Treatments For Menopause May Be Overused

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Treatments for Menopause May Be Overused
By: Larry Frieders, The Compounder

An article By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer begins,

American women may be overusing treatments for symptoms of menopause, including hormone therapies that can pose a risk, a National Institutes of Health (news - web sites) consensus panel said Wednesday. "For women who don't have very serious symptoms, waiting it out may be the best strategy," said Dr. Carol M. Mangione of the University of California, Los Angeles.

The author also writes,

There has been increasing interest in so-called "natural" hormones for treating menopausal symptoms, but the panel found little data on the benefits and adverse effects of these compounds.

This requires a few comments. First, in a perfect world (from a hormone perspective) I agree that menopause should not be a disease and it sure wouldn't be a time when a woman experiences life-disrupting symptoms. Menopause "symptoms" are a relatively new phenomena and I do NOT think women today somehow complain more than their mothers or grandmothers. Something has changed and it isn't the women.

The fact is that we no longer live in a perfect world. We are all bombarded daily with huge amounts of estrogens and other substances that act like estrogen. Our grandmothers lived through "the change" without too many complaints because they weren't being thrown into estrogen dominance by everything they ate. Their normal decline of hormones was gradual and balanced. BALANCE is the key element.

Where are all those estrogens coming from? Almost all beef is prepared for market by spending time in a feedlot. That's where they're injected with fattening hormones. Some of those hormones remain in the steak you buy at the market.

A lot of milk is produced by cows who are injected with an estrogen substance that increase milk production. Some of that estrogen ends up in the jug of milk you have in your refrigerator.

Certain chemicals in plastics exert estrogen-like action on our bodies. These chemicals can leach into our food and water from the containers in which they're packaged.

Speaking of water, consider tap water. Reports abound about the contaminants in the water and many of those contaminants have estrogen-like reactions in our bodies.

Soy products abound and they can exert a profound estrogen effect on those who consume them. In fact, some products emphasize the hormone benefits of their soy content. As an aside - I don't believe that anyone should consume any form of soy, ever!

Do you want evidence that all of us are exposed to increasing amounts of estrogen? Think about the reports about how girls are developing breasts at a younger and younger age. Estrogen is THE dominant hormone controlling the development of the female body. If our estrogen balance is impacted by our environment there is little wonder that the effects carry over into the time of menopause.

Mom and Grandma weren't exposed to all these estrogens and when their levels began to decline naturally they weren't faced with the massive imbalance that today's women experience.

The IDEA that today's women are somehow overreacting and that hormone supplements may be unnecessary is absurd. Either women are really experiencing unacceptable symptoms or they're all under the influence of some mass hypnotic hysteria. I don't think 21st century women are deluded or hysterical. I've also witnessed profound symptom improvements when hormone levels are returned to balance. The scientific proofs are sparse, but the experiential evidence is powerful.

Finally, I must comment regarding the remarks about "so-called natural hormones." Just consider one thing. Would it be better to use a synthetic form of a hormone (a drug) when an identical, natural form is available? I think rationality would favor the natural over the synthetic. What about you?

And, what's with referring to natural hormones as "so-called?"