Estrogen
There is a great deal of fear and confusion when it comes to menopause and hormone supplementation. First, the term Hormone Replacement Therapy or HRT can conjure up the image of a cancer, stroke, and heart disease causing cocktail of synthetic hormones.

Next there is the "alternative," Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy (NHRT). There is no Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy. Hormones for use in humans need to be synthesized from something.  While many use the term, it is the sometimes favorite of internet sites selling "hormones," and thus an easy target for critics who still favor the use of horse hormones and point to the "NHRT" websites as those making unsupported claims and being medically dangerous.

Sometimes, but incorrectly added to the latter group are the aptly and descriptively named "Bio-Identical Hormones." Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) is not "natural" hormones and should never be referred to as that. Their sources are natural, being derived from plant sources, but, they must be chemically altered to exactly match the hormones produced in the body.

This is where the "natural" confusion comes in. Bio-identical Hormones are engineered to exactly match the natural hormones present in the body, but they themselves are not "natural" but indeed, bio-identical.

I would like to point out here that NOT every woman coming in with peri-menospausal, menopausal or post-menopausal complaints is put on hormone therapy at our clinic and there are no studies that clearly show that bio-identical hormones are any safer than synthetic hormones.

Sometimes the desired results a women wants can be achieved by quitting smoking or drinking, altering a diet to avoid foods that could aggravate symptoms, such as coffee, sugars, and foods loaded with chemicals, getting more exercise, reducing stress, reducing exposure to caustic elements and more. 

There are options to Hormone Replacement Therapy and these can and should be discussed with a physician knowledgeable in understanding all the options available to the peri-menospausal and menopausal woman. Just because Grandma went through menopause naturally, doesn't mean she was the better for it!

Hormone replacement, peri-menopause and menopause
For over four decades doctors freely prescribed synthetic estrogen replacement to women in the throes of menopause to alleviate the myriad of symptoms associated with the "Change of Life."  It was an easy thing to do. A women would come in with "hot flashes," "mood swings," and "fatigue," among other complaints and the doctor would simply give them estrogen. Why not? The women who took estrogen seemed to be more youthful, enjoy life more, and "had control of their bodies."

The problem became supplying the demand for estrogen. To which "Estrogen Farms," were set up to capture the urine of pregnant mares (where the name Premarin comes from (Pre=Pregnant, Mar=Mare, In=Urine) to glean the estrogen from it.

Synthetic horse-urine estrogen replacement was now the vogue and over 10,000,000 women were "in style." Physicians felt comfortable putting women on this estrogen, since many studies proclaimed the vast benefits of estrogen replacement therapy. In fact, once on horse-estrogen, many women refused and still refuse to give it up!

Happy with horse estrogen

After menopause, estrogen levels in a woman's body declines.


Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT) alleviated the familiar symptoms of menopause for many women.
With this decline often comes the familiar symptoms of:
1. vaginal dryness, painful intercourse
2. vaginal mucosal atrophy
3. hot flashes
4. night sweats
5. fatigue
6. mood swings and memory problems
7. fluid retention
8. sleep problems
9. decreased libido
10. involuntary loss of urine (stress incontinence)
11. more frequent urinary tract infections

It seemed like an idyllic world. Women wanted estrogen, the doctors were eager to comply, and the pharmaceutical industry was happy to produce.

Then on July 12, 2002, the world of synthetic estrogen replacement abruptly collapsed and panic filled women across the world.  The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that Hormone Replacement Therapy was too dangerous to research!

Estrogen Segments 1 2 3

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