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Over one hundred different types of hormones pour into your bloodstream at a rate of billions of units per day. They are secreted by glands such as your pancreas, adrenal glands, pituitary gland, testes and ovaries then released into the bloodstream. Hormones then travel around activating, controlling and directing organs and tissues.
Hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, pregnenolone, melatonin and DHEA make us men and women. Your hormones build bones, maintain muscle tone and protect your joints. They regulate your heartbeat and breathing. Hormones fight stress, calm anxiety, relieve depression and allow you to feel. They govern sex drive and fertility. They stimulate your brain and immune system and relieve pain. They govern the menstrual cycle and allow pregnancy.
Most of your hormones decline with age. All hormones in men and women decline when their endocrine glands cannot maintain the same production of hormones they did in their younger days. Noticeably, the decline in our hormones starts around our mid-twenties and begins to bring on minor ailments from weight gain, loss of memory, loss of energy, loss of hair and loss of skin elasticity to major disability, deformity, pain, disease and sorrow.
The decline in the production of hormones and loss of energy, vitality and virility however is avoidable!
The Failure of Conventional Medicine
With the growing realisation of the inherent shortcomings of conventional medicine (treating the symptoms and not the cause), traditional medicine is facing the inevitable -the inability to cope with the ever-increasing volume and costs of treatment, as well as not providing any answers.
The scope and complexity of chronic medical conditions killing our society is astonishing -lupus, Crohn's disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, osteoporosis, bowel cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer just to name a ! few. All too often the treatments proposed by conventional medicine are so "toxic" that they produce symptoms that are far worse than the illness. To test this theory all you have to do is ask someone who has been treated with pharmaceuticals for a long time for some of the above mentioned conditions. In order to safely and effectively treat any illness it is crucial that you understand the underlying cause of the illness. Conventional medicine addresses the symptoms of disease. It does not address the underlying cause of illness and thus it is fighting a losing and frustrating battle.
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HRT and Cancer?
No wonder people are confused about hormones.
One-day headlines in the newspapers praise HRT. They proclaim the effectiveness of HRT in treating heart disease, osteoporosis and Alzheimer's. The next day headlines are screaming that HRT may not benefit the above conditions and in fact may give you cancer!
The truth is that not all hormones are equal! Also not all hormones are used effectively by doctors to address the many diseases and conditions people suffer. Most physicians are not skilled in the use of hormones to address the many diseases we face.
We will discuss the various types of hormones in a later chapter so you can understand the difference and know what to ask your doctor for.
What About Cancer?
Despite the widespread use of synthetic hormone brands, such as,
Premarin they have always been associated with cancer. The first cancer linked with synthetic hormone replacement therapy was cancer of the uterus lining (endometrium).
The recent resurfacing of the synthetic hormones and cancer association came from a government-sponsored study titled "The Women's Health Initiative" (WHI). This study was scheduled to last 8.5 years but was aborted at 5.2 years because the risks of using Premarin and Provera outweighed the benefits. Breast cancer was just one of the increased risks discovered. The study concluded that synthetic hormone replacement therapy DOES NOT protect your bones or your heart, two of the primary benefits once used by doctors as selling points to get women to fill their prescriptions.
The WHI involved large medical centres around the United States of America and was designed to provide information about the risks and benefits of conventional HRT. Half of the 16608 women received conventional HRT in the form of Prempro (Premarin and Provera) and half received no active drug (placebo).
Desired Outcome. The WHI hoped to achieve increases or decreases in breast cancer, stroke, pulmonary embolism, colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, hip fracture and death due to any cause. | |
