Hormones - How and why, when used WELL, they can help restore/maintain health

Hormone Heresy - The Deadly Truth About Estrogen - PART I

Women receive misinformation about hormones, to the detriment of their health, while drug manufacturers reap huge profits at their expense. – by Sherrill Sellman

For more than 300 years, beginning in the 13th century and continuing until the mid-16th century, the Inquisition was a reign of terror for the vast majority of people living in Europe and Scandinavia. The political, economic and religious forces of the time came together to consolidate their power by eliminating those they considered to be obstacles to their ultimate goals.

The unlucky target of their attacks were the guardians of the healing arts and ancient spiritual and cultural knowledge. Historians debate the exact toll of this hellish era - whether it was several hundred thousand or as many as nine million people - but it is unquestionable that the vast majority of victims were women. In fact, the Inquisition is now considered a period of genocide against women, which succeeded in stripping women of their power, their self-respect, their wealth, the art of healing, as well as their prominence and influence in the community.

The Inquisition ensured that the patriarchs of the Church were undisputed spiritual authorities. It also succeeded in preserving medical knowledge in the domain of men, as the Inquisition decreed that only trained doctors could practice the healing arts and, of course, women were barred from medical schools (indeed, women were barred from any form of education).

It's a good thing that this violent era of aversion to women is long over. Unfortunately, it seems that some traditions still persist. Today's women are still the victims of huge political and economic interests, with terrible consequences for their health, financial independence and personal power. Perhaps the Inquisition isn't over after all, it's just adopted a more subtle and unscrupulous form.

Women certainly represent big business for medical interests and the pharmaceutical industry. According to John Archer, author of Bad Medicine, around 600,000 hysterectomies are performed annually in the United States and around 45,000 a year in Australia.1 In 1994, it was estimated that 45,000 Australian women were taking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).2 Many women are now encouraged to continue with HRT for the rest of their post-menopausal lives.

According to D. Stanley West - a renowned infertility specialist, chief of reproductive endocrinology at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York and author of The Hysterectomy Blow - about 90 percent of all hysterectomies are unnecessary. Gynecological consultants from the Ralph Nader Public Health Research Group came to a similar conclusion in 1991, in the book A Warning to Women's Health. According to Dr. West, the only 100 percent justified reason for performing a hysterectomy is to treat cancer of the reproductive organs.3 However, hysterectomies are very often offered as treatment for a variety of conditions, including endometriosis, fibrosis, ovarian cysts, pelvic inflammation and uterine prolapse.

It's no coincidence that gynecologists tend to have the highest salaries of all the other specialties. Throughout their lives, women are encouraged to continually undergo various medical treatments and procedures. Women's natural functions, from menstruation to childbirth and menopause, are taken over by medical and pharmaceutical intervention. Bombarded by misinformation, myths, propaganda and, in some cases, outright lies, it's no wonder that so many women are completely confused about issues relating to their own bodies and their health.

The History of Hormone Replacement Therapy

There is perhaps no topic that confuses women more than the adoption of hormone replacement during the menopause, which is the subject of intense propaganda. HRT is praised as the best thing to liberate women since the discovery of oral contraceptives - even though statistics now show that the widespread use of the pill has led to an increase in health risks, such as breast cancer, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, on a scale never seen before in medicine.4

Research into the theory of hormone replacement dates back to the 1930s, with the research of Dr. Serge Voronoff. His work involved implanting monkey testicles into men's scrotums, with limited effectiveness. The results of this research led to the grafting of monkey ovaries into women, with terrible consequences. After many deaths (of monkeys and women), research was redirected to the use of synthetic estrogen. With the advent of the Second World War, research was suspended.

The menopause didn't become fashionable as a topic of concern for the medical profession until the 1960s. In 1966, a New York gynecologist, Dr. Robert Wilson, published a best-seller called Feminine Forever, extolling the virtues of estrogen replacement as a way to save women from the “tragedy of menopause, which often destroys personality and health”. The book sold over 100,000 copies in its first year. Wilson vigorously promoted the menopause as a condition of “life decay”. According to him, oestrogen replacement was like the much sought-after pill of youth, which would protect the poor woman from the horrors of age. He made popular the erroneous belief that the menopause is a disability.

