Hormone Heresy
Estrogen's Deadly Truth, Part 2
by Sherrill Sellman
From Nexus Magazine, Volume 3, #4 (June - July 1996)
Reprinted here with permission from Sherrill Sellman. Visit
her website at www.ssellman.com and
read her book: "Hormone
Heresy:What Women MUST Know About Their Hormones"
Women are misinformed about their hormones, to the detriment
of their health, while drug companies reap huge profits at
their expense.
The promotion of synthetic estrogens and estrogen-mimicking
chemicals is a major medical mistake and an unforeseen environmental
health hazard.
Estrogen is quite a high-profile hormone these days. For some,
it represents the Golden Fleece that excites so many medical
practitioners, pharmaceutical companies, and writers in search
of its miraculous properties. For others,
estrogen is a rather perilous hormone, fraught with many unknown
and unspoken dangers. Most women are lost in the dark and bottomless
abyss somewhere between truth and fiction. All too often they
are desperately confused about whether to trust their instincts
or medical science. Their physical, emotional, and mental health
and long-term well-being hang in the balance.
The estrogen story is similar to a modern-day thriller. It
is a story of deception, betrayal, hidden agendas, propaganda,
and misinformation. As a story it could be quite entertaining,
but as a real-life drama its effects are disastrous to the
lives of tens of millions of women around the world.
Hormones are very powerful substances. Begin tampering with
Nature's finely tuned messengers of life's processes and you
are asking for trouble. This is especially true for women.
A woman's psyche is intimately connected to her monthly flow
of hormones. Hormones not only direct and determine her physiological
processes, but also influence her emotional and psychological
state. Besides creating myriad health problems, hormonal imbalance
can undermine self-esteem, creativity, mental acuity and a
healthy sex-drive.
Perhaps the bigger picture about the estrogen story is the
fact that the introduction of synthetic hormones, as a legitimate
need of women, is basically experimentation under the guise
of standard medical practice. As a result, medical science
has expanded its control of women's lives.
Germaine Greer
sums up the medical establishment's intrusion into a woman's
hormonal health quite astutely when she says, "Menopause
is a dream specialty for the mediocre medic. It requires no
surgical or diagnostic
skill; it is not itself a life-threatening condition; there
is no scope for malpractice action. Patients must return again
and again for a battery of tests and check-ups." (1)
Quite simply, tampering with a woman's hormones is tampering
with her power.
Introducing Estrogen Dominance
The natural design of the body is to produce the two hormones,
progesterone and estrogen, in a very sensitive and precise
balance so that reproductive ability is maximized. These two
hormones are closely interrelated in many ways and, although
they are generally antagonistic towards each other, each helps
the other by making the cells of a target organ more sensitive.
Estrogen really isn't a single hormone. To be accurate, it
refers to a class of hormones with estrus activity (i.e., proliferation
of endometrial cells in preparation for pregnancy). The estrogens
are named estradiol and estrone - both of which are implicated
in stimulating abnormal cell growth when found in higher than
normal amounts in the body - as well as estriol, which is known
to be cancer-inhibiting. Each type of estrogen has a different
function in the body. These estrogens are produced mainly in
the ovaries, although small quantities are secreted from the
adrenal glands, the
placenta during pregnancy, and fat cells.
When puberty arrives, estrogen encourages in a girl the development
of breasts and the expansion of the uterus. Estrogen contributes
to the molding of female body contours and maturation of the
skeleton. After that, it helps
regulate the menstrual cycle and plays other necessary roles
in maintaining bone-mass and keeping blood cholesterol levels
in check. When excessive quantities of estrogen, regardless
of source, are present in a young woman's
body they will contribute to the 'burnout' of her ovaries and
undermine fertility.
In the case of progesterone, however, we are talking about
only one specific hormone. Thus, progesterone is both the name
of the class and the single member of the class. In the ovaries,
progesterone is the precursor of estrogen. Progesterone is
also made in smaller amounts by the adrenal glands in both
sexes and by the testes in males. It is the precursor of testosterone
and of all important adrenal cortical hormones. From progesterone
are derived not only other sex hormones but also corticosteroids,
which are essential for stress response, sugar and electrolyte
balance and blood pressure, not to mention survival. (2)
While estrogen is the primary hormone during the first two
weeks of a woman's menstrual cycle, fulfilling its role of
preparing the endometrium for pregnancy, progesterone is the
major female reproductive hormone during the latter two weeks
of the menstrual cycle. Progesterone is necessary for the survival
of the fertilized ovum, the resulting embryo and the fetus
throughout gestation when production of the progesterone is
taken over by the placenta.
