Truth’s Out on Natural HRT

My mother suffered from vertebral compression fractures—constant pain and stooped posture.  (Most women by 85 have them).  She lived 93 years.  Following a fractured forearm when 72, she was diagnosed with osteoporosis and was placed on bisphosphonates, which she took for 9 years--quit because they upset her stomach and caused general malaise.   At age 80 her leg broke, and at 91 her hip.  She was bedridden for the last 2 years of her life. 

So I researched osteoporosis & bisphosphonates, the standard treatment taken by millions of women.  I found 47% of women over 64 have osteoporosis (Wiki), most of whom will suffer fractures. Bisphosphonates don’t contain calcium.  They made the don’t-take list of the conservative Worst Pill:  “long-term use of bisphosphonates can actually make bones brittle and more likely to fracture.”  They are a scam:  they go to the bones, remain there and thus improve bone density,[1] but don’t make the bones stronger.  Worst Pill state that the risk for hip, leg, and arm fractures increase.  

In my research I found that the best estrogen, estradiol, regulates bone remodeling, and with menopause this becomes negative (loss of calcium in the bone.  I found 47% of women over 64 have osteoporosis (Wiki). The standard treatment & prevention until the 1990s was HRT, which is inexpensive; now it is bisphosphonates.  Testosterone level in old men is higher comparative to estradiol in old women, which is why osteoporosis and arthritis are far more common in women.  My mother and millions of women would avoid bone fractures if they were given the inexpensive, once standard, HRT. 

Year later I looked into the older journal articles and found out why every post menopause woman should be on natural HRT (NHRT progesterone and estradiol).  Benefits include:  major reductions in risk for heart attack, stroke, arthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, etc.  I wrote down these findings with links.  It is divided into 5 sections:  on estrogens, junk science by pharma & the NIH (National Institute of Health) and the critics’ responses; HRT benefits, recommended type and dose of NHRT; and last is a non-technical 1-page healthful summation. 

My studies uncovered critics who explained that the NIH used knowingly the worst formulation of HRT, Prempro (more on it below), thus the results from their major WHI clinical trial cannot be generalized--though pharma and NIH do.  Moreover, I found also that NHRT lowers breast cancer risk and increases survival.  Laboratory work shows that NHRT promotes the death of cancerous cells via the body's necrosis factor.  The American Heart Association, and in 1995 held that “Estrogen replacement therapy markedly attenuates the development of dietary atherosclerosis… up to 50% fewer adverse coronary events.” My research uncovered that pharma funds medical science; but it is really marketing science (tobacco science).  The HRT story is just one example of how pharma through control of information controls the practice of medicine.  I call it corporate tobacco ethics.  In time I came to understand why doctors prescribe bad drugs.  

An on point book review by a woman on her experience with HRT & NHRT on Amazon.com.  “Like many women, I thought the only way to deal with perimenopause and menopause was with Premarin [made with pregnant horse estrogen, Yuck] and other [synthetic] hormones pushed by large pharmaceutical companies. This book was a real eye opener for me. It explains how the estrogens naturally found in a woman's body can't be patented, because they are just natural bodily hormones. Therefore, the drug giants who court all the doctors have no financial incentive to tout naturally occurring hormones. Instead, they push the horse estrogens, and other unnatural products, which cause side effects [and at ineffective low dose HRT--jk].  This book explains how a woman with a good doctor can get a pharmacy to mix a custom-blended natural hormone replacement with few, if any, side effects, because it's what's in your body already.  I took this book [Natural Hormone Replacement for Women Over 45, by Morgenthaler & Wright, 1997] to my doctor who said of course he'd be happy to prescribe natural hormones as suggested in the book.[2]  Had I not brought it up, I, too would have been prescribed that horrible Premarin or Prempro, made from the urine of pregnant (and abused) mares.  I've spoken with other women over 45-50 who take the horse estrogen, Premarin (the name comes from PREgnant MARe's urine), and they were shocked that there was an alternative their doctors had never bothered mentioning.   Anyone interested in natural health should buy this must-read, and then discuss with your doctor.”