Women's magazines eagerly latched on to his ideas and widely promoted his concepts. This made Wilson very happy, as he had previously set up the Wilson Foundation, with the sole purpose of promoting the use of oestrogenic drugs. The pharmaceutical industry generously contributed over 1.3 million dollars to his Foundation. Each year he received funds from companies such as Searle, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories and Upjohn, which manufactured products containing the hormones that Wilson claimed were effective in treating and preventing the menopause. Pharmaceutical companies jumped on the bandwagon, running vigorous promotions and strong advertising campaigns. Dr. Wilson's message hit a very receptive chord - “middle-aged women need hormone drugs to be saved from the inevitable horrors and decrepitude of this terrible handicap called menopause.”

Dr. Wilson pioneered the use of uncombined estrogen. However, there had been no formal evaluation of the safety of estrogen therapy or its long-term effects. Uncombined estrogen fell out of fashion when it became obvious that it was shortening the lifespan of its users. In 1975, the New England Journal of Medicine examined the rates of endometrial cancer in estrogen users, concluding that the risk was 7.5 times higher in users of this hormone. Women who had used estrogen for seven years or more were 14 times more likely to develop cancer.5

As the popularity of uncombined estrogen therapy fell, new approaches were sought. The focus has also shifted from false claims about preserving women's beauty and youth to more pressing health issues. The pharmaceutical industry resurrected estrogen replacement therapy through a “safe” hormone replacement therapy - a combination of synthetic progesterone and estrogen, which was supposed to protect menopausal women not only against cardiovascular disease, but also against the ravages of osteoporosis.

Although so-called “women's health experts” assure us that there are no unpleasant side effects, or that they are minimal, Dr. Lynette J. Dumble, a senior researcher at the University of Melbourne's Department of Surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, believes that “the sole purpose of HRT is to create a highly lucrative commercial market for pharmaceutical companies and doctors. The supposed benefits of HRT are completely unproven”. She believes that HRT not only aggravates current health problems, but also contributes to accelerating the aging process in women. This therapy hastens the onset of other diseases or worsens existing ones.

This perspective seems to have been confirmed by recent findings from a landmark study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1995 and covering 121,700 women, which revealed alarming effects of HRT. The study warns that women who used HRT to compensate for menopausal symptoms also increased their chances of developing breast cancer by 30 to 40 percent when taking the hormone for more than 5 years. In women aged between 60 and 64, the risk of breast cancer increased to 70 percent after 5 years of HRT. Finally, the study concluded that women who used HRT were 45 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than those who chose not to use HRT, or who used it for less than 6 years.6

According to Leslie Kenton, author of Passage to Power, “anyone who is anything in life will tell you that the menopause is a disease, caused by oestrogen deficiency, and that you will need to take more oestrogen as you approach middle age. What might surprise you is this - not only is most of this commonly given advice about the menopause wrong, but a good deal of it can be positively dangerous.”

Fortunately, there is another side to the hormone story - a perspective that can help women of all ages not only achieve better health, but also regain a sense of more power, responsibility and dignity in their lives.

A Brief Gynecological Tour of the Woman's Body

To understand the debate on HRT, it's important to first have a rudimentary understanding of the cyclical nature of women.

Until recently, doctors thought that the menopause began when all the eggs in the ovary had been used up. However, recent work has shown that the menopause is probably not triggered by the ovary, but by the brain. It seems that both puberty and the menopause are events triggered by the brain.

Menstruation depends on a complex network of hormonal communication between the ovaries, the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland in the brain. The hypothalamus secretes a hormone that releases gonadotrophin (GnRH), which triggers the production of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) by the pituitary gland. FSH then stimulates the growth of the follicles of the ovum (small sac or excretory gland) in the ovaries to trigger ovulation. As the follicles grow, oestrogen is produced and released into the blood.

This chain reaction is not a one-way street. Estradiol, one of the ovarian estrogens in the bloodstream, also acts on the hypothalamus, causing a change in GnRH. This modified hormone then stimulates the pituitary to produce luteinizing hormone (LH), which causes the follicles to hatch and the egg to be released. After the egg is expelled, progesterone is also produced by the follicles, which become the corpus luteum.

The hormones released during the menstrual cycle are not secreted in a constant, continuous way, but in dramatically different quantities during the different parts of the 28-day cycle.

In the first eight to eleven days of the menstrual cycle, a woman's ovary produces a lot of estrogen. Oestrogen prepares the follicles for the release of one of the eggs. Estrogen is responsible for the proliferation of changes that occur during puberty: the growth of breasts, the development of the reproductive system and the feminine shape of a woman's body.

The rate of oestrogen secretion begins to decrease around day 13, the day before ovulation occurs. As oestrogen decreases, progesterone begins to increase, stimulating very rapid follicle growth. With the start of progesterone secretion, ovulation also occurs. Once the egg has been released from the follicle, it begins to change, increasing in size and becoming a different organ, known as the corpus luteum. Progesterone is secreted by the corpus luteum, this tiny organ with an enormous capacity to produce hormones. The surge of progesterone at the time of ovulation is the source of libido - not estrogen, as is commonly thought.

After 10 or 12 days, if fertilization doesn't occur, ovarian production of progesterone drops dramatically. It is this sudden decline in progesterone levels that triggers endometrial secretion (menstruation), which leads to a renewal of the entire menstrual cycle.

Progesterone and estrogen originating in the ovaries stimulate the growth of the endometrium (tissue lining the uterus) in preparation for fertilization. Estrogen acts on the growth of this endometrial tissue, while progesterone facilitates the secretion of this lining of the uterus so that the fertilized egg (now called an egg) can be successfully implanted. Progesterone in adequate quantities is therefore the most essential hormone for the survival of the fertilized egg and the fetus.

Around the age of 40, the interaction between hormones changes, which over time leads to the menopause. How this happens is still unclear. The menopause may begin with changes in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, rather than the ovaries. Scientists have carried out experiments in which the ovaries of young mice are replaced with the ovaries of older mice that can no longer reproduce. It has been found that the young mice are able to mate and have offspring. This shows that old ovaries placed in a young environment can respond. On the other hand, when young ovaries are placed in old mice, they are unable to reproduce.7

Whatever the mechanism that triggers the menopause, as fewer follicles are stimulated, the amount of progesterone and estrogen produced by the ovaries decreases, although other hormones continue to be produced. In no way do the ovaries shrivel up and stop working, as is popularly believed. With the reduction in these hormones, menstruation becomes scarce, irregular and eventually stops altogether.

However, other parts of the body - such as the adrenal glands, skin, muscles, brain, pineal gland, hair follicles and body fat - are able to produce these same hormones, enabling the female body to make adjustments to the hormonal balance after the menopause, provided that the woman has taken good care of herself in the pre-menopausal years, with a proper lifestyle and diet, as well as due attention to mental and emotional health.

A woman going through the menopause has the opportunity to enter this phase of life empowered by wisdom and creativity like never before. She gains access to deep inner knowledge. The renowned sociologist Margaret Mead said: “There is nothing more powerful than a woman in the menopause and with enthusiasm!” In many cultures around the world, the menopause is a transition and an initiation into the realization of a woman's power, completely without symptoms. She is held in the highest regard in her community, as a wise and respected old woman.

The Myth of Estrogen and Synthetic Progesterone

The initial research that led to the synthesis of estrogen made it possible to develop the contraceptive pill in the 60s. With the consent of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US government agency that controls medicines, food, etc., the pill was widely marketed as an effective and convenient method of birth control. True sexual liberation for women had finally arrived.

However, the entire basis for the FDA's approval was simply the result of clinical studies carried out on 132 women in Puerto Rico who had taken the pill for a year or more.8 (Never mind the fact that five of them died during the course of the study, without any investigation into the cause of their deaths).

In the mid-1970s, the number of women dying from heart attacks began to attract public attention. So a new pill was created, supposedly safer, with a lower estrogen content. But in fact there has never been any valid scientific proof that the pill is safe - nor, for that matter, that any of the other contraceptive methods currently available are safe. Only now are women discovering the price they have been paying for their sexual freedom - by altering their hormonal balance, many devastating emotional and physiological dysfunctions have been created.

