Preferred Form of Replacement Therapy

Replacement Therapy: The choice of the type of hormones used for symptom control and hormone replacement are the key to achieving optimal results.

Trans­der­mal estro­gens min­i­mize the devel­op­ment of clotting factors due to the fact that they do not have to first pass through the liver to be absorbed as occurs when med­ica­tions are taken orally.

The risk of devel­op­ing blood clots (deep vein throm­bo­sis or pulmonary throm­boem­bolism) with trans­der­mal estrogen therapy, is neg­li­gi­ble in com­par­i­son to that asso­ci­ated with oral estro­gens. Estrogen deficiency that occurs dur­ing menopause contributes to abdominal obesity, insulin resistance and could play a major role in the devel­op­ment of diabetes in women.

Estrogen is balanced with admin­is­tra­tion of natural prog­es­terone. A study conducted at three prestigious uni­ver­si­ties, including the Yale Uni­ver­sity School of Med­i­cine , concluded that natural prog­es­terone, enhances estrogen’s ben­e­fi­cial effects on heart muscle, prevents vasospasm and reduce arte­r­ial plaque for­ma­tion by 50% in post menopausal women. Prog­es­terone also induces the death of cancer cells , inhibits estrogen stim­u­lated spread of breast epithelial cells, which can reduce the risk of breast cancer, and has receptors in many vital areas of the body having ben­e­fi­cial effects on the heart, brain and bone. It is needed by all women, even those who have had a hys­terec­tomy, as prog­es­terone has many other purposes besides decreasing the risk of endome­trial cancer.

This is not true of Medrox­yprog­es­terone acetate (commonly known as Promethium and Provera). In fact, at Oregon Health Sciences Uni­ver­sity and USC School of Med­i­cine, synthetic medrox­yprog­es­terone was shown to constrict coro­nary arteries, causing vasospasm and heart attack, It is anth­apop­totic, which means that it does not cause cancer cells to die. It may sig­nif­i­cantly increase estrogen-stimulated breast cell pro­lif­er­a­tion, which can contribute to the devel­op­ment of breast cancer.

Replacement Therapy