There is a very delicate balance between the interplay of
estrogen and progesterone. If that balance is interfered with,
devastating effects occur. Unfortunately, introduced synthetic
hormones as well as environmental pollutants are presently
wreaking havoc with our hormones.
"Estrogen dominance" is
a term that was first used by Dr. John Lee. A retired medical
practitioner from California,
Dr. Lee has spent the better part of the last two decades exploring
the basis for the proliferation of such female problems as
PMS, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, fibroids, breast cancer,
infertility, osteoporosis and menopausal problems. From his
clinical experience in the field of female health, as well
as from his published research, Dr. Lee believes that many
women are suffering from the effects of too much estrogen.
He finds that stress, nutritional deficiencies, estrogenic
substances from our environment, and taking synthetic estrogens,
combined with an ensuing deficiency of progesterone, are the
likely contributing factors to the creation of estrogen dominance.
The following is a list of symptoms that can be caused or
made worse by estrogen dominance: acceleration of the aging
process, allergies, breast tenderness, decreased sex-drive,
depression, fatigue, hair thinning, excessive facial hair,
fibrocystic breasts, foggy thinking, headaches, hypoglycemia,
increased blood-clotting, increased risk of stroke,
infertility, irritability, memory loss, miscarriage, osteoporosis,
pre-menopausal bone-loss, PMS, thyroid dysfunction mimicking
hypothyroidism, uterine cancer, uterine fibroids, water retention,
bloating, fat gain (especially around the abdomen, hips and
thighs), gall bladder disease and auto-immune disorders such
as lupus and thyroiditis. (3)
In addition to the synthetic estrogens, women are also prescribed
synthetic progestins. They have been added to the estrogen
formula to offset the hazards of estrogen drugs. Nancy Beckham
in her book, MENOPAUSE - A POSITIVE APPROACH USING NATURAL
THERAPIES, was able to identify more than 100 adverse effects
for the most commonly prescribed estrogen and progestin medications.
According to Dr. Lee, many of these common health problems
can be offset by increasing the level of natural progesterone.
The problem is not always that progesterone levels are actually
lower than normal, but they are low in
comparison to elevated estrogen levels.
Due to increased exposure to these estrogenic substances in
the body, women become more affected by estrogens made in the
body from their mid-30's onwards. Around this time, women do
not ovulate with every menstrual cycle. Since progesterone
is made from the ripened follicle (corpus luteum), if there
is no ovulation there is no corpus luteum formed and hence
no progesterone made.
Stress, nutritional deficiencies and chemical pollutants all
contribute to anovulatory cycles. The frequency of these anovulatory
cycles increases as menopause approaches, changing the menstrual
pattern to an either heavier or longer menstrual flow.
While not commonly understood by medical science, the growing
incidence of anovulatory cycles, even in young women, and the
ensuing hormone imbalance are creating huge health problems.
Women of all ages are now exposed to a higher risk of the entire
range of estrogen-dominant conditions.
Estrogen Dominance in the Environment
Extremely disturbing events are being reported globally about
the alarming changes happening in the environment. Not long
ago in Lake Apopka in Florida, wildlife biologists discovered
that strange biological effects were happening in the alligators
living there. In 1980, a toxic spill occurred which dumped
huge amounts of a pesticide similar to DDT into the lake. That
event was almost forgotten until five years later when it was
discovered that 90 per cent of the alligators had disappeared.
Most of those that remained were incapable of reproducing or
had no urge to mate. The males
were born with penises that were not only 75 per cent shorter
than average but were also deformed. Further testing indicated
that their testosterone levels were so low that they hormonally
resembled females. Moreover, the females had abnormal ovaries
and follicles, described as "burned out." (4)
Recent reports show that strange fish caught in Port Phillip
Bay in Victoria, Australia, were hermaphrodites. Similarly,
a major British study revealed that male fish downstream from
sewage treatment plants changed sex as a result of estrogen
chemicals which had not been removed from treated effluent.
(5)
Dr. Ana Soto, an endocrinologist at Tufts University in the
United States, had been experimenting with cancer cells taken
from the breast and then cultured. She found they would only
grow if they were fed estrogens. One
day, the test simply stopped working. The cancer cells continued
to grow for four months, even when no estrogens were fed to
them. Dr. Soto then realized that the manufacturer of the flasks
she had been using had started to use a different plastic,
one that, when it becomes warm, releases minute quantities
of the estrogen-like compound, nonylphenol! Her tissues samples
were being contaminated by the xeno-estrogens from the plastic
flasks! (6)
The widespread use of herbicides, pesticides, and plastics
has created a problem that has never before existed on this
planet. We are polluting our environment and ourselves in a
sea of estrogen-like mimics. They are everywhere: in the air,
water, soil, and over abundantly in our bodies. Called xeno-estrogens,
these substances have a powerful estrogenic effect on the body,
are fat-soluble and non-biodegradable. They are also dangerously
toxic.
