First let’s say that this is not something doctors don’t know, but this is the first time they have actually investigated it. The key lies in the side effects of these drugs and it something users of natural bioidentical hormones are very aware of.
Natural progesterone does not have any reported side effects after many years of use throughout the world. It is known to have the effect of dampening down the stimulating effect of oestrogen breast tissues –and this is exactly what you wish to achieve to give yourself maximum protection against breast cancer.
This is the largest, most scientifically rigorous study to examine the question and the first to actually ask the women themselves. It reports that 36 percent of women stop taking the drugs (aromatase inhibitors that stop the production of estrogen – such as Tamoxifen) early on in treatment. It is entirely down to the side effects, which are more severe and widespread than previously known.
Maybe not to doctors, but certainly well known to the patients and this may be because there is a big gap between what women tell their doctors about side effects and what they actually experience.
According to lead investigator Lynne Wagner, an associate professor in medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, “Clinicians consistently underestimate the side effects associated with treatment. They give patients a drug they hope will help them, so they have a motivation to underrate the negative effects. Patients don’t want to be complainers and don’t want their doctor to discontinue treatment. So no one knew how bad it really was for patients.” In fact in a previous study, doctors reported 5 percent of their patients experienced moderate to severe symptoms as a result of taking aromatase inhibitors, which falls far short of what the women themselves reported in the study.
The reality is that by the time women get through chemotherapy or radiation, they have to face five more years of another medication that will make them feel ill and most have had enough by that time. The symptom most likely to cause women to stop using the drugs was joint pain with other side effects compromising quality of life including hot flashes, decreased libido, weight gain, feeling bloated, breast sensitivity, mood swings, irritability and nausea.
Sadly the researchers do not intend extending their study to women using bioidential natural progesterone but if you would like to read an informed article on how it helps prevent breast cancer then this one by Dr David Zava will tell you all you need to know here: