Issues About Hormonal Supplementation by DrJim

Issues About Hormonal Supplementation
by DrJim

The purpose of this discussion is to consider the risks and benefits of taking supplemental hormones of any kind. Specifically it is for post menopausal women who want to consider taking hormones, whether it be for general health and well being or to induce lactation. I cannot possibly cover this completely here. My positions are going to be controversial with some people so remember that it is just my opinion. It is a subject fraught with risk when one considers the possibility of cancer, hence it is an emotional subject with strong emotional opinions.

First, the basic premise that hormonal stimulation causes cancer is wrong. This idea seems to be promoted widely. It is not this simple. When you are young hormone levels are high and cycle up and down in finely orchestrated complex ways. The entire endocrine system interrelates and functions as a complex unit. As you age, this finely balanced and orchestrated system falls progressively out of calibration with hormonal cycles blunting, flattening, lowering and finally failing. The very process of aging is more closely tied to the healthy function of the endocrine system than anything else. All hormones peak in their function by age 25 and progressively decline thereafter. If simple hormonal stimulation were to be the cause of cancer then the highest cancer rates would be in young people but this is not the case. Statistically rates of all types of cancer increase steadily with age with the greatest rates in the late years of life. It happens that immune system function is a product of a healthy endocrine system, as the immune function declines cancer rates increase. Immune function depends on cells ability to rapidly divide and multiply which also happens to increase cellular vulnerability to cancerous degeneration. It is likely that cancerous cells arise in the body regularly but are destroyed when the immune system detects them so it is not a matter of being an unfortunate person to have acquired a cancer, rather a person, for various reasons, whose system failed to destroy completely their cancer cells that did arise. A healthy immune function is very important to have.

Pregnancy causes a tremendous hormonal stimulation to the body with a 20-fold increase in Estrogen and Progesterone along with a tremendous increase in every other hormone yet it does not increase the risk of cancer. Breast-feeding is associated with hormonal stimulation of the breasts yet it has been found that women who breast-feed have lower breast cancer rates, the longer they breast feed the better. Many diseases already present actually improve with the hormonal stimulation of pregnancy and breast-feeding. There are herbs that mildly stimulate these hormone receptors yet it has been found that women who take herbs for various female problems do not have an increase in cancer rate, rather herbs seem to be somewhat protective against cancer in contrast to synthetic hormones that many women take.

There are societies of physicians, organizations and researchers that have been studying how to extend the life span and dramatically decrease rates of all degenerative diseases. The general consensus is that the healthy function of the endocrine system is the key to a long healthy life free of degenerative diseases. It is best to have your own endocrine system produce all the hormones that your body needs. As your body ages however, these levels decrease and hormonal supplementation is the most successful thing found to slow the aging process. This applies to all the hormones, not just the sex hormones; Testosterone, Estrogen and Progesterone. Boosting virtually all the hormones and their precursors have been tried with various success including; Melatonin, Growth Hormone, Cortisone, DHEA, Testosterone, Estrogen, Progesterone, TGF2 and others. Older people participating in these programs have generally followed a course of vigorous physical activity in combination with excellent nutrition programs and hormonal supplementation. They have lived vigorous active lives with little degenerative disease and decreased rates of cancer. I personally think it is wonderful for an older person to be able to live a vigorous active life the way someone else might feel who is 20 to 30 years younger than them. After all what is wrong with feeling young?

Now consider some of the most important causes of cancer. This is important because one out of three people in the United States today have a cancer requiring treatment in their lifetime so the problem is truly epidemic. For women breast, uterine and ovary cancer top the list of types of cancer with breast at the top.

Smoking causes a 4 to 6 fold increase in cancer of all types because of its stress on the immune system. Regular alcohol consumption also causes a similar increase. Smoking and drinking together cause about a 16-fold increase. Anyone who smokes and drinks has no business stimulating their hormones (sorry). Cancer is also increased when a person is in poor health and has a variety of degenerative diseases including diabetes and autoimmune conditions. Chronic depression has been found to increase cancer rates probably because of its affect on the immune system. Obesity- more than 20% over ideal body weight is associated with increased rates of breast cancer. Being more than 10% under ideal body weight is also associated with increased disease such as Osteoporosis. The “Western diet” which is the diet Americans eat contains large amounts of meat, dairy and egg products. It is also strongly associated with increased breast cancer rates. Generally fat intake as a percentage of the total dietary calories is linearly associated with breast cancer rates. I have a report of a study that correlated 100 countries in the world on the percentage of fat in the diet vs. the rate of breast cancer. The United States was near the top, about number 95 out of 100 for fat intake and breast cancer rate. In addition plotting these countries on the graph showed a clear linear correlation between fat intake and breast cancer. Generally fat intake correlates to animal product consumption, however this is not completely true. Italians consume as much fat as a percent of their calories as do Americans, however it is mainly Olive oil. Their rate of cancer, diabetes and heart attacks is much lower than Americans showing that it is animal fat that is the harmful thing. The sum of all this evidence is this; To avoid cancer you must live a healthy lifestyle- exercise regularly, maintain your weight properly, eat healthfully toward the vegetarian spectrum, do not smoke or drink and have a positive healthy engaged outlook on life. These factors far outweigh the risk of hormonal stimulation. If a person is generally unhealthy in the above factors they should not further stress their system with hormonal stimulation.