We presently live
in a world awash with petrochemicals. Petrochemicals are
everywhere. Our machines run on petrochemicals, and millions
of products including plastics, microchips, medicines, clothing,
foods, soaps, pesticides and even perfumes are either made
from petrochemicals or contain them. The popular slogan in
the early 1950s, "Better Living Through Chemistry," is
returning to haunt us.
The legacy of this pollution has resulted in an epidemic of
reproductive abnormalities, including the steadily increasing
number of cancers of the reproductive tract, infertility, low
sperm- counts, poor sperm-quality and the feminisation of males.
The potential consequences of this overexposure are staggering,
especially considering that one of the consequences is the
passing on of reproductive abnormalities to offspring. (7)
Just how serious is this problem?
In a May 1993 article in the British medical journal, The
Lancet, researchers in Scotland and Denmark hypothesized that
xeno-estrogens are responsible for a steadily declining sperm
count in men. According to Neils Skakkebeak of the University
of Copenhagen, sperm counts have dropped by more than 50 per
cent since 1940. Meanwhile, the rate of testicular and prostate
cancer in the United States and Europe has tripled in the past
50 years. Reproductive abnormalities such as undescended testicles
have become increasingly common.
Xeno-estrogens are also implicated in impaired brain development
in children. (8) They are also directly implicated in the 30
to 80 per cent increase in breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers
in women over the past 50 years. (9)
In some rural communities in Australia, where heavy pesticide
use has left residuals in drinking water, there have been reports
of boys with abnormally small penises, along with reports of
the feminisation of males and the masculinisation of females.
It is time for us to wake up and pay heed to these warnings
for the sake of future generations. You can play your part
in protecting your grandchildren and great-grandchildren in
the same ways you can protect yourself: by refusing to use
pesticides, minimizing your use of plastics, purchasing hormone-free
meat and organic produce, using 'green' products for detergents
and household cleaners, and, in general, using 'natural' products
in favor of petrochemical products.
The Myth of Estrogen Deficiency
The trend these days is to push hormone replacement therapy
(HRT), featuring synthetic estrogens and progestins, onto all
menopausal women. Unfortunately, however, this enthusiasm for
drugs is not backed up by the facts. Estrogen deficiency is
loudly proclaimed by medical practitioners, pharmaceutical
advertising and many lay publications as the primary cause
of all the symptoms attributed to menopause and post-menopause,
such as mood swings, depressions, hot flushes, vaginal dryness,
loss of sex-drive and accelerating osteoporosis.
But is there really such a thing as estrogen deficiency? While
it is true that menopause is associated with decreasing estrogen
levels, it is not known whether these decreased levels of estrogen
do in fact cause all the symptoms of menopause.
Dr. Carolyn DeMarco, author of TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR BODY and
a physician specializing in women's health issues, says there
is no direct proof that estrogen-lack causes heart disease
or other ailments associated with the
menopause. Germaine Greer, well-known feminist and author of
THE CHANGE, writes, "The proponents of HRT have never
proved that there is an estrogen deficiency, nor have they
explained the mechanism by which the therapy of choice effected
its miracles. They have taken the improper course of defining
a disease from its therapy."
Dr. Jerilyn Prior,
researcher and Professor of Endocrinology at the University
of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada,
points out that no study proving the relationship between estrogen
deficiency and menopausal symptoms and related diseases has
yet been done. "Instead," says Dr. Prior, "a
notion has been put forward that since estrogen levels go down,
this is the most important change and explains all the things
that may or may not be related to menopause. So estrogen treatment
at this stage of our understanding is premature. This is a
kind of backwards science. It leads to
ridiculous ideas-like calling a headache an aspirin-deficiency
disease." (10)
Considering that Western women tend to have a 10-to-15-year
period prior to menopause when they are estrogen-dominant and
suffering from estrogen-dominance symptoms, why are their doctors
prescribing them still more estrogen? Dr. Prior has shown that,
during menopause, progesterone decreases to 1/120th of baseline
levels, whereas estrogen decreases to one-half to one-third
of pre-menopausal baseline levels. Would it not be wiser to
consider the progesterone-loss effect when evaluating post-menopausal
symptoms and such related conditions as osteoporosis, heart
disease, depression and loss of sex-drive?
In most menopausal
women, estrogen levels are below those necessary for pregnancy
but sufficient for other normal body
functions. The estrogen "deficiency" hypothesis as
an explanation of most menopausal symptoms or health problems
is thus not supported by the facts of estrogen blood levels,
by worldwide ecological studies or by endocrinology experts.
Dr. Lee believes
that "Menopause per se should be regarded
as a normal adjustment reflecting a benign change in a woman's
biological life away from child-bearing and onward to a period
of new personal power and fulfillment.
The Western perception of menopause as a threshold of undesirable
symptoms and regressive illness due to estrogen deficiency
is an error not supported by fact. More accurately, we should
view our menopause problem as an abnormality brought about
by industrialized cultures' deviation from a healthy lifestyle."
Synthetic Hormones and the Havoc they Wreak
With hindsight, it will very likely be recorded in history
that the widespread prescribing of synthetic hormones to women
was the biggest medical bungle of the century. Most women taking
the contraceptive pill and HRT have very little idea about
the hormones they are putting into their bodies; nor are they
knowledgeable about their side effects.
Oral contraceptives are made with synthetic estrogen and synthetic
progestins (known as the combined Pill). In the early 1960s
the Pill was widely marketed as an effective, safe and convenient
method of birth control. However, the initial trials were flawed
and inadequate. (11) Nonetheless, the Pill was promoted with
all the enthusiasm the
pharmaceutical companies could muster.
Dr. Ellen Grant, author of THE BITTER PILL AND SEXUAL CHEMISTRY,
was an early researcher of synthetic hormones and their effects
on health. Back in the 1960s she was shocked when synthetic
hormones were not withdrawn from the market due to their known,
serious side effects.
So, just what are
the effects of suppressing natural hormones with synthetic
ones? The Pill literally stops menstruation,
and bleeding occurs each month only because the synthetic hormones
are not taken for seven days of the cycle. The bleeding that
occurs would be more accurately termed "withdrawal bleeding," not
menstruation.
Taking the Combined Pill increases the risk of coronary artery
disease, breast cancer and high blood pressure. The side-effects
include nausea, vomiting, headaches, breast tenderness, weight
increases, changes in sex-drive, depression, blood clots and
increased incidence of vaginitis. Also, women with a history
of epilepsy, migraine, asthma or heart disease may find their
symptoms worsen. (12) Many of these effects may persist long
after women discontinue taking the Pill.
According to Nancy
Beckham in her book, MENOPAUSE - A POSITIVE APPROACH USING
NATURAL THERAPIES, "Women on the Pill have
a greater tendency to liver dysfunction and to more allergies.
Estrogen drugs also affect vitamin concentrations. Vitamin
A levels may be raised in the blood; vitamins B12 and C may
be lowered. The clinical significance is not yet known."
The introduction of the mini-Pill and Depo-Provera, both of
which are made from synthetic progestins, is equally disturbing
to women's hormonal health, with all the previously listed
side-effects and risks. Hormone replacement
therapy was the next great discovery to arrive, following on
from the Pill. The pharmaceutical companies had found another
lucrative market for their synthetic hormones: the menopausal
woman! While HRT is given at lower doses than the Pill, the
side-effects are often more subtle and are slower to show up.
HRT is now available in a variety of forms: pills, patches
and implants. One of the most popular synthetic estrogens is
Premarin, which is made from the urine of pregnant mares -
just what a woman's body needs!
Hormone Addiction
What is little known about taking HRT is that it is an addictive
drug. A former president of the London Royal College of Psychiatrists
warns that estrogen used in HRT to counteract symptoms of menopause
could be as addictive as heroin. (13)
In the 1970s, testing was conducted on two groups of menopausal
women. Half received estrogen replacement and the other half
sugar pills. All were monitored for insomnia, nervousness,
depression, dizziness, weakness, joint
pain, palpitations, prickling sensations and hot flushes.
Both groups of women experienced dramatic improvement during
the first 90 days of the study, except that the sugar-pill
group experienced more discomfort from hot flushes. When the
groups were switched, those who had initially received estrogen
experienced a pronounced return of their symptoms. It became
apparent that, once estrogen replacement stopped, a 'cold turkey'
withdrawal effect was often experienced. This was especially
true with implants, since the blood estradiol levels may become
much higher than the body would normally produce. (14)
Nancy Beckham warns
that "Women on hormone replacement
therapy who have enhanced well-being when their estradiol levels
are very high, but feel unwell when their blood levels are
normal, may be experiencing reactions
similar to those of people on social drugs.
"It is well-researched
knowledge that when you first have these drugs they give
you a lift, which is pleasant. As
you get used to the substance you find you need more to give
you the same effect, and ultimately your body craves a high
level even though you may be unwell. When the substance in
your blood drops below a certain level, you can experience
withdrawal symptoms such as flushing, perspiration, sleep disturbance,
shaking and other nervous reactions."
While it is easy to prescribe HRT for women, there is hardly
any medical data concerning the effects of stopping HRT in
women who have received long-term treatment. (15) In one trial
lasting three-and-a-half years, withdrawal lasted for six months.
So, unbeknownst to women, 'menopause's little helper' could
in fact be making estrogen junkies out of them. It's great
news for the pharmaceutical companies, but a calamity of untold
proportion for women. Not only do they experience a wide range
of physical symptoms but they also suffer from psychiatric
disturbances.
Dr. Ellen Grant
has said that "when higher-than-expected
rates of attempted suicide and violent deaths were recorded
among HRT-takers, the excuse was that more women suffering
from depression are put on estrogens in an attempt to treat
them." Estrogens are rarely considered as an implicating
factor in depressive behavior.
Hormone Balance and Illness: Debunking the Myths
HRT is now almost universally recommended to menopausal women
for a wide variety of reasons. The two most significant reasons
women are encouraged to embark upon the HRT bandwagon are HRT's
supposed contribution in preventing or lessening the effects
of osteoporosis and of cardiovascular disease. The tremendous
fear of these two illnesses that is instilled by well-meaning
doctors-who, after all, are the targets of effective pharmaceutical
advertising and education (usually the only source of information
they receive about these products) - often overrides a woman's
natural instincts.
It's time to unravel the myths that hide the real story
Myths of Osteoporosis
Dr. John Lee, author of WHAT YOUR DOCTOR MAY NOT TELL YOU ABOUT
MENOPAUSE, writes this about the myths of osteoporosis:
Myth #1: Osteoporosis is an estrogen-deficiency disease.
Not even basic medical texts agree with this. It is a fabrication
of the pharmaceutical industry with no scientific evidence
to support it. Osteoporosis begins long before estrogen levels
fall, and accelerates for a few years at menopause. Taking
estrogen can slow bone-loss for those few years, but its effect
wears off within a few years after menopause. Most importantly,
estrogen cannot rebuild new bone.
Myth #2: Osteoporosis is a disease of menopause.
This is at least a decade short of the truth. Osteoporosis
begins anywhere from five to 20 years prior to menopause, when
estrogen levels are still high. Osteoporosis accelerates at
menopause or when a woman's ovaries are
surgically removed or become non-functional, such as can happen
after hysterectomy. It is staggering to think how many thousands
or millions of women have been doomed to a crippled old age
or early death because their
ovaries and/or uterus were unnecessarily removed before menopause
and natural progesterone replacement was ignored.
To understand osteoporosis it is important to know a bit about
bones. Bone-forming cells are of two different kinds. One type
is called osteoclasts, and their job is to travel through the
bone in search of old bone that is in need of renewal. Osteoclasts
dissolve bone and leave behind tiny unfilled spaces. Osteoblasts
move into these spaces in order to build new bone. A lack of
estrogens, as experienced at menopause, indirectly stimulates
the growth of osteoclasts, thus increasing the risk for developing
osteoporosis. HRT containing estrogen should therefore help
prevent osteoporosis. From this point of view it does.
However, osteoclast cells have been shown to have no estrogen
receptors in themselves, so cannot directly build new bone.
On the other hand, osteoblast cells, which are responsible
for making new bone, have been shown to have
not estrogen but progesterone receptors. What this means is
that it is progesterone (the natural form, not the synthetic
progestins), not estrogen, is responsible for building bone
tissue.
This view is upheld
in the Scientific American Updated Medicine Text 1991, which
states, "Estrogens decrease bone resorption,
but associated with the decrease in bone resorption is a decrease
in bone formation. Therefore, estrogen should not be expected
to increase bone mass." The authors also discuss estrogen
side effects, including the risk of endometrial cancer which "is
increased six-fold in women who receive estrogen therapy for
up to five years; the risk is increased to fifteen-fold in
long-term users."
