Dr. Reiss maintains that
estrogen therapy does not boost your risk of breast cancer.
Not exact matches
Estrogens have been reported to exert protective vascular effects in animal and observational but randomized clinical trials
did not report such effects in older women, even suggesting the possibility of an increased CVD risk in this setting, especially with combined
estrogen plus progestin
therapy.
Since the report that it
did cause breast cancer and many women have stopped taking hormone replacement
therapy, we've seen a decrease in breast - cancer incidence, exactly what you'd predict for our understanding of how
estrogens work.
Triple - negative cancers are so called because they
do not express receptors for the hormones
estrogen and progesterone, nor for HER2 (human epidermal growth factor 2), and hence patients with these cancers are not candidates for treatment with modern hormonal
therapies or the highly effective HER2 - targeted drug Herceptin (trastuzumab).
TNBC is deadly because, unlike other types of breast cancers such as
estrogen receptor (ER) positive or HER2 amplified breast tumours which have effective targeted
therapy, TNBC tumours
do not respond to targeted
therapy.
Short - term
estrogen - progestin combination
therapy did not show an increase in risk.
Is this the right decision, and
do you even need a prescription for
estrogen therapy?
It is not synthetic (the negative press of 20 years ago regarding HRT
therapy had to
do with synthetic hormones — primarily
estrogen — and not growth hormone), and should never be confused with synthetic steroids.
Estrogen replacement
therapy has long been understood as a remedy for women who are suffering from a variety of side effects following menopause, but what many women don't know is that testosterone replacement
therapy may also need to be added to the mix to properly balance hormone levels.
Diana talks about
doing a podcast on
estrogen dominance and progesterone
therapy.
She has tried numerous hormonal
therapies — and
did improve somewhat with the typical birth control pill (
estrogen + progesterone)- but the pain was more spread out during the month.
I
do not recommend this treatment due to the fact that
estrogen replacement
therapy, be it conventional or «natural» (50 % natural and 50 % synthetic hormones), is shown to increase risks of uterine cancer, breast cancer, stroke, heart attacks, blood clots, and even mental decline.
Additionally, if your hormone replacement
therapy does not also include progesterone, you're running the risk of
estrogen dominance, which many women already suffer.
When we recommend
estrogen replacement
therapy, progesterone
therapy, or testosterone
therapy to our female patients, we don't focus solely on reaching predefined levels of hormones.
According to a WHI (Women's Health Initiative) study, the women taking EPT (
estrogen progesterone
therapy) had a higher risk of developing breast cancer compared with those who didn't take hormones10.
However it was found that
estrogen alone
does not have so many drawbacks like the other hormonal
therapies, therefore women who have had their uterus removed by hysterectomy are prescribed with
estrogen alone.
Analysis of several studies on the effect of combined progestin -
estrogen therapy indicates that progestins
do appear to improve bone density, but their use is accompanied by a long list of unacceptable potential side effects.
What hormone replacement
therapy does is alleviate a variety of these symptoms by using two major hormones:
estrogen and progesterone.
You're body is used to all these endogenous artificial testosterone, you know, your testosterone to
estrogen ratio is getting messed up and so you
do have to use what's called post cycle
therapy when you're on pro-hormones and we won't get into the post cycle
therapy as much on this podcast «cause I know we're kinda pushing for time but the problem is that if you don't cycle pro hormones, it can be tough on your liver, it can be tough on your own endogenous production so it's something that you
do wan na make sure that you
do, that you understand how to cycle properly and I have to be careful of course, giving out recommendations like that on this show just because so many people who are listening to this are competing in event like triathlons and marathons and thing of that nature where they're gonna be drug tested and stuff like this would be a big no - no anyways, you know, or they're going after more natural means and let's face it, prohormones can be kinda damaging to your body and the reason for that is because a lot of these side effects: acne and hair loss, breast tissue enlargement, or you know, what we affectionately call bitch tits in dudes, prostate swelling, you know, a lot of these hormonal imbalances that get created from dumping exogenous sources of hormones into your body and creating like a hormone milieu that can be a real real issue from a health standpoint.
WebMD [2] explains that the specific type of treatment often also depends on some factors related to the woman who is experiencing these symptoms.When it comes to a pharmaceutical approach, a woman who still has a uterus will often received combination HRT (Hormone Replacement
Therapy), while a woman who
does not have a uterus anymore (those who had undergone a hysterectomy) may only be prescribed a dose of
estrogen.
Just like every hormone in your body, including
estrogen, insulin, adrenaline, cortisol, and others, testosterone levels
do fluctuate daily — this can present difficulties for men who are considering
therapy: Here's why.
Circulating testosterone levels decline with increasing age but
do not appear to be significantly affected by the menopausal transition.8 As early as the 1940s, testosterone was reported not only to alleviate menopausal symptoms but also to restore libido.9 In recent years, evidence has accumulated supporting the hypothesis that the decline in endogenous testosterone levels is associated with menopausal symptoms, including decreased libido, worse moods, and poorer quality of life.10 Clinical trials have demonstrated that exogenous androgens in conjunction with
estrogens can ameliorate symptoms affecting sexual function and general well - being.11, 12 In addition, studies have found beneficial effects of androgen
therapy on bone mineral density.13 - 15