Oral contraception was introduced decades ago and today around 60 million women around the world are actually “experimenting” with the pill. Its safety and long-term effects have not yet been conclusively established. It is interesting to note, however, that the pill has produced a wide range of adverse effects and side-effects, and has a significant link with breast cancer, high blood pressure and, especially, cardiovascular disease - the leading cause of female deaths in Australia: in 1992, a total of 27,883 women died from heart disease and strokes, compared to 2,438 deaths from breast cancer.9 Is this a mere coincidence, or perhaps this statistic indicates the dangerous side-effect of messing with hormones?

At the same time as being heralded as the main ingredient missing from menopausal women, estrogen is highly recommended by the medical and pharmaceutical industries for preventing cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. In almost any doctor's office they enter these days, women will be warned about the risks inherent in the menopause and post-menopause if they don't have the protection of estrogen. They are also reminded once again that the menopause is a deficiency, which supposedly means a lack of estrogen, and that they must therefore take supplementary doses to maintain their health.

As Dr. Lynette Dumble ponders, “In general, cardiovascular prevention in women has focused overwhelmingly on hormone replacement. However, as Elizabeth Barrett-Connor emphasizes, the Great Experiment (the 1973 Coronary Drug Project), which included two estrogen regimens, was done in men. As part of the Great Experiment project, doses of estrogen wildly excessive to physiological levels were deliberately given to men in order to induce gynecomastia (excessive mammary gland development in men) as an indicator of successful effeminacy. This resulted in thromboses and impotence, and ultimately led to the failure of the research, due to the discontinuation of treatment among the study participants.” 10

According to physician, independent researcher and book author Dr. John Lee, the most eminent study (known as the Boston Health Study, carried out on a large sample of nurses) and which formed the entire basis of the positive estrogen-cardiovascular link, was radically flawed.

Despite ample evidence from numerous other studies showing that the opposite is in fact true (i.e. estrogen is a significant factor in creating heart disease), these facts have been virtually ignored in the face of the profit motive. Dr. Lee goes on to say that pharmaceutical advertising omitted the fact that the incidence of stroke deaths in this study was 50 percent higher among estrogen users.

Dr. Lee has compiled a list of side effects and physiological damage resulting from estrogen use, which include: increased risk of endometrial cancer, increased body fat, salt and fluid retention, depression and headaches, impaired blood sugar control (hypoglycemia), loss of zinc and retention of copper, reduced oxygen levels in all cells, thickening of the bile and promotion of gallbladder disease, increased chance of fibrocysts in the breast and uterine fibrosis, interference with thyroid activity, excessive blood clotting, reduced vascular tone, endometriosis, uterine colic, infertility, and restricted function of gallbladder cells, interference with thyroid activity, decreased sex drive, excessive blood clotting, reduced vascular tone, endometriosis, uterine colic, infertility, and restricted osteoclast function.

With so many side-effects and dangerous complications, a woman must weigh up the decision about hormone replacement therapy very carefully. Unfortunately, most doctors will tell you that there is no alternative. Although most doctors are certainly well-meaning and honestly concerned about their patients, the main source of knowledge and information about drugs is the pharmaceutical companies themselves. As most women are also lacking in education and understanding about their options, the menopause can be seen as a very frightening and dangerous period.

Natural Progesterone comes into play

For the past 15 years, Dr. Lee has been conducting independent research into natural, plant-derived forms of progesterone. His research, without funding from the pharmaceutical industry, presents a much broader understanding of women's hormonal options, offering a totally safe and effective alternative, free of side effects. He discovered that this natural hormone (combined with a good diet and lifestyle changes) is capable of eliminating many of the sufferings associated with premenstrual tension syndrome (PMS) and the menopause. Thousands of women in the Western world already use natural progesterone - usually in the form of a cream (without a prescription) that is applied to the body. These women claim that they not only feel relief from typical female symptoms, but also experience greater vitality, better skin and renewed emotional balance.

Natural progesterone seems to have been totally neglected by medical science, which has mistakenly focused on estrogen. Considering that natural progesterone is not patentable and is still cheap, it's not surprising that this has happened. It is important, however, to have a much broader understanding and assessment of this extraordinary hormone.

