Janet Hubble, 65, used synthetic hormones for ten years. She believed the claims that hormone therapy would protect her health during menopause, and keep her bones, skin, and heart from aging. Hubble felt somewhat conflicted about using hormones, because some doctors said they were dangerous, but she never had any side-effects. When research conclusively indicated that synthetic hormones were actually harmful, Janet had already damaged her body. Hubble, like thousands of other women taking hormone therapy for menopause, developed breast cancer. She needed three years of chemotherapy to kill the two cancers growing in her breast, but she survived.
In July of 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative stopped their massive research study of synthetic hormone therapy. They discovered manufactured hormones were actually making women sick. Participants in the estrogen plus progestin research group had increased levels of heart disease, blood clots, stroke, and breast cancer. After the study, women using synthetic hormones dropped drastically, and doctors refused to prescribe hormone therapy to women with breast cancer history.
Hubble, however, is happily using hormones again. She feels and looks healthy, and strongly believes that women can benefit from hormone therapy.
“I had a dermatologist look at my skin and say, ‘you’re how old?’, and I’ve had four perfect eco-cardiograms,” Hubble said.
The hormones Hubble takes are not the synthetic version; no doctor would prescribe them to her. Rather, Hubble uses bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.
Bioidentical hormones have the same molecular structure as hormones made by a woman’s body. They are created from plants, and metabolized like natural hormones. When dissolved directly into the blood-stream, bioidentical hormones by-pass the liver, and minimize side-effects. European research and many pharmacists suggest that bioidentical hormones are safe and effective; women should have no adverse health risks from taking them.
Deena Khosh, naturopathic doctor and the University of Kansas Medical Center, hopes to prove the efficacy of BHRT.
“Lots of physicians worry if this is safe or not, and that’s why we’re doing this study. We’re looking at the different factors, what combinations of hormones works best,” Khosh said.
The Program in Integrative Medicine plans to enroll 46 women in its pilot study, which will last one-two years. The researchers want to determine if BHRT is associated with improved lipid profiles when compared to Prempro, a synthetic hormone. They also hypothesize that bioidentical hormones provide a safe alternative to standard hormone replacement therapy.
Khosh says she believes BHRT will prove to be an effective treatment for women.
“You go into menopause and you’re miserable with the symptoms, the hot flashes, insomnia, memory loss, but your option now is something that could cause cancer. So this is something that could alleviate symptoms naturally,” Khosh said.
Janith Williams, director of The Center for Excellence in Women’s Health Research and Outreach at the University of Texas, will finish a pilot study on BHRT later this year. Like the med center, UT is conducting some of the only American-based research about BHRT.
Williams hesitates to say that the study results prove the safety of bioidentical hormones, but admits they look positive.
“There’s a real promise, but there’s a need for a tremendous amount of research, on-going and multi-faceted research,” Williams said.
Lisa Everett, certified clinical nutritionist and co-owner of O’Brien Pharmacy in Kansas City, already believes BHRT is safe, and prescribes it regularly to patients.
“We’ve been using this [BHRT] at O’Brien Pharmacy for 45 years, and with much safer results,” Everett said.
According to Everett, only six of her BHRT patients have been diagnosed with breast cancer. She believes some of those women already had cancer before starting treatment, compared to the thousands of women diseased from using synthetic hormones. Everett is adamant that BHRT administered correctly, by dissolving it directly into the bloodstream, is helpful, not harmful to women.
“Many synthetics have an effect on the body that has an exact opposite reaction to what happens naturally. No synthetic can replace what was created on this earth, well or better, than our molecules can,” Everett said.
In January, the Food and Drug Administration issued a statement saying that the use of bioidentical hormones as safe and effective is, “unsupported by medical evidence” and is, “considered false and misleading by the agency”. Many doctors and pharmacists, like Everett, feel the FDA’s statement is due to lobbying by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, and not a result of scientific evidence. In order for the FDA to retract its statement, the research studies at UT and the med center need to be proven and published.
Everett remains confident that her research is factual and bioidentical hormones are helpful to women.
“Premarin [a synthetic hormone] is horse trash. I do think that this [BHRT] is the wave of the future,” Everett said.