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“Bastyr is the leading academic force in natural medicine. I have great respect for the school...” Andrew Weil, MD |
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Dr Vasquez has relocated to Fort Worth and is still available by 
Adverse effects of hormone replacement therapy or "HRT" in women, natural alternatives to HRT, natural HRT, alternative medicine, menopause, osteoporosis, natural medicine, holistic medicine
Many Taking Hormone Pills Now Face a Difficult Choice
By GINA KOLATA Reported in The New York Times, July 15, 2002
ast week, when a large federal study on hormone replacement therapy came to an abrupt halt, Cheryl Kipfer's husband handed her a news report on the stunning findings. The drugs, the report said, had risks, including invasive breast cancer, which, although slight, were not counterbalanced by benefits. ...
Investigators informed them on Tuesday that they were to stop taking the pills, estrogen and progestin, immediately. The study had been stopped because the drugs' risks had been found to outweigh their benefits. ...
NHLBI Stops Trial of Estrogen Plus Progestin
Due to Increased Breast Cancer Risk, Lack of Overall BenefitThe National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has stopped early a major clinical trial of the risks and benefits of combined estrogen and progestin in healthy menopausal women due to an increased risk of invasive breast cancer. The large multi-center trial, a component of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), also found increases in coronary heart disease, stroke, and pulmonary embolism in study participants on estrogen plus progestin compared to women taking placebo pills. There were noteworthy benefits of estrogen plus progestin, including fewer cases of hip fractures and colon cancer, but on balance the harm was greater than the benefit. The study, which was scheduled to run until 2005, was stopped after an average follow-up of 5.2 years.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall health risks exceeded benefits from use of combined estrogen plus progestin for an average 5.2-year follow-up among healthy postmenopausal US women. All-cause mortality was not affected during the trial. The risk-benefit profile found in this trial is not consistent with the requirements for a viable intervention for primary prevention of chronic diseases, and the results indicate that this regimen should not be initiated or continued for primary prevention of CHD.
JAMA 2002 Jul 17;288(3):321-33
CONCLUSION: Women who used estrogen-only replacement therapy, particularly for 10 or more years, were at significantly increased risk of ovarian cancer in this study. Women who used short-term estrogen-progestin-only replacement therapy were not at increased risk, but risk associated with short-term and longer-term estrogen-progestin replacement therapy warrants further investigation.
JAMA 2002 Jul 17;288(3):334-41
Increased risk for heart attack and stroke (according to recent major studies)
Many patients and conventional physicians still believe that using HRT will decrease a woman's risk of heart attack and stroke, but this information is WRONG. The famous "HERS" study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that women who started HRT with estrogen from horses and synthetic progesterone ("conjugated equine estrogen plus medroxyprogesterone acetate") had no protection from cardiovascular disease, yet they actually had in increased risk of heart attack, gall bladder disease, and blood clots. The authors concluded, "...we do not recommend starting this treatment for the purpose of secondary prevention of [heart disease]."
JAMA 1998 Aug 19;280(7):605-13
Women who have already had a heart attack face an increased risk of a second heart attack if they begin taking HRT.
Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2001 Jul;38(1):1-7
Increased risk for gall bladder disease and the need for surgery: A more recent study published in Annals of Internal Medicine also showed that women taking "conjugated equine estrogens" and synthetic progesterone had an increased risk of gall bladder disease and the need for surgery.
Ann Intern Med 2001 Oct 2;135(7):493-501
Worsening of urinary incontinence: HRT worsens urinary incontinence. "CONCLUSION: Daily oral estrogen plus progestin therapy was associated with worsening urinary incontinence in older postmenopausal women with weekly incontinence. We do not recommend this therapy for the treatment of incontinence." Postmenopausal hormones and incontinence: the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study.
Obstet Gynecol 2001 Jan;97(1):116-20
We can select from many safe and effective treatments for women's health issues which offer a wide range of total health benefits, and which provide many health advantages over medical HRT - a treatment based on giving women hormones from horse urine and from synthetic chemical sources.
