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Hormone Well Newsletter When Hormone Therapy Can Prevent Cancer
March 7, 2008

 

in this issue

  • When Hormone Therapy Can Prevent Cancer: What & Why “THEY” Aren't Telling You. C.W. RANDOLPH, JR., M.D. SPEAKS OUT
  • Physician Weight Loss Gurus: The Good, The Bad and The Dangerous
 
WHEN HORMONE THERAPY CAN PREVENT CANCER: WHAT & WHY “THEY” AREN’T TELLING YOU
C.W. RANDOLPH, JR., M.D. SPEAKS OUT


A study published today in the Journal of American Medical Association indicated that women who took synthetic hormone drugs (such as the popular Premarin and Prempro) for more than five years continued to have an elevated risk of developing cancer years after they stopped taking the drugs.  According to C.W. Randolph, Jr., M.D., internationally recognized expert in the field bio-identical hormone replacement therapies, “The publication of this study’s finding is great news. I have been most concerned at how - after the 2002 results of the Women’s Health Initiative Study (WHI) linking synthetic hormone usage to an increased risk of invasive breast cancer, heart attack, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease – the pharmaceutical industry has continued to aggressively market these same drugs to both physicians and women as safe and effective options.  Now, with this data, it will be harder for those manufacturing synthetic hormones for a profit to submerge the truth and harm the health of innocent women.”

 “The medical evidence that synthetic hormones are dangerous has been out there for decades,” says Dr. Randolph.  “In her book The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed On Women, Exploding the Estrogen Myth Barbara Seamen documents how in April 1941, just as the FDA was examining applications from Eli Lilly, Squibb and several other pharmaceutical companies to approve synthetic estrogen products for the treatment of menopause, Edgar Allen, M.D., chair of the anatomy department at Yale Medical School, published an article in the journal Cancer Research linking these same synthetic estrogens to cancer.  Unfortunately, because these drugs promised to be such market blockbusters, the FDA ignored their potential carcinogenic properties.  As always, when marketing gets ahead of science, people suffer.  As a result, for more than sixty years, women put on synthetic hormones have unnecessarily been put in a higher risk category for breast cancer development as well as other potentially lethal health risks.”

“What is just as egregious as how the data about the link between synthetic hormone usage and cancer has been suppressed is the fact that the media and the FDA are not informing physicians and women-at-large that bio-identical hormones are a safe and effective alternative for treating hormone imbalances and menopausal symptoms. There is – and has been for decades – clinical studies and medical data supporting the safety and efficacy of bio-identical hormone therapies but, unfortunately, most people remain unaware.  There is actually a most exciting French cohort study published in the Nov 18, 2004 issue of the International Journal of Cancer that indicated that bio-identical progesterone evidenced a cancer-protective action within the female body.”

When asked why bio-identical hormone therapies are not more generally accepted, Dr. Randolph has a simple answer:  “Money and ignorance.  Think about it.  Bio-identical hormones have the exact same molecular structure as the hormones produced by the ovaries or testes so, therefore, they can’t be patented.  Synthetic hormones are chemically altered hormones (like Provera, medroxyprogesterpone, or Premarin, conjugated estrified equine estrogens) do not exactly match the hormones produced by the body.  That is why they can be patented. Unfortunately for thousands of women, the fact that they don’t match is also why they trigger lethal side effects such as this now documented long-term increased cancer risk.”

“Most doctors remain unaware about the safety and efficacy of bio-identical hormone therapies because, unlike billion dollar pharmaceutical companies, the medical research and academic institutes publishing research in this area do not have large budgets for mass marketing or large sales forces to deliver these studies to a doctor’s office along with lunch for his/her staff.”

Dr. Randolph concludes with this question:  “More investigation in this country regarding the safety, efficacy and cancer-protective properties of bio-identical hormones is absolutely needed.  My question is why hasn’t the National Institute of Health already funded it? Could it be that the financial power of the pharmaceutical giants continuing to promote synthetic hormone drugs continues to wield influence to submerge the truth in an effort to protect their waning profits?”

For the record:  When the results of WHI were originally released in 2002 over fifty percent of the 8 million women on synthetic hormoes stopped cold turkey.  Wyeth, the manufacturer of the then popular Premarin and Prempro, financial reports (which are available online at www.wyeth.com) suggest an ongoing and significant decline in the sales of the Premarin synthetic hormone family of products; e.g. from over $2 billion in 2002 to $880 million in 2004; a 68% decline in sales.  Just recently, Wyeth also announced that it will be reducing its field sales force by 10%.

We wish you WELL!

