- Menopause—Disease or Natural Transformation?
The Folly Of Hormone Replacement Therapy (Hrt)
One of the most commonly treated “diseases” among women today is the appearance of menopausal
symptoms—indications that a woman’s body may be going through major changes in her life. Doctors
believe that these changes (and the symptoms) are caused by a decrease in the production of the female
hormones, estrogens and progestogens, which the body uses to conduct the monthly cycles, pregnancy,
and birth, among other rhythms. To postpone the onset of the dreaded illness “menopause,” which is often
seen as a sign of rapid aging, and to reduce or eliminate the accompanying symptoms, doctors commonly
prescribe a combination of hormones known as Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) (Or at least they
used to until the recent media scare). The drugs are also supposed to prevent major illnesses that have
been linked with diminished hormone production, including osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke and senile
dementia.
Influenced by medical authorities and media reports, many menopausal women feel that they are
suffering from a serious hormone deficiency, which may endanger their health. Consequently, they
become convinced that Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) can help them lead a more comfortable
and carefree life during and after menopause.
Yet it turns out that HRT is everything but preventive medicine, and the risks involved are serious.
Taking extra hormones can even endanger a woman’s life. According to research conducted at the Boston
University Medical Center, U.S.A, the risks of suffering a thrombosis increase by 3.6 times with a
“normal” dose of hormones and by nearly seven times if a woman is taking as much as 1.25 mg or more a
day. As with the contraceptive Pill, the researchers found the risk to be greatest during the first year of
usage.
In the United States, five million menopausal women are presently using hormone replacements.
Numerous studies show that the longer a woman takes HRT, the greater is her risk of cancer. Specifically,
breast cancer risk increases by three times and the risk of endometrial cancer by four times. An analysis of
16 studies on women who had been taking HRT for 15 years, revealed that taking estrogen alone
increased the risk of uterine and cervical cancers by 20 times and the combined HRT (estrogen and
progestogen) increased the risk by up to 30 times. A Swedish study which looked at 23,000 women,
showed that women who used estrogen only increased their risk of developing breast cancer by 80 percent
over a control group. When progestogen was added, these women actually quadrupled their risk of cancer
after four years! The most comprehensive combined analysis of studies (thirty-seven in number) of breast
cancer risk found that long-term estrogen use increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 60 percent.
The results of the very large Nurses’ Health Study, published in 1995 by the New England Journal of
Medicine, found that for HRT-using women over 60, the risk of breast cancer was 71 percent. This is a
severe blow to those doctors who recommend that women take HRT forever, or for at least for ten years
after the onset of menopause. In addition, one study by the American Cancer Society involving 200,000
menopausal women found that those who stay on HRT for more than 10 years show a 70 percent increase
in ovarian cancer over those who use HRT for a shorter period of time.
According to another study by Smith JS, Green J, "Cervical Cancer and Use of Hormonal
Contraceptives: A Systematic Review," The Lancet, 2003 Apr 5, cervical cancer is closely linked to oral
contraceptives.
Apart from increasing one's risk of developing cancer, excessive estrogen causes salt and fluid
retention, increases body fat, impairs blood-sugar control, interferes with the thyroid hormone, causes
excessive hairiness and loss of scalp hair, increases blood clotting, causes depression and headaches,