Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones (6 page)

See if you relate to my scenario. For twenty-two years, I was on synthetic birth control pills, the original ones that were very strong. I even manipulated my periods with them, if I didn’t want to have a period on a particular weekend. Because of this I hold no one to blame—we just didn’t know. I also didn’t realize what was in those birth control pills, nor did I understand the dangers of messing with nature.

I did not realize that having only a two-day bleed meant that I was not ovulating fully. At the time, I thought it was great to have such a light period. I did not realize that the importance of ovulation in the human female body is to let the brain know I was well, healthy, and reproductive. As far as my brain was concerned, I was not reproductive because I was not fully ovulating, which is a dangerous assumption for the brain to make. If the brain perceives us as unable to reproduce, its job, biologically speaking, is to try to eliminate us to make room for the reproductive ones. This is the
nature
in us. This is the template that was programmed in us from ancient times. This hormonal imbalance I unknowingly put myself in was creating a backdrop for cancer. We all have cancer in us; if we become hormonally
imbalanced
, this signals to the brain that the reproductive system is no longer in working order, and it is in this scenario that the cancer has a chance to come into being.

This is why I believe that Western medicine’s standard of care, well-meaning as it is, is treating us incorrectly. It needs updating. Western medicine is looking at everything except the obvious. Western medicine is trying to poison the cancer out of us, further wreaking havoc with our hormonal systems.

Then, to prevent recurrence, we are given hormone targeting drugs such as tamoxifen or Femara, which interfere with the body’s ability to read the hormones in some parts of the body. Plus, for many women these drugs cause horrible side effects. To me, it doesn’t make sense to take any drug that prevents new hormones from being made in our
bodies or to kill off any of the little bit of hormones we might have left. Why has Western medicine been trying to outthink nature? We are given fake hormones that don’t replicate exactly what our bodies make naturally, and doctors are expecting them to work in the same way or better. It hasn’t worked. Look around. Are the women you know doing well from midlife on? Most everyone has complaints, from mild to severe. No wonder women are in such bad shape.

Once you understand the importance of your brain perceiving the body as reproductive, it will be easier for you to make decisions for yourself. We assume that the professionals who are taking care of us know what they are doing. But they can’t know what they haven’t been taught, and unless you find yourself a doctor such as the ones I have found for you in this book, you could very well be brought down a path of no return. Remember, your doctor is doing his or her best. This is what they know at the moment, so you can’t hold it against them. However, no one is ever going to care about you as much as you care about yourself—so it is up to you to do the research. I will tell you this again and again in this book: You are on your own. When it comes to breast cancer, I believe the answer has been in front of our noses all along.
Just replicate nature!

That’s what bioidentical hormone replacement does. If technology hadn’t figured out how to keep us alive longer than human beings have ever lived in the history of mankind, this would not be an issue. But we will live long, long lives. Without hormone replacement, we will end up mere shells of our former selves. There is no quality of life without hormones for men, women, or children.

Thinking back, I realize the birth control pill brought us freedoms and put off childbirth and breast-feeding but harmed us in the process. We did not even realize the importance of breast-feeding. We did not know that lactation builds not only our immune systems, but also that of our babies, and that the more children we have, the longer we breast-feed, the stronger our immune system will be. In most cases, this natural part of giving birth and raising children sets us up for life to protect us against disease. But the acts of delaying childbirth and breast-feeding or, worse, negating breast-feeding chemically with the dry-up shot, coupled with the harmful effects of taking the pill, help
set us up for disease, infertility, and probably loss of organs and early aging.

Incidentally, there is a new birth control pill that gives women only
four periods a year
. And another form of birth control that involves getting shots that stop periods for
years
. In my estimation, any woman who goes this route is going to wind up very unhealthy. When are we going to stop trying to outthink nature? Four periods a year! Stopping periods! Crazy! I heard young women on a television program waxing poetic about this wonderful new convenience. Imagine what chaos this is going to create in the template for ovulation.

As I said, through my research I now believe that the effect of those pills on me and women of my generation was to put us into false menopause, which created severe hormonal imbalance in our young bodies. By the way, those original birth control pills we took are the same synthetic hormones that the Women’s Health Initiative 2002 warned us to stop taking.

Not only didn’t I realize the harmful effects of taking birth control pills, but I also didn’t realize the severe consequences of taking other prescription drugs unless absolutely necessary. I remember being given thyroid pills in my twenties. I never asked why. I figured my doctor knew what he was doing. Turns out it wasn’t a thyroid problem but a consequence of being hormonally imbalanced. Thank God I couldn’t afford to continue taking them at the time. The thyroid is not to be played around with. Every drug has a consequence. I just never took those proposed side effects and consequences seriously. I was young and invincible, or at least I thought so, until I was diagnosed with cancer five years ago.

Since that diagnosis I have taken better care of myself than ever before. Suddenly realizing you are not invincible and can no longer fool around with your health is one of the many blessings of this dreadful disease.

Today breast cancer is not the death sentence it once was. Through early detection, we are finding tumors that are very small and are thus increasing survival rates. Nonetheless, cancer in my breast was the first alarm bell in my life. It rang loudly in my ear: Figure out what you have been doing all of your life to give this to yourself,
and correct those habits and behaviors, much as you would approach therapy.

