Book Of Spells
Words are magic, that’s why it’s called spelling
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Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
THE HIGH PROTEIN $$$ HEAVY LIFTING FAD
Obviously, it doesn’t take money, meat, and memberships to stay fit and healthy as we age.
Thursday, October 17, 2024
THE ENEMY FROM WITHIN
Sunday, October 13, 2024
FALSE ADVERTISING
Alcohol is by far the most dangerous and destructive drug on the planet. Why? Because it's glorified and heavily marketed as something we need in order to have fun, be sexy, tough, popular, cool, and respectable. But the fact is, that it offers none of those things, quite the opposite. People who drink are fearful. They fear being in social circumstances unless they are under the influence. They fear they can't have fun, have sex, socialize, relax, sleep, live. But ingesting alcohol is like pouring gasoline on anxiety. It destroys quality sleep. It doesn't make you good in bed, it makes you sloppy, lazy and incompetent. The alcohol industry deceives us about what we look like when we consume their product. Are they ashamed of how their own customers behave and look when intoxicated on their product? It doesn't make you sexy, it makes you ugly and act like an idiot. It doesn't make you more fun, it makes you obnoxious, loud, blubbery, gluttonous, unfaithful, deceitful, argumentative and aggressive. But they won't put those truth bomb ads on TV commercials. Why not?
Friday, October 11, 2024
THE ADDICT BRAIN
Saturday, October 5, 2024
PERSUASIVE POISONED PEOPLE
It’s ludicrous to think people reward themselves by drinking ethanol to “wind down and relax.” Society even validates them. I see people out in restaurants drinking poison, at weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, sports games, concerts, etc because it’s legal and glorified, just like cigarettes once were, before we knew better. Doctors even justified sucking on cancer sticks for weight loss. Science is finally exposing alcohol for what it is..a dangerous carcinogenic highly addictive drug with zero health benefits.
Like with cigarettes, corporate greed deceives the masses at the expense of peoples health and safety. Ethanol is the new tobacco and soon, people who drink the poison will be ostracized, belittled, shamed, and excluded from gatherings and public spaces. There’s huge movements and celebrities today endorsing a life of sobriety, and not one word of regret.. just powerful testimonies of lives being saved and transformed.
People who cling tightly to the lie “everything in moderation” are delusional because even cigarettes in moderation can cause cancer not to mention second hand smoke. Ethanol in moderation still causes drunk driving fatalities, spousal/child abuse, and disease.
Others smugly like to persuade us by using gramma as an example who lived to a ripe old age of 95 while imbibing daily. Sure, there are people like Keith Richards, but are you gonna gamble your life on a bet when evidence clearly shows the harm drinking poison brings to the average person? Not to mention those near and dear who are forced to deal with the charades of the drinker.
Then there’s menopausal women who say their nightly glass or two or three or four of wine is the ONLY thing that keeps them sane, which is just a confession of their addiction. What’s scary is a lot of these women also take HRT which has been proven when combined with alcohol, triples the risk for breast cancer along with dementia. Menopause is like a check engine light alerting us to our toxic lifestyle. Joint pain, brain fog, depression, anxiety, weight gain and all the other “normal” ailments of menopause makes women vehemently demand HRT. But many men and 20 year-olds suffer these same conditions due to drinking and eating ultra processed fat laden crap. How about we make better life choices, get off the couch and give up the booze.
Another favorite excuse to drink the poison is for relaxation, or fun in the bedroom. If you need to drink poison to distort your cognitive and bodily functions you are severely drug dependent or with the wrong people.
Children know how to have fun and laugh and play and be creative without drinking poison. Adults lose this natural ability when they become addicted to alcohol. Sad.
As with all drugs, detoxification is the only way to get back to the authentic self. Re-learn healthy habits and unlearn bad ones. Simple, not easy.
Trillions of people gave up cigarettes once they learned the truth and have no regrets whatsoever because they now know better. Alcohol is on its way to being the next big lie to join the fall. Those who remain dependent on the poison will be ostracized and shamed just as cigarette smokers are.
There will be no need for AA meetings, because sober people will not feel they are missing out. They won’t be looked at as diseased and unfortunate members of society who can’t “handle” their alcohol. They will be seen as normal and healthy and wise individuals. Those who still drink the poison will be seen as diseased, unfortunate, and uneducated.
There will be signs posted in public places, and on aircraft, “no drinking allowed” and people who do will be heavily fined as alcohol is prohibited.
Personally, I believe all drugs should be legal. There have been numerous studies on this but that’s a whole other issue. Fact is, prohibition does not work, druggies will find a way to get their fix at all costs no matter who they harm.
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
STARVING PEOPLE WILL EAT ANYTHING
Healthy people are their own source of fulfillment. They no longer look to others to feel whole. The ability to get this healthy takes years of experience, failures, and self awareness. It also brings much more genuine and satisfying interactions with others. Healthy people don’t need to deceive others by acting like someone they’re not in order to be liked because they’re not afraid of being rejected or alone. Healthy people enjoy being alone, so there's no need to manipulate or control anyone to be with them. Healthy people have no empty void to fill, so the time they spend with others is because they genuinely want to, not because they’re feeling lonely. Healthy people enjoy helping others therefore never feel resentment or bitterness, because the good deeds aren't done to gain something in return. Healthy people can tell if someone is genuine or a fake. Unhealthy people with no self respect or integrity are starving for love and acceptance. Starving people will eat anything, even poison (abuse). Fake flattery and cheesy charm taste like shit to healthy people. But to starving people, they eat it up. Healthy wise women no longer accept abuse or disrespect of any kind from anyone when WE become our own source of joy, and contentment. There is great power in this way of life! Stay healthy ✌️
You don’t have to live like everybody else. In fact, you’ll probably be happier if you don’t.”
-Joshua Becker
“Sometimes happiness is about less, not more. Less stuff. Less striving. Less waiting for tomorrow when there’s a lot to appreciate and enjoy today.”
-Lori Deschene
“Realize that you—and only you—are responsible for your own happiness. Do the things you love and that you find meaningful, partner or not. Yes, having a wonderful relationship can be one of life’s greatest joys and blessings. But no one else is capable of, nor should be responsible, for making you happy. That is your job.” -Eric Teplitz
Sunday, September 29, 2024
ADDICTS IN DENIAL
It’s always bewildering when drinkers congratulate me on my sobriety, saying how proud they are of me. Meanwhile, they themselves can't live without booze. It's actually really annoying. It's like a crack addict congratulating someone who no longer uses crack. As if there's nothing wrong with using crack, but something wrong with those who can't “control” their crack. See how twisted it sounds? You don't need to be an alcoholic to have a drinking problem. Meaning, you don't need to drink every single day to be addicted to alcohol. Most social drinkers are addicted to alcohol and wreak havoc on the lives of many. It's finally been proven, there are zero benefits to drinking. It's also been labled the most dangerous drug of all drugs when you take into account the ripple effect. Drunk driving fatalities, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, etc. It's no surprise to me since I've used most every drug out there, and have been around all types of drug users to see the effects each one brings.
I have only met 2 people in my life who can stop at one drink. The majority can't. Those who say they don't have a drinking problem, I say try going 3 months without a drink, or better yet, stop after one drink and see how it goes. Most drinkers can't imagine it, let alone do it. Drinkers who congratulate those of us who no longer drink, believe they are “special” because they can "handle their alcohol", but upon observation they obviously can not. Anyone who can't have fun or get through life unless they use alcohol are drug addicts. And the mere thought of others who are able to function and enjoy life without alcohol, makes drinkers defensive. So they pat us on the back and try convincing us that they can take it or leave it. Sure they can..these addicts need to feel superior and in control, through denial, in order to protect their fragile egos. Addiction kills pride, and people with injured pride try building themselves up through denial and silly lies. Sadly, they also like to deny the chaos and misery they bring into the lives of everyone around them. Drug addicts are extremely selfish untrustworthy toxic people.
But shouldn't I show more compassion to addicts, since I was once one myself? No, I don't need to show compassion for drug addicts living in denial because they are dangerous selfish deceitful liars who bring great harm and destruction to the lives of many. I do, however, have compassion for addicts who admit they have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and are making efforts to get sober, and better their lives. These are courageous people of integrity worthy of much respect and admiration. Drug addicts are not the victims, they are the perpetrators. Until they admit the harm they cause with a desire to change. The true victims are their loved ones and all who come in contact with the addict. These victims suffer greatly because the addict has no intent on changing or stopping, and NO amount of compassion will make them change.
Saturday, September 21, 2024
THE SUBSTANCE
I saw Demi Moore's new movie last night, "The Substance" Let me just say, it was full of hidden messages that make it worth seeing, once you get beyond the ridiculously insane visual effects. It's a sci-fi horror flick, but I consider it more of a reality drama, and much more sad than scary. Demi plays a woman who is facing the horrifying truths about ageing in a youth obsessed world. She, like billions of women, struggles with letting go of her youthful appearance, and chooses to take a substance that will give her back her childlike skin and teenage body. Demi, like most, forgets that we don't lose ourselves when we age. We are still the same person we always were. But she tries killing off her "old" looking self and re-creates a new and improved younger version of herself. But as always, it backfires. The Substance ends up making her look like a monster.
BTW.. this comes days after Sean P. Diddy Combs, was sent to the country’s most dangerous “hell on earth” prison and denied bail twice for sexually torturing, abusing, and exploiting young women for decades, sending an enormous warm wave of justice and validation to women everywhere.
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
“SOCIAL DRINKERS”
Let’s stop normalizing "social drinking”as if it’s benign and harmless. Social drinking can cause alcohol related deaths by disease, spousal abuse or drunk driving. Social drinking can destroy marriages and families. Social drinking can cause violence and harm to innocent bystanders. There is nothing normal about drinking a poison that impairs judgment and self-control, increases impulsiveness and recklessness. I've never seen alcohol bring out the best in anyone. I dont have to run down the list of obnoxious behaviors that it brings out of people, we've all been there and we've all witnessed it in others way too many times. Just because someone only drinks socially, doesn't mean they are not dependent on the drug. They need it to function in a social setting. Without it they can't have fun, or be comfortable in their own skin. That's a classic sign of addiction, there are many levels of it. Let's stop justifying and normalizing drug addiction just because it's only done "socially". Most drug users prefer to be around their own kind. If you enjoy being around your drunken friends and family go for it. I personally find it very boring but that’s just me. Also, there's an extremely low percentage of social drinkers who can stop at just one, most go beyond the limit and become a completely different person.
