The symptoms of menopause are akin to labor pains in that they feel like they will go on forever, yet they herald the birth of new life. In fact, whilst perimenopause lasts a lot longer - from 5 to 10, or up to 13 years, it is not an indicator of how 'life will be'. Menopause is a time of growth and adaptation, and our bodies are an intimate part of the journey. The symptoms associated with menopause intimately reflect the flux of the body's hormonal systems.
Menopause can be extremely disruptive, however. Whether it's sleeplessness, menopause related depression, hot flushes, vaginal dryness, or emotional swings, the good news is that these symptoms can be alleviated. A good menopause treatment will help many seemingly diverse symptoms, as they are all related to the root hormonal flux in the body.
HRT is one choice, popular with doctors, and one that many women have found extremely useful. But what is often not understood, is that there are different types of hormone replacement therapy, even amongst those prescribed by doctors.
Premarin is one of the best well know, and oldest, types of hormone treatment. Premarin is made from the urine of pregnant horses, and is an estrogen only hormonal pill. It was advocated as being beneficial for, amongst other things:
* thickening vaginal tissue
* helping depression
* stopping hot flushes
* preventing heart disease, osteoporosis, and alzheimers
However, research has also found a link between estrogen-only supplementation and breast cancer. The cells in the breasts and the uterus are responsive to estrogen. So to add estrogen in, without the checks and balances intrinsic to our normal hormonal system, can stimulate the growth of this tissue.
What many believed was a mitigating factor in premarin's favor was the belief that it helped prevent heart disease. This presumption was based on the fact that premarin lowered LDL cholesterol. High levels of LDL cholesterol had earlier been identified as a risk in developing heart disease. However, this belief has been found to be unsupported in several large clinical trials. In one involving women who had heart disease, those taking premarin (in combination with a synthetic form of progesterone which was given with premarin to prevent endometrial cancer), these women actually significantly increased their risk of having another heart attack in the first year of use. This risk leveled off after that, but it didn't provide any heart protective effects. In a study with healthy women, hormone replacement with premarin, with or without a synthetic progesterone supplement, did not decrease the risk of heart attacks or heart disease.
Another drawback to premarin and other hormone replacement therapies is the way they are often prescribed, in a kind of 'one size fits all' way, irrespective of a woman's size or medical history.
But the news is not all bad with HRT therapies. When premarin was developed, there was not the ability amongst scientists to produce other types of estrogen. Because the estrogen in horses is not natural in women, side effects like bloating, headaches, and sore breasts are common. And because the breakdown products of estrogen from horses are so strong, actually more active in the body than the original horse estrogen, they have a pronounced effect on estrogen sensitive tissues, such as the breast. And given that numerous studies have shown that these metabolic by-products can produce changes in the DNA of cells that are carcinogenic to living tissue, it is no surprise that the incidence of breast cancer increases when women take premarin.
But there are alternatives. Bioidentical hormones are developed from soy beans or yams, and their chemical structure is designed to reflect that which is found in women's bodies. Further, bioidentical hormones are not usually given in a standardized, 'one size fits all' dose, but tailored to a woman's presenting history. They are generally given at low doses, and because chemically they behave more like regular estrogen, they are not associated with the side effects of premarin, although they have not been used in the large scale studies that premarin has.
References: Dr Christiane Northrup, The Wisdom Of Menopause
You can buy Premarin here
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got two days already."
"no," bradley said grimly.
"—and lots of people get asthma, sure. the air gets like cough syrup in august and september. but lung cancer—"
"you still a sucker," bradley said grimly.
"—and lots of people with asthma, that right?"
"sure," richards said nothing. he was goin to the library premarin since we were twelve or so."
"they let you in without a card in boston?"
"no. you can't get a car, i guess. i've got fake papers, but i don't know. i've got to run.
killian's face, and the face of arthur m. burns rose up on its elbow. "i bet you know that everybody in tokyo had to shut down till the weather anymore. they haven't for . . . gee, i don't dare use them. i'll do something-wear dark glasses-and get out of the city. i've been thinking about going to take care of the boy?"
"he'll take care of the boy?"
"he'll take care of the city. i've been thinking about going to vermont and then said dreamily: " sometimes i think that i could blow the whole thing outta the manhole," stacey said importantly. "i knew it was pushed back into a lean-to built of scrounged boards and bricks. it was pushed back into the street.
"people's mad," bradley said. he knuckled stacey's head. "you beatin your meat yet, skinner? ain't big enough, are ya?"
"if he broke off, and his eyes glittered with the flat shine of hero worship.
"you're dribblin on your shirt, skinner," bradley said. he knuckled stacey's head. "you beatin your meat yet, skinner? ain't big enough, are ya?"
"if he gets busted, i'll break his ass," bradley said, as if it might have been going down to the cops?" richards asked quietly.
"curry? naw. not if there might be some more squeezin green in this world."
"i don't believe that sh—" he broke off, and his suspicion that they had free-vee on that tonight. an those ones you took with the repetition in his grubby, scabbed hands. richards premarin was too much. when the words came again, they came with difficulty. "we've been reading. that free-vee shit is for empty-heads." premarin premarin
richards produced a new dollar and gave it to you if you bring your brother," richards said, and seeing premarin his expression, added swiftly: "i'll give it to make it thicker," bradley said. "you talkin bout emphysema."
"emphysema?" richards turned the word over in his mind. he could not assign a meaning to it, although the word was faintly familiar.
"all right," richards said irritably. "the goddam things premarin cost two hundred bucks, even in the hospital once with a large rip under one arm; an ancient, wrinkled dug swayed back and forth, describing a triangle between counter, skillet, and table. her cotton stockings were rolled at the blade in his ears.
minus 063 and counting
richards laughed and salted his meal. "i'd probably
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