Dr. Kitty Little from Oxford found masses of tiny clots in
the bones of rabbits treated with hormones. She is convinced
that HRT in the form of estrogen and progestins will increase
the risk of osteoporosis. Blood clots originate from sticky
clumps of platelet cells in the blood. She believes that blood
clots in the bones can cause bone to break down, leading to
osteoporosis. (16)
More and more research findings are emerging that challenge
the estrogen-deficiency/osteoporosis relationship and reinforce
the progesterone-deficiency link. The results of a three-year
study of 63 post-menopausal women with osteoporosis verify
this. Women using transdermal progesterone cream experienced
an average 7 to 8 per cent bone-mass density increase in the
first year, 4 to 5 per cent in the second year, and 3 to 4
per cent in the third year! Untreated women in this age category
typically lose 1.5 per cent bone-mass density per year! These
results have not been found with any other form of hormone
replacement therapy or dietary supplementation! (17)
Bone loss is the result of many other factors besides progesterone
deficiency. Excess protein in the form of meat and dairy products
(contrary to the dairy industry's advertising) contributes
to bone loss. An acidic condition is created in the blood which
then pulls out calcium from the bones to neutralize it. Another
major factor is lack of exercise. Bone
growth is dependent on weight-bearing exercise. In addition,
sugar, diuretics, antibiotics, fluoride, cigarettes, alcohol
abuse and cortisone are all deleterious to bones.
To sum it up, post-menopausal osteoporosis is a disease of
excess bone-loss caused by a progesterone deficiency and, secondarily,
by a poor diet and lack of exercise. Progesterone restores
bone mass. Natural progesterone
hormone is an essential factor in the prevention and proper
treatment of osteoporosis at any age. (18)
Cardiovascular Disease
Estrogen is being touted by mainstream medicine as a great
preventer of cardiovascular disease in women and therefore
a major reason to have women on HRT. According to Dr. Lee,
the one notable study which formed the entire basis of the
positive estrogen-cardiovascular link -- the 1991 New England
Journal of Medicine report known as the Nurses' Questionnaire
Study, conducted with a large sampling of nurses -- was radically
flawed and the statistics manipulated. (19) Although there
is ample evidence from numerous other studies showing that,
indeed, the opposite is true-that estrogen is a significant
factor in creating heart disease - these findings have been
virtually ignored in the frenzy for profits. He goes on to
say that the pharmaceutical advertisements also neglected to
mention the fact that stroke death incidence from that study
was 50 per cent higher among the estrogen users.
Nancy Beckham's research into the estrogen-cardiovascular
link reveals the following: (20)
High doses of estrogens are likely to be thrombogenic (blood-clotting)
during use, and it is possible that even moderate doses may
increase the risk of clotting among women who smoke or who
already have clogged arteries.
Reports are now starting to come in, indicating that high-dose
estrogens, particularly as experienced with estradiol implants,
cause hypercoagulability, which means that the blood has
a tendency to clot, thereby increasing the risk of heart
attack and stroke.
A British medical report also states that the cardiovascular
effects of synthetic progestins used with estrogen in the much
larger number of women who have not undergone hysterectomy
are unknown.
Some researchers
do not consider that heart disease is linked to the cessation
of the body's estrogen production. (Actually,
it is inaccurate to use the word "cessation," since
estrogen production is only reduced in menopause.)
Natural progesterone also seems to play a significant role
in protecting women from cardiovascular disease. We know now
that anovulatory cycles and lowered progesterone levels occur
prior to menopause, and progesterone levels after menopause
are close to zero. Estrogen, on the other hand, falls only
40 to 60 per cent with menopause. A woman's passage through
menopause results in a greater loss of progesterone than of
estrogen. Perhaps the increase in heart risk after menopause
is due more to progesterone deficiency than to estrogen deficiency.
Dr. Lee has noted in his clinical experience that lipid profiles
improve when progesterone is supplemented. (21)
What is known about progesterone is that it increases the
burning of fats for energy and, in addition, has an anti-inflammatory
effect. Both of these actions could be protective against coronary
heart disease. Progesterone
protects the integrity and function of cell membranes, whereas
estrogen allows the influx of sodium and water while allowing
the loss of potassium and magnesium. Progesterone, a natural
diuretic, promotes better sleep
patterns and helps one deal with stress. When the known actions
of progesterone are reviewed, it is clear that many of its
actions are also beneficial to the heart.
When it comes to increased risk of coronary heart disease,
dietary factors are extremely important. Heart disease risk
is increased by the following: overeating in general; animal
fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates; over-processed foods;
excess salt or sodium; trans-fatty acids; lack of fiber; magnesium
and/or potassium deficiency; and lack of antioxidant-rich food
or supplements such as vitamins C, E, and A, beta-carotene
and selenium. Stress is also a risk factor for heart deaths.