It is unfortunate that the solution to avoid cancer in much of the medical community is to promote as low of a hormonal state as possible, much as what a post menopausal women experiences. It is said; avoid hormones, hot flashes are better than increasing the risk of cancer. Cancer of the Uterus, Ovaries and breasts are higher than many other tissues because these organs are very active with cell growth, division and multiplication going on fairly constantly before menopause. The Uterus grows a lining monthly. This cell growth makes it vulnerable to cancer. Nature’s solution is the monthly shedding of this lining through menses. It is known that stimulating the postmenopausal Uterus, particularly with Estrogen only (without balancing with Progesterone) and for long periods of time without the menstrual shedding raises the risk of cancer. The ovaries are continually active while a woman ovulates regularly with the growth of follicles and their recession monthly. The breasts are also very active in contrast to what many think. Throughout the monthly cycle the breasts are stimulated and respond with growth and change, swelling and adding a few alveoli. Then during the low hormonal period surrounding menses they regress back to a more resting state loosing a few alveoli. Even though they are very active, overall from month to month they may not seem to change much to the casual observer.

The solution that is promoted by some physicians is to cut these organs out before they become cancerous. Women have been advised to remove breasts, ovaries and uterus. Some women have had both breasts removed because they have a high breast cancer rate in their background and they have been found to have an early, surgically curable lump in one breast. Women have had hysterectomies to prevent cancer and both ovaries often removed for the same reason. This represents the extreme end of the spectrum in preventing cancer of these organs in the medical community.

When a woman has breast cancer, in the process of treating it, it is tested for Estrogen, Progesterone and Prolactin receptor sensitivity. Because a cancer is estrogen receptor positive does not mean the woman has cancer because she took Estrogen supplements at some time in the past. Cancerous cells always arise from some normal tissue in the body. They always retain some of the characteristics of the tissue from which they arose. Breast tissue of course, always has Estrogen, Progesterone and Prolactin receptors because it is designed to respond to these hormones. If the cancer is Estrogen receptor positive, then the patient can benefit from lowering the Estrogen level in her body as far as possible because Estrogen can stimulate Estrogen receptor positive cancer to grow. Tamoxifen is an anti Estrogen compound that is used to increase cancer survival rates in women. Unfortunately it also has the effect of deepening the low Estrogen postmenopausal state. Postmenopausal women still produce some estrogen, even though the ovaries no longer produce it, a weak estrogen compound called Estrone is produced by the fat in a woman’s body. Some women can actually slip into the postmenopausal state with minimal problems when they are healthy and their body fat ratio is close to proper. If a woman has already had breast cancer it would be foolish to stimulate her breasts with Estrogen as she may be taking a risk.

As far as cancer goes, as the reader can see, it is a complex issue. I think the most important thing to do is to live a healthy active lifestyle as mentioned above. If a woman has never had cancer or many of the degenerative diseases mentioned, a short course of hormonal stimulation would not be harmful. Hormonal supplementation can even help a woman feel and function much younger than her chronological age. Many women that are interested in inducing lactation, desire to experience the feelings they had in their body when they were younger and can do so with hormonal supplementation. It can be a part of slowing down the aging process.

The types of hormones are also very important. Birth control pills were developed some years ago. It was found that Estradiol, the most active estrogen produced by the ovaries in a young ovulating woman, is metabolized rapidly by the liver to a less active form. This means that the half-life of Estradiol is very short in the body. If a birth control pill were to have Estradiol it would not work unless the woman took about 3 pills per day. No woman would do this so Estradiol was modified in various ways to give it a much longer half-life. Perhaps the reader has seen Ethinyl-estradiol or Vinyl-estradiol on the BCP package. Perhaps the reader is familiar with PVC (Poly-vinyl-chloride) a commonly used plastic in many items. What the drug companies have done is to attach a plastic or petroleum compound to the Estradiol molecule so that the liver cannot break it down, it does not have the enzymes to do so. It makes the half-life much longer. Americans are unfortunately plagued with a tremendous variety of unnatural, synthetic and petroleum compounds that we ingest and put on the outside of our bodies. We are all part of a grand experiment to discover the effects of all these compounds on our bodies and the cancer and disease that they may increase.

Birth control pills have been associated with increased rates of cancer, liver tumors and blood clots. A good part of these problems comes from the fact that they are synthetic analogs of the real thing rather than actual Estradiol or Progesterone. The studies about the harmful effects of Estrogen have been based to a great degree on BCP usage and no distinction has been made between the effects of the natural hormones and these synthetic analogs. I believe these synthetics can be harmful and should be avoided if possible. The real thing Estradiol and Progesterone is the best.

The problem of a short half-life remains when using these hormones in a pill form. Estrogen levels are sustained in a young woman because her ovaries put it out constantly even though the liver rapidly metabolizes it. The best solution is to apply Estradiol and Progesterone in a cream form to the skin. Constant levels can thus be achieved through continuous absorption over a 24-hour period. Another benefit of using a cream form is that it can be concentrated on the breasts and the total dose perhaps lowered if breast stimulation is the only effect the woman desires. A variety of other hormones have been shown to enhance lactation in addition to the usual ones considered. Growth hormone accelerates the changes that take place in the breasts when they are waking up in the process of lactation induction. Growth hormone is also the most important hormone used to slow down the aging process and it has been used to enhance lactation with success.

Simple breast stimulation through suckling, breast pumps, marmet technique and rolling the nipples with the fingers has been advocated for years as safe and effective. There is no known risk of cancer in doing this, rather it is probably protective. Any woman who desires to lactate but is at some risk of cancer because of various reasons mentioned above surely can do this without fear.

DrJim

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