This is fascinating of course. I am now 67 but I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 50, and took aromatase inhibitors for 5 years to nix estrogen in my body. What should people with estrogen-fed cancers do?
Does this beg the question also about balancing the protective effects of hormone replacement with the harmful effects of prolonged exposure to hrt etc on eg gynecological cancers in general? Or am I wrong as I have a vague memory of reading that hrt can be protective against ovarian cancer?
Thank you so much for writing this!! My mom died of Alzheimer’s and she had early surgical menopause — probably late 30’s. I’ve been obsessed with hormone replacement since I had a full hysterectomy at 48.
The last thing I said to my surgeon was “Don’t forget the patch!” And I’ve been on HRT including testosterone ever since. Im 62. What boils my hide is how much I have to pay for it with insurance (I’m in the US) and that I have to go to a specialist to get testosterone- my regular doc wont prescribe it. Sigh. I also can’t believe how none of my friends listen to me when I quote these studies to them. !! Anyway THANK YOU!!
Thx you for sharing Kate! Such great practical articles and like you, avidly doing all I can from scoffing salmon, slapping on hormones and exercising like a beast! 🙃 I know your sadness with losing your mum to this cruel disease. 💔
My mum was formally diagnosed recently (we knew it was coming) with vascular dementia and Alzheimers. It’s so heartbreaking to witness….a prolonged grief and loss process for all. 💔
I’m so sorry to hear that and glad you’re looking after yourself too. I think there’s something more we can do to open up the conversation for all the children of Alzheimer’s. Thinking about that.
I’m so sorry for what you went through as a family with your brilliant mother, we went through the same with mine. Dr Mosconi is doing such fantastic work – do you also read Annie Fenn here on Substack of The Brain Health Kitchen? Thank you so much for sharing this.
This is a great piece but my wife has been put on hormone treatment to prevent a recurrence of the breast cancer with which she was diagnosed this year and I’ve had an enlarged prostate and been prescribed hormonal treatment too. Both of our mothers have dementia - is this a classic case of “they get you one way or another”? It feels as if, having turned 60, our bodies are basically ganging up to remind us that we’re seriously not immortal.
I’m sorry to hear that but reading Part 2 on holistic ways to avoid Alzheimer’s might be useful- here you go and please subscribe to my free Substack as will continue to cover this
Very interesting, thank you. I wondered what your take on progesterone is? I read a recent article on the latest dementia developments by Eric Topol here, in which he cited research saying it increases the likelihood of developing dementia and called progesterone a ‘bad actor’. It’s not the first time I’ve read that. Yet women in the UK are told they must take progesterone with oestrogen if they still have a womb
Yes absolutely you need progesterone to protect the womb if you’re taking estrogen HRT - and it’s good for mood too for a large number of women. Re Alzheimer’s, most of the old studies that have been cited on combined estrogen-progesterone on brain health have been on the old, synthetic progestins like medroxyprogesterone acetate, and there are small studies (mice!) showing progesterone is neutral on amyloid but lowers tau tangles so helpful. In general we need more studies on what body-identical safer hormones do in the brain - including testosterone in women. Looking forward to Dr Mosconi’s latest work!
Me too! And I’ve ordered The Menopause Brain, thank you for the recommendation. Annoyingly I’m one of those women sensitive to progesterone, with low mood and increased brain fog as side effects. Professor Brinton’s research paper was encouraging. I just seem to have read too many things like this meta analysis of RCTs and observational studies (including Brinton’s) concluding that there are protective effects from estrogen therapy but not from estrogen+progesterone therapy. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1260427/full - however this does include the WHIMS study which might skew the results. So yes, agree that we need lots more research into the newer body identical formulations! Remaining hopeful!
This is fascinating of course. I am now 67 but I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 50, and took aromatase inhibitors for 5 years to nix estrogen in my body. What should people with estrogen-fed cancers do?
