Taking Charge of Your Own Health : Part 2

Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones
by Suzanne Somers

(Page 2 of 3)

In the way I was taking hormones on a static dose, my estrogen was not rising and falling as it once did in nature, and my progesterone was not rising and falling as it did when I was making a full complement of hormones in my youth. Because of this, my receptor sites were not opening to receive the progesterone, so the estrogen lining in my uterus kept building and building. Over time, like a motor on "rev," this thinkening caused excessive bleeding and sent an alarm to my brain that "all was not well," that this human being was no longer able to reproduce (which is why, according to nature, we exist).

Because I was bleeding constantly, I was not ovulating. Thus I was not a reproductive person, according to my brain. You must understand that the object of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is to fool the brain into thinking I can still make a baby, even though I have no eggs left. As a result of not having a rhythm, and of the thickening and the bleeding, severe hyperplasia, along with adenomyosis (leaks in my uterine lining), came about. This excessive bleeding and hyperplasia created a perfect scenario for cancer, so I had no choice but to remove my uterus, thus removing my problem.

I now feel that had I not been chemicalized by the "dry-up" shot, and if I had not been on strong birth control pills, and if I had been cycling in a rhythmic fashion, this problem might not have occurred. This is a theory that I have embraced, as have several of the doctors I interviewed for this book. As you will also see in these interviews, there are other doctors who do not agree with rhythmic cycling or with cycling in general. My job is to give you all the information from these professionals so you can draw your own conclusions. I am not a doctor, but I am a very informed layperson. I will explain rhythmic cycling in detail in chapter 5, and you can then decide what makes the most sense to you. I am merely the messenger.

Losing my uterus caused me to do a lot of searching. For years, I was unknowingly hormonally imbalanced, not just as a perimenopausal and menopausal woman, but also as a young woman. Unfortunately, I never realized hormonal imbalance was the problem.

Without hormones or imbalanced hormones, we lose any grip on feeling "normal." Without hormones, life quality is greatly diminished. Without hormones, a woman is at her weakest physically. Without hormones, disease is allowed to proliferate because the brain perceives that the body is no longer reproductive; therefore, nature wants to "eliminate" you to make way for those who are healthy and reproductive.

Loss of hormones is not to be taken lightly. Having no hormones is like having bad premenstrual syndrome (PMS) every day of your life. You are not in control of your emotions, nor are you in control of the cruel physical manifestations of the loss of hormones. Couple this with the stress of having and fighting cancer, and (to me) it doesn't make sense to be without hormones.

You see, we may have changed with the passing of time, but the biology inside us has not. Nature has a job to do, and the brain was hard-wired at the begining of time and doesn't know anything else. A healthy woman is hormonally balanced. We can't "outthink" nature. This never works, no matter how hard we try to come up with something better.

Women remain confused about hormones and in some cases terrified of hormone replacement; one day, headlines in the newspapers praise hormone replacement therapy (HRT); the next day, the headlines are screaming that HRT will kill us.

The truth is, despite the widespread use of synthetic hormone brands such as Premarin and Provera, these drugs have always been associated with cancer. The first cancer linked with synthetic hormone replacement was cancer of the uterus lining (endometrium).

The most recent resurfacing of the negatives associated with synthetic hormones and cancer came from a government-sponsored study titled the Women's Health Initiative. This study was supposed to last 8.5 years, but it was stopped after only 5.2 years because the risks of using Premarin and Provera outweighed the benefits. Breast cancer was just one of the increased risks discovered. Additionally, the study concluded that synthetic hormone replacement therapy protects neither your bones nor your heart. Ironically, bone and heart protection were two of the primary benefits once used by doctors as selling points to get women to fill their prescriptions for these drugs.

The Women's Health Initiative Study hoped to show decreases in

• breast cancer
• stroke
• pulmonary embolism
• colorectal cancer
• endometrial cancer
• hip fracture
• death due to any cause

The actual outcome results were shocking:

• 29 percent increase in coronary heart disease
• 41 percent increase in strokes
• 22 percent increase in cardiovascular disease
• 2,100 percent (yes, this is correct) increase in pulmonary embolism (lung blood clots)
• 26 percent increase in breast cancer

Copyright © 2006 by Suzanne Somers.

About the Author

Suzanne Somers is the author of eleven books, including the New York Times bestsellers Keeping Secrets; Suzanne Somers' Eat Great, Lose Weight; Suzanne Somers' Get Skinny on Fabulous Food; Suzanne Somers' Eat, Cheat, and Melt the Fat Away; and Suzanne Somers' Fast and Easy. The former star of the hit television programs Three's Company and Step by Step, Suzanne is one of the most respected and trusted brand names in the world, representing cosmetics and skin care products, apparel, jewelry, a computerized facial fitness system, fitness products, and an extensive food line. She received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from National University and is a highly sought-after commencement speaker.