To understand this book, you only need to remember a few bio-identical hormone names—estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, and thyroids, which include porcine, T4, and T3. If you read outside sources, you must learn others. Return to this reference chapter as needed.
Hormones work by attaching to receptor molecules in the human body, and since the natural ones are identical or nearly identical to those made by our glands, they fit like the real thing. Manufactured medicines are foreign substances never found in the body’s ecosystem that are made from animals or chemicals. These do not match as closely as the bio-identicals, do not work as well, and have side effects. They are still useful in a few circumstances but should never be taken long-term. I call them “counterfeit” or “fake” to help you sort out the issues.
For example, progesterone is bio-identical. In contrast, Provera is a synthetic progesterone imitation. It raises the chances of migraines, weight gain, heart disease, breast cancer, depression, and irregular bleeding. Pregnant women taking it get more miscarriages and their babies have more congenital disabilities.
Drugmakers invent sexy copyrighted brand names for their profitable patented compounds. This allows patients to harass doctors by saying, “I saw an ad for…” Pharma also creates chemical names that are hard to pronounce and remember. The brand Celebrex, for example, is the chemical celecoxib—try saying that one. The advantage for the manufacturer is that when medications go off-patent and are sold as generics, the chemical is more difficult to recall than the recognizable brand.
The drugmakers use the names to confuse. Progestin, progestogen, and Provera, the artificial ones, sound like natural progesterone. And Premarin, the horse-urine estrogen (this name was from PRegnant MAre’s uRINe), gets mixed up with Provera, the synthetic progesterone. These strategies work, so the doctors are just as bewildered as you are:
✪ Many journal articles make no distinction between bio-identical progesterone and progestins/progestogens such as Provera. They call both of these progesterone, which implies there is little difference.
✪ Likewise, medical articles call many related substances estrogens, which is accurate but fools both doctors and patients into thinking that they are all alike. Technically, estrogens include bio-identical estradiol, the counterfeits such as Premarin, and the other relatively weak human estrogens, estrone and estriol. These last two are bio-identical but are almost inactive and cause some health issues.
✪ Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) sometimes refers to treatment with bio-identicals and sometimes to treatment with the counterfeits!
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