As previously mentioned, progesterone is responsible for maintaining the secretion of the endometrium, which is necessary for the survival of the embryo, as well as for the development of the fetus throughout pregnancy. It is little realized, however, that progesterone is the mother of all hormones. Progesterone is an important precursor in the biosynthesis of adrenal corticosteroids (hormones that protect against stress) and all sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen). This means that progesterone has the ability to be transformed into other hormones along the way, as and when the body needs them. It must be emphasized that oestrogen and testosterone are final metabolic products made from progesterone. If there isn't an adequate amount of progesterone, estrogen and testosterone won't be sufficiently available in the body. In addition to being the precursor of sex hormones, progesterone also facilitates many other important and intrinsic physiological functions (which will be discussed later).

The Effects of Estrogen Predominance

Women's problems seem to be on the rise. Forty to sixty percent of all Western women suffer from PMS. In addition, they suffer from an overabundance of symptoms, some menopausal and some not. Something very alarming certainly seems to be happening to women. There are indications that the proper hormonal balance necessary for a woman's body to function healthily is being interfered with by various factors. Research has revealed that a large number of women in their 30s (and some even younger), well before the onset of the menopause, sometimes fail to ovulate at the right time.11 Without ovulation, there is no corpus luteum and no progesterone is produced. The result is a progesterone deficiency.

Many problems can result from this deficiency. One of them is the presence of uncombined oestrogen for a whole month, with all its list of side effects, as already mentioned. Another is the generally unrecognized problem of progesterone's role in osteoporosis. Contemporary medicine has yet to learn that progesterone stimulates the formation of new bone by mediating osteoblasts. In fact, it is progesterone that stimulates new bone tissue and is capable of reversing osteoporosis at any age. A lack of progesterone means that new osteoblasts are not created and osteoporosis can arise.12

A third and important problem results from the interrelationship between progesterone loss and stress. Stress combined with a poor diet can induce cycles without ovulation. The resulting lack of progesterone interferes with the production of stress-fighting hormones, exacerbating the stressful conditions that give rise to further cycles without ovulation. And so the vicious circle continues.

Another important factor contributing to this imbalance between estrogen and progesterone is the environment. In the industrialized world, we live immersed in a growing sea of petrochemical derivatives. They are in the air, food and water. These chemicals include pesticides and herbicides (such as DDT, dieldrin, heptachlor, etc.), as well as various plastics (polycarbonates, used in baby bottles and water jugs) and PCBs.

These estrogen imitators are highly fat-soluble, neither biodegradable nor well expelled, accumulating in the fatty tissues of animals and humans. These chemicals have an incredible ability to mimic natural estrogen, and have been given the name xeno-estrogens, since, despite being “foreign” chemicals, they are absorbed by the estrogen receptors in the body, seriously interfering with natural biochemical changes. (See “Translator's Note” at the end).

Growing research is now revealing an alarming worldwide situation created by the flood of these hormone imitators. In the book Our Stolen Future, by Dr. Theo Colburn and others, L&PM Editores, translated by Cláudia Buchweitz and revised by Luiz Jacques Saldanha, available in Brazil since 1997, 51 hormone imitators have been identified, each capable of unleashing a torrent of effects, such as a reduction in sperm production, cell division and the shaping of developing brains. These imitators are not only linked to the recent discovery that the human sperm count plummeted by 50 percent worldwide between 1938 and 1990, but also to genital deformities, breast, prostate and testicular cancer, as well as neurological disorders.13

Dr. Lee discovered a constant theme among women's complaints about the distressing and often debilitating symptoms of PMS, perimenopause and menopause - excess estrogen, or, as he called it, an “estrogen dominance.”

Now, instead of estrogen playing its essential role within the well-balanced symphony of steroid hormones in the female body, it has come to overshadow the other “musicians”, creating a biochemical dissonance. The last thing in the world a woman's body needs is more estrogen - whether in the form of contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy (HRT). But when the symptoms of oestrogen dominance appear, guess what is prescribed? More estrogen! The delicate natural balance between progesterone and estrogen is radically altered by excess estrogen. And progesterone deficiency is then further exacerbated.

