A little information and A Brief History of Bio-identical Hormones
Bio-identical hormones have been in use for thousands of years. The first record of their use goes back to Ancient China where the aging female nobility routinely ingested dried young women’s urine to counteract problems associated with menopause.
The reason for this type of therapy was that young women’s urine contains the metabolic waste products of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone. Throughout history you can find references to the use of young women’s urine to help older women with problems of aging.
Fast forward to today. We are still in need of this replacement with a slightly more civilized approach. Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (otherwise known as Human Identical) can now be administered in many ways, i.e. creams, gels, sublingual (under the tongue) oil caps etc.
DO NOT be misled by the synthetic version of these hormones which is from a Pregnant Mares Urine! Yep, great for a horse but not for women!!
Using young women’s urine, although available and cheap, was not a marketing option for Wyeth because women’s urine cannot be patented and in the 1960s getting a patent became the major driving force for drug production in the U.S. Marketing of patented drugs proved to be the best way to make money and as the drug companies went public, the only thing that mattered was the bottom line.
(An interesting aside is that in the 1970s human insulin came to the market and changed management of diabetes for the better. I guess women in menopause aren’t that important).
For 30 years, Premarin and later on its sidekick the terrible drug Provera were marketed to millions of women as the Fountain of Youth, the best way to eliminate symptoms of menopause and even prevent cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis.
At the academic levels no one talked of hormones if they could help it.
Books for the public were published on bio-identical hormones but nothing filtered through to academic institutions.
In the early 1990s believing their own marketing data, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, then treating more than one million women a year with Premarin and Provera decided to partner with the National Institutes of Health to conduct a long-term national study to evaluate the long-term effects of Premarin and Provera in post-menopausal women. The study was conducted in hundreds of academic centers around the country. The premise for the study was based on assumptions without any proof of effectiveness. The NIH proceeded with the study with extensive financial support and FREE Premarin from Wyeth. The goal of the study was to prove that aging women needed Premarin to protect them from diseases of aging.
In 2002 the study was abruptly stopped because after almost eight years too much data accumulated against Premarin suggesting it increased the incidence of heart attacks, certain types of cancers and strokes in the study participants.
Based on the results of the Women’s Health initiative the following happened:
Extensive media coverage of the abrupt discontinuation of the study created mass confusion among millions of women who were taking the drugs and the doctors who were prescribing them. The government was concerned the results of the study might expose their intimate involvement with Wyeth, the manufacturer of Premarin. Thus, a federal decision was made to distance the NIH from Wyeth by making a public statement to the media that all hormones are bad Nevertheless, Premarin and Provera were not removed from the market
Little has happened since the summer of 2002. Grumblings against synthetic hormones and pro bio-identical hormones could be heard around the country, but not much more. Initially the doctors were directed to stop writing prescriptions for Premarin and Provera. In time though, the Wyeth marketing machine resurfaced and low dose Premarin and Provera entered the market with the recommendation for use for as short a period of time as possible.
No other research or options for women in menopause appeared available.
Women around the country were learning about bio-identical hormone options from a growing cadre of compounding pharmacists and new medicine doctors.
Today, we are standing in the midst of a crisis. Women’s health is at stake.
* We need the option of bio-identical hormones which we know from more than 30 years of scientific research and clinical experience to be viable and safe. Teaching our doctors of this very important role should be a high priority.
