Menopause Primer Newsletter sponsored by Diamond Research Foundation September 2016
A newsletter for women, men, and their doctors, from adolescence to old age.
Welcome to the 2nd edition of DRF Menopause Newsletter!
Menopause is a disease that can be easily treated but usually is not. Unless you’re a man. In this issue we will focus on how breast cancer is prevented in men and can be prevented in women too. Also, a library of hormone medications will be started and added to in future editions. There will be a discussion of recent research done by menopause ‘experts’ who continue to give all of us unhealthy advice. Of course, there will be a crossword puzzle and a word search to reinforce your new knowledge and to have some fun!
Men’s Experience of Menopause is the same as women’s
Men are given the opportunity to reduce their risk of breast cancer but not women
Building a library of hormone products for women and men
Uneducated menopause ‘experts’ giving all of us unhealthy advice
Menopause word search (answers)
Men’s experience of menopause is the same as women’s.
Men get menopause? How can this be true if men and women are so different? Well, they’re not as different as you may have thought. Men don’t only need testosterone and women don’t only need estradiol to stay healthy. Would it surprise you that the ovaries of a woman and the testicles of a man produce identical hormones and a profound loss of all of the sex hormones will produce the same menopausal symptoms in men and women? For men, though, menopause is called by its medical name, acquired profound hypogonadism. Same illness, same symptoms just different names, menopause and acquired profound hypogonadism, for the same disease.
Testicles and Ovaries produce the same 4 sex hormones
Testicles produce
Progesterone
Testosterone
Estradiol
Dhea
Ovaries produce
Progesterone
Testosterone
Estradiol
Dhea
All humans have all of the same identical hormones and each hormone does the same job in women and men. A hormone can be feminizing and a hormone can be masculinizing depending on how much there is of it. Estradiol, for instance, stimulates breast tissue in both women and men. Men develop smaller breasts as their levels of estradiol are lower (average 20 pg/ml) than pre-menopausal women (average 200 pg/ml).
Men youthful years estradiol 20 pg/ml
Men older years estradiol 50 pg/ml
10 times more estrogen than a menopausal woman
Women youthful years estradiol 200 pg/ml
10 times more estrogen than a youthful man
Women older years estradiol 5 pg/ml(menopausal)
Testosterone, on the other hand, is not just a masculinizing hormone. Testosterone will also suppress the stimulation caused by estradiol on breast tissue, much like a brake slowing down a moving car. Testosterone, an important human hormone, in adequate levels, will protect everyone from breast cancer.
Replacing Estradiol and not testosterone is fixing the engine and not the brakes!
If you would like to start a conversation on this topic, please visit our forum. There you’ll meet Louise, our moderator.
Men are given the opportunity to reduce their risk of breast cancer but not women.
Testosterone is a tumor suppressing hormone which protects women and men from breast cancer. However, there is a minimum level of testosterone required or breast cancer rates will increase. As testosterone begins going down starting at age 30 years, and less is produced as the ovaries run out of eggs and fail (menopause), too little testosterone is available to protect a woman from breast cancer. When men are in menopause their risk of breast cancer is the same as for women, 1 in 12. This is why it is so important to have normal, youthful levels of testosterone in women and men, to be able to protect yourself from breast cancer.
When men are in menopause they will receive testosterone in a dosage that will result in normal, youthful levels. This is how men are able to prevent breast cancer.
Why don’t women in menopause, whose testosterone levels are too low to protect them from breast cancer, get testosterone? Because the FDA has approved testosterone only for men and not for women. There have been at least 5 different testosterone products submitted to the FDA over the past 20 years in dosages appropriate for women and all have been denied approval.
For a while in Europe one of the FDA denied testosterone products for women, the Intrinsa patch, made by Proctor and Gamble, was available. I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase it over the internet for 2 years. My insurance, Blue Cross, even paid for it at a cost of $140 a month. I loved it! It made me feel so normal, like when I was pre-menopausal. I would joke with my husband that I was ‘patched’ and ready for action. I had an estradiol 0.1 mg patch on one hip and the testosterone 300 mcg Intrinsa patch on the other hip. I took Prometrium, which is a progesterone pill, at bedtime and would take 10 mg micronized Dhea every morning. I felt great. Life was good. My bone density was that of a 20 year old, as was my sex drive! All of the hormones I was taking were bio-identical and as far as my body was concerned my ovaries were still working. My body was getting what it needed and I was protecting myself from breast cancer. Unfortunately, the Intrinsa patch was pulled from the European market and I couldn’t get it anymore. I switched to a compounded testosterone cream which works well, but not as well as a testosterone patch which releases testosterone slowly and steadily throughout the entire day. I miss the Intrinsa patch and hope one day I can wear it again.
