The Estrogen Alternative

A Guide to Natural Hormonal Balance

Raquel Martin, Judi Gerstung

• Publisher: Healing Arts Press
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9781594770333
• eBook ISBN: 9781594776199
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Alternative & Complementary Medicine

With almost 100,000 copies sold in earlier editions, this revised edition provides the most up-to-date information on natural alternatives to synthetic hormone replacement therapy

A must-read for any woman taking synthetic hormones for infertility, birthcontrol, PMS, or menopause

• Includes the latest research on using natural progesterone to combat osteoporosis, endometriosis, heart disease, PMS, fibroids, and breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer

More and more women are seeking alternatives to synthetic hormones and their harmful side effects. Despite increasing awareness of the dangers of synthetic hormones, over-prescription of estrogen is still rampant, as is confusion among doctors and patients whether the benefits of conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) outweigh the risks.

This updated fourth edition offers the latest information on how botanical progesterone therapy, also known as natural HRT, can provide safe, natural relief for many of the problems women face from hormone deficiency, including PMS, fibromyalgia, depression, menstrual irregularity, miscarriages, uterine fibroids, and infertility. Botanical progesterone supplementation can be also extremely effective in relieving hot flashes, insomnia, night sweats, vaginal dryness, and even cancer. The authors sift through misinformation and contradictory studies, warning against corporate-sponsored research in a multi-billion dollar menopausal industry, and guide readers to natural alternatives. This fourth edition also includes new studies regarding the dangers of a diet rich in soy contributing to the onset of premature menopause, as well as thyroid disorders. The dangers of mammography and the importance of focusing on safer, more effective methods of cancer detection are also well documented.

PART I

Natural Hormone
Replacement
from
God’s Garden

ONE

Sick and Tired of Being Tired and Sick

Study sickness while you are well.

Thomas Fuller¹

Something was wrong. I was in my forties, and the symptoms of menopause had already appeared. Hot flashes, bloating, irregularity, trouble sleeping, night sweats, emotional tension—I realized that I needed some kind of help to cope! The hormonal changes that every woman experiences at midlife were playing havoc with my body. So I went to see my gynecologist. He responded with the standard, widely accepted medical treatment: a program of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) using synthetic hormones. Specifically, this meant a prescription for Premarin (a conjugated estrogen) and Provera (medroxyprogesterone acetate, a progestin). These are manufactured substitutes for two hormones that play a central role in every woman’s sexual and reproductive life—hormones whose supply and balance are gradually altered as a woman passes through and beyond the normal childbearing years.

I had thought to myself, “Here I am in menopause. Finally, I’ll have freedom from my monthly periods.” But instead I was told that I needed to take these hormone supplements and continue drug-induced monthly cycles for the rest of my life. For twenty-five days each month I was to take one tablet of Premarin, and from the sixteenth through the twenty-fifth day of each month I was to take the progestin tablet. Then I was to stop taking both drugs for five days.

Even though I couldn’t help feeling that my body was being artificially regulated, my first reaction to the drugs was generally positive. My menstrual cycle stabilized, the symptoms diminished, and I began to feel confident about my doctor’s advice. By the second day my body was adjusting well. I became calmer and slowly began to feel better in many ways. “Why didn’t I do this sooner?” I thought. “Such a simple solution to all of these problems!” I wanted to believe that routine HRT was the answer.

Before long, though, my honeymoon with synthetic hormones came to an end. In the second month I started to worry. There were some unpleasant new side effects, including weight gain, bloating, painful breasts, and tension. I wondered whether this was not the answer after all—at least, not the whole answer. Perhaps a change was in order. Maybe the dosage of the Premarin or Provera needed to be decreased or one or both of them discontinued, or maybe the whole approach was wrong. Disappointed now with my doctor’s treatment, I consulted an endocrinologist, then an internist, and later still another gynecologist. All offered different suggestions, but none of their drugs helped my symptoms without bringing on some other abnormal discomfort. This trial-and-error period continued for several years.