Cancer
The evidence connecting female cancers of the breast, uterus
and ovaries with high estrogen levels is growing. Estrogen's
job in the uterus is to cause proliferation of the cells. Under
the influence of estrogen, uterine cells multiply faster, and
then progesterone should normally come on the scene with ovulation
and stop the cells from multiplying. Progesterone causes the
cells to mature and enter the secretory phase that causes the
maturing of the uterine lining, which is now ready to receive
a possible fertilized egg. Estrogen is the hormone that stimulates
cell proliferation,
and progesterone is the hormone that stops growth and stimulates
ripening.
Estrogen dominance also stimulates breast tissue. Premenstrual
women who suffer from estrogen dominance often suffer from
breast-swelling and tenderness. Progesterone, as a hormone
of maturation, brings the cells back
into balance and thus can eliminate breast tenderness.
There is certainly an alarmingly high incidence of breast
and uterine cancer amongst Western women. There is evidence
that breast cancer occurs most often at the stage of life when
estrogen is dominant for the full month and
progesterone is not coming in at the halfway point of ovulation.
Dr. Graham Colditz, of Harvard University, maintains that unopposed
estrogen is responsible for 30 to 35 per cent of breast cancers.
(22) Some experts would put that percentage even higher.
Johns Hopkins Private Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic accumulated
40 years of research which was published in the American Journal
of Epidemiology in 1981. (23) What they discovered was that,
when the low-progesterone group was compared to the normal-progesterone
group, the occurrence of breast cancer was 5.4 times greater
in the women in the low-progesterone group. That is, the incidence
of breast cancer in the low-progesterone group was over 80
per cent greater than in the normal-progesterone group.
When the study looked at the low-progesterone group for all
types of cancer, they found that women in this group experienced
a tenfold increase for all malignant cancers, compared to the
normal-progesterone group. This would suggest that having a
normal level of progesterone protected women from nine-tenths
of all cancers that might otherwise have occurred. (24)
It is interesting to note that the study disappeared into
oblivion when there was no money available to pursue the obvious
implications of a progesterone-deficiency role in cancer. In
a 1995 study published in the Journal of Fertility and Sterility,
researchers did a double-blind randomized study examining the
use of topical progesterone cream and/or topical estrogen in
regard to breast cell growth. The results showed that women
using progesterone had dramatically reduced cell-multiplication
rates compared to the women using either the placebo or estrogen.
The women using only estrogen had significantly higher cell
multiplication rates than any of the other groups. The women
using a combination of progesterone and estrogen were closer
to the placebo group. (25)
This study provides some of the first direct evidence that
estradiol significantly increases breast cell growth, and that
progesterone impressively decreases cell proliferation rates
even when estrogen is also supplemented. At this point, it's
important to explore the implications of the experimental drug
Tamoxifen, which is being prescribed to women with
breast cancer. Since it is proposed to have anti-estrogenic
effects, it is used as a breast cancer treatment since it blocks
the uptake of estradiol and estrone (the cell-proliferating
estrogens), thereby protecting the breast tissue from the cancer-promoting
estrogens present in the body. A growing number of doctors
insist that the same results can be achieved by giving natural
progesterone.
Uterine cancer is one of the possible side effects of Tamoxifen.
One study showed that 27 per cent of women taking Tamoxifen
showed hyperplastic (unfavorable new growth) changes in their
wombs within 15 months. (26)
Tamoxifen is carcinogenic and can cause an early menopause,
osteoporosis, endometrial cancer, liver cancer and clotting
disease. Taking 20 milligrams of Tamoxifen per day can increase
the risk for developing endometrial cancer
by up to five times. Clotting disorders are seven times more
frequent. One study showed just a meager 0.7 per cent benefit
for women taking Tamoxifen preventively to reduce the risk
of developing further tumors in the breast. (27) It is also
interesting to note that menstruating women who have breast
surgery carried out during the second half of their menstrual
cycle - the luteal phase, when progesterone is high in order
to balance estrogens - survive far longer than do women whose
surgery is done early on in their cycle during the estrogen-dominant
follicular phase. (28)
The only known cause of endometrial cancer is unopposed estrogen.
Here again, the culprits are estradiol and estrone. Estrogen
supplements given to post-menopausal women for five years increase
the risk of endometrial cancer six-fold, and longer-term use
increases it fifteen-fold. In pre-menopausal women, endometrial
cancer is extremely rare, except during the five to 10 years
before menopause when estrogen dominance is common. (29)
Synthetic hormones are also linked to cervical cancer. The
cells of the cervix are extremely hormone-sensitive. Levels
of synthetic progestins, low enough not to alter the cells
of the lining of the womb, have been shown to change the cells
that line the cervix. Progestins dry up cervical secretions,
and this may be part of the reason why cancer of the cervix
develops quickly in the presence of cervical infections. (30)
It was predicted in the 1960s that the Pill would increase
the chances of a woman developing a melanoma, the most lethal
of all skin cancers. Hormones control the pigmentation of our
skin, and melanoma cancer cells have estrogen receptors, which
can make the growth of cancer more likely. Women taking HRT
are at greater risk of developing melanomas than the average
woman. (31)
Dr. Lee strongly
believes that because of its many benefits, its great safety,
and particularly its ability to oppose the
carcinogenic effects of estrogens, natural progesterone deserves
far more attention and application than it is generally given
in the prevention and care of women's health problems today.