Women deserve the same opportunity as men to protect themselves from breast cancer. Your doctor can prescribe testosterone cream, which can be hand made by a compounding pharmacist. The usual dose is 1-3 mg applied nightly at bedtime. Always best to start out low and increase every 4-6 weeks until you feel your best. Another source of bioidentical testosterone is Androgel, a product made for men. It comes in packets or a pump. Apply a pea sized drop and rub it in. I have used both the compounded testosterone cream and the Androgel. I found the Androgel made me feel almost as normal as the Intrinsa patch.
Testosterone cream and Androgel can be applied on clean, dry skin. Testosterone cream can be used on the clitoris to increase sexual response and orgasm. Never apply Androgel to the clitoris because it contains alcohol and it will sting.
Bottom line, breast cancer can be prevented when testosterone levels are maintained at normal, youthful levels for women and men.
If you would like to start a conversation on this topic, please visit our forum. There you’ll meet Louise, our moderator.
Building a library of hormone products for women and men
Hormone replacement should create hormone levels like your ovaries or testicles are still working. To make it easier to see what to expect from a hormone product I’ve come up with a grading system based on 6 questions scored on a scale from 1 to 5. After all the questions are answered I add up all of the numbers divide by 6 and get the average score. Based on that score the product receives a grade.
In this edition of the DRF Menopause Primer I’ll evaluate Androgel, a bioidentical testosterone product which is made in a laboratory and compounded testosterone cream, made in a pharmacy by a compounding pharmacist.
Scale:
5: Just like the ovary or testicle produced the product itself! Grade A
4: Nearly normal Grade B
3: Moderate Grade C
2: Some Grade D
1: Not at all Grade F
Androgel, overall average is 5, Grade A
- Can the product improve sexual functioning? 5
- Can the product reverse osteoporosis? 5
- Can the product prevent breast cancer? 5
- Can the product improve brain function? 5
- Is the product comfortable to use? 5
- Can the product raise testosterone to a normal, youthful level? 5
Compounded Testosterone Cream, overall average is 4.8, Grade A-
- Can the product improve sexual functioning? 4
- Can the product reverse osteoporosis? 5
- Can the product prevent breast cancer? 5
- Can the product improve brain function? 5
- Is the product comfortable to use? 5
- Can the product raise testosterone to a normal, youthful level? 5
Library of hormone products
Androgel Grade A
Compounded Testosterone Cream Grade A-
If you would like to start a conversation on this topic, please visit our forum. There you’ll meet Louise, our moderator.
Uneducated menopause ‘experts’ giving all of us unhealthy advice
Yet another study has emerged that instills fear of breast cancer in women unnecessarily. In this edition of the DRF Menopause Newsletter we are going to review together the results of a paper that says hormone use for menopause increases breast cancer. There are only two things we need to do to fully understand why the clinical studies showed an increase in breast cancer and what can be done to prevent the increase in breast cancer.
Recall that the two things we need to do are:
1) Read the article the menopause “experts” have written
2) Ask if all 4 ovarian hormones deficiencies are reversed. If not, why not?
That’s it. Let’s get started.
1) Read the article the menopause “experts” have written
Here is the article to read:
Menopausal hormone therapy and breast cancer: what is the true size of the increased risk?
http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v115/n5/pdf/bjc2016231a.pdf
Authors: Michael E Jones, Minouk J Schoemaker, Lauren Wright, Emily McFadden, James Griffin, Dawn Thomas, Jane Hemming, Karen Wright, Alan Ashworth, and Anthony J Swerdlow
2) Are all 4 ovarian hormones deficiencies reversed? If not, why not?
No, not one of the hormone regimens used reversed all four of the hormone deficiencies of menopause. This was an observational study to see how many women that used hormones for the treatment of their menopause would get breast cancer. None of the regimens included added testosterone. In fact, all of the hormone regimens used actually reduced the available amount of testosterone to below menopausal levels, meaning even less protection from breast cancer. Women with these incredibly low testosterone levels were then observed for breast cancer after they started taking estrogen containing hormones that would stimulate their breast tissue without the benefit of adequate levels of testosterone to suppress the stimulation to a healthy level. The menopause ‘experts’ who came up with this study never mention that breast cancer could have been prevented if adequate testosterone were present.
The authors of this observational study leave women believing that if they treat their hormone deficient state of menopause with hormones then they will be at an increased risk of breast cancer. It is irresponsible on the part of these authors to mislead women and their doctors in this way. With adequate testosterone women should feel comfortable with treating their menopause with hormones.
The authors of this paper are not menopause experts.
If you would like to start a conversation on this topic, please visit our forum. There you’ll meet Louise, our moderator.
