Stroke risk prompts halt to estrogen pill study

[leftchick]

http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=3A5E88B1-8107-4B30-95E7-10906C6F809D


<snip>
Health officials have halted yet another hormone study well before it was to end, saying estrogen pills pose an unacceptably high risk of stroke, and dealing the whole idea of hormone supplements in menopause one more blow.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health announced Tuesday it has stopped an estrogen trial one year early after researchers found estrogen not only appears to have no affect on heart disease, it increases the risk of stroke and possibly even dementia and mild brain damage. A key point of the study was to find out whether estrogen reduces the risk of heart disease.

Millions of Canadian women have taken estrogen to ease hot flashes, night sweats and other symptoms of menopause.

Two years ago, another arm of the same study, called the Women's Health Initiative Trial, was prematurely halted when researchers linked an estrogen-plus-progestin combination to an increased risk of heart disease, invasive breast cancer, blood clots and stroke.

[sadiesworld]

1. Unbelievable. They say the only real risk is the combination of the

two drugs, but halt the study on the (OK-if-taken-alone) estrogen. The articles are just confusing enough to fool many desperate menopausal women. This is a scandal decades in the making

[jus_the_facts]

2. they've known that for YEARS already from birth control pills........

.....and they've been screwin' up women with 'em for just as long...the bastards! :grr:

[sendero]

3. As usual....

... the report talks about ESTROGEN therapy but the drug being tested is NOT ESTROGEN.

It is PREMARIN, freaking horse hormones. All these HRT studies are nonsense because they are all done using sythetic hormone analogs or other crap like this horse urine junk - NOT real (or lab created) human hormones.

Why is that you might ask? One reason might be that you cannot patent real estrogen or real progesterone - so the drug companies have no incentive to test them - there is no money in it.

My personal belief is that HRT done properly, using real hormones, is a good thing. Syntheic drugs are not hormones and why should anyone be surprised when they don't act just like hormones in the body.

[hlthe2b]

5. I was typing my reply as you apparently were, as well Deseo....

Glad others here are aware of this....

[hlthe2b]

4. One thing to note: Premarin (used in both the CN and NIH studies):

is a conjugated equine-derived estrogen (from horses)which, in "standard" hormone replacement (HRT) is combined with progestin, a pharmaceutical man-made hormone, similar but not chemically identical to progesterone.

By contrast, the body's natural form of hormone is estrogen in the form of estradiol and estriol, balanced by natural progesterone.

These studies reflect risk from pharmaceutical derived hormones that may or may not reflect risk from natural hormone replacement--
Because of the strong pull of the drug companies, this has been the standard for hormonal replacement in this country. No studies have ever been done on supplementing with natural hormone replacement-- identical hormones to what is produced by the body and which can be compounded by special compounding pharmacies. This is an approach that has been ongoing in Europe and an increasing number of US ob/gyn physicians. Don't be surprised if your own physician knows nothing about it, though. They are not taught about its potential in medical school. There is no incentive to study these natural hormonal replacement alternatives, since they can not be patented. However, many insurance companies will cover them as a HRT replacement. Christine Northrup is one ob/gyn who has written on the subject, but there are others...

I only bring this up, because the press, nor the scientific/medical community is not being clear that these studies do NOT answer the question about the safety of supplementation and replacement of natural hormones, bioidentical to the body's own, but only the question as to whether the drug Premarin is safe.

[Mairead]

7. I don't think that's quite right--to my knowledge Premarin has no

progestin in it.

[hlthe2b]

10. Sorry... I was actually referring to standard HRT therapy which is

Premarin for estrogen replacement combined with progestin, for progesterone-like effects... Typed quickly while semi-listening to a telephone conference call for work... (Mom always TOLD me to do ONE thing at a time, LOL).

Thanks for catching that, Mairead.

[sendero]

11. My wife...

... uses a pharmacy compounded cream natural HRT. It took some experimentation to find the proper balance between estrogen and progesterone (this is critical, and may differ from person to person) but it is working very well for her.

I totally believe (as does she) in this therapy. Anyone who is peri-menopausal or menopausal and having lots of problems with it would probably benefit from this.

She learned about this on the net, there is a specialist who has written a book about the process of discovering HRT that is effective. Anyone interested could PM me and I'll look up the title and author...

