Dr. Mercola March 12 2005 2,350 views
Estrogen pills, those with or without progestin, may increase women's risk of becoming incontinent, or make the condition worse in those who already have it, according to the Women's Health Initiative study. It was previously thought that the hormone pills would prevent incontinence, and many doctors had prescribed them specifically to treat it.
In the study of over 27,000 women between the ages of 50 and 79, those who took estrogen pills for one year were 53 percent more likely to develop urinary incontinence than those who took a placebo. Women who took pills with both estrogen and progestin had a 39 percent increased risk.
Risks for stress incontinence, in which urine leakage is preceded by pressure on the abdomen from sneezing, laughing, walking or coughing, were most severe. Women taking estrogen pills more than doubled their risk of stress incontinence, while those on combined estrogen and progestin pills had similar risks.
In terms of women who already had incontinence, compared with women taking a placebo those taking estrogen pills had a 60 percent greater risk that it would worsen in a year, while those on the combined pills had a 20 percent greater risk of worsening.
The same study previously found that hormone pills increase the risk of:
The findings prompted millions of menopausal women to quit using the hormones. In fact, prescriptions for the pills fell to 11 million in the first half of 2004 (after the study was released), down from 16 million in the beginning of 2002.
Journal of the American Medical Association March 2005;293(8):935-948
I've previously ran many articles documenting the landmark research in the Women's Health Initiative study of some 27,000 females aged 50-79. This latest finding on incontinence is just one more condition the hormone pills were promoted as preventing, but that they actually cause or worsen!
Regardless of the presence of progestin (another synthetic hormone), taking non-human estrogens increased a woman's risk of incontinence and made it worse for those who already had it.
This is just another reason why, after all the years of hype, it has become clearer to conventional medicine that the benefits of estrogen simply don't outweigh the risks. That is why it is no mystery to see that estrogen replacement therapy for women is loaded with dangerous side effects.
Synthetic progestins like Provera are responsible for nearly all the side effects and should rarely be used in post-menopausal hormone therapy. Additionally, the most popular estrogen used, Premarin, came from horses. One should not use animal estrogens for female human hormone replacement ever, especially since there are excellent human estrogen hormones available.
For most women, all they need is estradiol, which is bioidentical to the major human female hormone balanced with natural progesterone. Occasional male anabolic hormones like DHEA and testosterone may also be needed.
Lifestyle changes can also help to balance out your hormones, at any stage of life. These include:
Adopting a better diet based on your personal metabolic type
Balancing your omega-3 and omega-6 fat intake
Starting an exercise program, even of the low- to moderate-intensity variety
Eliminating grains (unless you are normal body weight) and sugars as they cause yeast overgrowth that worsen hormone levels
Eliminating alcohol and caffeine as it can also have adverse effects on hormone levels
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