C.W. Randolph, Jr., M.D. and Genie James, M.M.Sc.
Medical Director                    Executive Director
The Natural Hormone Institute of America

Dr. Randolph is a practicing gynecologist and an internationally recognized expert in the field of in bio-identical hormone replacement. He is the Medical Director for the The Natural Hormone Institute of America and is also the author of From Hormone Hell to Hormone Well as well as From Belly Fat to Belly Flat (to be released in January ’08).

* Please Note: Because legally we are unable to provide prescriptions for telephone consultation patients unless they have been previously seen in my office, should you require a prescription for a more comprehensive panel of bio-identical hormone replacement, my nurse practitioner will advise you how to locate a physician and compounding pharmacy in your area.

Physician Weight Loss Gurus: The Good, The Bad and The Dangerous

 

America is fat and, unfortunately, our country’s waistline is expanding.  According to 2005 statistics released by the American Obesity Association, approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight. In business marketing terms, this is a huge (no pun intended) target market.  In fact, recent market data reports indicate that American’s spend an average of $33 billion a year on weight-reduction programs and products.  No wonder so many physicians are beginning to market themselves as “weight loss gurus.”  According to C. W. Randolph, Jr. M.D, “sometimes a physician-supervised weight loss program can be good; other times it can be bad, or worse, even downright dangerous. 

At first glance, that seems like a strange comment coming from a gynecologist who just released a book entitled From Belly Fat to Belly Flat.  “As a board certified gynecologist, I have never positioned myself as a weight loss expert,” says Dr. Randolph. “I got into this realm quite accidentally.”

“More than a decade ago, I became convinced that bio-identical hormones, which are hormones that are chemically identical to the hormones produced within the human body, were a safer and more effective option for treating hormone imbalance concerns than the frequently prescribed chemically-altered synthetic hormones, such as Premarin (conjugated esterified estrogen from horse urine) and Prempro (medroxyprogesterone), that medical studies now link to an increased risk of breast, uterine and prostate cancers, stroke, heart attack and Alzheimer’s disease.  I treated my patients’ symptoms of hormone imbalance with a combination of bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT), a nutritional program of specific foods and supplements designed to naturally decrease the body’s extra estrogen load and lifestyle recommendations to help modify how stress can negatively impact hormone production.  The results were overwhelming.  Not only did thousands of women and men experience relief of symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, fuzzy thinking/memory loss, depression, low libido and fatigue, my patients finally lost their stubborn love handles and kept them off for good.”

When asked how he would characterize his weight loss program compared to other physician-developed programs, Dr. Randolph responded: “I would say that my Three Step Belly Flat Plan is superior to others on the market because it is based on solid medical data, it is all natural and it works.  There are several other good physician-developed nutritional plans out there but, if a person’s hormones are out of balance at the cellular level, they won’t be able to lose those stubborn pounds around their middle no matter how healthily they eat, how few calories they consume or how much they exercise. A nutritional plan alone, even a good one, is just a set up for frustration and failure.”

“Unfortunately, there are also those doctors whose approach to weight loss is questionable, if not downright dangerous,” Dr. Randolph adds.  “People who are desperate for solutions become vulnerable to unethical and/or unproven approaches.  I strongly recommend that individuals should beware of the side effects of the new prescription appetite suppressant drugs on the market; they remain too controversial and have been shown to have a yo-yo effect when stopped.  And, in my opinion, if a doctor starts to write you a prescription for off-label use of a drug – such as those traditionally prescribed to treat diabetes or epilepsy – you should run for the hills.  These medications have been shown to have severe, even life-threatening side effects.”

According to WebMD, Most appetite suppressants are used as a short-term treatment for people with obesity. Not only do the drugs' effects tend to wear off after a few weeks, but they can also have some unpleasant side effects, including:

  • Increased heart rate
  • Increased blood pressure
  • Sweating
  • Constipation
  • Insomnia (inability to sleep or stay asleep)
  • Excessive thirst
  • Lightheadedness
  • Drowsiness
  • Stuffy nose
  • Headache
  • Anxiety
  • Dry mouth

When asked about GlaxoSmithKline’s new over-the-counter (no prescription necessary) weight loss drug Alli,“Alli is based on the prescription drug Orlistat, which has been on the market for a while. Charming side effects of this pill approach to weight loss can include diarrhea, anal leakage, abdominal cramping, passing gas, leakage of oily stool, increased number of bowel movements and the inability to control bowel movements,” replies Randolph. “This is a classic example of how – when pharmaceutical marketing gets ahead of true patient care – people suffer.”

“Finally,” concludes Dr. Randolph, “if a doctor says he or she can help you lose weight, find out how long they have been treating overweight individual and get references before you write a check.  Do your homework to make sure that you are working with a qualified medical professional not just a marketing spin doctor.”

C.W. Randolph, Jr., M.D.
Medical Director
The Natural Hormone Institute of America

For additional resources, visit www.HormoneWell.com

 
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