer unwanted side effects.

There is important evidence dating back to the 1960s suggesting that estriol may protect against breast cancer as well.

In the meantime, there can be little doubt that an estrogen replacement regimen that includes the three human estrogens in Triple estrogen — estriol, estrone, and estradiol — in identical-to-natural proportions is a superior choice for perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, compared with the horse estrogens and 100%-estradiol patches and creams the pharmaceutical industry promotes.

Natural hormone formulations like triple estrogen are normally available in the US only from compounding pharmacies with a physician's prescription, they can not be found at standard pharmacies. Natural Progesterone can be purchased in many health food stores or by mail order.

This information was published on a website and written by Jonathan V. Wright, MD and John Morgenthaler (http://www.smart-publications.com/menopause/horse_urine_estrogen_replacement.php)

References: Schliesman B, Robinson L. Serum estrogens: quantitative analysis of the concentration of estriol compared to estradiol and estrone. Meridian Valley Laboratory. 1997; Kent, WA:Data on file.  Premarin® (conjugated estrogen tablets). Wyeth-Ayerst Company. Physicians' Desk Reference, 52nd Edition. Montvale, NJ: Medical Economics Company; 1998:3111-3113. Barnes R, Lobo R. Pharmacology of Estrogens. In: Mishell D, Jr, ed. Menopause: Physiology and Pharmacology. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, Inc.; 1987.