Dr. Philip Sarrel discusses new findings recently released related to post menopausal women who have gone through a hysterectomy and hormone replacement therapy use.
The most important thing which comes out of this study is that the women who received estrogen showed over that eleven years a significant decrease, a significant decrease, forty percent fewer heart attacks.
And in every age group, followed for eleven years, after taking estrogen for almost six years, all of the women showed a decrease in developing breast cancer.
They also showed a significant difference in whether they lived or died. The women that received the estrogen, 27 percent fewer deaths compared to the women who got placebo. Namely the estrogen that the women got who lost their uterus was life saving.
What it was given for was to protect the lining of the uterus and the problem with the second hormone is that that created ill effects. The women who received estrogen plus the second hormone, the women who had a uterus, they had an increase in breast cancer, an increase in getting a blood clot, they had an increase in developing a heart attack but that is not true of the women who received the estrogen.
Because the other study made everyone so afraid of using hormones, it got carried over to the use of estrogen only and that is not right.
If you look at the work of what estrogen itself will do, then you see the protective effects.
After the study was finished, then the women in the years following when they had no estrogen, they showed a fifty percent increase in risk of hip fracture compared to the women who had placebo.
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I have been taking bioidentical hormones (progesterone, testosterone, and recently BiEst) for nearly 5 years (and I do not have a uterus). The improvement in my health is astonishing....off five medications in the first two weeks of treatment, eliminated my hot flashes, acid reflux, restless leg syndrome and seasonal allergies. I have more energy than at any time in my adult life. The hormones, along with regular weight bearing exercise and Vitamin D supplementation, cured my osteopenia. And oh, yes, I am now down 120 pounds from my high weight. The "second hormone" referenced in the article above is progestin, which is NOT THE SAME as progesterone. If anyone would like a list of resources to help you find a doctor in your area who practices with bioidenticals, as well as a list of recommended reading on the subject, please feel free to drop me an email at [email removed by moderator to protect your privacy]. Best wishes to all for hormonal health.
April 24, 2011 - 11:50amThis Comment
This sounds like Dr. Sarrel is talking about the WHI study, this is not written or said but should be. Also, when he talks about "the second hormone" it should be identified as a synthetic progestin commonly known as Provera. Then I would say this article and video are great!
Next thing that people need to know is that there is an alternative to the Provera, it is what our own bodies use, natural progesterone. It doesn't cause the adverse effects that Provera does, and may actually be protective of heart disease and breast cancer. I have been using it for my patients on HRT for 26 years and it protects the uterine lining from becoming overgrow and forming cancers; this has been proven with the PEPI study 12 years ago. So why do most doctors and researchers continue to work with Provera?
April 22, 2011 - 12:24pmThis Comment