[hlthe2b]

13. I'm glad your wife has found someone to help her with this...

I know first hand that there is incredible ignorance about natural bioidentical hormone replacement as an alternative in medical circles. Unfortunately, this leaves some vulnerable to products that may not have reliable (quantified) levels of effective hormone (especially creams from health food stores) nor advice from professionals to monitor their progress. There are some good sources of info out there though.

Sadly, compounding pharmacies have been seriously deemphasized in the past several decades. Pharmacists were once well trained to formulate medications, rather than simply popping capsules in a bottle. Besides natural hormones, many drugs do not come in forms that are readily available to some individuals (including young children, or individuals with health problems that may impact oral absorption. Compounding pharmacists once widely filled that role. The expertise is still available, however, a fact that most physicians are totally unaware.

[Mairead]

6. I wonder why they don't simply suggest aspirin as an anti-clot agent

I'd certainly rather do that than endure the constant colds from getting chilled because I threw off the covers in my sleep. Plus having to go around with slimy, ratty hair unless I wash it every damned day, and going around with a slight film of oily sweat on my skin and having to change my clothes twice a day. Ugh. And that's when I *do* eat a lot of soy! When I take a break and get my protein from eggs and yoghurt instead, then it all gets even *worse*!

[BuddhaGirl]

16. Black cohosh,

an herb, is good for reducing hot flashes. Also, evening primrose oil is an essential fatty acid that helps with hormonal balance. You can get them in any health food store.

[Emillereid]

8. It's so unfortunate that these studies give hormones a bad name. The

stuff they use are not bio-identical hormones and they do not even come close to replacement values. They are drugs masquerading as hormones -- and in the case of the progestin part of the regimen, they actually used real bio-identical hormones to derive the patentable drug. Can't patent a real hormone.

We need proper studies using bio-identical (human, not horse) hormones used in physiologic amounts using the rhythmic, cyclic template from mother nature (mimic women's youthful cycles) -- see TS Wiley's "Sex, Lies and Menopause."

They also use relative percentages rather than absolute which exaggerate the findings and fail to fully discuss the many 'good' outcomes associated with even the estrogen like drug they used. Also they condemn a whole class of 'drugs'/hormones because of results based on one set (premarin and provera). See: http://www.antiaging.org/white_papers/jama_estrogen_study.html for another point of view.

[Malva Zebrina]

9. but do we really need them?

whatever for? To alleviate hot flashes that are a part and parcel of the normal aging process/

I am not sure if we need them at all. Do we need botox and abnormnal looking breast implants?

Really?

I wonder what the fear is here.

Doesn't it seem that it is women who are the most concerned about their "youth" and preserving it?

Is it the fear of losing one's attractiveness? and if so, why is there such concern and lack of confidence on the part of older women, I wonder.

We go through here once.

There seems to be a natural progression as we observe in nature. ACtually it is more relaxing to accept that then to have to fight it day after day.

No one will escape and so therefore why the obssession with looking "younger"? I cannot understand that.

[hlthe2b]

12. Some may not need them, but I certainly would not equate hormone

replacement with such seemingly ego-driven motives for botox and breast implants. The benefits of estrogen are well established, including, but not limited to maintaining bone density, considerable protection against cardiovascular disease (positive effect on cholesterol levels and "good" lipids--HDL).

The point is not only to live our full lifespan, as has been afforded by improvements in nutrition, health, and preventive/curative medicine, but to live it as healthy and disease-free as possible. For women, estrogen replacement (balanced with progesterone) appears to accomplish this. These studies, again point to problems with pharmaceutical drugs, not natural hormones.

In addition as someone mentioned, the risks found from even these drug forms of HRT are not being put in context at all. They are really quite rare. We tend to hear things like increases risk 4 fold as a frightening statistic, for example. But if the risk is only increasing from 1 case/million to 4/million is this of great concern?

[radwriter0555]

14. I have a friend who SWEARS her TWO bouts of ovarian cancer are directly

related to HRT.....

I believe her...

[WarNoMore]

15. I swear that

HRT (1st. Premarin & then Provera)gave me breast cancer. I asked twice to stop taking the Provera and they insisted I keep taking them as I had a heart attack 10 years previously. Funny thing, now that I'm no longer taking the Provera and my cholesterol is now at good levels.