A Second review:  “I had a hysterectomy 5 years ago and have been very sick ever since but was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Depression and Panic Disorder.  It started within a week of the surgery.  Symptoms were mild at first but progressively got worse until I was bedridden. I have been declared disabled by a Social Security Disability judge.  I have tried various conventional Estrogen Replacement Therapies but without much help (pills, creams, shots, patches have caused all sorts of reactions - even borderline delirium and total incapacitation. [They took her ovaries during the hysterectomy and gave her a psychiatric drug--jk.][3]  A friend told me about this book and I immediately found an innovative GYN who worked with a compounding pharmacist who cautiously (with slow increases) prescribed this Natural Hormone Therapy for me via a cream since I don't absorb by mouth. [This has changed, progesterone now can be taken orally, and is available from a compounding pharmacy with estradiol—jk.]  Within one month, I began to notice a difference. I am now feeling wonderful for the first time in years--pre-hysterectomy normal.  I am so thrilled that I am telling my story to all that will listen.  I have friends that have seen such a dramatic change in me that they are buying the book and changing doctors to get off of the unnatural estrogen derived from horse urine they are on. This book is a must reading for all women and doctors who treat them. This information must get out--had I known, perhaps my 5 year nightmare would have been avoided.”  Note by jk:  My best-friend’s mother underwent what this woman writes of.  They took her ovaries, put her on the tranquilizer, diazepam. In 18 months she had her first nervous breakdown.  She remained on psychiatric drugs, had 3 more nervous breakdowns over the next 22 years, and died from breast cancer.    

These sex hormones are part of nature’s clock for death in the 7^th decade.  They have many additional functions including regulation of bone formation, of metabolism though insulin-leptin levels, of maintenance of blood vessels and skin, and a dozen more, see Wiki and Wiki.  The lack of estradiol & progesterone is the reason for the precipitous decline in health of women after menopause & the many chronic conditions--which pharma profits from.  Life extension with long-term NHRT is over 4 years.  I thus urge you to jump through phamra’s hoops and take NHRT.

Wikpedia¨   Estradiol

Estradiol (E2 or 17β-estradiol, also oestradiol) is a sex hormone. Estradiol is abbreviated E2 as it has 2 hydroxyl groups in its molecular structure. Estrone has 1 (E1) and estriol has 3 (E3). Estradiol is about 10 times as potent as estrone and about 80 times as potent as estriol in its estrogenic effect. Except during the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, its serum levels are somewhat higher than that of estrone during the reproductive years of the human female. Thus estradiol  is the predominant estrogen during reproductive years both in terms of absolute serum levels as well as in terms of estrogenic activity. During menopause, estrone is the predominant circulating estrogen and during pregnancy

estriol is the predominant circulating estrogen in terms of serum levels. Estradiol is also present in males, being produced as an active metabolic product of testosterone. The serum levels of estradiol in males (14 - 55 pg/mL) are roughly comparable to those of postmenopausal women (< 35 pg/mL). Estradiol in vivo is interconvertible with estrone; estradiol to estrone conversion being favored. Estradiol has not only a critical impact on reproductive and sexual functioning, but also affects other organs, including the bones.

In the normal menstrual cycle, estradiol levels measure typically <50 pg/ml at menstruation, rise with follicular development (peak: 200 pg/ml), drop briefly at ovulation, and rise again during the luteal phase for a second peak. At the end of the luteal phase, estradiol levels drop to their menstrual levels unless there is a pregnancy.

