The failure of Premarin is not failure of HRT

Hormone replacement therapy is used when the body makes less of a hormone than it needs. The purpose of any hormone replacement is to make a person healthier. Hormone replacement therapy is one of the most successful areas of modern medical science. In sharp contrast, women are being told that HRT for ovarian failure is not a healthy choice and that untreated hypogonadism (menopause) is a healthier option. Premarin's failure is being confused as a failure of HRT.

The field of hormone replacement has enjoyed such success because it is based on 3 main principals. First, replace what is lost, second, replace with bioidentical, and third, monitor what you have replaced to ensure proper levels are maintained.

The use of Premarin in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) demonstrated very clearly that it is not HRT and violates these three principals of endocrine medicine:

1) Premarin does not replace ovarian hormones. Premarin creates unnaturally high levels of estrogens and pushes down already very low levels of testosterone and progesterone.

2) Premarin is not bioidentical. It contains over 200 hormones, the vast majority native to the pregnant horse.

3) Premarin was not monitored. The WHI cost over 600 million dollars and not one hormone test was done, before, during or after this trial.

Medical treatment is based on solid scientific principles to ensure success, and modernized when new information becomes available. The WHI used the same formulation of Premarin that was used in 1942, the same formulation that has never been associated with restoring sexual response and the same formulation that most women discard within a year, choosing hypogonadism over Premarin.

The failure of Premarin is not failure of HRT. We can see this clearly because Premarin is not HRT at all. So let's do what we do with any failure, let's learn from it and move forward. Let's recognize that Premarin is not HRT, let's focus on the phenomenal success of HRT and begin using HRT for the treatment of hypogonadism in women and modernize treatment.

My next blog entry will be on how to modernize the treatment of hypogonadism for women and how you can benefit from it.