Dr. Lee was able to compensate for the estrogen-dominant effect by using a transdermal cream with natural progesterone. Natural progesterone, a cholesterol derivative, is made from Mexican wild yams or soybeans, whose active ingredients are exact molecular replicas of progesterone in the human body. It's interesting to note that in Asian and South American countries, where women eat soy or yams, the term “fogacho” doesn't even exist in their languages. They also rarely suffer from the numerous female problems that currently afflict Westerners.

Supplementation with natural progesterone corrects the real problem - its deficiency. There are no known side effects of natural progesterone, nor has any toxic level been found to date. Natural progesterone increases libido, prevents uterine cancer, protects against fibrocystic breast disease, helps protect against breast cancer, maintains the uterine lining, moisturizes and oxygenates the skin, reverses hirsutism (facial hair growth) and hair loss, acts as a natural diuretic, helps eliminate depression and increases feelings of well-being, promotes fat burning and the use of stored energy, normalizes blood clotting, and is also a precursor to other important sex and anti-stress hormones.

Even the most prevalent symptoms of the menopause - hot flushes and vaginal dryness - disappear quickly with the application of natural progesterone.

There is another very important benefit of natural progesterone that deserves a little more attention. Although most people assume that estrogen protects against osteoporosis - one of the main reasons why women are encouraged to use hormone replacement therapy - this is definitely not the case.

The old studies on which the estrogen protection hypothesis was based had serious scientific flaws. Canadian researcher Jerilyn Prior, chief endocrinologist at British Columbia University in Vancouver, with other colleagues, reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirmed that the role of estrogen in osteoporosis is minimal. In their studies of female athletes, these researchers found that osteoporosis occurs as athletes become deficient in progesterone, although their estrogen levels appear to remain normal. Dr. Prior continued her research with non-athletic women, who showed the same results. Although both groups were menstruating, they had cycles without ovulation and were therefore deficient in progesterone.

Dr. Prior then discovered that the absence of ovulation and a short cycle now occurs in 50 percent of American women's menstrual cycles during the late reproductive years.14 Unfortunately, these important discoveries have gone relatively unnoticed in the medical community.

As a result of her extensive scientific evidence published in this area, Prior has confirmed that it is not estrogen but progesterone that is the bone-nourishing, i.e. bone-forming, hormone. She was even able to identify progesterone receptors in osteoblasts (bone tissue-forming cells). No one has ever found estrogen receptors in osteoblasts. In short, it is in progesterone-deficient women that bone loss occurs.15

These results were obtained in a 3-year study of 63 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Women who used transdermal progesterone cream had an average 7 to 8 percent increase in bone mass density in the first year, 4 to 5 percent in the second year, and 3 to 4 percent in the third year! Women who don't receive treatment in this age group normally lose 1.5 percent of bone mass density per year! These results have not been obtained with any other form of hormone replacement therapy or dietary supplementation.16

Dr. Lee believes that the use of natural progesterone, in conjunction with dietary and lifestyle changes, can not only stop osteoporosis, but actually reverse it - even in women aged 70 and over.

At this point it's important to make a distinction between natural progesterone, produced by the body, and synthetic progestins - classified as progestins (or progestogens), such as Provera, Duphaston and Primolut. As you will see, there is a big difference between the two in terms of their effects on the body, although most doctors use these names interchangeably.

As natural progesterone is not patentable, pharmaceutical companies have molecularly modified it to produce synthetic progestins, normally used in contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy.

Synthetic progestins, because they are not exact replicas of the human body's natural progesterone, unfortunately create a long list of side effects, some of which are quite severe. A partial list of these effects includes headaches, depression, fluid retention, increased risk of birth defects and miscarriages, kidney dysfunction, sagging breasts, irregular bleeding, acne, hair growth, insomnia, edema, weight changes, pulmonary embolism, and premenstrual syndrome.17

And, very importantly, progestins lack the intrinsic biological benefits of progesterone and therefore cannot function in key biological synthesis steps, as progesterone does, and disrupt many fundamental processes in the body. Progesterone is an essential hormone that also plays a role in the development of healthy nerve cells and brain, as well as in thyroid function. Progestins tend to block the body's ability to produce and use natural progesterone to maintain these life-promoting functions.

