Frequently Asked Questions for Women
Q: I've heard that taking estrogen increases my chance of getting cancer or having a stroke or heart attack. Aren't hormone supplements dangerous for women?
A: Although the names sound similar, the Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) that we advocate in these articles is significantly different than the ERT (Estrogen Replacement Therapy) and HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) protocols that have been used over the last 40 years.
Most people have heard of the recent studies on the ERT and HRT protocols that showed increased risks of heart disease, stroke, or cancer in women taking estrogen supplements. What they do not know is that these studies were performed on women taking synthetic progesterone (called a "progestin") and animal estrogen. For example, one of the patented HRT medications in that study, PremPro, uses horse estrogen from the urine of pregnant mares (Premarin) combined with another patented synthetic hormone, Provera (a man-made cousin to naturally occurring progesterone.) There have been many problems associated with synthetic, hormones. They interact with the human body in unpredictable ways. For example, the horse estrogen used in the brand name drug Premarin stays active for about 8 times as long as normal human estrogen, and the synthetic estrogen Ethinyl Estradiol used in many birth control pills stays active 1,000 times as long!
Drug companies are not allowed to patent a natural human hormone. They can only patent something they invent, so they keep trying to invent a synthetic hormone that works as well as a normal human hormone without any side effects. They have not yet succeeded. The unpredictable nature of the synthetic hormones usually causes the body to react as if it is experiencing a hormone imbalance.
Hormone imbalances are a major cause of the increased risk of cancer, heart disease, and stroke we experience as we age. And, the body can't tell whether it is experiencing a hormone imbalance due to age or due to taking a synthetic hormone. Thus, correcting a hormone imbalance with a synthetic hormone that simply causes another hormone imbalance doesn't fix anything. However, even if you don't take the synthetic hormone, your body is still left with its own original hormone imbalance, so that is risky also. On the other hand, if the hormone imbalance is corrected using safe, bio-identical hormones that the body was designed to use, there are no increased risks of heart disease, stroke, or cancer. In contrast to the ERT and HRT protocols, BHRT uses hormones identical to the hormones your own body produces. These hormones cannot be patented, and therefore are not marketed by pharmaceutical companies heavily. By avoiding the side affects known to be associated with synthetic hormones (increased risks of cancer, stroke, and heart disease), natural hormone replacement accomplishes hormone rebalancing safely.
Another way BHRT differs from other hormone replacement therapies involves the dose. ERT and HRT attempted a "one dose fits all" approach in which all women took similar doses of hormones, regardless of what their actual hormone needs or levels were. Hormone levels are like fingerprints, however, and are different in each individual. Therefore, BHRT is given in doses that are individualized, specifically tailored for each individual's actual hormone needs. Tests to identify your individual hormone imbalance are performed before starting therapy, and tests are performed after starting therapy to make sure your hormone levels are in the theraputic, safe range.
Q: Why do you want to keep testing my hormone levels? Didn't the first test already tell you that they were low?
A: There are specific levels of the different hormones that are known to be safe, and actually protective against cancer, heart disease, and stroke. However, each person responds differently to hormones. Since our goal is to restore hormones to a healthy level, periodic retesting and evaluation of hormone replacement dosing is advisable. This is in contrast to the one-size-fits-all hormone replacement dose tried by the drug companies, which proved to increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
Q: Will hormones cause me to gain a lot of muscle?
A: Using hormone or "steroid" shots to raise testosterone levels way above the normal, healthy range will cause you to gain muscle quickly. However, that is unhealthy. Our goal is to keep hormones in the normal, youthful range to keep you healthy and feeling good.