HRT and Birth Control Pills
Can Make Cancer Cells
Grow Like Crazy
"If things don't make sense, follow the money trail."
That's exactly what you should do when it comes to two popular medical products – hormone replacement therapy and the birth control pill (AKA "the Pill"). A large and growing body of evidence says these drug therapies belong in the trash bin.
So watch out for spin-doctors who downplay their dangers and cast doubts about natural alternatives. Right now they're running a major public relations misinformation campaign.
The truth is these drugs that modify your hormone levels pose a major risk for cancer, blood clots, strokes, and coronary heart disease (CHD). And it doesn't matter much what age you are. They get you while you're young, and clobber you again as you age.
Big Pharma's Attempt to Patent This
Herb Caused an Outrage!
Curcumin is the active compound in turmeric root—it's been called "one of nature's best-kept health secrets" and been praised for its remarkable therapeutic properties. Its use dates back 6,000 years to the ancient Egyptian pharaohs and Ayurvedic medical practitioners in India.
Today, curcumin supplements are "One of the Top 10 Best-Selling Supplements in the US", according to Nutrition Business Journal. And many medical practitioners consider it the most sought-after, low-cost, natural substance available to support a healthy immune system.
Curcumin is used for its antioxidant effects, and its potential for promoting a healthy response to inflammation, pain, arthritis, tumors, neurodegenerative diseases... supporting cardiovascular health and graceful aging ... promoting cardiovascular, digestive, and joint health.
When Curcumin’s amazing health properties where discovered by Western medicine, one pharmaceutical company's attempt to patent it caused widespread outrage.
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Ominous Outcomes for Your Hormones – And You!
Hormones are chemicals produced by your glands, each with very specific regulatory functions.
Chemically altering them can be disastrous, as we suddenly discovered in the early 2000's.
- In 2000, a study showed an eight-fold increase in breast cancer for women using estrogen and progestin to smooth out the bumps of menopause.i Called hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, its intent was to create a sort of fountain of youth by making up for the human hormones that taper off with menopause.
- Another study found a four-fold increase in breast cancer for progestin users.ii
- The Million Woman Study also found a four-fold breast cancer increase for estrogen-progestin users versus estrogen-only users.iii
- The study that brought this sad experiment to its knees was the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) – a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that ended early because of the massive increases in both breast cancer and heart disease in estrogen-progestin users.iv
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A disaster in the making since 1938
The nightmare began much earlier, with the long forgotten disaster of DES, developed in 1938 and given to millions of women until -- in 1975 -- it was proven to trigger cervical cancer.
Then we got Premarin, an estrogen drug created from the urine of pregnant horses. It combines conjugated horse estrogens, one of which is 100 times more potent than natural estrogens, a proven carcinogen linked to 15,000 cases of endometrial cancer.
Not to be undone by the endometrial cancer scare, the conventional medical establishment rehabbed the drug by adding a different synthetic hormone, progestin. So in 1995 Prempro was born – a new synthetic pill containing Premarin horse estrogen and Provera (synthetic progestin).
Again, it was given out like candy, till those four condemning studies came out.
And the Pill is no safer. . .
Older women, of course, are not the only targets of the drug-company hormone industry. In 1960 young women were given the chance to blast their systems with synthetic hormones with the introduction of a new "convenience" – an easy way to prevent pregnancy.
The Pill was a sensational success that changed our culture forever. Suddenly extramarital sex appeared to be risk-free. Few people bothered to ask whether it was safe or healthy for a woman to modify her body in such a profound, fundamental way.
By 2002, 11.6 million US women were on the Pill, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Four out of five American women have been on the Pill at some point during their lives.
Birth control pills bring an increased risk of breast and cervical cancers. Plus well-documented, devastating, life-threatening side effects like blood clots, heart attacks, and more.
If you're using the Pill for any reason besides birth control, such as regulating your menstrual cycle, treating cysts, or endometriosis, you'd do well to discover and treat the underlying cause instead.
