Estrogen

Next to thyroid hormone, estrogen has probably been the hormone that has been prescribed the longest. For over 40 years now, doctors have prescribed estrogen for women who have suffered menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and insomnia. Many women felt so healthy and invigorated on estrogen that they continued to take this hormone indefinitely. Study after study documented the astonishing effect that estrogen was making women not only feel better but healthier. Estrogen vastly improved the quality of day-to-day life for women by making them more youthful, energized and healthier. Women had better muscle tone, fewer wrinkles, stronger, shinier hair, and a more enjoyable, satisfying sex life after menopause. Estrogen users stood taller and straighter and did not suffer the typical bone loss of osteoporosis. They had half the risk of heart disease and stroke in comparison with those that did not use estrogen. They had an extremely low incidence of Alzheimer's disease and senility. Estrogen users were also not subject to urogential (bladder, vagina) atrophy and the concomitant infections that can become debilitating. Estrogen is one of the few hormones that women demand from their physicians. Over 10,000,000 women take estrogen in the United States, and it is now the most widely prescribed medicine in the United States. Actually, it is through estrogen supplementation that we have learned the importance of total hormone supplementation and the synergy from replenishing all the hormones.

Estrogen is produced in the ovaries and adrenal glands. Men actually produce estrogen from conversion of testosterone, although this is an extremely small amount. There are three types of estrogen found in a woman's body: estrone, estradiol and estriol. The levels of all of these hormones fall dramatically at the onset of menopause. Symptoms characteristic of menopause are hot flashes, insomnia, vaginal dryness, bladder problems, difficulty concentrating, and anxiety. With time, many of these symptoms diminish. Unfortunately, the disease processes, such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer's only increase in the absence of estrogen.

Low levels of these can cause:

 With estrogen therapy you have "conventional" and "natural" hormone replacement therapy (HRT) options. What are the differences? To put it simply the difference is vast. Since puberty your body has produced "natural" hormones. Why then, after menopause, does "conventional" medicine replace these hormones with synthetic or animal derived hormones rather than what your body has always produced. These "conventional" medications may provide relief and protection but at what cost to you. A recent study published in January of 2000 in a major medical journal demonstrated inarguably that synthetic progesterone (progestin) and animal derived estrogens can cause an increase in certain types of cancers by high as 8% for each year you are on these medications. This is not an 8% chance over your lifetime this is 8% a year!!! So, it only makes sense to replace that, which is missing. That is Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy.