Posts Tagged ‘Hormone Replacement Therapy’
‘Bioidenticals’ for night sweats not FDA-approved
November 9th, 2009 | 
Author: EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in an occasional Associated Press series examining the use and potential risks of alternative medicine. take it with a grain of salt
Miserable in menopause, Elizabeth Alsgaard pondered an awful choice: Drenching hot flashes or hormone therapies that might raise the risk of cancer. What former actress Suzanne Somers raved about held much more appeal _ custom-mixed "bioidentical" hormones, just like ones the body makes.
"Anything I can put into my body that’s natural has to be better," said Alsgaard, a California audiologist who admitted having "no knowledge base to go on other than fear" when she took Somers’ advice.
Millions of women have tried custom-compounded hormones or herbal supplements like black cohosh and red clover since 2002, when a big federal study found risks from traditional hormone replacement therapy, or HRT.
Alternative remedies are especially popular with upscale, educated women who like to research and find their own solutions to medical problems. They like the idea of personalized treatments versus off-the-shelf prescription drugs.
Posted in Hot Flashes, Menopause, Night sweats | 
Tags: Actress Suzanne, Alternative Remedies, Associated Press, Audiologist, Bioidenticals, Brigham And Women, Federal Food And Drug Administration, Food And Drug Administration, Health Experts, Heart Risks, Herbal Supplements, Hormone Replacement Therapy, Hormone Therapies, Hot Flashes, Joann Manson, Medicine Chief, Menopause, Night sweats, Own Solutions, Prescription Drugs, Preventive Medicine, Red Clover, S Hospital | 
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Estrogen without FDA approval for menopause?
Just what is FDA, Well if you work for a drug company chances are you will work there at some time in your life as well. FDA is the Food And Drug Administration. They regulate the Food and the Drugs that are allowed to be marketed into the United States. So, they are the ones that say if you can or cannot sale a product to the consumers. The objective is to keep drugs safe.. But they actually are very good at keeping the market free of competition. Not enough room here for that discussion so. Here is the post.
Miserable in menopause, Elizabeth Alsgaard pondered an awful choice: Drenching hot flashes or hormone therapies that might raise the risk of cancer. What former actress Suzanne Somers raved about held much more appeal — custom-mixed "bioidentical" hormones, just like ones the body makes.
"Anything I can put into my body that’s natural has to be better," said Alsgaard, a California audiologist who admitted having "no knowledge base to go on other than fear" when she took Somers’ advice.
STUDY: Firmly ties hormone use to breast cancer
Posted in Hot Flashes, Menopause, Night sweats |
Tags: Actress Suzanne, Alternative Remedies, Audiologist, Black Cohosh, Breast Cancer, Brigham And Women, Fda Approval, Food And Drug Administration, Health Experts, Herbal Supplements, Hormone Replacement Therapy, Hormone Therapies, Hot Flashes, Joann Manson, Medicine Chief, menopausal, Night sweats, Own Solutions, Prescription Drugs, Preventive Medicine, Red Clover, S Hospital, Suzanne Somers |
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Wyeth’s HRT Drug Increases Risk of Death From Lung Cancer
Women who take the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drug Prempro not only increase their risk of breast cancer, but their risk of death from lung cancer as well, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Medical Center at the University of California-Los Angeles and presented at a meeting of the American Society of Oncology.
“This is a new finding that tells us women who smoke shouldn’t take estrogen and progestin for menopause symptoms,” said study author Rowan Chlebowski.
Prempro, manufactured by Wyeth, was a best-selling treatment for the symptoms of menopause until 2002, when the Women’s Health Initiative study revealed that HRT significantly increased women’s risk of breast cancer and cardiovascular disease. Sales of the product plunged, although it still generated $1.1 billion for the company in 2008.
Menopause can lead to unpleasant symptoms such as hot flashes, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, muscle weakness, nausea and rapid heart beat.
The current study was based on an analysis of 16,608 participants in the original Women’s Health Initiative study. The researchers found that current and former smokers who took Prempro were significantly more likely to die from lung cancer than women who received a placebo pill instead. This pattern held for non-smokers as well, although there were significantly fewer deaths than among smokers.
Nearly 80 percent of lung cancer cases in women are caused by tobacco use.
There were also more cases of lung cancer diagnosed in women taking HRT than those taking a placebo, but this difference did not achieve statistical significance.
The type of cancer in the study is known as non-small cell lung cancer, and accounts for 85 to 90 percent of all lung tumors. Both worldwide and in the United States, lung cancer kills more people than any other form of cancer. Roughly 200,000 new cases are diagnosed and approximately 160,000 people die from the disease in the United States each year.
Sources for this story include: www.bloomberg.com.
Posted in Menopause |
Tags: Breast Cancer, Cancer Women, Cell Lung Cancer, Health Initiative, Hormone Replacement Therapy, Hot Flashes, Hrt Drug, Lung Cancer, Lung Cancer Cases, Lung Tumors, Menopause, Menopause Symptoms, Night sweats, Non Small Cell Lung Cancer, Placebo Pill, Prempro, Rapid Heart, Small Cell Lung Cancer, Symptoms Of Menopause, Tobacco Use, Type Of Cancer, University Of California Los Angeles, Unpleasant Symptoms |
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