Hormone Replacement Therapy

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a therapy for men and women who have reached or passed menopause, which often is frequently to as "the change of life." HRT affect grabbing little doses of one or two female hormones, estrogen and progesterone.

Along with this therapy, generally, a medication process is also prescribed to the patient by the doctor. In the case of a woman, the medication is designed to counteract the effects of menopause. These medications even contain female hormones like estrogen and progestin. In fact it is a man-made version of the naturally occurring progesterone.

Estrogen and progesterone are manufacture by nature by the ovaries until the period of menopause; at the time their production increasingly slows down and in the end ends. The one as well as the other of these hormones are needed for the peculiar operation of a woman's reproductive method. Estrogen has many other valuable roles in the body as well.

Menopause is a normal part of aging and every women experiences hormonal variation such as surges or declines in her hormone levels before and during menopause. This is accompanied by a variety of symptoms such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness and this the time when HRT comes into play to help women deal with these graveling changes effectively and also to help protect them against osteoporosis, a common disease resulting from insufficient calcium absorption after menopause, Alzheimer's disease and macular degeneration. Usually the hormone therapy is used to treat women; however, a kind of hormone treatment is also available for men and it is used to treat low levels of testosterone. 

Although millions of women take HRT, this may not be the appropriate alternative for every person. Health care professionals inform women to collect as much knowledge as they can and consider the individual benefits and peril.

Hormone replacement therapy is a commonly prescribed medication to help women cope with the discomforts and symptoms of menopause. Even though the use of synthetic hormones has been shown to provide favorable results and substantial improvement in women health, total reliance on HRT is yet to be established. Hormone Replacement Therapy is accompanied by both its benefits and side-effects that should be discussed in detail with your doctor before implementation.

Even though HRT is being increasingly employed by women to relieve themselves of these symptoms, for long term usage the therapy has yet to be proven cent percent safe. HRT comes along with a handful of risks and the extent of these risks affecting each woman depends highly on her individual health and fitness and more importantly her lifestyle. If you are taking any hormones then make it a point to get yourself checked regularly and the hormones re-evaluated after every six months by your doctor for best results.

Side Effects Of Coffee On Health Revealed

When it comes to the popular morning beverage... there's more good news than bad news. A German study that included over 40,000 subjects and lasted almost a decade has found that the side effects of coffee produce no more risk of chronic illnesses (heart disease, cancer) plus coffee drinkers are also less likely to be diagnosed with troublesome type 2 diabetes than non coffee drinkers.

These new findings come after many earlier studies have brought conflicting reports - some suggesting coffee drinking brought a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and more.

To address this challenge, the German study looked at all different chronic diseases during the same time period to see the effect on health of drinking coffee.

The researchers collected data on people's coffee drinking habits, as well as diet, exercise and overall health from over 42,000 adults who were taking part in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study and were free of any chronic health problems at the start of the project.

Over the following nine years, researchers followed up on participants to see if they'd been diagnosed with any health problems. The team was particularly interested in reports of heart disease, occurrences of stroke, heart attacks, diabetes or cancer.

They saw that both coffee drinkers and those who were not had the same risks of getting one of these diseases. For example, just over 10% of both coffee (over than four cups per day) and non-coffee drinkers ended up developing a chronic disease.

On the type 2 diabetes front the researchers also saw that coffee drinkers had a lesser chance of being diagnosed with this chronic illness than non-drinkers.

Among the four cup a day coffee drinkers, 3.2% later told researchers they'd been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, while 3.6% of those who did not drink coffee were diagnosed with the same disease. Even after accounting for things that could affect diabetes risk (being overweight and smoking), the team saw that who drank coffee were 23% less likely to be diagnosed with diabetes - supporting findings from earlier studies.

The researchers point out that the results of the current research suggest that drinking coffee is not harmful to a healthy adult. But they don't mean people should rely on coffee for preventing type 2 diabetes or other chronic illnesses. All experts can say at present is that animal studies have shown that some compounds in coffee can affect metabolism.

If you're not a coffee drinker, this research isn't telling you to start enjoying the delicious beverage in order to stay healthy. But if you don't have any specific health reasons (mental illness, insomnia, anxiety) to avoid coffee, and you like it, this study suggests you have no need to cut as the side effects of coffee don't lead to chronic conditions.

Your best bet to stay healthy, sharp and disease free as the years pass is to live an overall healthy lifestyle - do not smoke, eat a balanced diet, be sure you get regular exercise, make sleep a priority and manage stress are all smart steps you can take to make this more likely.

Diabetic Glucose Monitor News, Will We Be Testing Without Blood?

Diabetic glucose monitor research is moving quickly. There is hope that soon we will have ways to test our blood sugar without using test strips and drops of blood. Every diabetes doctor knows that testing more often will improve the health of a type 1 or type 2 diabetic.

The problem with testing has always been the pain and inconvenience. Convincing teenagers on the go and older folks on tight budgets to do more frequent blood tests isn't easy.

From the first home testing glucose monitor to the ones we use today, drawing a drop of blood has been the only foolproof way to know your blood sugar. A type 2 diabetic who is not on insulin may test once a day while a type 2 on insulin ought to test at least four times every day.

