Estrogen

[Guest Lynne Clemens]

I read 2 articles in a local paper yesterday regarding Estrogen or hormone replacement.

 

The first article dealt with HRT for menopausal women and why there may be no health benefit for many women who take it if they had no annoyiing symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes.  The article suggested that estrogen replacement may actually make women feel SICKER, more lethargic, run down, besides the risk factors such as breast cancer.

 

The second article shocked me, because I had never heard of it before.

 

It dealt with giving girls who were prone to be tall estrogen to mature them faster, thus keeping them from growing too tall.  It is a practice begun in the 1950's, when tall women may have been stigmatized for their height.  While many endocrinologists want to ban it, it was said that 22% of pediatric endos had prescribed estrogen for this purpose.  I was appalled!  They have no idea how they may be affecting the rest of the endocrine system with this type of therapy.

[Kristy]

Wow Lynne - especially about the tall girls - I had heard that from a lady when my daughter reached 5'-9. My husband is tall so I blew her off.

 

There are different kinds of estrogens too. Perhaps when I get home, I'll pull all of the info I have together on that. The horse derived estrogen is supposed to be the one that is widely used and is supposed to be one-size fits all and it isn't - there are better meds that are closer to our own natural estrogen. What a great topic!

[Kristy]

Hey Lynne -

Here's the link to your article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...3-2002Feb5.html

[Kristy]

Hormone Replacement Therapy - HRT - Is a HOT topic in medical circles. I think it is a really good topic for us to consider too since we have a real hormone balacing act going on anyways!

 

Here are some really excellent web sites that address HRT:

http://www.queendom.com/articles/womenshea...t-overview.html

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/misc/hrt_booklet.PDF

 

Here is the site of the North American Menapause Society and the studies they list:

http://www.menopause.org/news.html

[Guest pat@wtp]

Last summer the wonderful GYN that first mentioned adrenal gland function testing for me, he noticed the hump when he came in the door, was trying to help out with my low libido he perscribed testosterone cream. I had to go to the ONLY compounding pharmacist in the area (Suffolk, VA) and that man had nothing good to say about the Premarin that I've been on for the ten years since my hysterectomy. He said that if I could get the doctor to perscribe it he could make a natural tri-estrogen cream for me to use. I would love to but he doesn't accept ANY insurance because the re-imbursement is so low, and I can't afford the prices he charges.

 

I already drink a soy beverage because of lactose intolerance and a soy protein supplement for my high cholesterol levels so I need to discuss not taking HRT with my doctor.