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Wednesday, February 3, 2016

For Women Thinking about Hormone Replacement:

Progesterone; YES. Progestins: NO
We start with A Fine Current Survey by a Physician which clearly restates what we have been saying now for years (OMG it's that long already 
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However we must first look at how Progesterone metabolites are key both to Brain and Breast and how that key role is based ultimately on the advent of new cells from progenitors every day in both tissues and how Progesterone's metabolites are key to growth of breast tissue and to neurogenesis.
The confusion between Progesterone and synthetic Progestins is extremely damaging to those patients whose physicians are unaware of the fact that Progesterone Metabolites are necessary for the proper functioning of both Brain and Breast.
These metabolites, one of them being" allopregnanolone", must be in balance for brain function and breast function to continue properly, MORE IMPORTANT, as we with the advent of researh in all areas of stem cell progress, "Function" in all tissues and organs is related to "genesis" of new cells from progenitors, whether it is neurogenesis in the brain or growth of breast tissue from progenitors.
When progestins are administered they DO NOT LEAD to the production of the same Progesterone metabolites as the "real thing". In fact, they subvert the natural and needed balance that is provided by these metabolites in both the Brain and the Breast.
Down below we simply cite what the medical advice there is (because we very much agree with it)
However, what is not stressed in the clinical advice below and that we will stress here is that progestins unlike bio-identical progesterone operate very differently in the brain as well as in the body of the woman taking them. Down further below we will appreciate that they also act very differently in the breast for the same reasons
Progesterone is essential within the brain in many ways, but one key aspect of progesterone is the crucial role its metabolites, including, in particular, allopregnanolone, are essential for the maintenance of emotional stability and avoiding anxiety based disruption with both mood and attention. Progestins do not lead to the production of these metabolites and therefore are corrosive of the mind and the spirit.
Here is an interesting review study on how vital allopregnanolone, one of the key metabolites is to determining "mood" and indeed in all Brain function
The role of Allopregnanolone in Depression and Anxiety.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24215796

The authors state:
"Neuroactive steroids such as allopregnanolone do not only act as transcriptional factors in the regulation of gene expression after intracellular back-oxidation into the 5-α pregnane steroids but may also alter neuronal excitability through interactions with specific neurotransmitter receptors.
In particular, certain 3α-reduced metabolites of progesterone such as 3α,5α-tetrahydroprogesterone (allopregnanolone) and 3α,5β-tetrahydroprogesterone (pregnanolone) are potent positive allosteric modulators of the GABA(A) receptor complex.
During the last years, the downregulation of neurosteroid biosynthesis has been intensively discussed to be a possible contributor to the development of anxiety and depressive disorder.
Reduced levels of allopregnanolone in the peripheral blood or cerebrospinal fluid were found to be associated with major depression, anxiety disorders, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, negative symptoms in schizophrenia, or impulsive aggression.
The importance of allopregnanolone for the regulation of emotion and its therapeutical use in depression and anxiety may not only involve GABAergic mechanisms, but probably also includes enhancement of neurogenesis, myelination, neuroprotection, and regulatory effects on HPA axis function.
Certain pharmacokinetic obstacles limit the therapeutic use of natural neurosteroids (low bioavailability, oxidation to the ketone). Until now synthetic neuroactive steroids could not be established in the treatment of anxiety disorders or depression. However, the translocator protein (18 kDa) (TSPO) which is important for neurosteroidogenesis has been identified as a potential novel target. TSPO ligands such as XBD 173 increase neurosteroidogenesis and have anxiolytic effects with a favorable side effect profile.
If we look further into the events with the breast we will likely find the same massively important and vastly different effects, of Progesterone versus synthetic progestins, on the genes that determine the course of progenitor cell development in the breast and surely that will also help account for the differential in breast cancer risk
What leads the Progestins to increase risk of Breast Cancer is very much related to the same disparity in yield of Progesterone metabolites that causes Progestins to cause Depression, Anxiety and Mood disorders in the Brain.
The authors state below, what we must suspect if we know how the body works. Nature does not invent a new "wheel' for every tissue and organ in the body. It just tweaks what is has to work with....just a bit.
Progesterone metabolites in breast cancer.

"In the past, the actions of the Progesterone metabolizing enzymes generally have been equated to a means of reducing the P concentration in the tissue microenvironment, and the products have been dismissed as inactive waste metabolites.
In human breast tissues and cell lines, the following P-metabolizing enzymes have been identified: 5α-reductase, 3α-hydroxysteroid oxidoreductase (3α-HSO), 3β-HSO, 20α-HSO, and 6α-hydroxylase.
Rather than providing diverse pathways for inactivating and controlling the concentration of P in breast tissue microenvironments, it is proposed that the enzymes act directly on P to produce two types of autocrines/paracrines with opposing regulatory roles in breast cancer.
In vitro studies on a number of breast cell lines indicate that 3αHP promotes normalcy by downregulating cell proliferation and detachment, whereas 5αP promotes mitogenesis and metastasis by stimulating cell proliferation and detachment. The hormones bind to novel, separate, and specific plasma membrane-based receptors and influence opposing actions on mitosis, apoptosis, and cytoskeletal and adhesion plaque molecules via cell signaling pathways.
The evidence suggests that the promotion of breast cancer is related to changes in in situ concentrations of cancer-inhibiting and -promoting P metabolites."
We can only guess at what little shop of horrors there is awaitng them in the brains and breastsof women who utilize contraceptives with progestins as their pivotal ingredient. The pharmaceutical industry surely does not want to explore that...and likely never will...and indeed will never allow it.
Because of the confusion by the Women's Health Initiative Study at the beginning of this century between Progesterone and Progestins, women continue to be afraid of progesterone, thinking it is the same as progestin. Don’t be confused here.
The physician's clinical advice with which we began this post continues:
"You can see that if most physicians and lay people believe progestins to be equivalent to progesterone, they misinterpret these studies to think progesterone is harmful and can promote breast cancer. Progesterone doesn’t do this. Progestins are not the same as progesterone.
Progesterone is a hormone the female body makes and needs for many health reasons. However, synthetic chemicals (progestins like Provera®) do not have the same benefits. It is vital that women and practicing physicians understand that bio-identical progesterone boosts wellness, and progestins are risky.
We also know that progesterone is beneficially active upon breast tissue. In fact, progesterone reduces estrogen’s stimulation of breast cancer growth. This was described by the authority in modern gynecological endocrinology, Dr. Leon Speroff, who noted, “Evidence indicates that with increasing duration of exposure, progesterone can limit breast epithelial growth as it does with endometrial epithelium
What’s more, the studies all show that while progesterone lowers breast cancer risk, progestins (synthetic forms of progesterone) do not. It is vital to know the difference between these two if you are considering progesterone hormone supplementation. The alleged “experts” from the American College of Gynecology love to denigrate “so-called” bio-identical progesterone while promoting the use of synthetic progestins.
This doesn’t account for the fact that synthetic progestins promote breast cancer and heart disease, while progesterone beneficially lowers breast cancer and heart disease risk.
The Women’s Health Initiative reported some startling information in 2002. It revealed that even though some 50 million women had been prescribed synthetic oral estrogen plus progestin therapy for better health (in the belief it would lower heart disease and breast cancer risk) since 1972, it was a mistake.
Prescribing artificial hormones was really an experiment. Nobody knew the long-term effect of these synthetic chemicals. The study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed that Premarin® (a synthetic estrogen) and Provera® (a synthetic progestin) users had increased rates of heart disease and breast cancer, not lower rates.
Here we include a review of the horrors inflicting on peri-menopausal and post menopausal women by that Women's Heath Initative of 2002 ( and really additionally by the politically correct apologists for that bogus study who, over the past 15 years, have politcally correctly and tactfully not spoken out strongly enough on how totally incompetent were the researchers who perfomed that study and how damaging were the consequences of its misleading findings).
We put this historical essay below together for our "Gender Research for All Genders" group on Facebook, but the data and the foolishness where all based on studies of menopausal women.
https://www.academia.edu/…/Your_Heart_and_Estradiol_Beyond_…
One other important difference between progestins and bio-identical progesterone is their influence on cardiovascular health. Progestins cause potentially harmful vasoconstriction (blood vessels narrow); progesterone stimulates vascular relaxation. Also, lipid profiles (blood fats) are worsened with progestins, but improved with progesterone. There are plenty of studies to show this in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, too.
The enzymes needed to metabolize progesterone properly into either 11-deoxycorticosterone or 17-hydroxyprogesterone requires enzymes that we know the human body has. However, with progestins, we do not know if there are enzymes that will convert it to something safe or to something that is unsafe over time
The synthetic hormone problem continues and younger women still receive synthetic progestins for reasons not relating to birth control. Doctors are not acknowledging that the oral contraceptive “pill” (aka OCP) has a link to breast cancer in later years, too. Most studies of OCP and new breast cancers in women before age 40 (the worst ones) show a definite link between cancer and the use of the OCP for long durations.

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