Menopause in the Twenty-First Century
One
hundred years ago it was “natural” for a women to stop
menstruating and “go through the change” between the
ages of 45 and 55. The average life span at that time was about
age 60, so it wasn’t as important to worry about the long-term
effects of hormone deficiency. Women simply suffered for a year
or two with hot flashes that gradually subsided. A few women survived
to the age of 90 but they were plagued with osteoporosis, heart
disease, dementia, stress urinary incontinence, and loss of sexual
function. The typical “post menopausal” woman was the
quintessential picture of the “little old grandmother”
who lost inches of height (compression fractures of the spine),
suffered from “rheumatism”, and generally could not
take care of herself. This was “natural”
Today, things are different! If we reach the age of 60, we can expect
to live to be 90. With all of the advances that have been achieved
by science and medicine, we can avoid many of the problems that
our ancestors had to deal with. Such things as pneumonia, surgical
emergencies, many cancers, infections and organ failure are commonly
treated and “life goes on” No one would ever say “I
am going to treat my diabetes “naturally”, or I don’t
want to take any antibiotics for my pneumonia because “it’s
not natural”. Still, many women are afraid to treat their
menopause because they view it as a “natural passing”,
and choose to simply “live through it”.
Over the last 50 years women have been treated with concoctions
of various hormones for the menopause. These include horse estrogens
(Premarin), numerous different “progestins” and multiple
herbal remedies. Many of these treatments took away the immediate
symptoms of hot flashes, vaginal dryness, etc. but have not been
proven to assist with decreasing heart disease and fears of increased
breast cancer have arisen. The recent Women’s Health Initiative
study that has been publicized in the press verified these issues
and concerns. It should be noted that all of these studies looked
at the commonly used hormone treatments (Premarin and Provera) neither
of which are naturally occurring in a women’s body.
We have found that the use of “bio-identical” hormones
to replace the deficiencies that are seen in menopause is not only
“natural” but also much more effective in treating both
the short-term and long term effects of hormone deficiency. “Bio-identical
hormones” are just what they sound like. They are exact replicas
of the natural hormones that your body makes and they can be measured
to be replaced in the exact amounts needed in each individual.
One would ask, “Why don’t the pharmaceutical companies
make such products?” and the answer would be that since they
are naturally occurring hormones and cannot be patented, they are
simply not profitable to produce.
While multiple studies are available to prove the safety and efficacy
of bio-identical hormones, it hardly seems necessary to prove something
that has been so successful for so long in nature.
These hormones can only be obtained by prescription from a licensed
physician and are generally only sold through a compounding pharmacy.
They are not the same as you see advertised in the health food stores
either in composition or strength.
We invite you to come in to our offices for an individualized consultation
and question and answer session to see if you could benefit from
treatment.
Harold
Burton, M.D., FACOG
