Menopause - Why Neither Synthetic Nor Bio-Identical Hormones Are Safe For Menopause Treatments

Now, all menopause women know that synthetic hormones are bad, because of the 2002 Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study that awakened us from "Feminine Forever" dreams-Cancer risks outweigh benefits from hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopause.

Since 2002, bio-identical hormones have surged in popularity for menopause treatment. However, the FDA warned that bio-identical hormones have no safety advantage in 2008. Many menopause women are fighting with the FDA about this issue, and many doctors are waiting another big clinical trial on bio-identical hormones to buy the answer.

If we learn the very basics about hormones, we can save a lot of money and time to find the answer: both synthetic and bio-identical hormones are carcinogenic.

1. Hormones are the body's action messengers. Like a key and a lock, a hormone needs a hormone receptor to function. Hormone treatments flood the body with external hormones without providing hormone receptors. Excessive synthetic or bio-identical hormones may bind to wrong receptors causing cancers.

2. The typical medical treatment follows a war metaphor: Find the enemy and destroy it. This conventional symptom/drug approach does not fit menopause. Menopause is caused by the aging of multiple systems. Also, estrogens have effects on many organs, such as the breasts, uterus, ovaries, cervix, fallopian tubes, vagina and bones. When synthetic or bio-identical estrogens are added to the body during menopause, they don't know where the target is. They shoot all targets and stimulate cancers.

3. In fact, about 60% to 70% of breast cancer is hormone-sensitive, which means their growth is driven by excess amounts of estrogen. Now the pink ribbon movement is searching for a cure for breast cancer. Since an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, menopause women deserve to know the truth about synthetic and bio-identical hormones.

Although the conventional warfare approach doesn't fit menopause, traditional Chinese medicine works for menopause by restoring balance in terms of physical, nutritional, emotional factors, and by using herbal remedies.