Menopause

It has been observed that women being adequately treated for hypothyroidism have far fewer menopausal symptoms than those in the general population [Barnes; Starr2005, pg 149].

Current medical thought is that it is best to institute hormone replacement therapy (HRT) soon after menopause for maximum benefit at lowest risk.

Some controversy regarding HRT for menopausal symptoms was raised by the Women's Health Initiative Study (WHI) [WHI2007], which found a slightly increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and breast cancer for certain groups of women using the non-bioidentical hormones Premarin and Provera, despite considerable benefits and the reduction of risk in other groups. [Quigly] has pointed out flaws in the design of the study. In addition, the risks attributed to the non-bioidentical hormones Premarin and Provera may not extrapolate to the bioidentical analogs made endogenously by women and available from compounding pharmacies [Starr2005, pg 194; Brownstein1999; Vliet1995].

Hypotheses

The Shorr stain, which was developed by the same research group that developed the Pap smear can be used to judge the adequacy of estrogen levels [Shorr1945]. Using the Shorr stain, [Sonkin1968] found that optimun levels of estrogen supplementation were much higher than conventionally used. In addition, [Sonkin1968] suggested that estrogen replacement therapy was protective against breast cancer.

ICD-9 Codes

ICD9-Code	Description	Comments

References

Unless specifically noted above, references used in the construction of this web page include the following:

[FDM] Lecture notes from Functional Medicine University.

[SCNM] Lecture notes from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine.

[UT] Lecture notes from the University of Tennessee graduate programs in Chemistry and Biochemistry.

[Barnes] Broda O. Barnes M.D. Research Foundation at http://www.brodaobarnes.org. Cited by [Starr2005].

[Brownstein1999] Brownstein D. The Miracle of Natural Hormones, Second Edition. Medical Alternatives Press (1999). Cited by [Starr2005].

[Quigly] Quigley MET. Pain Management in Women: Empowering the female from pain of hormonal changes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV2yyJB5wg. See also book MeNoPause: Awaken & Empower YourSelf. Cited by [Starr2005].

[Shorr1945] Shorr E. An evaluation of the clinical applications of the vaginal smear method. Journal of the Mount Sinai Hospital. May-June XII(1):667-688 (1945). Cited by [Starr2005].

[Sonkin1968] Sonkin LS & Cohen EJ. The Treatment of Menopause Modern Treatment 5(3):545-563 (1968). Cited by [Starr2005].

[Starr2005] Mark Starr. Hypothyroidism Type 2: The Epidemic. Columbia, MO: Mark Starr Trust (2005).

[Vliet1995] Vliet EL. Screaming to be Heard: Hormonal Connections Women Suspect ... and Doctors Ignore. New York: M. Evans & COmpany (1995). Cited by [Starr2005].

[Wassertheil2003] Wassertheil-Smoller S, et al. Effect of estrogen plus progestin on stroke in postmenopausal women. The Women's Health Initiative in a randomized trial. JAMA. 289(20):2673-2684 (2003). Cited by [Starr2005].

[WHI2002] Writing Group for the Women's Health Initiative Investigators. Risks and benefits of estrogen plus progestin in healthy postmenopausal women: Principle results from the Women's Helath Initiative randomized controlled trial. JAMA. July 17, 288(3):321-333 (2002). Cited by [Starr2005].

[WHI2007] Women's Health Initiative Study (WHI). National Institute of Health (NIH). http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/whi/ Cited by [Starr2005].

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