Speaking with other women going through similar experiences, I heard a common complaint. They had gone down this same road with doctors who had prescribed variations of the same treatment, and as we all tend to do, followed their doctors’ advice and just “hung in there.” Women would come home from an appointment in tears of frustration because the doctor had made no change in their treatment regardless of the unpleasant reactions. The typical advice they got, as did I, was “You need to be patient. Just keep taking the pills a little longer until the body adapts.” Generally a physician will urge a woman to continue her treatment, either varying the dosage or keeping it the same, on the premise that her body will eventually adjust to synthetic hormones. I can tell you that such advice will drive some women to their psychiatrists or closest medical centers in an attempt to deal with the drugs’ multiple side effects.

I wanted my doctors to be right. So I did what they prescribed, over and over again. At first I’d be encouraged, because the drugs were making a few changes that I thought were good. But as time went on and it was clear that my body was reacting poorly, I began to feel additional symptoms: sharp uterine pain and inflammation and infection of the cervix, which was often quite painful. My bloating became more severe, along with digestive disorders such as colitis.

I feared another D&C (dilation and curettage), which some physicians routinely administer to women on HRT, and I dreaded the painful cauterization of cervical tissue that I’d been told was necessary to deal with the cervical inflammation. Yet I’d learned that the scar tissue resulting from some of the treatments I’d already had was probably causing even more harm to surrounding tissue! I grew more anxious still when a second endometrial biopsy (removal of a piece of the uterine lining by means of a plastic catheter) had to be performed in order to check for any deterioration of my uterus. Frustrated, I did not know what to do. I had to make up my mind before my next doctor’s appointment, when he’d indicated he would probably recommend a hysterectomy.

As I continued to ask questions, I began to understand that the doctors I had been seeing all along didn’t necessarily have all the answers. They didn’t seem to comprehend completely the complexities of menopausal problems, the PMS problems of younger women, or the side effects of the synthetic hormones they were prescribing. Not only were their answers contradictory to each other, I sensed a lack of conviction on their part that this was indeed the right way to go. I thought to myself, Is it any wonder women become confused, afraid, and discouraged during what can already be a stressful time?

I decided I would have to take things into my own hands—maybe spend more time at the health store instead of the drugstore, and at least learn enough to direct my own treatment. I had lots of unanswered questions about why these hormone supplements were not working. What were synthetic hormones all about? Where did they come from and how did they work? What were the side effects—both immediate and long-term? Were alternative treatments available? What specific nutrients and exercises would help? And of course, the question that hung over it all: Whose advice should I believe, and what should I do?

Thus began my journey of discovery into the world of estrogen and progesterone and the roles these hormones play in women’s health—a journey that not only led me to the answers to my many questions but in the process prepared me to recognize the variety of available alternatives. The answer has restored peace and health to my life.

THE SEARCH BEGINS

My goal became to find a complete and sound alternative treatment for my menopausal problems. After consultation with my doctor I immediately stopped using the synthetic progesterone substitute because it was causing dreadful feelings of stress throughout my body. I accepted his advice on the estrogen supplement, though, and continued to take it.

But I also began looking into other measures I had heard about, such as nutrition, herbs, and homeopathic remedies recommended specifically for menopause. I changed my diet to include more raw vegetables, fresh fruits, whole grains, seeds, and complex carbohydrates and less meat. These changes helped reduce some of my discomfort. I also added to my diet some known antioxidants, including vitamins A, C, and E, plus selenium as well as vitamin B complex and zinc. I learned that zinc plays an important role in enzyme activity, especially in relation to the lymphocytes, and is needed for the absorption of vitamin A.² I had also become aware that many studies have shown that antioxidants help protect the body from toxins.