Precancer in my uterus was another opportunity to research deeper. As women we have become informed about our bodies. We cannot turn over life decisions to our doctors. So often conditions in women are misunderstood by standard Western medicine. To make matters worse, often the treatment we are given is antiquated and ego-driven by a medical community that doesn’t like to be perceived as “wrong.” It’s as though they would rather keep feeding us pharmaceuticals than go back and study the latest breakthroughs. The exceptions are represented by the doctors in this book and others I haven’t yet discovered.

It was a logical conclusion for me to realize that if I was unknowingly hormonally imbalanced in my youth, then my body was a perfect breeding ground for cancer. The same conclusions are coming from doctors around the country trying to be heard, who feel that bioidentical hormone replacement, exactly as it happens in nature, is the best defense against disease.

As you read further in this book, you will have a clear understanding of static dosing and rhythmic cycling, which will enable you to choose the way you want to go. This is updated information from
The Sexy Years
. When I wrote that book, I did not know about rhythmic cycling as an option. As medicine progresses, new information keeps coming forth.

Once you fully understand new concepts such as rhythmic cycling, then you can choose what’s best for you and decide for yourself what feels right. In order to make an informed choice, you must understand the ramifications of every option offered to women. Those options are the following:

1. Synthetic hormones, which are drugs and not really hormones.
   
2. Natural aging, which means not taking anything and allowing for the gradual shutdown of your body, accelerated aging, and the diseases that go with it.
   
3. Nutritional supplements, which are important to antiaging but do
   nothing
   to replace the hormones lost in aging.
   
4. Bioidentical hormone replacement on a static dose, explained in
   chapter 5
   .
   
5. Bioidentical hormone replacement dosed in rhythmic cycling, also explained in
   chapter 5
   .
   

To be informed, you must understand each premise or you are doing yourself a disservice. You can choose whatever route you want to go, but at least you will have a complete understanding of the ramifications of each one. This book will help guide you.

I believe there are two ways to approach aging: the right way and the wrong way; the wrong way is taking drugs or doing nothing at all, the right way is to replace the hormones you’ve lost with bioidenticals, supported by proper diet, supplementation, exercise, sleep, and stress management. They all work together.

It is my opinion, after speaking with so many informed Western-trained doctors, that putting real hormones back is definitely the right way. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy will allow you to have a happy, healthy, vital life. Without balanced hormones through this natural form of therapy, you can expect extreme discomfort within your own body, a diminished quality of life, and the potential for the diseases of aging.

If this information resonates with you, you will be motivated to find a doctor to prescribe BHRT the right way. Your compounding pharmacist is a good place to be directed to a qualified doctor. You can guide your doctor yourself and take your hormonal health into your own hands safely. A lot of women are now doing exactly that. You will hear from them in this book. The testimonials from women and men who found BHRT are emotional as they explain how it has changed the quality of their lives for the better.

The doctors interviewed for this book are endocrinologists, antiaging endocrinologists, molecular biologists, oncologists, doctors who specialize in male hormones, gynecologists, and internists specializing in Western, Eastern, and holistic medicine. These professionals are excited about the work they are doing in antiaging and in bioidentical hormone replacement. These doctors love their practices because they are putting people back together again, day in and day
out. Restoring a person to prime hormonal health is very rewarding. Their attitudes are addictive.

With this knowledge, you will no longer be at the mercy of a doctor who knows nothing about real hormone replacement and is too lazy to find out. We women (and men) must do this. This is our life. If our doctors are not as passionate as we are about finding a solution to these passages of aging, then there is no choice but to become informed and take our health and quality of life into our own hands.

It has been sad for me to find out that the biggest obstacle in finding a solution to age-related illnesses and conditions has been most doctors in our country. I love my doctors, but I go out of my way to seek out cutting-edge doctors who have moved forward in their knowledge and thinking. It takes a youthful spirit and curiosity to be one of these doctors.

In medical school the students receive very little instruction in endocrinology and only four hours in how to prescribe hormones. If a doctor isn’t curious, then his or her information comes primarily from the drug companies themselves. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the information doctors get in a monthly throw-away magazine from the pharmaceutical companies would most likely be slanted; it is, after all, a business, and you can’t really blame the drug companies for wanting to be profitable.

But at this stage of our lives, our primary interest is not what is profitable for the drug companies, but what is healthy for us! Yes, I’m happy they bring us all the wonderful drugs that are essential to keeping us alive in some cases, and nothing is better than Western pharmaceuticals for relieving pain. I do not want to live in a world without the advantage of pharmaceuticals. When you need them, they can be a miracle. But when it comes to hormone replacement, remember this:
There is no hormone drug that is as good as what your body makes, and bioidentical hormones are an exact replica of what your body makes
.

Recently, a younger person said to me, “I hope I look like you when I’m your age,” and I said, “Well, you’d better start right now.”

The good news is that for those of us who pursue antiaging later in life, it is not too late; the moment you begin living a healthful life,
you see and feel the results. The longer you wait to take your health seriously, the more damage you will incur from the aging process. Had I known then what I know now, I would have reconsidered everything I ever put into my body. I would have embraced organic food. I would have realized the importance of sleep. I would have had an understanding of the importance of hormones. I would have started earlier by having hormone panels done to keep a baseline, so I could notice from year to year if there were detectable hormonal declines, among other things. Because I didn’t know that optimal health was an option I could
choose
, I did the best I could with the information I had at the time.

Most of us who have embraced health and antiaging started rather late in life. That should be hopeful and encouraging for younger people who are reading this. Keep in mind, too, that good health on the inside manifests on the outside, so taking care of yourself is a true win, win.

PART ONE
K
EEPING
Y
OUR
I
NSIDES
“Y
OUNG”