Watch Out! Medications That Interfere with Certain Birth Control

I've posted articles like this before on the blog----but not in quite a while. For those of you who are still taking birth control pills of any type, it's extra important that you talk to your healthcare practitioner about any new medications you are taking. As this article from Empowher.com points out, certain medications can affect the efficacy of birth control pills (and at the peri/menopausal stage of life, I am guessing an unexpected pregnancy would not be welcome news).

Another related reminder, be absolutely sure that when you go to see a new health care practitoner, for hormonal balance or anything else, that you take with you a list of ALL prescription medications, hormones and supplements that you are taking. Do not rely on your memomy to just tell the doctor what you are taking, write it down and take it with you. I am amazed at the number of people who don't tell their doctor all of what they are taking, or stop taking medications and don't tell their doctors! Don't be one of them------to expect the best in medical care, you too need to give your best effort, and that includes sharing with your doctor everything that you are taking as medications/supplements.

Breast Cancer Linked to Vitamin D Deficiency

Usually the minute I post an article like this one from ThirdAge.com another study is released that contradicts the study I am posting about----that's just the way life goes. This article talks about a possible link between low levels of Vitamin D and increased risk of breast cancer. I've said it before----this is something you need to talk to your doctor about, and if you have not had a Vitamin D level blood test, push to get one! The amount of Vitamin D necessary for you is as individual as it is for every patient, I take 5000 IUs of Vitamin D year round, and bump it up to 10,000 IUs in the months of November-February.

What may be best for controlling diabetics' blood sugar? Sustained, structured exercise

Here's one more reason to engage in regular, sustained exercise......check out this article from the LA Times. Share this article with the diabetic in your life.

Make A Muscle: Weight a minute.

Good article debunking myths about weight training vs. cardio and women training vs. men. Check out this piece from the WickedLocalDedham.com

Hormones play a role in all health problems

Let me be clear, I am not promoting the practice of the doctor who wrote this article----I have no idea who he is, how he practices or if his patients are satisfied. I was struck by the title of the article "Hormones Play A Role in All Health Problems" because you so rarely here that from a health care practitioner. I have been telling patients that for years, and I am a great example, both my bone density problems and my seasonal allergies were alleviated by hormonal balance. To read more, click here for the article from the Times&Transcript.com.

Replacing hormones: Pellet implantation

I know a lot of you have questions about pellet therapy for bioidentical hormones. It's only available for estrogen and testosterone, I am pretty sure it will never be available for progesterone because of the molecular structure of that hormone. My own physician, Dr. Carr, has done pellet therapy successfully with a lot of patients, the only reason I have not done it is because of the distance involved (I live in NC, he is in Southern CA).

This piece from a Colorado Fox News affiliate includes a video that gives a pretty good overview of the pellet insertion process. Thought you might enjoy seeing it, especially if you are considering pellet therapy.

Calcium Intake - Err on the Side of Too Much

In a word - NO! This article on the Empowher.com website is scaring me. Women who are at risk for cardiac problems especially should talk to their doctors about taking calcium!!!! New readers to this blog may not have seen Dr. Carr's comments on the subject a couple months back, so I am (with his permission) reposting his thoughts about post menopausal women and calcium as it relates to bone and cardiac health:

The question of whether to take supplemental calcium to treat or prevent osteoporosis is discussed often in the media and in my practice. The current dogma is that since bone contains alot of calcium, if you lose bone (osteopenia or osteoporosis), then supplementing with calcium will correct the problem.

The truth is that bone loss does NOT represent a calcium deficiency. The only reason to take extra of anything is if the body is deficient in the substance. The reason that most women ( and a growing number of men) lose bone is primarily because they lose the hormones necessary to grow bone, especially testosterone.

Testosterone is the most important bone building hormone in the human body. The primary reason that bone loss occurs in peri-menopause and beyond is not that women suddenly stopped ingesting enough calcium. It is that the production of the bone building ovarian hormones (i.e. testosterone, estradiol and progesterone) diminishes significantly during this time period, causing the rate of bone loss (osteoclastic activity) to exceed the rate of bone building (osteoblastic activity).

