Some Good News About HRT!

In this edition of the Hormone Beat:

Some Good News About HRT and The Five Things That I Would Never Do As a Hormone Specialist.

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TOP NEWS:

Finally, some good news about HRT in the press. This is a recent publication, Major Women's Health Studies Supports Hormone Replacement Therapy in Early Menopause. All of this stems from a recent publication that was after the 20th anniversary of the WHI.

That is the Women's Health Initiative, a continuing, ongoing, large database that has done a lot of research. And they specifically put out a publication in 2002 that shadowed the risk of HRT. And to this day, has biased medical providers into thinking hormone therapy is bad.

If you polled 10 out of 10 gynecologists, I think nine of them would tell you not to take HRT. 10 out of 10 family practice doctors, 10 of them would tell you not to take hormones. So this is a win for us, and let's take a deeper look at what the study shows.

The key takeaway is hormone therapy can safely ease middle-aged women's symptoms during early menopause. Yes, you can use them for symptoms. Women younger than 60 can use therapy without significantly increasing the risk of breast cancer.

However, we can't say that it will decrease your risk of strokes, dementia, and other chronic diseases. So let's remember the reason the study was done in the first place is because they wanted the FDA to say, everyone takes this drug to prevent heart disease.

And in the course of doing that study, after five years, they saw an increased risk of breast cancer and increased risk of blood clots. That was later attributed to a synthetic progestin.

In this article, Dr. Joanne Manson also goes on to say that what's more commonly used today is transdermal estrogen in a gell or a patch, which is what we use with our patients, and micronized progesterone.

So if your doctor has told you that it's risky and you shouldn't use it, and you're wondering about this, maybe you should find a provider that is more versed with the common studies and the more updated studies about hormone therapy, because according to this article, more women potentially should be using it in early menopause.

Here are five things that I would never do as an integrative gynecologist or hormone specialist.

Number one: 
I would never prescribe oral estrogen. Even if it's oral estrogen and it's estradiol and it's bioidentical, once you take it orally, it increases the sex hormone binding globulin, which decreases your testosterone, your free testosterone, and decreases your free thyroid.

And let's face it, women in menopause don't need less testosterone. They're all struggling with libido and also don't need less thyroid hormone. They're struggling with their weight as well.

Number two:
I would never use birth control pills as hormone replacement.

Birth control pills are great for contraception if you need to prevent pregnancy, but if you're trying to replace your hormones and you want something similar to what your body's making, birth control pills are synthetic estrogen, and synthetic progestin, and the longer you take it, there are risks associated with it.

Some small studies showed an increased risk of breast cancer, others showed an increased risk of depression.

Number three:
I know I'm going to catch some flack about this, I would never prescribe estrogen only.

Whether you have a uterus or not, studies have shown estrogen is a growth hormone. Estrogen causes an increased risk of uterine cancer when you give it alone. There are plenty of studies, including our textbook from Leon, that show that the breast cell and the endometrial cell are the same.

So what that means is if you give estrogen to someone, you're causing stimulation of the breast without the balancing hormone progesterone. Multiple studies show an increased risk of breast cancer when you give estrogen alone, one of them being the nurses’ health study, and the other one being the E3-EPIC cohort in Europe.

Number four:
I would never try to assess anyone's thyroid function just based on a TSH. There are other things in a woman's body and in a man's body that affect the TSH. If your cortisol is too high or too low, it's going to suppress the release of TSH from the pituitary so you're going to have a falsely low TSH.

In addition, some things can prevent conversion from T4 to T3. Also, as I mentioned, estrogen, having a lot of estrogen decreases the free thyroid. So you need the whole panel to be able to make an assessment.

Number five:
I would never just give someone a prescription without assessing the other things. You've got to sleep seven to eight hours a night, you’ve got to clean up your diet. There are so many endocrine disruptors in the environment whether it’s plastics, whether it’s pesticides, whether it’s things in our food, giving someone a prescription without addressing their diet, stress management, and their movement, they’ve got to move .eir bodies…is only going to get you so far.

The Hormone Guru:

Transform Your Life with Threads of Wisdom and Bursts of Laughter!

Embrace your role as the maestro of your hormones... And, rather than just riding the waves, command them with elegance and joy.

It's time to celebrate the orchestration of your internal rhythms, note by joyful note. But how?

• Stay Curious: Dive deeper into "The Hormone Beat" and uncover secrets to master your hormonal harmony.

• Cherish Your Journey: Your path is unique. Embrace it with every burst of laughter and moment of discovery.

• Live Balanced: Discover the bliss of well-tuned hormones. Let your days resonate with the harmony you deserve.

Until we meet again on this vibrant voyage, just remember: Your path to hormonal balance isn't just a journey, it's a celebration. Come join us on this adventure. Let's make every moment count.

Stay inquisitive, cherish your unique journey, and may your days be filled with the balance and bliss of well-tuned hormones.

Until our paths cross again... Keep tuning into The Hormone Beat.