As long as I kept up my chiropractic treatments to enhance nerve flow and transmission, I was much less susceptible to gynecological infections and other disorders. I had learned that even though the right diet is important, the nervous system is the major regulator for all hormonal performance. I believe that spinal misalignments and subsequent nerve interference should always be addressed because of the close interconnection between the spinal nerves and the endocrine system.³

But those were the early years. Once the full force of menopause came upon me, some of the old symptoms resurfaced—though they were less pronounced than before. So either something major was still missing, or what I was taking (or doing) needed to be changed. I was ready to try anything just to feel normal. I talked to many other women in the same predicament, and eventually one of them gave me a new idea. She was a former nurse and knew about the Estraderm patch, a “time-release” patch that is placed on the surface of the skin so that estrogen is absorbed in small doses over time. I wondered why my doctor hadn’t mentioned this.

I asked my doctor to substitute this method for my oral Premarin, and he agreed. This small adhesive pad did, in fact, seem to work better for me initially. Certain symptoms, such as the joint pains I’d been experiencing, temporarily went away. I felt more energetic at first, but I knew we hadn’t found the solution yet.

I had read that estrogen should never be taken alone, so I sought out a female gynecologist and asked her about combining it with progesterone to cancel out the carcinogenic effect of the estrogen. When I told her I’d had a very bad reaction to Provera, she prescribed another of the synthetic substitutes for progesterone. Only later did I learn of the incredible difference between synthetic progesterone and natural (bioidentical) progesterone.

Before long I again lapsed into some of the same symptoms, and again it was from the effects of the synthetic hormones: nervousness, bloating, uterine cramping, and some sleepless nights. So I went to another doctor, and he decided to reduce the dose of estrogen to the lowest level available in patch form. As the months went by it became apparent that this wasn’t working either. I knew something still wasn’t right and was disappointed with all the experimenting. The vaginal dryness that had troubled me before I began HRT returned with all its associated pain and discomfort. I had also developed strange pains on the side of my breast, near the lymph nodes.

My doctor switched me to yet another synthetic progesterone substitute in the lowest dosage available. There followed more adjustments: less estrogen, then more, then back to Provera, then less of it, and so on. But nothing seemed to help. I kept trying in vain to find the right balance between the two drugs, thinking that the doctor knew best. I did not understand why my body was reacting as it did to these substances, or why they seemed to be doing more harm than good as time progressed.

I decided one day to stop the treatments completely. This decision came after I got out my magnifying glass and read the fine print that presented the risks and warnings on the leaflets accompanying the drugs. Some possible adverse reactions to synthetic hormones are liver disease, malignancy of the breast or genital organs, fluid retention, cystitis-like syndrome, headaches, nervousness, dizziness, edema, mental depression, insomnia, fatigue, and backache. The warnings on the package go on to point out that the drugs can cause or aggravate conditions such as epilepsy, migraine, asthma, and cardiac or renal dysfunction.⁴ And all of the other estrogens and progestins normally prescribed have similar lists of side effects.

No wonder I was feeling bad. I began to resent the fact that the knowledge I desperately needed on such important health matters is not made readily available to women. At times I wondered how I would ever get through post-menopause if I couldn’t get a grip on these menopausal years. Frankly, I was now afraid to take estrogen and the progesterone substitutes, which I understood at the time to be the only available source o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Foreword to the Third Edition
• Foreword to the Second Edition
• Foreword to the First Edition
• Acknowledgments
• Preface to the Fourth Edition: A Bombshell That Changed HRT Medical History
• Introduction
• PART I Natural Hormone Replacement from God’s Garden
• PART II Opening Up a New World of Hope and Healing
• PART III Making Assertive Lifestyle Changes
• Appendix A. Ways and Means of Hormone Application
• Appendix B. Synthetic Compounds: A Sampling by Chemical or Brand Name
• Appendix C. Natural Formulas for Infants
• Appendix D. Resources for Cancer Patients
• Appendix E. Resources for Preventive Medicine
• Appendix F. Clinical Studies and Research Reports
• Appendix G. Sources of Natural Progesterone
• Notes
• Index
• Books of Related Interest
• About the Author
• About Inner Traditions
• Copyright