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Osteoporosis and Progesterone
Osteoporosis is the loss of normal bone density with thinning bone tissue and the growth
of small holes in the bone. Symptoms include pain, especially in the low back, frequent
broken bones, and loss of body height. It is identified most often in women who have gone
through menopause. In the United States over 45 percent of women age 50 or more have bone
mineral density deficiencies and there are 1,500,000 osteoporosis related fractures
reported every year. Unfortunately, proper treatment of this dangerous and easily
preventable disease has been overlooked by mainstream medicine.
The makers of Premarin and other estrogen manufacturers would like for our doctors and us
to believe that lack of estrogen is the leading cause of osteoporosis. Yet significant
bone loss occurs during the 10 to 15 years before menopause, when estrogen levels are
still normal. Women's bone mass peaks in their mid-thirties and begins declining shortly
there after at a rate of about 1 to 1.5 percent per year. This is when many women are
experiencing irregular ovulation cycles. It is during these anovulatory cycles that
progesterone levels fall while estrogen levels remain the same resulting in estrogen
dominance. By the time menopause is reached, osteoporosis is well under way, some women
may have already lost as much as 25 percent of their bone density! With menopause, bone
loss accelerates to 3 to 5 percent per year for about 5 years, after which bone loss
continues at the rate of about 1.5 percent per year. The indication here is that a lack of
progesterone causes a decrease in new bone formation, not a lack of estrogen, which is
still at adequate levels prior to menopause. In fact, both during and after menopause,
women may still maintain 40% to 60% of their estrogen levels (in fat cells) which is
sufficient for maintaining proper health, yet they will have NO progesterone.
Supplementing with natural progesterone supports new bone formation and bone density and
may reverse osteoporosis.
Estrogen slows the rate of osteoporosis (as opposed to progesterone which reverses), but
not without serious risks. The bone benefits of estrogen replacement after menopause
decrease after three to five years. Yet, mainstream medicine persists in the belief that
estrogen is the 'best' treatment for osteoporosis in women.
The use of natural progesterone cream is a sensible, safe and effective treatment for the
prevention and even reversal of osteoporosis. |
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