Ever since Oprah pulled the camera back so we could see her in her full glory,  the issue on the table has become not so much weight loss as menopause induced hormone imbalances. 

In 2005, Hormone Replacement Therpy (HRT) became a dirty word after studies revealed it could have negative repercussions for some people in regard to cardiovascular disease.  It was considered that that the overall risk was not worth it.  Exit Hormone Replacement Therpy, stage left.

In 2009, at 55, Oprah revealed that she is experiencing menopause and was having a tough time of it.   She revealed that once she dealt with hormonal imbalances using “natural” means, her life became much better.  Enter stage right, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

Hormone replacement is not a new issue.  Women who take the pill has been “replacing” their hormones for years.  We simply never considered it that.  We were preventing pregnancy. But we were doing it by playing around with our hormone levels using synthetic/man-made hormones.  

The pill comes in two main forms:

1. Combined meaning it has estrogen 

2. Low Dose meaning progestin-only pill

Until 1998, it was considered unsafe for women over the age of 35 to keep taking the Pill for reasons very similiar to issues relating to HRT – increased risk of stroke,  heart attack and breast cancer. However with the introduction of low-dose pills that risk was significantly reduced and now it is considered safe for women over 35 and even over 40 to keep taking low dose pills provided they do not smoke, not over weight and are generally healthy.  In fact there are considerable benefits to women doing so including dealing the very menopausal symptoms which HRT sought to deal with.

In addition, the abortion rate for women over 40 is second only to the abortion rate or women under 24.  You could say that both groups mistakeningly think they cannot get pregnant – but they do. Without contraception, the annual risk of pregnancy is around 10% for women aged 40-44 and 2-3% for women aged 45-49, and the risk may not be zero for women over 50. In women over 45 years who have not menstruated for one year the probability of subsequent menstruation (which could be ovulatory) is estimated to be 2-10%. There is a clearly established need for contraception until the menopause is established

So all up using a low does pill until Menopause might be the widest thing to do.

But can we do it?  Not really.  Health insurance companies do not like it. 

 http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20070117-000002.html

http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/hrp/progress/40/news40_2.en.html

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 5:07 pm and is filed under BHRT. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.