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Wed Nov 03, 2010 12:05 pm  |
| DarkMoon wrote: |
| The hormone-high iron issue is my big concern for myself. I have naturally absurdly high levels that one nurse told me she had only ever seen in a 9 year old boy. |
It's been suggested that people like you who have this syndrome (I forgot what it's called) donate blood on a regular basis and that not only solves your health problem but you can help someone else who needs blood. Win-win! |
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Wed Nov 03, 2010 12:28 pm |
| Toby wrote: |
| But bio-identical hormones are by molecular structure are different than synthetic so that may be why I am doing well on them. |
For your information:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2219716/ |
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Born 1953; Blonde-Blue; Normal skin |
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Wed Nov 03, 2010 2:46 pm |
| SoftSkin wrote: |
| DarkMoon wrote: |
| The hormone-high iron issue is my big concern for myself. I have naturally absurdly high levels that one nurse told me she had only ever seen in a 9 year old boy. |
It's been suggested that people like you who have this syndrome (I forgot what it's called) donate blood on a regular basis and that not only solves your health problem but you can help someone else who needs blood. Win-win! |
I do donate but it doesn't change my levels for long. Even with very heavy periods that lasted 7-9 days from 11 to 40 I was always at the highest end of normal so it's not considered a condition? I also had the issue prior to my first child, born a month before I hit 27 of weighing at most 93 lbs. you have to be at least 110 to donate blood! |
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I'LL SEE YOU ON THE DARKSIDE OF THE MOON.... |
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Wed Nov 03, 2010 4:01 pm |
If you knew nothing about this whole issue, you might be persuaded by that article, where they cherry pick information to support their premise but leave out other information that doesn't. Understandable if you read this little paragraph at the end:
"Dr. Fugh-Berman has provided expert testimony on the plaintiff’s side in litigation regarding Prempro® (Wyeth). J. Bythrow is currently employed as a pharmaceutical sales representative with Eli Lilly."
Gee, do you think they could be a teensy bit biased in favor of their employers?  These are big corporations that are losing a lot of money as women become better educated and switch, so of course they want to stop the bleeding (pun intended). |
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Wed Nov 03, 2010 4:43 pm |
| SoftSkin wrote: |
If you knew nothing about this whole issue, you might be persuaded by that article, where they cherry pick information to support their premise but leave out other information that doesn't. Understandable if you read this little paragraph at the end:
"Dr. Fugh-Berman has provided expert testimony on the plaintiff’s side in litigation regarding Prempro® (Wyeth). J. Bythrow is currently employed as a pharmaceutical sales representative with Eli Lilly."
Gee, do you think they could be a teensy bit biased in favor of their employers? These are big corporations that are losing a lot of money as women become better educated and switch, so of course they want to stop the bleeding (pun intended). |
Here is the biography for Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman. I can't comment on the Prempro (Wyeth) case, since I am not familiar with it; I have no idea who the Plaintiff is that she provided testimony for, or who the Defendant was.
http://fugh-berman.com/
I can't find anything on J. Bythrow but note that he/she was (at the time of writing) a co-author and student in the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Master’s Program, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Eventually all students graduate and seek employment, so at the time of publication of this article (July, 2007) she was employed by Eli Lilly.
My purpose in posting the article was to remind everyone that there are two sides to the issue. I believe in providing a balanced argument (both the pros and the cons) when someone is trying to make a decision. |
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Born 1953; Blonde-Blue; Normal skin |
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Sun Nov 07, 2010 5:19 am |
I've been professionally employed on the murky frontlines of business and govt for years and I thought I'd seen all manner of chicanery until it got personal - it got personal when I embarked on this personal study of skincare and related aging issues.
The more I learned and researched, I began to ask myself why certain drugs or supplements are commonly available in the UK or Canada or Australia, but not available here in the US...that of course led to me to consider the differences between these countries with respect to government and economics and politics (don't worry I won't got there - politics can drain the soul) - but I have concluded that the downside to a completely market based economy like ours is that business and monetary interests are going to trump the interests of the citizenry nearly every time. You don't see this as much in other parts of the world. |
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Sun Nov 07, 2010 5:26 am |
That said, I will continue to be my own best advocate for my own well being and healthcare because I simply cannot leave that to organizations who place profit above healthcare. Health and safety are basic human rights in my opinion.
Many doctors practicing standard of care medicine, will follow the protocols just as they are laid out to them by their organizations (politicized, usually) and as instructed by the insurance companies who are actually in charge. That is not to say that they do not care about their patients, I am sure many do. Other doctors will be willing to view non-mainstream evidence and offer that advice, probably requiring that for those services, there is no insurance reimbursement.
The healthcare system in this country is a mess, but as I said, I do not want to veer off into politics. My advice is to simply make it a first priority to educate yourself and look out for yourself and don't leave it up to any professionals or organizations - they all have owners or agendas.
Best, BF |
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Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:15 pm |
| I would urge everyone to view the DVD Sicko. It shocks people out of complacency. |
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Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:15 pm |
| SoftSkin wrote: |
| I would urge everyone to view the DVD Sicko. It shocks people out of complacency. |
I went to the movie when it was in the theaters, totally agree. I've been on the birth control pill for peri symptoms that hit in my early 30s. Now I'm 40 and the pill doesn't work as well. My eyes are so dry I can't even stand to wear makeup much anymore. I get up at night to pee and think I'm gaining weight.
 Why is medical care in so hard to obtain?
Like I really want to live like this the rest of my life. |
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Sun Jan 09, 2011 3:26 pm |
Just want to jump in here with a few random comments. I live in Canada, where there appears to be a greater interest in BHRT among physicians. I have recently spoken to three doctors, all of whom are on BHRT and encourage their patients to use it. All three describe HRT as something they no longer recommend.
I am 59. I started BHRT approx 8 years ago. I have not developed any skin wrinkling and would say that my skin is better now in terms of glow and general youthfulness than when I was 35 and saw the beginning of crow's feet. I have never had a hot flash, depression, night sweat or any other symptom of menopause aside from no more cycles. My doctor said that physically (BP, weight, cholesterol #s and various other measurements) are more like someone in her 20s or 30s. I am 5' 8" and weight 126 pounds.
Now let's look at my youngest sister, and yes, she could be built entirely differently with different genes. Hit meno at age 52 like I did. Went on HRT. Went off HRT four years later as she weighed 25 pounds more, was thick in the midsection and felt depressed all the time. Skin wrinkled, often referred to as my mother. She's a gem and I love her to bits. My point is, people are usually very surprised when they find out my age, largely due to my skin. I see nothing else other than BHRT that is responsible for this as I have three sisters, all of whom have signs of aging and I'm the only one on BHRT.
The skin on my hands has also improved in the past three years, but I use Retin A on it every night so not sure if this is the reason. The only aging issue I see is my arms, which have loose skin in the crooks and a little under the armpit.
I do take a lot of supplements as well.
I don't pay any heed to anything put out by the FDA or Health Canada. It's usually paid for under the table by Big Pharma. This is nothing new. Here is a pic taken at New Year. (Note bloodshot eyes  Feel free to analyze for Photoshopping. I'll remove it in a couple of days as I don't like images of my mug "out there."
Uploaded with ImageShack.us |
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Born in 1952. Blonde, very good skin. A few noticeable wrinkles. |
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Sun Jan 09, 2011 3:39 pm |
| Without a doubt you look amazing and your skin is gorgeous Antonia.How did you approach starting bioidential hormones since you had no systems? Also are you using a compounded cream type from the compounding pharmacy? Which ones are you on? |
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female,"50 something" medium to thick normal skin, no wrinkles,Lightstim,Easy Eye Solutions,Green Smoothies,Ageless Secret Gold, Pico Toner,Beautiful Image |
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Sun Jan 09, 2011 3:52 pm |
Antonia, you look amazing. I have been looking into this for a few years. I have read up on it in the Suzanne Somers books and the website that Toby suggested WomanToWoman, which is a wealth of knowledge. On the Suzanne Somers site I found 2 Doctors in my area that are anti aging specialists, I am currently away, when I return home I am going to make an appointment. The effects of the bio-identical hormones seem to be so beneficial I believe they can help with other issues going on in my life. You ladies are so wonderful!  |
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Too numerous to mention! |
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Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:28 pm |
Antonia - you do look fabulous, and I love reading your blog.
But can someone spell it out for me why Bioidentical Hormones are better than traditional HRT. I don't particularly get the "natural" argument as they are made in a lab like anything else - I view vitamin supplements in the same way. And allot of, so called, chemical compounds are derived from natural sources. I know that Premarin is derived from horse urine - but isn't that natural?
The reason I ask this is because I was listening to a doctor on the radio discussing "natural" hormones compared to HRT and he said they both functioned in the same way and that there was no difference. |
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Born 1950. There's a new cream on the market that gets rid of wrinkles - you smear it on the mirror!! |
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Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:41 pm |
Aaaah Keliu, I wish I had an answer to that. I will research it as I have quite a few books and refs. What my girlfriends have noticed is that, when they were on HRT, they became very thick in the abdomen and lost their waistlines. However, on switching to BHRT, they all (three of them) lost this fat and got their waistlines back and felt less puffy. One of them was on a really low dose and still had these effects. Now, all are on what I am on: Estriol ONLY and Progesterone. The Estriol is actually for vaginal use but my doc said I can put it anywhere I want. It is 2mg/gm Versabase cream in a tube and I use one gm daily in the morning. In the evening, I use Progesterone 50 mg/ml compounded cream 1/4 tsp.
Keliu, thanks for the comment about my blog. That's sweet of you.
Toby, I asked my doc to check out my hormones via blood test. It came back as having "pre-adolescent levels." My saliva test said the same. So she just wrote up a script for biest and progestgerone. Three months after going on the biest my hair started to fall, which is why I could never be on the Pill in my younger years. Estradiol was converting to testosterone. She switched me to straight estriol and no problems.
Good luck RMC7 |
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Born in 1952. Blonde, very good skin. A few noticeable wrinkles. |
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Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:06 pm |
| Antonia - have you seen the threads about applying the Estriol and Progesterone to the face. Barefootgirl is having great results. I tried applying Ovestin Cream but had some kind of a reaction (spots) so stopped. Now I'm using the Life Extension New Face which contains 1% Estriol and isn't supposed to effect the hormones. I'm still going to give the Ovestin another try in case it was something else that caused the reaction. |
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Born 1950. There's a new cream on the market that gets rid of wrinkles - you smear it on the mirror!! |
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Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:18 pm |
Hi Keliu,
I will go read. I used it daily on my weird arm skin but it had no effect. I imagine that it would make the skin firmer and more dewy. Crepiness on the arms seems to be an issue unto itself. I go on a medical site a lot and there are a huge number of women with this issue, who otherwise look much younger than their years. Thanks for this info. A. |
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Born in 1952. Blonde, very good skin. A few noticeable wrinkles. |
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Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:20 pm |
| I have some information on the differences(no time to hunt that up now) and attended a four hour lecture as well but what stuck in my mind was the bioidentical only stay in the body like 24 hours and the regular HRT can stay in the body 6 weeks after stopping. Also the way the body breaks down the excess amounts differently and the molecular structure is different....that seemed to be key as far as safety. Most doctors that are knowledgeable about working with BHRT use only the smallest amount possible so that the body will continue to produce what it can on it's own. Also it is very easy to tweak the dosage amounts when it is compounded. I can easily lower my dosage when I see that I need to. |
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female,"50 something" medium to thick normal skin, no wrinkles,Lightstim,Easy Eye Solutions,Green Smoothies,Ageless Secret Gold, Pico Toner,Beautiful Image |
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Mon Jan 10, 2011 4:27 am |
I have not read this thoroughly but as I scan it the article seems to answer many of the questions raised on this thread about the difference between BHRT and HRT. I will get it started and then link it....
| Quote: |
Life Extension Magazine October 2009
Bioidentical Hormones:
Why Are They Still Controversial?
White Paper Authored by the Life Extension Foundation®www.lef.org
As women enter the menopausal years, they face a difficult decision. Their bodies’ production of estrogen, progesterone, and other hormones needed to maintain youthful vitality rapidly declines.
While individual effects of menopause vary widely, many women suffer because their bodies no longer produce sex hormones at sufficient levels required to optimally sustain critical physiological processes. Depression, irritability, and short-term memory lapses are common menopausal complaints, along with hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, and weight gain.
Health problems encountered during menopause may adversely affect a woman for the rest of her lifetime in the absence of appropriate hormone replacement. Yet maturing women today are often told by their doctors to limit prolonged use of hormone drugs, only long enough to obtain relief from menopausal symptoms and then no more. Unfortunately, this advice fails to recognize the critical differences between hormone drugs foreign to women’s bodies and hormones identical to those naturally produced by women’s bodies.
The understandable, factual concern espoused by many mainstream doctors is that FDA-approved estrogen-progestin hormone drugs have been shown to increase the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. The dilemma facing aging women is that their bodies may still benefit from youthful hormone levels, but many of their doctors say “no.”
There is, in fact, a body of scientific evidence indicating that natural progesterone (as opposed to synthetic progestin drugs) and the natural estriol form of estrogen may help protect against the very diseases caused by unnatural estrogen-progestin drugs that are foreign to the human body.
