Participants: James Marcum & Charles Mills
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP00051A
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00:17 Fatigue, insomnia, moodiness, hot flashes OR
00:22 coronary artery disease, breast cancer, stroke, 00:26 pulmonary embolism... Do we really have to choose? 00:30 Stay tuned... 00:32 I'm Dr. James Marcum 00:33 Are you interested in discovering the reason why? 00:37 Do you want solutions to your healthcare problems? 00:40 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:42 Well, you're about to be given the "Ultimate Prescription" 00:50 Hormone replacement therapy, hot topic these days, 00:54 has been for over a decade, do we or don't we? 00:58 What do studies say? What do doctors say? 01:02 More importantly, what does God say? 01:05 Let's look into this matter with one eye on science, 01:08 and the other eye on the biblical principles of health. 01:11 Dr. Marcum, lead the way! 01:13 Well, you know, this is a very interesting topic. 01:18 There's not going to be, sometimes, a right or wrong. 01:21 It might be a little bit gray, but let's look and see what 01:23 some people are saying about it, 01:25 and then put our sort of spin on it today, Charles. 01:28 Denise Grady has recently reported in the New York Times 01:33 on a new study released in the 01:35 Journal of the American Medical Association 01:38 Now that is our main medical journal that we use to get 01:41 information. 01:43 And this report is to include the extended follow-up 01:47 6-8 years after the original federally funded 01:51 Women's Health Initiative. 01:53 That was the big, large study 01:55 that really shook things up a few years ago. 01:58 And this basically was a study that showed that 02:00 for years hormones were given to women carte blanche. 02:06 Everyone was feeling good about that, 02:08 then they published this Women's Health Initiative 02:10 and said that there are some risks, 02:12 and since then there have been 02:13 debates on both sides of the fence. 02:15 Some people say, "Oh, these are too dangerous to be given" 02:18 and back and forth. 02:20 So one of the things I think we have to do is at least 02:22 talk about it and see what people are saying, 02:24 and see if we can come to some type of conclusion. 02:28 So Denise Grady reported on this background, 02:32 and just to give people some background... 02:34 It was in 2002 that the Women's Health Initiative was released, 02:39 and it really put a lot of scare into women taking these hormones 02:42 as well as the doctors. 02:45 The study followed 16,608 women; 02:49 that's how many people were in the study. 02:51 They were aged from age 50 to 79, 02:55 a typical postmenopausal age. 02:58 And they concluded after the study of these 16,000, 03:01 that hormone replacement therapy, 03:04 giving it to these women, increased the risk of the 03:06 things you talked about... coronary artery disease, 03:09 breast cancer, uterine cancer, stroke, pulmonary embolism 03:14 blood clots in the lung. 03:16 And from 2001-2008, there was about a 70% reduction 03:23 in the number of women on hormone replacement therapy, 03:26 and then guess what happened? 03:29 All of a sudden, a new industry started to come up. 03:32 Instead of hormone replacement, we had things like 03:35 bioidentical hormones and other things sort of came 03:38 to replace this because the problem was still there, 03:41 but there was no real treatment for these symptoms, 03:44 so we had new problems and some of the treatments 03:48 that were needed were treatments for fatigue, 03:51 insomnia, moodiness, hot flashes, decreased libido, 03:57 temperature variations, lots of other female-related 04:01 issues and, I'm not a female, but I've talked to patients, 04:05 and these can be devastating, 04:07 and they can just take someone's life away. 04:09 Now some people aren't affected as much as others, 04:13 but this is a big problem. 04:14 Well, the reduction in these hormone replacement therapies 04:18 resulted in a total of 60% money less being spent 04:22 or about 83.3 billion dollars. 04:26 So all of a sudden these new products to treat these symptoms 04:30 quickly developed. 04:32 Some had some science behind it, 04:33 some didn't have science behind it. 04:37 Also, people continue to argue that hormone replacement 04:41 therapy could not improve symptoms; 04:44 they made a bunch of arguments about all this stuff. 04:47 Well, so it really put pressures on doctors because if a 04:51 lady had had a heart attack, 04:53 and they were taking hormone replacements... 04:55 ...If I said you can still have it and they have a heart attack, 04:59 I'm a bad doctor! 05:00 But what if the symptoms were so devastating, 05:03 that the symptoms were riskier to her 05:06 than actually taking the pill? 05:08 These were sort of some of the dilemmas that we had to face on. 05:12 Many natural treatments are out there, 05:15 and they reported in this study including black cohosh, 05:19 some people take that, some people find relief from that. 05:22 Red clover, valerian, hops, chasteberry. 05:26 There is breathing exercises that are out there. 05:28 Relaxation techniques. 05:31 Lots of things become widespread. 05:33 Bioidentical hormones - you've probably heard of that. 05:36 But, the Mayo Clinic says that 05:38 they're really not safer than regular hormones. 05:41 So this was all the background that this article 05:44 looking at these people moving forward. 05:46 So now we have a report looking at these people 8 years... 05:49 What happened to them? 05:50 Well, Denise Grady reported that for every 10,000 women 05:55 taking hormone replacements, ... 10,000 05:58 there were 6 additional heart problems in 10,000, 06:03 9 more strokes, 9 more blood clots, 06:07 and 9 more cases of breast cancer in all those years. 06:12 The numbers didn't sound that big, did they? No 06:14 On the plus side, there were 06:17 6 few cases of colorectal cancer, that was good. 06:21 Six fewer hip fractures - that seemed to help the bones some. 06:24 And the Harvard researchers that did this study concluded 06:28 that the finding should not be used as a basis for 06:32 denying women treatment if they're in early menopause, 06:36 and having significant distressing symptoms. 06:39 The early studies did not look at treating people early on, 06:42 and that's why it's so important when people 06:45 are talking about studies and data that we really 06:48 look at this objectively and have someone look at the 06:51 study that can actually look at it intelligently. 06:53 So here's the study that people are criticizing it - 06:57 you know there are some just criticizing going on, 07:01 and now they're saying that early in menopause, 07:03 you know it didn't justify when you look at the absolute 07:05 number and it wasn't that large. 07:08 Well, the debate continues as hormone replacement 07:11 is a boom to women's comfort. 07:14 Now, we're talking about men having the problems, 07:17 the male menopause and testosterone replacements. 07:20 What is the answer? 07:23 Boy, what is the answer to this question? 07:25 Now let's talk a little bit about this... 07:28 What is the real answer? 07:29 Well, for years and years, in the history of the earth, 07:34 we did not have these hormone replacements, we did not have it 07:39 BUT, the earth was much different as far as toxins, 07:43 as far as the spread of different things from 07:46 person to person, as well as turning on and off hormones, 07:49 the world was a different place too. 07:51 But I try to tell people, women that are having that, 07:54 I say, "Well, let's try to do things as 07:56 much natural as we can. " 07:59 Exercise is one of the best things 08:00 I think that helps menopause out - doing a lot of exercise. 08:04 Of course, eating a health diet that helps. 08:06 But there are some people that despite that, 08:08 they're still having terrible, terrible symptoms. 08:11 And sometimes, I think in some people, 08:14 the symptoms are so bad, and it's ruining their lives 08:16 in so many ways, that the benefit of taking 08:19 a hormone replacement is worth the risk, 08:22 and that has to be very much individualized, 08:24 but I want the people before they go to that, 08:26 to try everything that they can within their own power 08:29 to get through this. 08:31 So this is a big issue, Charles. 08:33 There is lots of money involved in this issue. 08:36 There are drugs involved in this issue. 08:38 It's going to continue, and it's a shame, 08:41 it's a shame, what I don't really understand, 08:43 I don't think I have the answer for it is... 08:45 Well why, for many, many years, we never had this? 08:50 Male testosterone too - we never had this before. 08:53 Why do we need it? Is this a manufactured problem? 08:56 Well, that's the debate... 08:57 Is it manufactured, is there something in our 09:00 food supply that maybe people are eating... 09:03 We know that hormones are passed from animals to humans, 09:06 maybe that's upsetting balance, 09:08 maybe the mental stress that's going on in this world is 09:11 changing the way we affect... Needless to say... 09:14 I think of all of the above on that... Yes 09:15 I think all of the stuff that we're doing, 09:17 and that's why it makes these medical issues so tough 09:21 to deal with. 09:22 So in my practice, for hormone replacement therapy, 09:25 I'm trying not to do it, especially if they have 09:27 risk factors, but if they're early-on, 09:30 I think the data early-on in menopause 09:31 that says it's an okay thing to do, 09:33 and then if women have just terrible, terrible symptoms, 09:37 you have to say - Which is going to cause you worse, 09:40 ...getting so angry and getting these hot flashes, 09:43 and having the adrenalin go up so high, 09:45 or the actual risk of it? 09:47 And they never really studied 09:48 women that had the most severe symptoms. 09:50 You know, looking at that study, it shows conclusively 09:55 that of those 10,000 women, 09:57 9,950 of them did NOT have a problem with it. Right 10:04 Just because there's a potential problem, 10:06 doesn't mean you should not do it. 10:09 OR should you, I mean... 10:12 How do you come from a study like that and decide for you? 10:16 You say, "Well, I'm not a lucky person, 10:17 I'm probably going to have the problem" 10:19 And that's why I think that you, sometimes, 10:22 are your own best doctors. 10:24 Remember, it's sad to say, but sometimes your own doctor 10:27 doesn't look at all the details and know everything that 10:30 he needs to know about you inside. 10:32 But you try the natural stuff first! 10:34 I mean, I would not just jump into this stuff. 10:36 No, you know, you can try the exercise. 10:38 You can try the natural stuff, and then sometimes despite that 10:42 it still doesn't do the job. 10:43 Then you make a decision. Right 10:45 And then you have to make, sometimes, these tough decisions 10:48 and looking at the data. 10:49 And what I tell people, I say listen... 10:51 "The data shows that you've had a heart problem before, 10:55 you are going to be at a higher risk" 10:58 But there's never been a study that shows lots of women that 11:00 had this kind of symptom that tried to do everything this... 11:03 So you have to make a decision based on the risk and benefits 11:08 and MAYBE you don't have all the data. 11:11 You know, maybe you don't make decisions without data. 11:14 And I think THAT is the art of medicine... 11:17 is working with people based on the relationship 11:20 you have with them and coming up with something that's reasonable 11:24 I've had some people, you know, they used to have 11:26 another medicine that had inflammation 11:28 that they took off the market several years ago. 11:31 And some people had such bad inflammatory arthritis 11:35 that they would rather take that because the risk of that. 11:38 No one has ever studied certain things. 11:40 So there are certain things that has to be 11:42 between a patient and a doctor based on a relationship. 11:46 That relationship - you know, I don't know the answer, 11:48 but I think it's reasonable. 11:50 Now some doctors are so rigid, that they don't do it. 11:53 I'm afraid that in our world, that we're losing 11:56 relationships. 11:57 We're losing that aspect of medicine, 11:59 and it's going to be - "Well, you're this, 12:01 you can't have this, you can have this, 12:03 you can't have this" 12:04 But I wanted to bring this up today just to let people 12:08 know it's not all black and white sometimes. 12:10 So there was no part of the study that says... 12:12 If you do the natural things, this is what happens to you? 12:15 No, they didn't look into that and most of the things 12:18 that come naturally, no one funds those studies. 12:22 People that exercise, that eat well, that do this... 12:27 and that's why some of the best studies out there 12:30 have never been done, nor will they ever do. 12:32 I would LOVE, Charles, to take these studies that we have 12:35 about exercise and diet and a day of rest, and service, 12:39 and worship and look at these logs and say... 12:41 "Listen, these are people that did this. 12:43 This is their heart attack rates. 12:44 These are the people that did this, 12:46 and this is the heart attack rates" 12:47 I know what the answers would show. Yes 12:49 I know what the answers would show but there is not a 12:51 financial gain to be doing that, so no one is going to pay. 12:54 Now, there are some people that are doing these; 12:56 looking at groups of people. 12:58 Yeah, the Adventist Health Study #2 12:59 And that's going to be a very interesting study 13:01 to show these things and that will give us some information 13:04 to give to other people to let them know 13:07 that, yes, you're on the right path - this is reasonable. 13:09 Well, preliminary results from the Adventist Health Study #2 13:12 are showing conclusively that the closer you get back 13:14 to God's ideal, the healthier you are across the board! 13:18 And that is an important study to let other people know, 13:20 and that validates what many people 13:22 have been saying all along. 13:25 So it's not always... sometimes things in life 13:27 are a little bit on the gray side. 13:29 It's not always in the black and 13:30 white for every individual person. 13:33 That's what sin brought into this world, 13:35 a grayness into our lives. 13:37 It no longer was black and white - there's this gray area 13:39 Sin makes sure there's lots of gray area there. 13:42 We'll come back with your questions from 13:43 heartwiseministries. org 13:45 in just a minute, so stay tuned... |
Revised 2014-12-17