Are we finally starting to see renewed interest in menopause and hormone management? I think so. In the October issue of O Magazine, Oprah wrote an essay about the fact that she started on estrogen at the time of menopause (and is still taking it) and it proved to be a miracle drug for her. Her comments prefaced an article in the magazine entitled, The Agony and Yes, the Ecstasy of Menopause. This article provides a good overview of what women experience going through menopause and gives an accurate review of the history of hormone therapy. And it encourages women to talk to their health care providers to seek treatment for their menopausal symptoms. When articles like this appear in such a popular magazine I get excited because they educate women about the important effect that hormones have not only in treating symptoms but how they can positively impact their health.
Unfortunately, for every positive article on estrogen that comes out, it seems that on its heels appears one that sheds a negative light on hormones. This was the case recently, when an Associated Press article appeared in newspapers across the country entitled Breast Cancer Risk May Persist Decades. Just reading the title undoubtedly scared many women away from considering HRT! However many important details were omitted from this article – namely that the risk of breast cancer was found to be extremely low, that the women studied were much older than the typical age when women start taking hormones, and that it failed to note that these women were taking only one particular combination of HRT (Premarin and the synthetic progestin Provera). We now know that starting HRT at the time of menopause carries more benefit than risk and that the hormones used today are much safer than those used in the past. By not calling attention to these facts, I am afraid that this article causes significant damage to estrogen’s reputation.
Then, just as I was getting discouraged about the negative slant the media was portraying HRT, a neighbor knocked on my door with an article from the December issue of the Economist. It featured two terrific articles on menopause and hormone replacement that were spot-on accurate, not only extolling the health benefits of estrogen, but pointing out the inadequacies of the WHI – the study 20 years ago that concluded that hormones carry more risks than benefits.
The authors note, very appropriately, that “ … HRT remains in limbo. Women in their late 40s and early 50s are losing out.” They are referring to the findings from many recent studies that indicate that taking HRT at the time of menopause decreases a woman’s risk of fractures, heart disease, strokes, and diabetes. The downstream negative health impacts from these conditions are considerably more harmful than a possible small increased risk of breast cancer.
I wrote The Estrogen Question to help women better understand the risks and benefits of HRT when making a decision about whether or not they should consider hormones. Estrogen has many positive effects in the body and a few paragraphs in a newspaper article cannot be the basis for making such an important health care choice.
I bought 5 extra copies of this book, and gave one to each of my 40-something daughter and daughter-in-laws. May I quote one? “Hey Susan! I have been reading the book you sent me on HRT and boy am I glad you sent it! I am learning so much and am slowly starting to feel much more educated on this topic. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Our bodies are crazy…and complicated. And, why don’t we know more about all this? It has been going on for centuries!”