The history of the hormone is certainly complicated. So far, only one version of this story has been available to most Western women. Serious doubts have been raised about the efficacy and desirability of estrogen and progestins, in any of their forms. Women are certainly suffering from a variety of female ailments.

What complicates the hormone story is that the treatment prescribed for these illnesses is actually making the problem worse. Without understanding the wide-ranging side-effects of oestrogen and progestin dominance, doctors are misdiagnosing the cause of these aggravated conditions. Often, other drugs are then prescribed, with disastrous side effects, as the spiral of unnecessary medication grows. What is the ultimate sacrifice? Not only the deterioration of the woman's health and emotional well-being, but also her financial situation, her relationship, her career.

Without adequate knowledge, education or access to natural products, women have become easy prey for the powerful advertising campaigns of multinational drug manufacturers, who have already convinced doctors and government bodies of their claims. It is becoming more evident that the good of women is not always taken into account in this biased approach. Nor is it uncommon for profit to take precedence over health and well-being. The last thing a woman needs is to have her body's natural functions denigrated as deficiencies or diseases - thus requiring ongoing medical attention.

It's high time that women took even greater responsibility for their health, their choices and their lifestyle. The greatest weapon against submission and ignorance is knowledge.

It's time to ask difficult questions of those who take care of your health, demand answers and be willing to investigate safe alternatives. It's becoming clear that women need to take part in informing their doctors about other existing options, as well as choosing the ones they prefer.

Certainly, women have within themselves the power not only to find safe, effective and natural ways to heal themselves, but also to live a long and full life, preserving their vitality, youth and health. Women have the right to value themselves and their bodies at all stages of life. As she finds her way back to greater balance within herself, she will understand the depth of the truth of what Dr. Deepak Chopra said about women: “Feminine wisdom is the intelligence at the heart of creation.”

Some Effects of Estrogen Predominance

1. When estrogen is not compensated for by progesterone, it can cause weight gain, headaches, moodiness, chronic fatigue and loss of interest in sex - all part of the clinically recognized Premenstrual Syndrome.
2. Not only is it well proven that estrogenic predominance stimulates the development of breast cancer, thanks to the proliferative actions of estrogen - it also stimulates the breast tissues and can, over time, trigger fibrocysts in the breast, a condition that tends to disappear when natural progesterone is introduced to compensate for estrogen.
3. By definition, an excess of estrogen implies a deficiency of progesterone. This, in turn, leads to a reduction in the rate at which osteoblasts - the cells responsible for this work - form new bone in women. Although most doctors are still unaware of it, this is the main cause of osteoporosis.
4. Estrogen dominance increases the risk of fibroids. One of the interesting facts about fibroids (and one often commented on by doctors) is that, regardless of size, fibroids usually atrophy when the menopause arrives and the ovaries stop producing estrogen. Doctors who commonly use progesterone on their patients have discovered that giving natural progesterone also causes fibroids to atrophy.
5. In estrogen-predominant women who menstruate, where progesterone does not rise and fall in a normal way each month, there is no orderly irrigation of the uterine lining. Menstruation becomes irregular. This situation can usually be corrected by changing your lifestyle and using a product with natural progesterone. This is easily diagnosed by a doctor who analyzes the level of progesterone at certain times of the month.
6. Endometrial cancer (cancer of the uterus) only develops when there is a predominance of estrogen, or uncombined estrogen. This too can be prevented by the use of natural progesterone. The use of synthetic progestins can also help with prevention, which is why a growing number of doctors no longer prescribe estrogen without combining it with a progestogenic drug during hormone replacement therapy. However, all synthetic progestins have side effects.
7. Accumulation of water in the cells and an increase in intercellular sodium, which predisposes women to high blood pressure (or hypertension), often occur with estrogen dominance. These can also be side effects caused by taking synthetic progesterone (progestins). Natural progesterone cream usually solves this.
8. The risks of strokes and heart attacks are dramatically increased when a woman is estrogen-predominant.

