Herbal remedies MenopauseRx.com - Making menopause manageable.
Women Logo Home Health Center Pharmacy Library Medical Professionals   About Us Contact Us Site Map

   
News
Reference
Articles
MenopauseRx.com eNewsletter Archive
Book Club
Events
Links
Menopause Study Results
Survey Information
Perimenopause and Menopause Survival Kit

Menopause Survival Kit

For only $3.49 sign up for the MenopauseRx Menopause and Perimenopause Survival Kit to receive free products, educational materials and coupons to relieve menopause symptoms including a full sized sample of a Remifemin® black cohosh supplement.

Order Now for Only the Cost of Shipping & Handling
  
Enter your e-mail here to sign up.


Archive

Posts Tagged ‘estrogen’

Eat Your Fruit and Vegetable…Extracts

April 23rd, 2011 No comments

As a menopause specialist, I am often asked to review natural supplements. There are plenty of natural options available so I can understand the difficulty one may have in choosing.   Most natural supplements for menopause contain either black cohosh, soy, ginseng, red clover, dong quai or their extracts.   I recently learned of new supplement that didn’t contain any of these ingredients. I was intrigued and decided to learn more about it. This natural supplement called “Warmi” contains vegetable and fruit extracts, from Peru. The vegetable is believed to have been eaten by Incan women 700 years ago.

 
I reviewed the Warmi research. There are three clinical trials completed but not published on the product.   It appears to offer the hot flash, cold sweat and mood swing relief I’ve found with better natural menopause remedies.

Read more…

New report from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) regarding estrogen plus progestin hormone therapy and breast cancer.

October 30th, 2010 No comments

 There was a report from the WHI that focused on breast cancer cases and risk of dying associated with the use of common hormones used in menopause….Prempro (combined conjugated equine estrogens and medroxyprogesterone acetate).   The study consisted of an average treatment time of 5.6 years and followed patients for an average of 11 years.

The new data relates to the risk of dying from breast cancer.  The study showed an extra 1 to 2 deaths from breast cancer per 10,000 women per year.  Specifically, for every 10,000 women in the study who were randomized to placebo, there were 1.3 deaths from breast cancer per year. For every 10,000 women randomized to combined hormone therapy, there were 2.6 deaths from breast cancer per year.  

Importantly, these results apply to the use of the combination of estrogen and progestin and not to estrogen alone. Therefore, for women who have had a hysterectomy and taking only estrogen…these results do not apply.  Similarly, the study did not study all types of hormone therapy.  Neither estradiol products or progesterone products were studied….therefore, no conclusion can be drawn about these products.  Read more…

The Perimenopause Explained

September 14th, 2010 2 comments

The perimenopause is a confusing time for women. The perimenopause is a distinct transition between the reproductive years and cessation of menses. This article will hopefully help to explain and offer treatment options for this often frustrating transition. The World Health Organization defines the onset of the perimenopause as the beginning of menstrual cycle changes. Early perimenopause changes include the first break in regular cycling of menses. Late perimenopause is classified after missing 3 to 11 months of menses, while menopause is reached after 12 months of no menstrual flow. Women usually notice the onset of perimenopause symptoms during their 40’s and irregularities usually persist for approximately 5 years.

The range of perimenopause symptom duration may be quite variable, from 2 to 8 years, or even longer. In general, the later in life that perimenopause symptoms begin, the shorter the transition to menopause. The hormonal changes taking place probably represent the major cause of symptoms experienced. These changes can produce many symptoms that are traditionally thought to only occur after menopause.

Contrary to popular belief, the perimenopause may be associated with elevations of estrogen levels. However, these elevations are generally followed by abrupt falls in estrogen levels. The constantly changing hormone levels of the perimenopause can precipitate significant hot flashes and night sweats. The ‘peaks and valleys’ of estrogen production during the hormonal ‘roller coaster’ invariably contribute to these symptoms. Other medical conditions commonly seen during the perimenopause years that can mimic these symptoms are thyroid irregularities and diabetes.

Read more…

Transdermal hormone patches may be safer than oral hormone therapy.

June 8th, 2010 4 comments

Hormone therapy is prescribed for troublesome symptoms during menopause.  While very effective in treating symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and mood changes, its use has declined due to safety concerns.  These safety concerns became very well publicized after the 2002 report from the Women’s Health Initiative study. Click here for more information.

Currently, the use of hormone therapy is still considered the gold standard for treating moderate to severe menopause symptoms.  Due to safety concerns, use is generally limited to the lowest effective dose for the shortest time frame.  However, women still have concerns about the potential risks associated with hormone therapy use.  Fortunately, there is new research showing a potential benefit to alternative ways that hormone therapy is administered. 

Hormone therapy is commonly administered in an oral tablet form.  However, hormones can also be delivered effectively via the skin in a transdermal patch form.  Due to the manner in which the hormone is metabolized once absorbed, practitioners have wondered if the patch is a safer way to deliver hormones.  Click here for more information. 

Good News for Women

Fortunately, two recent studies have found the transdermal patch to be a potentially safer way to administer menopause hormones.  Most recently, Dr. Suissa and colleagues from McGill University in Montreal reported that the use of a low dose estrogen patch does not seem to increase the risk of stroke(1).  In March, the same group reported that the patch was not associated with an increased risk of blood clots in postmenopausal women.  Read more…

Estrogen patch beats pill for blood clot risk, study of menopause hormones finds….more research needed

By: MARILYNN MARCHIONE – AP Medical Writer

For women who have struggled with the symptoms of menopause but are fearful of taking risky hormone pills, there is at last a bit of hope. Hormone skin patches and gels, it seems, are far less likely than pills to cause dangerous blood clots. At least that was the finding from a recently published French study.

Patches and gels are already known to be effective for relieving the hot flashes and sleep-interrupting night sweats that plague many women. No one knows whether they will prove safer than pills in terms of breast cancer, heart attack or stroke risk. A large study currently under way may answer that.

But if they do, it may soften some of the backlash against hormones since a landmark study in 2002 frightened many women away from their use. Critics of that study have long contended that it is the type of estrogen or progestin, the dosage, and the method of taking the hormones that may affect the health risks.

The French study, while not the final word, is the strongest proof yet that this may be true, said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She has no financial ties to hormone drugmakers and just published a book giving women advice on hormone use.
Read more…