Sue Richards, regular Canadian gal, heats up as her reproductive Best Before Date expires.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Hey there!
Regular readers of this blog know Sue Richards, menopause blogger extraordinaire, is currently devoting her energy to treating (and overcoming!) Parkinson’s disease. While Sue tends to her own health, I thought I would pass along some current news for women who are here seeking the latest in menopause info and research (especially from a holistic point of view). I’m not a personal friend of Sue, just someone who has been helped by My Menopause Blog and wants to see it stay updated until Sue starts posting regularly again.
Enjoy!
Jacqueline Tourville freelance women’s health writer
According to a recent study by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, fewer older women in Canada are using hormone-replacement therapies (HRT) to treat symptoms of menopause, turning instead to natural remedies. As reported in the Vancouver Sun and other media outlets, researchers have found that only five per cent of women in five provinces who are 65 years and older use hormone-replacement therapies — a drop from 14 per cent six years ago (when a report found the risks of using the menopause therapies outweigh the benefits).
From the Vancouver Sun piece, here’s some HRT background and the specific stats contained in the study:
The first reports that estrogen-only hormone-replacement treatment could put women at higher risk of endometrial cancer began to emerge in the 1970s, leading to the development of combination therapies containing both progestin and estrogen hormones. Later studies, such as the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study, then uncovered important additional risks with the combination therapy, such as higher chances of developing coronary heart disease and stroke.
In Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the use of hormone-replacement therapies declined each year between 2001-2002 and 2006-2007. The highest average annual rate of decline, 30 per cent, occurred in the two-year period after the publication of the Women’s Health Initiative.
My gut reaction to this news? Bravo to those women reviewing the evidence, making choices, and following their own path healthy aging, despite attempts by the pharmaceutical industry to have them fall in lock-step with the drumbeat of HRT. In increasing numbers, we are awakening.
One note: The article indicates that many of the women declining HRT turn to natural methods of menopausal symptom relief instead. I would love to see some follow-up as to what these natural methods are — and what are the results? Are most, all, some of the women taking BHRT (bioidenticals) or something else?
For those new to this topic of “HRT: good or bad?”, here are some links to a few older posts written by Sue that go into this topic — as well as some sites I’ve found helpful in my own quest for hormonal balance…
From My Menopause Blog:
A Selection of Hormone Replacement Therapy Posts
Breast Cancer and HRT : As HRT use falls, so do breast cancer rates.
Review of The New Menopause Book: Sue points out this book — written by someone trained in both Eastern and Western medicine — as a good starting point for women who want to understand the complexities of HRT research. I agree - it’s a great book!
My own recommendation:
Womentowomen.com: Comprehensive women’s health site for natural approaches to menopausal support. Two must-read articles, especially for those just beginning to consider the possibilities, include Perspectives on HRT Risk and Test Your Menopause I.Q.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Interesting stats. I wonder if the researchers asked the women why they stopped taking HRT (or why they didn’t start HRT in the first place).
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:52 pm
We’re also finding in the states that more and more women are turning away from pharmaceuticals and towards natural and hormone free remedies. We know from many studies that as women get older (past 60) that starting hormones is NOT a good idea and puts them at risk for heart disease. Many women stopped hormones because of the finding from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI).
The jury is still out on whether it helps or worsens memory and the risk of dementia, yet most studies point to an increased risk of blood clots. For my patients, if they’ve been on hormones for years and want to stop, we wean slowly, to minimize the hot flashes and night sweats. One area that we do recommend continuing estrogen treatment if for the vagina, as the low levels of hormones in the vaginal preparations do not affect the risk of breast cancer.
What’s clear is that black cohosh, accupuncture and soy do work for some women, and are safe alternatives. Keep up the good work in educating women.
Barbara Dehn RN MS NP
www.nursebarb.com
July 25th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
It seems like the confusion surrounding HRTs remains high. Wanted to make you aware of another woman whose beliefs sound similar to yours. Her name is Michelle King Robson and she is a Phoenix philanthropist who started a Web site called EmpowHer.com. After undergoing what she called an unnecessary hysterectomy and feeling miserable for several months, she decided to do something about it and thus the Web site was born. You may want to read how she feels about menopause and the lack of information about women’s hormones. (She’s steamed men get so much of the attention in this arena.) http://empowher.com/news/08/03/20/michelle-king-robson%3A-hormones%2C-hormones%2C-hormones-….-why-aren%2526%2523039%3Bt-we-getting-the
October 17th, 2008 at 2:35 am
Mother Nature beats drugs when it comes to fighting menopause. I am a herbalist and a homeopath and I had an article published in Insight magazine about the dangers of HRT and how the breast cancer rates dropped when women stopped taking the drug. There are plenty natural ways using herbs homeopathy and holistic therapies to control debilitating menopause symptoms. The article is on my blog http://www.menopausethenaturalway.wordpress.com
December 18th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Hi there Sue,
Hope your health is improving. You haven’t posted for a stretch, so I certainly hope so.
I too have the same question - if older women aren’t using HRT and are using more of the natural remedies available, what indeed are they using and finding most beneficial?
Irene
March 6th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Do you know what natural remedy these Canadian women are using, or a combination of therapies? I’m interested to know since I am looking for something to try. Thanks~
April 27th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Haven’t checked back since I wrote this guest post. Sue, hope your health is strong! In response to some of the comments here…
@Cheryl: I read studies for one of my freelance jobs writing health summaries for a few medical organizations. There are so many research studies where I think, well, why don’t they just ask them x, y, or z? They just don’t! It grates.
@Barb: Here is a good, brief article from the Women to Women site about What to expect when you’re stopping HRT. Basically suggests a time table of 2-4 months weaning — does that match what you do? The problem is that the premarin or prempro conditions the hormone receptors to only accept the synthetic hormone and then the body goes crazy if stopping cold turkey (a HUGE drop in estrogen activity).
@Tina — I do really like the EmpoweHer site and didn’t know the story behind it. Cool. I agree that the confusion seems worse than ever regarding HRT. I’ll even go out on a (possibly unpopular) limb and say the first Oprah show about hormones (the one with Robin McGraw) was really not that helpful because the women kept using HRT as a synonym for BHRT. Just from Robin’s description, I got the feeling Robin was taking HRT and then Dr. Northrup comes on and starts talking about bioidenticals while still calling it “taking hormones”. I wonder if prescription rates for HRT went up after this show? The other show with Suzanne Somers was much more precise about what bioidentical means. Maybe I’m nitpicking, but if a woman goes to her doctor and says, “I just saw this Oprah show about HRT and I want to try it,” I wonder how many docs questioned whether it was BHRT or HRT?