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ARE YOU IN MENOPAUSE?
Are You Suffering from Insomnia, Hot Flashes,
Decreased Sex Drive, Irritability, Memory Loss?
Hot Flashes are Not Funny!
They are a Signal that the Brain is Starving!
Prolonged Lack of Estrogen Leads to An
Increased Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and
Premature Disability and Death in Women!
Contrary to the headlines on CNN and the morning talk shows, we do know what causes hot flashes. There is compelling evidence that estrogen is necessary for glucose to cross the blood brain barrier. Without glucose the brain dies. A hot flash is the brain screaming out for glucose. When the hot flashes stop, that part of the brain has died. Seventy-one percent of nursing home patients are women. Two out of three probably would not be there if they had been on hormones.
The average life expectancy of women was 42 until 1890, and only reached 50 in 1910. Menopause was not an issue. With the advent of public sanitation, immunization and antibiotics, women and men live well into their eighties. Men continue to make testosterone throughout their lives. Women, however, stop making estrogen about age 50. Epidemiologists point out that menopause is natural. Just as natural as low thyroid and diabetes, but we do not hesitate to replace those hormones. Estrogen should be given for estrogen deficiency and not to treat anything else.
Authors of recent studies imply that not taking estrogen decreases a woman’s risk of breast cancer. All of these studies show that women not taking estrogen have the same amount of breast cancer after one year as do the women taking hormones. Hormones allow earlier diagnosis of breast cancer. Women on hormones have a 20 per cent decreased risk of dying from breast cancer.
These studies also imply that taking hormones cause heart attacks and strokes. Heart attacks and strokes are caused by fifteen-year-old cholesterol plaques that have cracked. They cause clotting inside the coronary or cerebral artery. Oral hormones cause a significant increase in blood clotting factors from the liver. Giving oral hormones to women with pre-existing coronary or cerebral atherosclerosis is contraindicated. It was not the hormone, but rather the amount and the way it was given that brought on the heart attack or stroke. The women not on hormones had just as many heart attacks within one year.
The total risk of dying while on hormones is decreased by 37 percent in an 18 year study and 33 percent decreased in the Kaiser Permanente 23 year mortality study. When extrapolated to the 40 million postmenopausal women in the United States, the prediction is 8 million excess deaths of women over 23 years.
Women not on hormones have four times as much Alzheimer’s disease as men. Women who stay on hormones more than 10 years after menopause have the same amount of Alzheimer’s disease as men. Fifty percent of women who develop Alzheimer’s will die in 40 months. Ninety-five percent will be dead in ten years.
Hip fractures are twice as common in women not on hormones. Fifteen percent of women with hip fractures will be dead in six months. Twenty-five percent will never walk independently again. Estrogen is twice as effective as other therapies in preventing osteoporosis.
Do not let statisticians, epidemiologists, and the news media cripple or kill you. If you are on hormones stay on them life long. If not, Dr. Crandall has more than 30 years experience in the field of hormone therapy and he will find the best hormone replacement for you.
Call his office for a consultation. (239) 596-2300.
-- Bibliography --
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Zandi PP, Carlson MC, Plassman BL, et al. Hormone replacement therapy and incidence of Alzheimer disease in older women The Cache county study. JAMA 2002;288:2123-29.
Tang MX, Jacobs, Stern Y, et al. Effect of oestrogen during menopause on risk and age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Lancet. 1996;348:429-432.
Writing Group for the Women’s Health Initiative Investigators. Risks and benefits of estrogen plus progestin in healthy postmenopausal women Principal results from the women’s health initiative randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2002;321-333.
Nanda K, Bastian LA, Schulz K. Hormone replacement therapy and the risk of death from breast cancer: a systematic review. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2002;186:325-334.
Burkman RT, Collins JA, Greene RA. Current perspectives on benefits and risks of hormone replacement therapy. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001;185:S13-23.
Ettinger B, Friedman GD, Bush T, Quisenberry,Jr CP. Reduced mortality associated with long-term postmenopausal estrogen therapy. Obstet Gyenecol 1996;87:6-12.
Bishop J, Simpkins JW. Estradiol enhances brain glucose uptake in ovariectomized rats. Brain Research Bulletin 1995;36:315-320.
Greene RA. Cerebral blood flow. Fertil Steril 2000; 73:143.
Greene RA, Kletzky OA, Klein RA. Comparison between cerebral blood flow in hypoestrogenic women and patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiol Aging 1998; 19:180.
Birge SJ, McEwen BS, Wise PM. Effects of estrogen deficiency on brain function. Implications for the treatment of postmenopausal women. Postgrad Med 2001; Mar;Spec No:11-16.
Wolfson C, Wolfson DB, Asgharian M, et al. A reevaluation of the duration of survival after the onset of dementia. N Engl J Med 2001;344:1111-11116.
Hot Flashes are Not Funny
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