In addition to the loss of hormones, with advancing age there is usually a decrease in physical activity necessary to build bone. Despite the current recommendations, walking is just not enough. Bone, like muscle, grows in response to resistance training (weight training). Walking, though better than sitting on the couch, is not a sufficient enough stress on the bone to cause the osteoblasts to lay down new bone.

Adequate vitamin D is necessary for absorption of dietary calcium from the gut and in the formation of bone. Vitamin D is the most common deficiency I see in my practice. How much vitamin D should you take? Nobody can answer that without testing blood. I have seen patients on the golf course all day in sunny Southern California still significantly deficient in vitamin D ( we lose the ability to convert sunlight to vitamin D with age). One patient in particular golfed 6 days per week, was taking 21,000 units of vitamin D daily, and his blood tests showed he was still deficient!

Remember that taking supplemental calcium is not without risks. Many of you will remember the media hype about a medical report last summer suggesting that calcium supplementation may increase the risk of heart attacks. The report was from the British Medical Journal which reported on a survey of fifteen trials in which participants (all over age 40) were given at least 500 mg of elemental calcium per day. The researchers concluded that calcium supplements increase the risk of myocardial infarction by about 30% over five years.
(http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/07/30/calcium-supplements)
I have read the full study and although there are some flaws in the study design, my belief is that the authors conclusion in theory is correct.

Remember that calcium is part of plaque, the hard material that builds up in the lining of our blood vessels. You may have heard of a test called a Coronary Calcium Score, which is a CAT scan test that detects the amount of plaque in the blood vessel walls. Where there is calcium, there is plaque. If there is too much calcium in the blood, it can stick to blood vessel walls.

Many patients do not understand that the calcium level detected in blood tests is NOT a reflection of the amount of calcium in the bone. There is a very narrow range of calcium that the body needs in order to be healthy (approximately 8.5 to 10.2 depending on the lab). Ingesting a few thousand milligrams of calcium in a pill is too much to be taken up by the bones rapidly enough. The excess calcium will stick to tissues, including the lining of blood vessels, and contribute to plaque formation.

So how much extra calcium should one take? That is like asking what size shoe should one wear-it depends completely on the individual. In the active person with good vitamin D and hormone levels (as tested and followed with blood tests), the answer is none. You didn't need calcium supplementation in your 20's because you had optimal levels of bone building hormones, were likely more physically active, and still youthful enough to convert sunlight to vitamin D. Age should not be an excuse for not having everything necessary to build bone. As far as using drugs for bone loss, I never prescribe them. You don't develop a Fosamax deficiency, so why take drugs that have nothing to do with the normal, healthy bone buidling process, and can have serious side effects.

Stressing it out

Adrenal fatigue is somewhat controversial in the medical community (ok, it's actually quite controversial). Some doctors swear on a stack it doesn't even exist, but more and more doctors are taking it seriously. I have it myself, my cortisol level had risen to nearly 20 (my doctor likes it around 10). Much of my "stress" is from chronic back and hip pain from a car accident many years ago----I take medication for the pain, as well as do gentle exercises and meditate, but pain is a tremendous stressor on the body. Even bioidentically hormonally balanced, I am still somewhat of a type "A" personality, a little high strung and anxious. Dr. Carr, my own physician in CA, takes adrenal fatigue very seriously---he knows about my efforts to reduce my stress levels, and about 18-20 months ago he started me on a nighttime supplement called Cortisol Manager (it's available from his office). I started out taking 2 at night, and then was able to cut to one a night. It helps with sleep, and although I was a skeptic, it has reduced my cortisol level by 25%.

I came across this article today in the StarOnline.com, it's' by a doctor in Britain. It gives a very good overview of what adrenal fatigue is, what contributes to it, how to reduce your risk, etc. I want to point out a very important line in the article, the one about only taking DHEA under a doctor's supervision, and only after you have been tested to see if there is an insufficiency. DHEA is a supplement sold over the counter, but it is a powerful substance and should never be taken unless it's needed.

