Excerpt from Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones
PAGE 4
The ninth year of bioidentical hormone replacement, things started going wonky (this is my term—don't expect your doctors to use it!). I had breakthrough bleeding, and then after a while I was bleeding continuously. Something was wrong, obviously. You must understand that because bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) is such a new science, all the medical professionals working in this arena are learning as fast as they can, but with each year we all learn more. At this point in my BHRT, I had not heard of "rhythmic cycling," which I will explain in great detail later.
In the way I was taking hormones on a static dose, my estrogen was not rising and falling as it once did in nature, and my progesterone was not rising and falling as it did when I was making a full complement of hormones in my youth. (See the diagram.) Because of this, my receptor sites were not opening to receive the progesterone, so the estrogen lining in my uterus kept building and building. Over time, like a motor on "rev," this thickening caused excessive bleeding and sent an alarm to my brain that "all was not well," that this human being was no longer able to reproduce (which is why, according to nature, we exist).
Because I was bleeding constantly, I was not ovulating. Thus I was not a reproductive person, according to my brain. You must understand that the object of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is to fool the brain into thinking I can still make a baby, even though I have no eggs left. As a result of not having a rhythm, and of the thickening and the bleeding, severe hyperplasia, along with adenomyosis (leaks in my uterine lining), came about. This excessive bleeding and hyperplasia created a perfect scenario for cancer, so I had no choice but to remove my uterus, thus removing my problem.
In the way I was taking hormones on a static dose, my estrogen was not rising and falling as it once did in nature, and my progesterone was not rising and falling as it did when I was making a full complement of hormones in my youth. (See the diagram.) Because of this, my receptor sites were not opening to receive the progesterone, so the estrogen lining in my uterus kept building and building. Over time, like a motor on "rev," this thickening caused excessive bleeding and sent an alarm to my brain that "all was not well," that this human being was no longer able to reproduce (which is why, according to nature, we exist).
Because I was bleeding constantly, I was not ovulating. Thus I was not a reproductive person, according to my brain. You must understand that the object of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is to fool the brain into thinking I can still make a baby, even though I have no eggs left. As a result of not having a rhythm, and of the thickening and the bleeding, severe hyperplasia, along with adenomyosis (leaks in my uterine lining), came about. This excessive bleeding and hyperplasia created a perfect scenario for cancer, so I had no choice but to remove my uterus, thus removing my problem.
Excerpted from Ageless by Suzanne Somers. Copyright © 2006 by Suzanne Somers. Excerpted by permission of Crown, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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