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All the more reason to be very very careful about taking drugs which may not have been carefully studied.
20 years ago doctors were telling women that they all needed to take HRT and take them for the rest of their lives. Honestly I had 5 doctors tell me that when I was 47 and suffering from debilitating menopause symptoms.
Just a few months later I had my first attack of pancreatitis, 9 months later the 2nd attack and 9 months later the 3rd attack which almost killed me. I was in a drug induced coma, on life support, in the hospital for 5 months including 1 month in rehab to learn to walk again. In wheelchair on and off for over a year. Premarin almost killed me and definitely cut my life short because I lost most of my pancreas.
I know there are many drugs which save lives and I'm sure some were used to pull me through but I regret very much trusting doctors who over and over again told me how wonderful Premarin was. It wasn't until my 3rd hospitalization that somebody finally figured out it was the HRT which caused all the problems.
Having had hormone positive breast cancer, I absolutely cannot have anything with hormones in it. Sometimes I wonder if taking birth control pills for so many years contributed to my diagnosis (although I have a strong family history - I was probably going to get it no matter what).
I am reluctant to take any medications... they all have potentially dangerous side effects. It's hard to weigh out risk versus benefit. Of course, I took plenty of powerful, high side effect medication to (hopefully) rid my body of cancer. Cancer's side effect is death and there's not much worse than that. I think the OP makes a good point... I think there's a lot to be said for taking an older, more thoroughly researched medication (if you need it), rather than the latest and greatest.
I regret very much trusting doctors who over and over again told me how wonderful Premarin was. It wasn't until my 3rd hospitalization that somebody finally figured out it was the HRT which caused all the problems.
I started in 1992 and almost died in 1994. It really was pushed down my throat. After every pancreatitis episode I would be taken off all meds in the hospital and upon discharge was told i HAD to resume HRT. 3 times this happened. My triglycerides were FIVE THOUSAND. YES MY BLOOD WAS LIKE RED CRISCO. It truly is a miracle I lived through it.
I don't want to go into detail but if I had my life to live over, I would never have taken any birth control pills or hormone replacement. The birth control pills that I was on were taken off the market but the doctor started me on a new, improved type. It took me a long, long time to figure out what had probably ruined my health--and my health had been excellent until I went on birth control pills. At the time I didn't make the connection though.
Many years later the doctors tried to put me on Premarin. I told them I didn't want it yet I was sent home with a prescription that I obediently filled. I only took then for a short time but developed problems and had to be taken off. It was just a few years later that I developed a female cancer and there is absolutely NO history of female cancers in my family.
I think some of us are high estrogen people and we just don't need extra--or our bodies don't know how to handle the excess estrogen--I don't understand the reasons why and nobody does. I do try to warn anyone I care about to not mess with their hormones.
in_ newengland...I bet you and I could have some really interesting conversations about what these medications did to us. I have actually been diagnosed with PTSD because of the life altering effects these medications caused. I too warn everybody I can about estrogens. I have a 31-year-old daughter who gets some sort of long-acting injections which make me extremely anxious. She doesn't want kids period and the thought of her taking this kind of med for many many years is very frightening to me.
I also have 12 year old daughters and I'm dragging my feet about the HPV vaccines. All 4 of my kids got all their other vaccines and boosters so I'm not anti vaccine but , after my experience with a rx we were told every women had to take for the rest of her life, why should I trust another relatively new rx we are being told is equally as necessary?
I tried all the "healthy" alternatives. Nothing worked. My symptoms were in excess of any other woman I have ever talked to when I started on a low dose of HRT... sweat literally streaming down my face, soaked scalp, and had to tuck a tissue into my bra. A totally ickky feeling would come over me before my flash hit. Like being locked into a sauna as someone instantly turned up the heat. I felt like jumping out of my skin. I once counted my hot flashes and had 18 of this intensity in a 24 hour period.
I stuck my head out the car window in below freezing weather. I held my head in my freezer in the summer. Oh, that felt like heaven! lol I kept a fan beside my bed at night to click on when I was awakened with what I can only describe as an electic jolt before the heat hit me. I kept a spray bottle of water beside my bed to spritz my legs, arms and face at night.
I have been on HRT for 6 years now, and even though I still have some symptoms (occasional hot flashes that soak my head at night mainly), I know if I stopped them that I'd be just as miserable as before I went on them.
I guess I'm taking my chances, but taking my low dose of HRT is worth being out of the misery I was suffering with.
I guess I'm taking my chances, but taking my low dose of HRT is
worth being out of the misery I was suffering with.
I know. Good thing the low dose helps!
I've been off the Bio-identicals for maybe 5-6 years now...my nurse practitioner said...
there were absolutely no studies saying there was a problem with them, tho.
I didn't care.
(soy based, still need a prescription).
We could start telling stories to lighten things up...like
being at an outdoor, fun Flea Market in the summer....having a hotflash
in 90+ degree sun...seeing me lunge to a garbage can knowing 'someone
must have tossed a big paper cup in there with ice....they did, also a plastic
bag in there and using both to place on my neck, panting on a bench...
no shade...and miserable. What a sight.
no kudzu: I can’t say I’m surprised but an oh my god still fills my head. If you go to five Westernized physicians, I believe the odds are good they will push for drug treatment. There are a few doctors who may suggest alternatives but they’re rare.
The article, from CBS news, warns against hormone replacement therapy and does add that it makes you more 40% prone to getting ovarian cancer. You address my concern here later in the thread. Good luck figuring out what to do.
I assume the reason you didn’t sue the makers of Premarin or the doctor who put you on it was because you’d be unable to prove it. I believe you because I’ve heard of how bad (not what you went through) hormone replacement therapy only with Premarin (and years ago) can be. I think that’s why the powers that be were trying to create a synthethic Premarin.
Miss Hepburn: bio-topically is a lot safer because unless there’s a specific carrier to bring the drugs into ones system, little will go in. Again the question arises with your friend who had the double mastectomy why she didn’t sue.
There are results that are not available through the internet because the company wants to keep it that way. I’ve absolutely done my share of research to know that.
CA4Now: Very good, pendulum-crazy-making article by NPR . It seems normal. We’ve likely all seen how something may be put on the market as a cure all for something then later, when the real results are carefully tabulated the cure all doesn’t exist. So, they quietly stop making it or turn it into a cure all for something else.
gouligann: Sorry your experience with the less harmful stuff didn’t work for you. My sister used to carry around a hand fan I got for her. She had a miserable experience. I had tolerable hot flashes but nothing like any of you have been through. We all take our chances with each decision we make in our life. Yes, it’s a risk and hopefully you’ll be okay.
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