My favourite book on Adrenal Fatigue is Adrenal Fatigue, The 21st Century Syndrome by Dr. James Wilson. Best price is at Amazon.com.

More springtime pictures!

Honest, ladies-----I am not ignoring you or the Holy Hormones blog! It's been a case of a shortage of articles on menopause, hormones and related subjects----that happens every once in a while. I think I have found a couple articles today that I will post over the next couple days. Meanwhile, I took advantage of another beautiful day here in NC to head out to the gardens for more pictures, posting a few here. I hope that all of you are enjoying similarly beautiful weather wherever you are, and that for those of you in the Southeast, that your area has been spared by the devastating storms.

He Wants Sex, she Doesn't-Are Beads the Answer?

Female Sexual Dysfunction is an all too common symptom of hormone imbalance, and one that is not taken seriously enough by health care practitioners. Most bioidentical hormone experts will tell you that it's the decrease in testosterone, and I know from personal experience that testosterone got my libido back on track. Somewhat on that same subject----I came across this article in Time.com, and I thought it would either interest, amuse, or annoy my readers. It's worth sharing---I put it up on my personal Facebook page, and I am guessing the reaction from some of my friends will make for some interesting reading.

The Female Viagra scam

I ran across this article in TheMail.com (UK newspaper). Interesting reading, and all too common these days-----to expect and accept that a woman will lose her libido, it's "normal" and c'est la vie.......nothing should be done about it. It's "normal" for a woman to lose her hormones as she ages, but it's not optimal and it needs to be addressed (bioidentically, of course).

A second point to be made-----and I know I am largely preaching to the choir about this as most of my readers know the only way to get your hormones balanced is to consult with a doctor/healthcare provider who specializes in bioidenticals-----but these online places who claim to balance your hormones and direct you to places to buy estrogen (I've even heard of women who are using dog estrogen) or testosterone are TROUBLE. It's illegal to sell over the Internet like that, and hormone balance is not a hit or miss proposition. Don't do it. Ever.

Dr. Philip Sarrel Discusses New Findings About Hormone Therapy

From Empowher.com.......check out this article and video, and yes, I did comment at the end of the article. This kind of reporting drives me crazy-----the doctor refers to the WHI study in a vague way, and then becomes even more evasive by referring to the progestin used in that study as "the second hormone". I found it very odd. In the WHI study that was stopped in 2002, women with uteruses were given progestin along with their estrogen (Provera was the drug used) as giving unopposed estrogen is dangerous ----- it thickens the lining of the uterus and increases (significantly) the risk of uterine cancer. Progestin is NOT the same as progesterone, one is a drug, one is a hormone.

Happy Easter everyone!

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter, Passover, Spring----whatever you celebrate. Make memories, here in NC we are expecting gorgeous weather (which is good because today it is cloudy, rainy, dreary and COLD!)----highs on Easter Sunday should be around 85 here. Stay safe, see you all Monday (if not before!)

Most popular drugs in America and how much we spend on medication

There are variations of this information all over the Internet right now, I found this article in today's online edition of The LA Times. I couldn't help but comment on it at the end of the article. Most of the medications listed as the most widely described are for conditions that can be treated with balancing the hormones----and I so hope that "mainstream" medicine will finally wake up and realize that hormonal balance is preferable to a handful of pharmaceuticals. All pharmaceuticals have side effects, some more toxic than the condition they are trying to treat!

Vitamin D protects women's eyesight

Bright and sunny (but windy) day here in NC ---- I think I was out long enough today to get my Vitamin D, and even if not, I took my 5000 IUs this morning with my vitamins. Just ran across this article from WRAL.com ----- high levels of Vitamin D in older women reduce the risk of macular degeneration. Be sure to check with your doctor----but if you have never had your Vitamin D levels checked, ask about it at your next visit. Most people are Vitamin D deficient and don't even know it.