There’s good news about other ways to lower risk here https://open.substack.com/pub/katemuir/p/how-can-i-avoid-alzheimers-part-2?r=e0wyr&utm_medium=ios
Does this beg the question also about balancing the protective effects of hormone replacement with the harmful effects of prolonged exposure to hrt etc on eg gynecological cancers in general? Or am I wrong as I have a vague memory of reading that hrt can be protective against ovarian cancer?
https://balance-menopause.com/uploads/2021/12/HRT-for-those-with-high-inherited-risk-of-cancer.pdf
Is the answer not drinking?
Thank you so much for writing this!! My mom died of Alzheimer’s and she had early surgical menopause — probably late 30’s. I’ve been obsessed with hormone replacement since I had a full hysterectomy at 48.
The last thing I said to my surgeon was “Don’t forget the patch!” And I’ve been on HRT including testosterone ever since. Im 62. What boils my hide is how much I have to pay for it with insurance (I’m in the US) and that I have to go to a specialist to get testosterone- my regular doc wont prescribe it. Sigh. I also can’t believe how none of my friends listen to me when I quote these studies to them. !! Anyway THANK YOU!!
Thx you for sharing Kate! Such great practical articles and like you, avidly doing all I can from scoffing salmon, slapping on hormones and exercising like a beast! 🙃 I know your sadness with losing your mum to this cruel disease. 💔
My mum was formally diagnosed recently (we knew it was coming) with vascular dementia and Alzheimers. It’s so heartbreaking to witness….a prolonged grief and loss process for all. 💔
I’m so sorry to hear that and glad you’re looking after yourself too. I think there’s something more we can do to open up the conversation for all the children of Alzheimer’s. Thinking about that.
I’m so sorry for what you went through as a family with your brilliant mother, we went through the same with mine. Dr Mosconi is doing such fantastic work – do you also read Annie Fenn here on Substack of The Brain Health Kitchen? Thank you so much for sharing this.
*Brain Health Kitchen! 🧐
fantastic thank you so much
Such a fantstic and eye opening article! Thank you Kate 🙏
This is a great piece but my wife has been put on hormone treatment to prevent a recurrence of the breast cancer with which she was diagnosed this year and I’ve had an enlarged prostate and been prescribed hormonal treatment too. Both of our mothers have dementia - is this a classic case of “they get you one way or another”? It feels as if, having turned 60, our bodies are basically ganging up to remind us that we’re seriously not immortal.
I’m sorry to hear that but reading Part 2 on holistic ways to avoid Alzheimer’s might be useful- here you go and please subscribe to my free Substack as will continue to cover this
https://open.substack.com/pub/katemuir/p/how-can-i-avoid-alzheimers-part-2?r=e0wyr&utm_medium=ios
Very interesting, thank you. I wondered what your take on progesterone is? I read a recent article on the latest dementia developments by Eric Topol here, in which he cited research saying it increases the likelihood of developing dementia and called progesterone a ‘bad actor’. It’s not the first time I’ve read that. Yet women in the UK are told they must take progesterone with oestrogen if they still have a womb
If you don’t take it it significantly increases your chance of developing uterine cancer. No?
Yes that’s right. I’m interested in Kate’s view on research which suggests it increases the chance of developing dementia
Yes absolutely you need progesterone to protect the womb if you’re taking estrogen HRT - and it’s good for mood too for a large number of women. Re Alzheimer’s, most of the old studies that have been cited on combined estrogen-progesterone on brain health have been on the old, synthetic progestins like medroxyprogesterone acetate, and there are small studies (mice!) showing progesterone is neutral on amyloid but lowers tau tangles so helpful. In general we need more studies on what body-identical safer hormones do in the brain - including testosterone in women. Looking forward to Dr Mosconi’s latest work!
Me too! And I’ve ordered The Menopause Brain, thank you for the recommendation. Annoyingly I’m one of those women sensitive to progesterone, with low mood and increased brain fog as side effects. Professor Brinton’s research paper was encouraging. I just seem to have read too many things like this meta analysis of RCTs and observational studies (including Brinton’s) concluding that there are protective effects from estrogen therapy but not from estrogen+progesterone therapy. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1260427/full - however this does include the WHIMS study which might skew the results. So yes, agree that we need lots more research into the newer body identical formulations! Remaining hopeful!
Btw I still take the progesterone. Just put up with the side effects
Fab Kate!