HRT/Oophorectomy & Strokes
In my continuing crusade to inform women about the value of their ovaries, I saw this article in a UK newspaper online yesterday.
HRT shown to increase risk of strokes:
A study released by the University of Nottingham using a base of 40,000 women and found that women on HRT had a 29% greater risk of strokes.
This comes in the same week that I saw the results on HysterSisters.com of their annual survey, which includes a base of respondents of a little less than 6,000.
The most startling thing of course is that half of the women who'd had hysterectomies also had oophorectomies (I think that's about 2,580 of the respondents since not all had hysterectomies at the time they took the survey).79% said that they had moderate to high intensity of menopause symptoms (and let's consider all those symptoms that aren't "felt" like osteopororis and arterial damage).
42% of women who went on HRT were not satisfied with the forumlation
62% who changed formulation reported better results, but 11% still didn't have their mix right.
What disturbs me so much is that I still see ladies in their forties being told that their doctors prefer to remove their ovaries at that time to reduce their risk of ovarian cancer - or worse, because they don't need them anymore. I, of course, and doing my best to help show them the most recent information. The American College of Gynecology and Obstetrics abandoned the prophylactic removal of ovaries for women over forty-five back in the nineties.
One of the ladies on the board pointed to an excellent article (PDF file) called - Rationale for Ovarian Conservation by Donna Shoupe MD. Any woman considering any gynecological surgery should read that article. The article is five years old and seems to have made very little dent from what I've seen on the hystersisters boards. For every woman who asks for advice on the topic, I'm guessing there are five that blindly follow their doctor's counsel.
Posted by Elizabeth M. on January 9, 2005 9:35 AM
You should really talk to your doctor. There are some very serious health reprecussions for surgical menopause.
There are endocrinologists that specialize in menopause.
Take care.
Location:
Southern California
About Me: I'm in my late thirties and suffered with large fibroids until August '04 when I had a supracervical hysterectomy. Keep reading as I'll cover topics on long-term recovery from hysterectomy.
Links
PelvicFloor.com
All About Myomectomy
Fibroids
HysterSisters
Recent Entries
- Two Years
- Beautiful Nails
- Cycle on Track
- Late Cycle Again
- New Year's Resolutions
- The Mini-Period
- Always Wondering About the Fallout
- Sleeping Better
- Trouble Sleeping
- Another Reason to Investigate All Options
- Popping a Stitch
- Southpaws and Breast Cancer
- Dealing with Regrets
- Focused Ultrasound as Treatment for Fibroids
- Honored
ihad an oophorectomy three yrs ago at age 35. i have stopped taking hrt because of worries re breast cancer, etc and the thought of a very long usage. any alternatives to ease the menopausal symtons?