Women’s Health Supplements: How Much is Your Health Worth?

Pamela Egan Practical Practitioner

 

By: Pamela Egan, FNP-C CDE

 


 

Women’s Health Supplements: How Much is Your Health Worth?

 

 

MARCH 04, 2008 – I was in the Nail Salon the other day getting a manicure and was amazed at the money that women spend on fake nails, yet when I recommend good quality nutritional supplements to them, they complain that they are too expensive or they complain that the co-pay for their office visit is too high. What is your health worth to you?

Somehow, I think that our priorities are messed up. Would you prefer to invest in your health and prevent illness with nutritional supplements and natural hormones or pay co-pays for medications that will only deplete your body of nutrients further? When your body is nutritionally sound and hormonally sound, it will fight disease and avoid illness.

Women will tell me that they are afraid of hormones. I must admit that women are totally confused when it comes to bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Synthetic hormones like Premarin, Prempro, FemHRT, and others are synthetic chemicals that give your cells incomplete messages and can actually lead to heart disease and breast cancer, as outlined in the Women’s Health Initiative. The media, women, as well as healthcare providers are confused and think that plant based bio-identical hormones are equal to synthetic chemicals.

I am here to tell you that they are not the same. Bio-identical, plant based hormones are made identical to those which the body produced in its younger days. These natural hormones actually slow down aging and help the body prevent disease at the cellular level. You will either be on an accelerated aging tack or an anti-aging track. It’s your choice.

In Europe they understand women’s hormones. Just about every woman over the age of 35 is placed on natural Progesterone. This will prevent Estrogen Dominance associated with Pre-Menopause and all of the conditions related to it such as hypothyroidism, insulin resistance, ovarian cysts, fibroids, fibrocystic breast, breast cancer as well as others.

You see, the body is like a symphony. If one instrument is out of balance, it will affect the entire body such like Dominos when one is out of place. Think about it, if you develop an estrogen receptor positive breast cancer and you are estrogen dominant, you are feeding that cancer. When excess estrogen is balanced with Progesterone, it starves the breast cancer as long as it is not Progesterone receptor positive.

The other big mistake that is made is America is that women who have had hysterectomies are only given estrogen. They are told that they don’t have a uterus so they don’t need Progestin. This is true, since Progestin, a synthetic chemical, only sloughs off the lining of the uterus and makes women psychotic and gain weight. However, all women need natural plant based Progesterone. Progesterone, on the other hand is a natural anti-depressant, natural anti-anxiety, natural sleeping pill, balances excess estrogen so decreases the incidence of breast cancer, and helps prevent weight gain associated with estrogen dominance. There’s a distinct difference between synthetic vs. bio-identical hormones and women must read to educate themselves.

The # 1 complaint of women over 35 is insomnia. Once the ovaries stop ovulating regularly, in addition to the estrogen heavy food chain that we have in this country, a woman’s Progesterone level drops. Progesterone is a natural sleeping pill. Procedures such as Tubal Ligations can also lead to this hormone imbalance since there is a high incidence of failure to ovulate following this procedure. Retrospective studies show that there is a high incidence of hysterectomies in women who have had Tubal Ligations due to fibroids, cysts, heavy menstrual cycles. Weight gain is also a common curse of Estrogen Dominance.

So my message to women out there is, pay attention to your body. Take care of it; spend money keeping it healthy. Superficial nails and hair color will not keep you healthy. What is your health worth to you?

 

Pamela Egan, FNP-C, CDE is a board certified Adult & Family Nurse Practitioner, Certified Diabetes Educator & Clinical Specialist in Mental Health. She practices in Women’s Health with Kathy Posey, MD & can be reached at 985-867-1700 or www.pamelaegan.com.

 

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