No Wonder Hormone Therapy Scares the Heck out of Women!

These headlines are starting all over again.

July 14, 2009 -Women who are on hormone therapy or who have used it in the recent past are at higher risk of ovarian cancer than women who have never been on hormone therapy, a new study shows.

The increase in risk was found regardless of the hormone dose or formulation, whether hormones were taken by mouth, transdermal patch, or vaginally, or whether the treatment included just estrogen or estrogen and progestin, the researchers say.

In the study, Morch and her team evaluated more than 909,000 Danish women, ages 50 to 79, who were on national Danish registers. After an average of eight years of follow-up, 3,068 cases of ovarian cancer were found. At the end of the study, 63% of the women were never-users of hormone therapy and 9% current users.

Compared to never users, current hormone therapy users had an overall 38% increased risk of ovarian cancer.

Put another way: for every 8,300 women on hormone therapy per year, one extra case of ovarian cancer could be attributed to hormone therapy.

Previous research has found that current use of hormones raises ovarian cancer risk by 30% compared with no hormone use, with the risk of estrogen-only therapy sometimes found to be higher than combined therapy. In her research, Tworoger found that estrogen-only therapy boosted risk and a suggestion of an increased risk with estrogen and progestin therapy.

What I want readers to understand is this is done on CURRENT STANDARD OF CARE TREATMENT OPTIONS for HORMONE REPLACEMENT. Which means, static dosing NOT cyclic dosing , progestin NOT progesterone and women are starting years after their hormone levels have been low or zero which means their response to hormone therapy is challenged already.

There needs to be a better understanding between compounded hormone therapy, the way it is dosed, the way it is combined or not combined, and the difference between "FDA-approved" hormone therapy vs "NonFDA-approved". It isn't a matter of "natural" or "bioidentical" hormones ONLY. Because fact is FDA approved non compounded hormones can be bioidentical and natural too. That doesn't make them better just because they are "natural". Endocrinology is a complicated topic and women's hormone cycle is specific. We have peaks and troughs and can grow life inside our bodies. If hormones were the cause of ovarian cancer then I think these numbers would be a lot higher than what is being reported.

Call my cell 630-220-4122 to set up an appointment or email me at jones.gretchen@gmail.com

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In Response to Science Daily's Article Pharmacist survey shows huge growth in compounded menopausal hormone therapy

Prescription sales are increased for custom compounded bioidentical hormones because patients and doctors are getting more educated about the difference between some pharmaceutical hormones that are hormone therapies that are FDA approved. The Women's health initiative study is the main study that is always referred to when discussing risks of hormone therapy. However, that study was done with synthetic hormones, Prempro and Premarin. If you want to look at the details of that study you will find out the reason it is not a good study is twofold. Number 1 it is not replicating how hormones are used in our body and Number 2 these are chemical structures that are not identical to our own hormones.

The issue I have with random compounding is that there is no consensus to what is healthy and effective for women when it comes to hormone replacement. Some pharmacists and doctors believe that women need way too much testosterone with their estrogen, too little progesterone and some believe that giving the hormones all together in one dose is the way to take hormones.

Instead of bashing hormone therapy and instead of just treating a hot flash, if the FDA really wants to help women after the age of about 40 when hormones decline substantially and symptoms begin to increase rapidly, FUND A DAMN STUDY ON CYCLIC HORMONE THERAPY. Mimic physiology of a women's hormone cycle with transdermal hormone creams and then we can put this debate about hormones "causing" cancer to rest and start focusing on the real causes of cancer and better treatment options when women are faced with female cancers.

To set up an appointment email me at jones.gretchen@gmail.com hormone replacement therapy, hormone imbalance, women to women, bodylogicmd, hormone replacement after hysterectomy, bioidentical hormones, HRT, women's health, men's health, TS Wiley, The Wiley Protocol, hormone watch, suzanne somers, endocrine study, WHI study, women's health initiative study,