Actress Suzanne Somers says she owes her ageless good looks and boundless energy to natural bio identical hormones. Now OPRAH WINFREY says natural estrogen and other bioidentical hormones have helped her as well. Could they be your answer?
Some doctors question the treatment - and s ay it may even be even dangerous to women.
Here's a look at the natural estrogen and bioidentical hormone controversy ....
Are Bioidentical or natural hormones right for you?
Showdown At The
Fountain of Youth ! Continued....
YourMenopause.com
The Source
Suzanne Somers and "Ageless"
The Bioidentical Hormone Controversy
Bioidentical hormones and Natural Estrogen continued .....
Different Singer -- Same Song
If the lyrics to this song sound familiar, they should. Back in 1966, New York gynecologist Robert Wilson, MD, wrote "Feminine Forever" -- a book that, not unlike Somers' tome, claimed hormone therapy was the panacea that could get aging women "back into the bedroom, back into the kitchen, and back to looking and feeling young" in record time.
It was "Feminine Forever" that is credited, at least in part, with launching the widespread clamor for synthetic HRT and a pharmaceutical fountain of youth that lasted well over 35 years.
The problem then – and maybe now – is that most of the claims attributed to hormone use were assumptions rather than facts – something that became clear during the National Institutes of Health 2002 Women's Health Initiative Study.
From that study we learned that not only was HRT not the fountain of youth, but some women who attempted to bathe in its waters nearly drowned. The risk of heart disease, stroke, blood clots, and even breast cancer increased among many groups of women using HRT, the study showed.
And while this is not likely to be the final word on hormone use, some experts caution that the assumptions being made about bioidentical hormones today harkens back to this ‘60s mind-set, once again taking women into uncharted waters.
"We are, in many ways, in a no-data zone,” says Marcie Richardson, MD, a clinical instructor in obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Menopause Consultation Service at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates. “Bioidentical hormones have not been specifically studied in a randomized trial on any widespread level, and if you are to use that as a criteria, then it's true that we don't know if they are any better -- and they could turn out to be much worse -- than synthetic hormones. We just don’t know."
Utian takes a stronger position. He believes we can extrapolate data from what was learned during years of synthetic HRT research and apply it to bioidentical treatments, showing they are no safer and no different than other forms of hormone therapy.
"There is this totally false impression that these so-called bioidentical hormones are somehow safer, or that they don't carry the risks but they do carry the benefits. Quite frankly, you can't have your cake and eat it," says Utian.
Menopause Is an Emotional Roller Coaster
Complicating matters further is the issue of how some bioidentical hormones are dispensed.
Although versions of bioidenticals made in FDA-approved laboratories are readily available, many users, including Somers, advocate filling prescriptions at compounding pharmacies -- drug stores that make treatments from scratch according to a doctor’s prescription. The advantage includes having each prescription tailor-made for each woman.
While the concept makes sense, the problem is that most doctors are unfamiliar with writing prescriptions from scratch. Some experts say the dosages and combinations of hormonal ingredients that result are gleaned from largely untested protocols.
"Doctors are rubber stamping prescriptions to please their patients, while these compounding pharmacies are making concoctions -- often at their own discretion. It's like practicing medicine without a license," says Utian.
Moreover, many of these establishments -- as well as Somers herself -- recommend blood and saliva testing to determine a woman's hormone status, and thus discover her bioidentical hormone needs. But hormone level testing is something doctors say has been long proven not to work.
"A woman's reproductive hormones can change dramatically from hour to hour, as well as through her cycle, and from cycle to cycle. There is absolutely nothing useful you can tell about a woman's hormone status from a blood or saliva test -- it's nonsense," says Utian.
While Richardson says compounding isn't always a bad thing – suggesting that when done responsibly it allows for individualized dosing – she cautions that quality control can be an issue.
Indeed, a recent survey conducted by the FDA showed that 34 percent of the sampled drugs made in these establishments failed one or more standard quality tests. Among those failures, most contained less-than-expected amounts of the active ingredients.
Goldstein says there is talk the industry will begin policing itself, adopting a strict, albeit voluntary, code of ethics to keep the fringes from becoming even more frayed. “This should help,” he says.
And doctors like Schwartz say they will continue to petition drug companies for funding to study all bioidentical hormone preparations so "women will know once and for all what they can safely use."
In the meantime, just where can a gal who is flashing and sweating turn for help?
Richardson offers this advice: "Talk to your doctor; work with your doctor. And if you want to use bioidentical hormones, let your physician -- and not Hollywood -- be your guide."
Colette Bouchez is the author of "Your Perfectly Pampered Menopause: Health, Beauty and Lifestyle Advice for the Best Years of Your Life" and director of www.YourMenopause.com.
SOURCES: Erika Schwartz, MD, New York City, author, The Hormone Solution. Steve Goldstein, MD, professor, obstetrics and gynecology, NYU Medical Center; author, Could It Be Perimenopause? Wolf Utian, MD, executive director, North American Menopause Society. Marcie Richardson, MD, clinical instructor, obstetrics and gynecology, Harvard Medical School; director,Menopause Consultation Service, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates. Wilson, R. Feminine Forever, M. Evans and Company, Inc., Jan. 25, 1968. FDA: “Pharmacy Compounding: Customizing Prescription Drugs.” The Journal of the American Medical Association, July 17, 2002; vol 288. Stewart, P. The New England Journal of Medicine, 2006; vol 355: pp 1724-1726. Fletcher, S. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002; vol 288: pp 366-368. Survey,FDA/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
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