HRT Therapy for Menopausal Women in Disarray! The controversy rages on. Every day in the news media, more and more comes out after a major study on the effects of hormone replacement therapy on pre-, post- and menopausal women. The findings of the study, in case you haven’t read the reports yourself, is that a certain brand of estrogen and progestin (an artificial form of progesterone) does not prevent heart problems, and probably triggers them in susceptible individuals. Last month it was determined that these drugs do not protect anyone from breast cancer either. Blood clotting has also been thrown into the equation so the only thing left that has been proven effective for is alleviating hot flushes including night sweats. Whew….all that in a matter of weeks! And there will surely be more flak to come. This is a severe blow to the mainstream medical industry and to the huge drug companies which have been profiting from hormone treatment for about 50 years. Apparently, sales have already diminished dramatically because there were so many women taking them…The generation born after the second world war is the largest in history and, of course has more women who are living longer than the onset of menopause. For a long time, menopause has been treated like a disease with appropriate medication to start taking (for the rest of our lives, no less) as soon as we feel the slightest twinge of a heatwave or irritability. Women didn’t even wait to see if it would pass because their symptoms seemed to be overwhelming. I’ve suffered through major flushing that continued with a strange tingling. If I consciously relaxed and moved to a cooler area all would be well. I opted for the herbal route and started to do research on the subject about 7 years ago when I first noticed an abatement of menses and some “warm moments.” Things like Dong Quai, Wild Yam, Evening Primrose oil, black currant seed oil, Gotu kola, St. John’s Wort and lecithin have stood me in good stead, along with ginseng, chamomile and valerian for their varying properties of alleviating mood swings, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, anxiety, depression, libido and bladder problems, skin and vaginal dryness, etc. To give my doctor credit, she did not try to push HRT on me and respected my desire to find out all I could with no pooh, poohing. The list of symptoms does go on and on, so this is really a major problem for many women. I know several who opted for the “patch” which administers the hormone transdermally. Much more conveneient than the oral form. That is all changing now as women will have to rethink their usage and their risks and benefits. Most doctors quoted in news reports say not to panic, but one of the main points brought out was that no woman should take Estrogen and Progestin (a particular brand in the U.S. which is popular in Canada under a different name) for more than 4 or 5 years. That news is shocking in itself because most of the women have been told they’d be using the hormone till they die or they will shrivel up like an old prune and become unloved and unwanted (as mentioned by the doctor who popularized the therapy in the first place.) Incidentally, the author of the book “Feminine Forever” written in 1966 (Dr. Robert Wilson) did actually make such a comment..."Breasts and genital organs will not shrivel. Such women will be much more pleasant to live with and will not become dull and unattractive." And, Dr. Wilson's son just released the news that all his book-writing and promoting expenses including a fabulous office on New York's Fifth Avenue were paid for by...you guessed it... Wyeth-Ayerst, the drug company that produces the hormone pills. I think that that about says it all. We, as women, have no one to blame but ourselves because we had implicit faith in the medical system, without trying to find anything out for ourselves. I chatted with an old friend the other day who’d just been to her male doctor to get a prescription for Premarin (the most popular drug even though it isn’t balanced with the just- as-important progesterone, along with small amounts of other hormones) and he did not mention any untoward risks attached to taking the pills. Apparently, some of these findings have been listed on the flyer that comes in the box, but who actually reads that information? I’ve been asking for years when we’ll have access to the formulations being used in Europe and keep being told that there’s no difference which is not the case. Now we find out that the blanket therapy being maligned is only used in North America. Hmmm…are we more gullible than the rest of the world? Or do the drug companies really think they know what’s best for us. I think it’s time we wake up, smell the coffee and take our lives into our own hands! Then we won’t have to say “Why me?” if we find we’re battling cancer or heart problems. The story isn’t over yet and it will be interesting to see what the end result will be. One thing I know almost certainly is that the drug companies won’t take this lying down and will most likely come up smelling like roses…even if they have to fund study after study in order to make the profits they have come to enjoy. And doctors will fall into line and we’ll be no further ahead… That is, if women don’t rise up and take over their own lives! Back to the Writing Index