During pregnancy, estrogen levels, including estradiol, rise steadily toward term. The source of these estrogens is the placenta, which aromatizes prohormones produced in the fetal adrenal gland.  Estrogen functions to prevent apoptosis of male sperm cells.^[7]  Several studies have noted sperm counts have been declining in many parts of the world, and estrogen exposure in the environment has been postulated to be the cause.^[8]   Suppression of estradiol production in a subpopulation of subfertile men may improve the semen analysis.^[9]  {Another theory is that the tight underwear raises testicular temperature and thereby lowers sperm count and promotes the production of abnormal sperm.  Probably both the estrogen mimics and underwear are the causes—JK}.

Bone

Estradiol has a profound effect on bone. Individuals without it (or other estrogens) will become tall and eunuchoid, as epiphyseal closure is delayed or may not take place. Bone structure is affected also, resulting in early osteopenia and osteoporosis.^[10] Also, women past menopause experience an accelerated loss of bone mass due to a relative estrogen deficiency.

Liver

Estradiol has complex effects on the liver. It can lead to cholestasis. It affects the production of multiple proteins, including lipoproteins, binding proteins, and proteins responsible for blood clotting.

Brain

Estrogens can be produced in the brain from steroid precursors. As antioxidants, they have been found to have neuroprotective function.^[11]

The positive and negative feedback loops of the menstrual cycle involve ovarian estradiol as the link to the hypothalamic-pituitary system to regulate gonadotropins.

Estrogen is considered to play a significant role in women’s mental health, with links suggested between the hormone level, mood and well-being. Sudden drops or fluctuations in, or long periods of sustained low levels of estrogen may be correlated with significant mood-lowering. Clinical recovery from depression postpartum, perimenopause, and postmenopause was shown to be effective after levels of estrogen were stabilized and/or restored.^[12][13]

Blood vessels

Estrogen affects certain blood vessels. Improvement in arterial blood flow has been demonstrated in coronary arteries.^[14]

6·  ^ Carreau, S; Lambard, S; Delalande, C; Denis-Galeraud, I; Bourguiba, S; Bourguiba, Sonia (2003). "Aromatase expression and role of estrogens in male gonad : a review". Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 1: 35. doi:10.1186/1477-7827-1-35. PMC 155680. PMID 12747806.

7·  ^ Pentikäinen, V; Erkkilä, K; Suomalainen, L; Parvinen, M; Dunkel, L (2000). "Estradiol acts as a germ cell survival factor in the human testis in vitro". The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 85 (5): 2057–67. doi:10.1210/jc.85.5.2057. PMID 10843196.

8·  ^ Sharpe, RM; Skakkebaek, NE (1993). "Are oestrogens involved in falling sperm counts and disorders of the male reproductive tract?". Lancet 341 (8857): 1392–5. doi:10.1016/0140-6736(93)90953-E. PMID 8098802.

9·  ^ Raman, JD; Schlegel, PN (2002). "Aromatase inhibitors for male infertility". The Journal of urology 167 (2 Pt 1): 624–9. doi:10.1016/S0022-5347(01)69099-2. PMID 11792932.

10·  ^ Carani, C; Qin, K; Simoni, M; Faustini-Fustini, M; Serpente, S; Boyd, J; Korach, KS; Simpson, ER (1997). "Effect of testosterone and estradiol in a man with aromatase deficiency". The New England journal of medicine 337 (2): 91–5. doi:10.1056/NEJM199707103370204. PMID 9211678.

·11  ^ Behl C, Widmann M, Trapp T, Holsboer F (November 1995). "17-beta estradiol protects neurons from oxidative stress-induced cell death in vitro". Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 216 (2): 473–82. doi:10.1006/bbrc.1995.2647. PMID 7488136.

12·  ^ Douma SL, Husband C, O'Donnell ME, Barwin BN, Woodend AK (2005). "Estrogen-related mood disorders: reproductive life cycle factors". ANS Adv Nurs Sci 28 (4): 364–75. PMID 16292022.

13·  ^ Lasiuk GC, Hegadoren KM (October 2007). "The effects of estradiol on central serotonergic systems and its relationship to mood in women". Biol Res Nurs 9 (2): 147–60