Synthetic hormones, cancer risk, more bad news

March 6, 2006

In previous message no. 5508, author had discussed the issues related

to synthetic hormones and cancer risk. It appears that these hormone

pills cause further damages as well. Many women patients these days

complain about incontinence. For a long time, author used to suspect

that this vatic disorder has something to do with the synthetic

hormones taken by these patients at one time or other, mostly less

than a year before these problems develop. This is indeed the case,

as supported by a recent research finding.

Pointing out more bad news about hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

feels a bit like kicking someone when they're down, but someone has

to do it. The latest findings on the already discredited drug reveal

that it can also make women incontinent. Incontinence means losing few drops of

urine and wetting of underclothes when snizzing, jumping or laughing out loud

(LOL). Getting the signal and then strong urgency to visit bathroom due to loss

of control on sphincter valve is also sometimes termed incontinence. These being

modern science terms, author is not sure about exact meaning, but he understands

it to be loss of control over the muscles which start and maintain the flow. The

test for this is ability to stop the flow in the middle of process, using

muscles. Certain exercises improve the muscle tone and this ability.

For the drug's beleaguered manufacturers - who have had to contend

with revelations that HRT causes breast cancer, ovarian cancer, stroke

and life-threatening thromboembolism - this latest report is as close

to good news as they're going to get.

The new study involved 2,763 postmenopausal women who tested the drug

against placebo. It found that the HRT group was almost twice as

likely as the placebo group to suffer incontinence, a problem that

began soon after starting on the drug, and continued on average for

four years afterwards.

Researchers aren't sure why the drug has this strange effect, but

doctors should warn women about it before they start the drug, they

say.

Source: Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2005; 106: 940-5.

dr bhate

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