Mainstream medical practitioners (many of whom prescribed unnatural hormone drugs for decades) and the FDA (which still allows these dangerous unnatural hormones to be sold) are now at the forefront urging aging women to avoid their prolonged use.
Overlooked by mainstream medicine is a plethora of research findings indicating that women may more safely benefit from individualized doses of natural estrogens and progesterone over their lifetime. Almost completely ignored are lifestyle changes (such as assuring optimal vitamin D status and cruciferous vegetable intake) that may prevent and even reverse the kind of damage to cell regulatory genes inflicted by some estrogenic compounds.
In this comprehensive white paper, we present data showing how women may more safely benefit from comprehensive approaches that naturally restore youthful hormone balance, while protecting aging cells against carcinogenic and atherogenic insults.
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the rest is here http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2009/oct2009_Bioidentical-Hormones_01.htm |
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female,"50 something" medium to thick normal skin, no wrinkles,Lightstim,Easy Eye Solutions,Green Smoothies,Ageless Secret Gold, Pico Toner,Beautiful Image |
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Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:14 am |
So all this time I am rubbing estriol on my face I am using half of a bioidentical hormone team, and didn't know it. Am I a Moron or what?  So I just need the other half of the hormone team and I should be good to go! And maybe I should put this stuff in other places  Alldaychemist has the best prices, I could probably get cases of this stuff. |
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Too numerous to mention! |
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Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:27 am |
Thanks for the article Toby - allot of information there. After considering all of that, the obvious question is why does the medical community still prescribe non-biodentical hormones when the biodentical ones would appear to be far more beneficial. I will be discussing this with my doctor next time I see him.
Rmc7 - I think it's a little more involved than just slapping the cream on. The amount of hormone replacement has to be tailored to individual needs - which entails testing. |
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Born 1950. There's a new cream on the market that gets rid of wrinkles - you smear it on the mirror!! |
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Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:46 am |
Keliu,
I think there are lots of reasons that doctors still use HRT, one would be like my doctor...she wasn't knowledgeable about how she can go about prescribing BHRT. My doctor is my age and when we had a discussion years ago about hormones, she wasn't very knowledgeable about BHRT. As she has gotten older, and has seen the need herself, she has educated herself. She used to only prescribe HRT but now that she is connected with the pharmacist at the compound pharmacy,she is sending her patients in that direction. When I attended the workshop about BHRT held at the pharmacy there were several medical doctors in my group that were there to educate themselves. They admitted they were only trained in HRT and this was new ground for them. |
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female,"50 something" medium to thick normal skin, no wrinkles,Lightstim,Easy Eye Solutions,Green Smoothies,Ageless Secret Gold, Pico Toner,Beautiful Image |
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Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:58 pm |
| To those of you on BHRT - are you still going through a monthly menstrual cycle? I know that women on HRT still continue to have a period, but apparently BHRT can be tailored so that you don't have one. I don't quite understand this. The whole point of hormone replacement is so that your body continues to function as it did pre-menopause - which would include having a period. |
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Born 1950. There's a new cream on the market that gets rid of wrinkles - you smear it on the mirror!! |
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Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:14 pm |
| Keliu wrote: |
| To those of you on BHRT - are you still going through a monthly menstrual cycle? I know that women on HRT still continue to have a period, but apparently BHRT can be tailored so that you don't have one. I don't quite understand this. The whole point of hormone replacement is so that your body continues to function as it did pre-menopause - which would include having a period. |
I might be off base but I thought that would only apply to women who are pre or perimenopausal? It's my understanding that we have a finite number of ovum and once spent we don't release any and menstruation ends? Very simplified I know but that was the basics of how our bodies work? |
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I'LL SEE YOU ON THE DARKSIDE OF THE MOON.... |
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Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:20 pm |
http://www.epigee.org/menopause/overview.html
Causes of Menopause
Very basically, menopause is the time in your life when you no longer get your period. Your body has a finite number of eggs in your ovaries and, eventually, no more eggs will be released from your ovaries for fertilization. As you age, the female hormones that regulate your ovulation and menstruation begin to decline. Both estrogen and progesterone are responsible for signaling to your body when it is time to ovulate and menstruate. As these hormones decline, your ovulation and menstruation will become irregular, eventually stopping altogether. When you no longer get your period you have entered the menopausal phase of your life. |
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I'LL SEE YOU ON THE DARKSIDE OF THE MOON.... |
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