(Source: Leslie Kanton, Passage to Power, Random House, UK - 1995)

Benefits of Natural Progesterone Against Aging

1. Progesterone is the first precursor in the biosynthesis of adrenal corticosteroids. Without an adequate amount of progesterone, cortisone synthesis is impaired and the body then turns to alternative pathways, which produce masculinizing side effects such as long facial hair and thinning hair. Further impaired production of corticoids results in a decreased ability to manage stress, such as surgery, trauma or emotional stress.
2. Many perimenopausal or postmenopausal women with clinical signs of hypothyroidism (such as fatigue, lack of energy, cold intolerance) are actually suffering from unrecognized oestrogen dominance, and will benefit from natural progesterone supplementation.
3. Estrogen (and most synthetic progestins) increases sodium and the accumulation of intracellular water. The effect of this is hypertension. Natural progesterone is a natural diuretic and prevents the accumulation of sodium and water in the cells, thus preventing hypertension.
4. While estrogen impairs the homeostatic control of glucose levels, natural progesterone stabilizes them. Therefore, natural progesterone can be beneficial for both those with diabetes and those with reactive hypoglycemia. Oestrogen should be contraindicated in patients with diabetes.
5. Thinning and wrinkling of the skin is a sign of a lack of hydration. This is common in perimenopausal and menopausal women and is a sure sign of a decrease in hormones. Transdermal natural progesterone is a skin moisturizer.
6. Progesterone plays an important role in keeping brain cells healthy. Diseases such as premature senility (Alzheimer's disease) may be, at least in part, another example of an illness resulting from progesterone deficiency.
7. Progesterone is essential for the healthy development of the myelin sheath, which protects the nerve cell. A low level of progesterone leads to recurrent pain.
8. Progesterone creates and promotes a heightened sense of emotional well-being and psychological self-sufficiency.
9. Progesterone is responsible for the increase in libido.

(Source: Dr. John R. Lee, Slowing the Aging Process with Natural Progesterone - BLL Publishing, CA, USA, 1994, p. 14)

Translator's note: The 27-10-99 edition of the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo published the headline “Chemical component may be responsible for precocious puberty - cause could be substance found in plastic products, such as baby bottles”, reproducing an article from the Kansas City Star newspaper, which quotes an article published in the journal Nature. The subject refers to research carried out by scientists from the Universities of Missouri and North Carolina, demonstrating the action of so-called xeno-estrogens (or xeno-biotics) - imitators of hormones - on women.

Bibliographical references

1. Archer, John, Bad Medicine, Simon & Schuster, Australia, 1995, p. 191.
2. Op. cit., p. 217.
3. Op. cit., p. 192.
4. Op. cit., p. 211.
5. Coney, Sandra, The Menopause Industry, Spinifex Press Pty Ltd, Australia, 1991.
6. The Sydney Morning Herald, June 24, 1995.
7. Coney, Sandra, op. cit., p. 584.
8. Archer, John, op. cit., p. 210.
9. Archer, John, op. cit., p. 211.
10. (a) Dumble, Lynette J., Ph.D., M.Sc., “Odds Against Women with Heart Disease”,
    presented at Health Sharing Women's Forum, Royal College of Surgeons,
    Melbourne, Australia, September 14, 1995.
    (b) Barrett-Connor, Elizabeth, “Heart Disease in Women”, Fertility and Sterility
    (1994), 62(2):127S-132S.
11. Lee, John R., M.D., Natural Progesterone: The Multiple Role of a Remarkable
    Hormone, BLL Publishing, California, USA, 1993, p. 29.
12. Ibid.
13. Newsweek, March 18, 1996.
14. Kenton, Leslie, Passage to Power, Random House, UK, 1995, pp. 19-20.
15. Ibid.
16. Lee, John R., M.D., “Osteoporosis Reversal: The Role of Progesterone”,
    International Clinical Nutrition Review (1990), 10:384-391.
17. Lee, John R., M.D., Slowing the Aging Process with Natural Progesterone, BLL
    Publishing, California, USA, 1994, p. 12.

Extract from Nexus Magazine, Volume 3 - No. 4 (June/July 1996).
P. O. Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560, Australia. E-mail: nexus@peg.apc.org
Phone: 61(0)7 5442 9280. Fax: 61(0)7 5442 9381
From our website at http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/hormone1.html