WOMAN AND BIO IDENTICAL HORMONE THERAPY

“To Bleed or Not To Bleed”

   Celebrity Suzanne Somers has taken menopause by storm in her new book. Mobs of over-50, menopausal woman find hope in the message of sexy aging. Ms. Somers spotlights the term “bio identical hormones” and makes it hot on the lips of every woman (and man) coming to grips with the aging process. Now we can expand the term “natural” with “bio identical”, giving everyone a new appreciation for hormone replacement.

  

     A major issue in the book has made woman apprehensive. Some are even scared enough to avoid HRT. Ms. Somers claims that cycling (creating a period every month) is recommended and natural. Because we menstruate while we are “young” it is advantageous to continue to menstruate forever.

    What is cycling? It is the fall of woman’s hormones that results in menstruation. Therefore if a woman stops the progesterone for a few days every month she will cycle and bleed.

    MENOPAUSAL WOMAN DO NOT NEED TO MENSTRUATE - TAKING HORMONES DOES NOT NECESSITATE CYCLING.

    First of all: hormone replacement therapy does not put one in a state of pregnancy as Suzanne Somers claims. During pregnancy, the levels of estrogen might be in the thousands. On estrogen replacement, ideal estradiol levels are typically 50-100 mg/dl.

    Secondly: the reason a woman menstruates is to clean the uterus in preparation for the eventual implantation of a gertilized egg. If one is not interested in becoming pregnant, there is no physiologic reason to menstruate.

   

    A recent article in the Obstertric/Gynecological literature claimed that unexpected vaginal bleeding was the most common reason women stopped taking HRT. The cessation of periods was one thing women welcomed with menopaused. The medical literature ofetn addresses how to stop and prevent post menopausal vaginal bleeding so that woman will be comfortable in continuing HRT. Dr. Kadambi has always advocated incresing progesterone to prevent post-menopausal bleeding. With the appropriate balancing of estrogen and progesterone, women should not bleed and will be more satisfied with continuous use of HRT.

   

    For years, woman have been treated with birth control pills taken continuously and not cycled to control PMS. It is the fall of woman’s hormones that takes place right before their periods that casuses the sysmptioms of PMS. By taking birth control pills continuously, a woman can avoid this drop of hormones and the symptoms of PMS.

The pharmaceutical industry has now caught onto this and promotes a new birth control pill that is cycled for bleeding every four months. The researchers claim that while no menstruation is necessary, the cycling allows women to menstruate every four months to make them feel more “normal”. We now realize that even pre-menopausal woman do not need to menstruate, let alone post-menopausal woman.

 

    Remember, cycling incolves stopping the progesterone for a few days. Another reason not to cycle is the loss of protection that takes place when the progesterone is not present. Bioidentical progesterone protects against uterine cancer. The bleeding that takes place with menstrution is not what protects the uterus against cancer. It is the direct effect of progesterone on the iterus that protects it. Stopping progesteone for a week means that the body is without the protective benefits of preogesterone for those days. It makes no sense to lose the important protective benefits for even a few days every month.

  
    Recent studies have shown that Provera (medroxy progesterone) increases the risk of breast cancer and increases the thickening of the breast tissue. It does this by direct stimulation (up regulation) of estrogen receptor sites in the breast. One study showed that Provera increased breast stimulation by 400% over baseline. The same study showed that bio-identical progesterone (different from Provera), does not stimulate breast tissue as it down regulates receptor sites in the breast. Therefore, why lose this protective effect of progesterone by stopping it for a few days every month?

   

    There is a condition known as “endometrial hyperplasia”. This condition causes increased thickening of the endometrial stripe (uterine lining) which is a prescursor to cancer. This condition must be treated to avoid the development of cancer. The treatment is high dose progesterone (or Provera by conventional physicians) to shrink this tissue. If repeat ultrasound does not show a decrease in endometrial lining, then the dose of progesterone is doubled, The Shrinkage of the endometrial tissue is a result of the direct stimulation by the hormone, the better the protection against cancer.

  

    In summery, woman on hormone replacement therapy do not need to cycle (stop the progesterone) and bleed on a periodic basis. There is no substantiated benefit to the body to regulary bleed. And it certainly makes hormone replacement therapy and it’s many protective benefits a more attractive and convenient regimen for woman.

This information is provided as a courtesy by

Ashok Kadambi MD, FACE

Fort Wayne Endocrinology, PC

5010 Jefferson Blvd. Ste 100

Fort Wayne, IN 46804

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