The First Continuous Glucose Monitor

Brittle type 1 diabetics need to test as often as every 15 minutes to watch for hypoglycemia. It's the only way to ensure they don't enter a diabetic coma. Many parents set their alarms to wake up several times a night and check on their diabetic children, who would not wake up from a dangerously low blood sugar on their own.

The answer is a continuous monitor worn day and night. And there are some on the market right now. They use a special sensor needle inserted under the skin that is connected by wire or wirelessly to a receiver. Some receivers are as small as a cell phone, and some sit on a bedside table at night.

The needle has to be recalibrated every day and replaced every few days because scar tissue forms around it and makes it useless. But the continuous diabetic glucose monitor works, and teamed with an alarm system it gives parents of type 1 diabetic children a chance to sleep.

Another option made by Sleep Sentry will wake you from sleep if it detects two of the symptoms of hypoglycemia. It does not test blood sugar but it sounds an alarm if your temperature drops or you begin to sweat, two of the signs of hypoglycemia.

This would be a help for diabetics who have had too many hypoglycemic events and become unaware of low blood sugar. And older diabetics might find strapping on this sensor give them some peace of mind, especially if they live alone.

But older diabetics with autonomic neuropathy might not get any benefit since they may not sweat with low blood sugar. They need something that actually reads their blood sugar levels.

Glucose Monitors Without Test Strips

A true wireless implantable glucose sensor has been made by GlySens. It is pretty small, about the size of a sandwich cookie. Their plan is to implant it in the torso of a diabetic and get continuous readings on something like a cell phone.

So far the implant has lasted about 500 days without having to be replaced, but as of 2010 it had only been tried on pigs. Human trials were set to begin that year, so it may be several more years before we see them on the market.

Lightouch Medical is making a monitor that uses light sensors on your fingertip to measure glucose. OrSense is doing the same, but their monitor is planned for use only in hospitals right now.

Sensys Medical has a monitor that uses near infrared. You would lay your arm on the device to let it sense your blood sugar. Right now the monitor is having accuracy problems because of skin variations and changes. But they plan to make a home glucose monitor some day.

At MIT, a famous U.S. college, they are using an implanted tattoo with what they call nano-ink. When the ink is exposed to glucose it flouresces (sends out light). A sensor that measures the changes is worn like a watch and gives blood sugar readouts.

So far they have found the tattoo lasts about six months before it stops working. And others are working on tiny implantable detectors that use the flourescing idea, but nothing is even nearly ready for FDA approval.

The University of Western Ontario is making contact lenses that change color as they detect the rise and fall of blood sugar. These use nanotechnology, using particles the size of molecules imbedded in a contact lens.

It won't give you an accurate blood sugar reading, but it will warn you of low and high blood sugar during the day.

Good News for Hormone Replacement Therapy

News flash! You can safely get rid of your hot flashes! Estrogen is not so bad after all. A study in JAMA Journal of the American Medical Association April 2011 found that estrogen alone had a reduced risk of breast cancer and their risk of stroke declined after stopping the medication.

There is so much confusion regarding hormone replacement therapy. When evaluating the studies, you should consider a few things. The type of hormone (synthetic versus bioidentical), the route of administration (oral, transdermal or through the skin or other), the age when started and other therapies. These are just a few considerations.

This study cited in the media was done on women with hysterectomies using oral synthetic estrogen alone without any synthetic progestin. They began using the hormone in there 50's. There were 3 important findings:

• The first one is when you stop taking oral synthetic hormone therapy the increased risk of stroke and blood clots in the legs and lungs go down and so does the benefits on decreased hip fracture. Note: only oral estrogen produces blood clots and increases risk of stroke. Bioidentical estrogen given through the skin does not increase stroke or cardiovascular disease risk.

• The second major finding was a decreased risk of breast cancer. When we followed for another four years, that decreased risk of breast cancer persisted, so that, over the entire follow-up period, we saw a 23 percent decreased risk of breast cancer. Note: it was the oral, synthetic progestin that was implicated in increasing the risk of breast cancer.

• The third finding is that the risks and benefits of hormone therapy differ importantly by age for several types of chronic disease, heart attacks, colorectal cancer, death and then overall chronic diseases are lower among women taking hormone therapy in their 50s compared to placebo, but among women in their 70s, they actually had higher rates of all these conditions if they were taking estrogen alone vs. placebo. Note: In the Women's Health Initiative study the average age of women studied was 63 and most were 10 years post menopause.

So if you are considering hormone replacement therapy, be sure to keep in mind the differences in type, route of administration and age when you begin taking them. Discuss all of your options with a physician knowledgeable in bioidentical hormones to determine the most appropriate treatment given your age, risk factors and state of health.

Lorraine Maita, MD is a recognized and award winning physician and author transforming people's lives through preventive and anti aging medicine. She is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Anti Aging and Regenerative Medicine and Board Certified in Internal Medicine and has over 18 years experience in Preventive Health and Wellness, Internal, Occupational and Travel Medicine and Executive Health.