The long road we have been traveling over the past 35 years,
that has encouraged and promoted the wide range of synthetic
hormone products, is taking us to a deadly dead-end. The scare-tactic
techniques and intimidation employed by doctors and pharmaceutical
companies alike to use such products, often overriding a woman's
better judgment, have pushed millions of women into using drugs
that are unproven and unsafe. It is no surprise, therefore,
that Dr. Lee has issued an ominous warning:"We will soon
regard making estrogen the key ingredient in hormone replacement
therapy as a major medical mistake." (32)
Women must be able to make educated, informed choices about
their bodies and their health treatment preferences. It's impossible
to make important health decisions if fundamental facts are
missing or misconstrued. It is also evident that the health
care providers, whom we have come to rely upon, either have
not received adequate, unbiased education themselves or have
become imprisoned by their own arrogant and narrow-minded points
of view.
It is really up to every woman to read, question, trust her
natural instincts and learn about her own body. It is also
essential that a woman honor her own cyclic nature and intuitive
wisdom. It is a woman's right to choose with dignity the best
approach to her own health care.
End notes
- 1. Greer, Germaine, THE CHANGE, Hamish Hamilton, London,
1991.
- 2. Lee, John R., M.D., WHAT YOUR DOCTOR MAY NOT TELL YOU
ABOUT MENOPAUSE, Warner Books, New York, 1996, pp. 67-68.
- 3. Op. cit., pp. 42-43.
- 4. Kenton, Leslie, PASSAGE TO POWER, Random House, London,
1995, p. 34.
- 5. Archer, John, THE WATER YOU DRINK: HOW SAFE IS IT?,
Pure Water Press, Australia, 1996, p. 34.
- 6. Kenton, Leslie, op. cit., p. 32.
- 7. Lee, John, op. cit., p. 50.
- 8. Op. cit., p. 56.
- 9. Wheel of Hormones, TV production with Lars Mortensen,
TV2 Denmark, 1995.
- 10. Lee, John, op. cit., p. 44.
- 11. Archer, John, BAD MEDICINE, Simon and Schuster, Australia,
1995, p. 210.
- 12. Neil, Kate, BALANCY HORMONES NATURALLY, ION Press,
London, 1994, p. 28.
- 13. Beckham, Nancy, MENOPAUSE - A POSITIVE APPROACH USING
NATURAL THERAPIES, Penguin Books, Australia, 1995, pp.
36-37.
- 14. Ibid., p. 36.
- 15. British Medical Bulletin (1992) 48:458-68.
- 16. Neil, Kate, op. cit., p. 46.
- 17. Lee, J.
R., "Osteoporosis Reversal: The Role of Progesterone",
Intern. Clin. Nutr. Rev. (1990) 10:384-391.
- 18. Lee, John R., M.D., WHAT YOUR DOCTOR MAY NOT TELL
YOU ABOUT MENOPAUSE, p. 183.
- 19. Op. cit., p. 18.
- 20. Beckham, Nancy, ibid., pp. 42-43.
- 21. Lee, John, op. cit., p. 197.
- 22. Op. cit., p. 207.
- 23. Ibid.
- 24. Op. cit., p. 208.
- 25. Chuang,
King-Jen, M.D., T. Y. Tigris, Lee, M.D., Gustavo Linares-Cruz,
M.D., Sabine Fournier, Ph.D., Bruno de Lignières,
M.D., "Influences of percutaneous administration of estradiol
and progesterone of human breast epithelial cell cycle in vivo",
Journal of Fertility and Sterility 63:4 785-791, April 1995.
- 26. Beckham, Nancy, op. cit., p. 48.
- 27. Neil, Kate, op. cit., p. 40.
- 28. Kenton, Leslie, op. cit., p. 94.
- 29. Lee, John, op. cit., p. 220.
- 30. Neil, Kate, op. cit., p. 41.
- 31. Ibid.
- 32. The Sunday Telegraph, London, 12 May 1996.
© Sherill
Sellman
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