Compounded HRT and the Sunday Newspapers.(part 2)

 My blood pressure has settled down since reading the article on HRT (specifically compounded HRT) causing cancer in the Sunday Papers. Those of you who follow my blogs, which should be all of you, will know that I have repeatedly published studies from reputable journals about the safety of the hormones that I use, in the way that I use it. I am also aware that not all doctors have the experience and knowledge that I do, and some do not prescribe bioidentical hormones (BHRT) in a safe or proper manner. Some doctors have jumped aboard the BHRT bandwagon without the required skills. These doctors have given the BHRT a bad name generally. I suspect the article is mostly aimed at these doctors. However, “cowboy”operators occur everywhere, and not only medicine.
Oestrogen should never be given to someone who has a uterus, without progesterone.  Oestrogen on its own can cause endometrial cancer. I am surprised at the number of times I have seen women who have not received progesterone, only oestrogen, from their doctors. This is a recipe for disaster. The amount of progesterone also needs to be adequate to have the protective effect. This is best monitored by regular blood testing. Saliva testing is not adequate and part of the poor practices I am talking about. For 25 years I have used Micronised Progesterone (natural progesterone) as being the safest and best form of progesterone. I have been attacked by the medical establishment, at conferences and the media for the use of “”unsafe and untried BHRT.”  Now a commercial Micronised Progesterone is available in Australia, and it has suddenly being hailed as the safest and best form of progesterone. The hypocrisy is amazing.
The other issue is how hormones are given. The safest and best way is transdermal, as a troche or a cream. Doctors who give it in any other way risk increasing the cancer rate. Also, the evidence is that BHRT should be continuous ( no week off) as any monthly break from the BHRT can increase the uterine cancer rate.
I have repeatedly mentioned that some compounding chemists are not as good as others – just as not all bakeries have the same quality of products.  For this reason it is important that you use one of the recommended pharmacies, because I have found them to have the best services and quality of hormones.
As I mentioned yesterday, I have only had one women develop endometrial cancer in the last 25 years, and this can be verified by authorized researchers from my database on my computer of all the women I have treated with BHRT over the last 25 years.
Finally, articles like the one on the weekend, do a great disservice to women, as it will scare many women away from taking HRT of any sort. These women will suffer a decreased quality of life, and many a premature death from avoiding HRT. The article below, from the American Journal of Public health and Yale university(how much more prestigious does that get) gives the actual figures, which are very concerning.
Am J Public Health. 2013 Sep;103(9):1583-8. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301295. Epub 2013 Jul 18.

The mortality toll of estrogen avoidance: an analysis of excess deaths among hysterectomized women aged 50 to 59 years.

Author information

1
Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. philip.sarrel@yale.edu

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

We examined the effect of estrogen avoidance on mortality rates among hysterectomized women aged 50 to 59 years.

METHODS:

We derived a formula to relate the excess mortality among hysterectomized women aged 50 to 59 years assigned to placebo in the Women’s Health Initiative randomized controlled trial to the entire population of comparable women in the United States, incorporating the decline in estrogen use observed between 2002 and 2011.

RESULTS:

Over a 10-year span, starting in 2002, a minimum of 18 601 and as many as 91 610 postmenopausal women died prematurely because of the avoidance of estrogen therapy (ET).

CONCLUSIONS:

ET in younger postmenopausal women is associated with a decisive reduction in all-cause mortality, but estrogen use in this population is low and continuing to fall. Our data indicate an associated annual mortality toll in the thousands of women aged 50 to 59 years. Informed discussion between these women and their health care providers about the effects of ET is a matter of considerable urgency.

 

Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2014 Oct;7(10):1045-55. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-14-0054. Epub 2014 Jul 28.

Progesterone inhibits endometrial cancer invasiveness by inhibiting the TGFβ pathway.

Author information

1
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland.
2
Division of Gynecologic Oncology, and Gynecologic Cancer Translational Research Center of Excellence, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.
3
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Health Integrated Research Center, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, Virginia.
4
Division of Gynecologic Oncology, North Shore University Health System, University of Chicago, Evanston, Illinois.
5
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland. viqar.syed@usuhs.edu.

Abstract

Increased expression of TGFβ isoforms in human endometrial cancer correlates with decreased survival and poor prognosis. Progesterone has been shown to exert a chemoprotective effect against endometrial cancer, and previous animal models have suggested that these effects are accompanied by changes in TGFβ. The goal of this study was to characterize the effect of progesterone on TGFβ signaling pathway components and on TGFβ-induced protumorigenic activities in endometrial cancer cell lines. Progesterone significantly decreased expression of three TGFβ isoforms at 72 hours after treatment except for TGFβ2 in HEC-1B and TGFβ3 in Ishikawa cells. Progesterone treatment for 120 hours attenuated expression of the three isoforms in all cell lines. Progesterone exposure for 72 hours reduced expression of TGFβ receptors in HEC-1B cells and all but TGFβR1 in Ishikawa cells. Progesterone reduced TGFβR3 expression in RL-95 cells at 72 hours, but TGFβR1 and βR2 expression levels were not affected by progesterone at any time point. SMAD2/3 and pSMAD2/3 were substantially reduced at 72 hours in all cell lines. SMAD4 expression was reduced in RL-95 cells at 24 hours and in HEC-1B and Ishikawa cells at 72 hours following progesterone treatment. Furthermore, progesterone effectively inhibited basal and TGFβ1-induced cancer cell viability and invasion, which was accompanied by increased E-cadherin and decreased vimentin expression. An inhibitor of TGFβRI blocked TGFβ1-induced effects on cell viability and invasion and attenuated antitumor effects of progesterone. These results suggest that downregulation of TGFβ signaling is a key mechanism underlying progesterone inhibition of endometrial cancer growth.

About Dr Colin Holloway

Gp interested in natural hormone treatment for men and women of all ages

Posted on November 14, 2017, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Comments Off on Compounded HRT and the Sunday Newspapers.(part 2).

Comments are closed.

%d bloggers like this: