As a woman’s body ages, the cyclical supply of her body’s primary sex hormones begins to decline, ultimately diminishing to the point that even life itself can be jeopardized. Until the late 1940s, many women who went through menopause, died shortly thereafter.

Advances in medical knowledge in the late twentieth century showed supplemental estrogen given to women as they entered the menopause phase of life seemed to prolong quality and length of life. The most common form of supplemental estrogen prescribed over the past several decades has been an estrogen product called Premarin; manufactured from PREgnant MARe uRINe.

The whole regimen of supplemental, drug-based hormones is called Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).

Supplemental estrogen HRT programs cause a woman’s body to prepare for holding a fetus, which never comes. In some women after prolonged use of estrogen HRT the swollen uterus would finally develop uterine cancer in response to this constant stimulation by estrogen.

Doctors found that if a woman’s body also received supplemental progesterone for a short period of time each month, the combination of the two supplemental hormones given on a cyclical regimen would mimic the naturally cyclical hormones of the pre-menopausal woman. The combination HRT create a menses to cleanse the uterus virtually eliminating the potential for uterine cancer caused by HRT.

Research has not identified any form of supplemental progesterone hormone which can survive the digestive system, or which could be given transdermally (via a patch) or by injection. A synthetic version of progesterone was developed which could survive the digestive system, called medroxy-progesterone (brand name “Provera”).

These synthetic forms of progesterone are in a class of hormone-like drugs called Progestins. Progestins are preparations — drugs — that have effects allegedly similar to those of the natural hormone progesterone.

Many women have found that using Progestins — usually the prescription drug Provera a.k.a. medroxy-progesterone — causes substantial additional medical and psychological problems. However this drug continues to be highly prescribed.

There are additional problems which may occur during menopause, as well.

Some women find with the significant decline in their body’s estrogen or progesterone or both, there are significant emotional problems. For some women this manifests as depression, in other women this manifests as aggression and anger. For a few unlucky women, there are mood swings between depression and anger…

So the generally accepted Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for menopausal women during the past 2-3 decades, has been a constant supply of supplemental estrogen (most often Premarin), with a 10-14 day cycle of progestin (most usually Provera) added during the month to force menstruation, in order to reduce the potential for uterine cancer.

The maker of Premarin then brought to market a combination drug consisting of Premarin combined with Provera, called “PremPro”, which has become THE dominant  prescription drug for PMS and/or menopause over the past decade. This combination of estrogen plus progestins has been heavily in the news since July 2002, as having caused increased health risks during a major study conducted by the Women’s Health Initiative.

Unfortunately, most of those news reports seemed to implicate all HRT regimens as bad, and as problematic for women.

So is Hormone Replacement Therapy a good thing or a bad thing for women?

Overall results over the past four to five decades seem to strongly indicate that HRT — properly administered and managed — is a very good thing for women; with the caveat that some women will have problems, anyway, during menopause, and that a very few women will fair less well on HRT, than without any supplementation at all.

The quest then is to find the safest form of HRT for those women who need to supplement their body’s declining hormone production as these women age.

Your PMS history is generally a good predictor of how much of a problem your menopause can become.

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to Dianna

Estrogen molecules – hormones – are carried throughout the body by the blood stream,
looking for cells with estrogen receptors.
An estrogen receptor is like a door lock on a human body cell — it will only accept the proper “key”; the proper estrogen hormone molecule.

Many of the other human body cells have cellular receptors which are “master keyed”,
i.e., receptors which are designed to accept any hormone molecule.
An estrogen molecules can then attach to that cellular receptor, like a key going into a lock.

Once the “key” – the estrogen molecule – is attached into the cell’s “lock”,
that cell is “opened” so that it can perform whatever function that particular cell is supposed to perform.
When that cell has completed its function/cycle, the “key” is ejected,
and that particular used up estrogen molecule is washed out of the body
via the blood, liver and kidney systems.

With drug hormones, the body is forced to carry huge amounts of estrogen molecules which may likely never find estrogen receptors…
and the good unused estrogen molecules must then be flushed out of the body.
This is in addition to the liver having to extract the estrogen from the drug/pills in the first place.

Forcing the liver to double-process huge amounts of estrogen over an extended period of time,
can damage the liver irreparably, and the kidneys.
This is why usage of drug hormones is supposed to be monitored by a doctor
- and why drugs are prescription items
- to prevent an individual from overdosing and damaging vital organs.

The human body will normally try to create all the various hormones it can use,
all that it needs, all of the time from the foods we eat.
This is how our bodies are supposed to function, in general.

Herbs – flowers, berries and leaves – are food items.

From certain types/classifications of herbs, called phyto-estrogens, estrogens will be created to the extent that the individual body can utilize them.
Phyto-estrogens are not to be confused with Xeno-estrogens
(which used ti be called psuedo-estrogens), which are estrogen-like mimics
that invade our bodies from various chemicals and pollutants in our environment.

With herbal-source estrogens, phyto-estrogens, the body will only create whatever levels of estrogen it can use at any given time, so that it is not possible to overdose in a harmful way.

But an individual has to ingest enough phyto-estrogenic material to create enough estrogen to make a difference, on a consistent every-day basis.

Traditional store-bought phyto-estrogenic herbs are not powerful enough,
– not potent — enough to do the job of feminizing, unless taken every day in massive quantities.

It is also important to understand that there are no standards for measuring or comparing herbal-based things between brands.

Based on the use of Standardized herbal extracts, especially,
one company’s 25mg herbal product will therefore actually have FAR more of the active ingredients - the “good stuff” – than another company’s 500mg herbal product.
It is simply not possible to compare herbal things from brand to brand in any meaningful way.

Why do these Herbal-Source Hormones work?

Improvements in herbal processing technology over the past twenty years have enabled formulators to extract the active ingredients from various herbs
- the “good stuff” – so that the benefits of the various herbs can be
obtained without having to consume massive quantities of each herb.

German research has shown that the active ingredients of various phyto-estrogenic herbs,
when mixed in proper ratios, became synergystic;
i.e., the total mixture worked better than any of the herbs could have worked on their own.

Evanesce has been formulated based upon all of this research.

The Standardized extracts of the best available herbs,
mixed in appropriate ratios,
brings results which are far superior to anything available from store herbs.

The Evanesce formulation is a clear step above traditional herbal usage.
This very unique formulations cannot be duplicated using store herbs
- the herbal herbal measurement ratios in Evanesce are based on using Standardized extracts and concentrated extracts of the various herbs.

Many women have found Evanesce to be extremely beneficial to managing their PMS and/or menopause symptoms.