Even as a birth control method, the Pill may do more harm than good. It fails about five percent of the time (one time out of 20) and can cause risks for your baby if you get pregnant while on it. And besides, you can effectively plan your family with natural methods. No, this isn't a fairy tale cooked up by Catholic bishops. It works.
Many doctors still recommend the Pill, saying it lowers risk of ovarian and uterine cancers. But a side-by-side comparison shows otherwise.
What's worse… Big Pharma is now concocting even more dangerous forms of the Pill.
Cancer rates plunged when people
stopped taking these drugs
It seems the Pill is a permanent feature of modern culture. Chances are none of us will ever again see what the natural order is like. But when it comes to hormone replacement therapy we do have a stark example of the benefits when women stop using these disruptive, interventionist medical therapies.
When researchers actually stopped the Women's Health Initiative study because HRT was clearly causing cancer, the news created a sensation. A vast number of women either stopped HRT or switched to bio-identical hormone therapy using actual human hormones, not hormones from a horse or a factory.
Within a few years, breast cancer rates dropped in half.
The Canadian Cancer Society reported that use of HRT plummeted from 12.7 percent in 2002 to 4.9 percent in 2004. Well over half the women who had been on HRT stopped during that two-year period. During that same time, breast cancer rates fell by 9.6 percent.
There's a twist, though. For three years breast cancer rates remained stable, then began to rise again despite low HRT use. The mainstream says this means HRT speeds up cancer growth, but doesn't cause it. But I'm not so sure…
They didn't compare apples to apples
This mass exodus from Prempro meant a $4 BILLION annual loss for the manufacturer, Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer.
The drug makers are still trying to recoup that loss by pressuring the Food and Drug Administration to ban the competition – namely, bio-identical hormones that are mostly offered by alternative and integrative doctors.
They used the second arm of the WHI study (2004), showing no breast cancer increase, as justification. They splashed it across the airwaves, painting the previous study as bogus. In this phase, the researchers studied women with hysterectomies (uterus absent) who were given Premarin only, not Prempro. Remember that Premarin is made from horse hormones while Prempro contains both horse hormones and a synthetic hormone.
The mainstream media hailed this as proof that horse hormones weren't dangerous after all. But they didn't compare apples to apples. Don't be deceived.
What makes a hormone safe?
Animal and chemically altered hormones are not like your own.
To be safe, the chemical structure must be the same as your own -- bioidentical. The smallest structural change can completely change the physiologic effect.
Your hormones and their receptors work in tandem to mediate hormonal activity. Synthetic hormones' altered structure means they can't bind to your hormone receptors.
And you lack the ability to eliminate them. They stick around far too long. Studies show high levels of Premarin 13 weeks after a woman stops taking the drug.
While the extract of pregnant mares' urine is called "estrogen" by the mainstream, and does contain (one) human estrogen, it also contains numerous equine estrogens completely foreign to humans. Premarin is a completely natural hormone – but only if you're a horse!
No wonder Provera (Premarin plus progestin) has so many adverse side effects!
- 26% increase in risk of invasive breast cancer
- 29% increase in risk of deadly heart attack
- 41% increase in stroke risk
- 200% increase in blood clots
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Breast cell proliferation from Provera is shown to be particularly bad, and translates into a much increased breast cancer risk.
Choose human hormones
Compounds of the exact same molecular structure as those made by your body are "bioidentical hormones"(BH). (BHT is bioidentical hormone therapy).
BHs are strongly anti-proliferative and anti-cancer, a fact verified by several studies. They reduce cancer risk by reducing estrogen receptors in breast tissue.
Scientific evidence overwhelmingly shows BHT offers a safe and conservative approach to HRT (but not to birth control – I'll get to that in a moment).
The natural hormones estriol and progesterone have the opposite effect on almost every cardiac risk and cancer risk factor compared to synthetics.
Unfortunately most women don't know about these safe alternatives. And Big Pharma hopes you'll never find out.
Smear campaign against
compounding pharmacies
A few billion dollars can buy a lot of advertising to sway women, hire hundreds of lobbyists, and buy a ton of influence over at the FDA.
Drug companies intentionally create confusion because they want to hide the differences between natural and synthetics, to protect their patents and profits.
Bioidentical hormones generally come from compounding pharmacies that can legally make certain types of drugs that aren't mass-marketed. Think of them as custom drugs, made to order for a particular patient, all at a doctor's orders.
Recently a number of deaths were attributed to a compounding pharmacy selling contaminated products. From the way it was described in the news, it sounds like this outfit was manufacturing drugs on a large scale under cover of the laws governing compounding pharmacies. But it makes no sense to condemn ALL compounding pharmacies for the actions of one. The compounding pharmacies I have known were small mom and pop operations run by the most honest people you could ever hope to meet.
But, large or small, the main thing you want to know is whether your compounding pharmacy is honest and reputable. As you need a doctor's prescription, it should be his or her responsibility to refer you to a good pharmacy.
Yet Dr. Utian, friend of Wyeth and founder of the North American Menopause Society, has slandered compounding pharmacies and has been claiming since 2002 that bioidentical hormones have the same adverse effects as synthetic ones. Other medical doctors repeat this claim. There is no basis for it. I would characterize it as a smear campaign.
Dr. David Brownstein, holistic doctor and BHT expert, emphasizes the spotless safety record of bioidentical hormones. He writes a scathing rebuttal to Dr. Utian's claims, in which he makes these points:
- Dr. Utian's sole purpose seems to be to intimidate and confuse BH users by portraying compounding pharmacies as out-of-control rogue businesses.
- Compounding pharmacies make individualized (customized) compounds tailored specifically for your body. They've had an excellent safety record since long before Big Pharma started concocting drugs.
- Utian claims lack of FDA oversight, but compounding pharmacies are regulated at the state level. They use the same active ingredients as FDA approved drugs at your local pharmacy, verified by the same procedures.
- Dr. Brownstein's practice has used compounded, bioidentical hormones safely for tens of thousands of patients for 40 years. They have total confidence in the skills of their compounding pharmacists.
- Dr. Utian might do better to focus on helping the FDA figure out why FDA-approved drugs taken as prescribed now kill 125,000 people per year – instead of scaring people away from compounding pharmacies and BHT.
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Far more natural than the Pill…
What can you safely do for birth control? The Pill may be the most "convenient" option for family planning. But it can come with severe health repercussions, like HRT does. The Pill uses the same type of synthetic hormones used by the ill-fated WHI study.
You might be shocked to learn about a recent study of 7,500 women showing that you are 20 times more likely to have an unplanned pregnancy with the Pill than with an IUD.v Besides IUDs, here are the top eight natural birth control methods; five of them are barrier methods and three make use of natural family planning (NFP). Yes, natural family planning. You actually don't need ANY drugs or devices.
- Male condoms – 98% effective when used correctly. A water-based lubricant increases effectiveness.
- Female condoms – 95% effective.
- Diaphragm – 92-98% effective. Must be fitted by a doctor. Use with spermicidal jelly.
- Cervical cap – If properly fitted, 91% effective. Must also be fitted by a doctor.
- Cervical sponges – 89-91% effective.
- NFP / Calendar – Abstention during week of ovulation. Works best with a very regular menstrual cycle. When used as the sole method of contraception, works about three-fourths of the time. You can boost it by combining it with the temperature or mucus methods, or a barrier method.
- NFP / Temperature Method – Involves taking basal body temperature and avoiding sex for a few days on either side of that exact date. When combined with mucus method, it is 98% effective.
- NFP / Mucus Method – Tracking changes in vaginal discharge. When it increases in volume and becomes clear and stringy, ovulation is near. When it returns to tacky and cloudy mucus (or none) ovulation has passed.
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It is important to seriously evaluate your risk versus benefit before opting for birth control pills.
Serious about slashing
your cancer risk?
Bottom line is this…
If you're serious about slashing your cancer risk, then avoid the Pill and synthetic HRT. It's simple and easy. Besides saving your life, it might even save you money.
Find a doctor experienced in prescribing bioidentical HRT, or an ob/gyn who can help with barrier birth control methods requiring a doctor.