*****************************
Sobriety is not for the weak. My life got harder and more complicating when I quit drinking because I couldn’t numb myself to the realities of life, with its normal highs and lows. Instead, I had to feel everything and learn how to deal with it, which caused me to learn healthy self soothing skills when life gets tough. When I drank I just ran from life. Now I’m able to accept things and ride the storm knowing “this too shall pass”. Taking the good with the bad, realizing nothing lasts forever. Nobody’s life is all fun and games no matter what social media shows us. It takes balls to live sober! 💪
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
ELON MUSK THE FRAUD
Elon Musk hasn't created or earned anything. He's a snake oil salesman and his company, Tesla, will probably become the next Enron. He was born into a wealthy family who made their own money exploiting Africans. He has never paid a dime in taxes to the American government for operating his Tesla factories in the States because of pro-business loopholes that benefit the ultra-rich. He's already shown that he makes bad decisions. He's built underground tunnels that serve as nothing more than a glorified poop tunnel for his overpriced cars. He didn't even invent or innovate the electric vehicle car technology. His company just found a way to market it better. Going full electric is a long way away everywhere and may cause immense damage to the already pressed grid. I have so many more strikes against Elon. He overpaid for Twitter. He did this with the sole intention of controlling the platform. He's a very influential figure on his own page and now this gives him supreme reign over what can and can't be said on the platform. This may actually ultimately hurt free speech even more than it already has been. He might invite Trump back too and I know many people are dreading that day.
Friday, August 9, 2024
ANGRY VETERAN MESSAGE TO MAGA CULT
“There is no hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance like maga hypocrisy. Maga is a disease that has robbed a lot of people of their dads, stolen by the hatred coming out of Fox News and newsmax or whatever garbage outlets they have. So when a wholesome Americas dad like Tim Walz comes along, Maga starts looking for any crack in the armor. They claim Tim Walz retired because he knew he was going to be deployed to Iraq. Fucking bullshit! Especially considering some of the people regurgitating this horse shit ought to fucking know better. Yea motherfucker, I see you out there, lacking integrity and shit. Fucking scum bags. Tim Walz submitted his retirement requests months prior to the notification of deployment. This is a matter of public record. Maga claim Tim Walz is using a rank he didn’t attain and stolen Valor. Bullshit. And the Minnesota national guard confirmed it. There’s a lot of veterans out there drinking Maga koolaide, losing their integrity. What do you expect from a cult who worships a draft dodging traitor who not only steals money from veteran charities but also mocked a POW, berating gold star families for losing their warrior, and then this same draft dodging pussy calls our fallen warriors suckers and losers. You got a weird boner for walz because he’s a democrat. I see who you really are and you’re fake as fuck. Y’all aren’t patriots. I bet y’all were the same fucking perverts who had a boner for transvestigating an Algerian woman boxer, but didnt say shit about the straight white dutch male who’s a convicted podophile. I didn’t hear you running your fucking mouth then. HMM I wonder why that is?
I know what a hypocrite looks like. You call yourself pro-life, but are totally ok with allowing a gun that can spew bullets faster than anyone can run away be purchased legally by someone who’s criminally insane, with no resrictions. On abortion: Unborn children are easier to save, they don’t require you to do anything but say I”M SAVING THE CHILDREN, yet after they’re born you don’t support any policy that will help them or their parents. It’s fucking BULLSHIT hypocrisy. We see you. Now, republicans claim to be the party of patriotism and loving the veterans but that’s easy to say not easy to do. Especially when your candidate is a draft dodging traitor who doesn’t know the fucking meaning of the word loyalty and patriotism. And now you pricks are going after a man who spent his life as a high school teacher during the week and in the national guard on the weekends doing PUBLIC SERVICE. Something the republican candidates wouldn’t know if it punched them in the dick. Every one of you mother fuckers parroting this shit should be ashamed of yourselves the way you’re carrying on, the mouth piece for a fascist…” continued…
Saturday, July 20, 2024
“BIOIDENTICAL HORMONE” SCAM
“Sadly, Suzanne Somers died from breast cancer. I struggled with how to write about this or if I should write anything at all. And yet her impact on menopause was undeniable, and unfortunately not in a good way. Under the guise of female empowerment, she used her celebrity to advocate for unproven and dangerous hormone regimens. She became an influencer on menopause before being an influencer was even a thing. Somers was the original “bioidentical” and “compounded hormones” juggernaut. If you have heard those words regarding menopause or asked for those hormones, it is almost certainly related to Somers.
Many doctors, none with real expertise, had tried and failed to popularize the concept of “bioidentical” and compounded hormones before her. It wasn’t until Somers started writing about these concepts and, more importantly, getting promoted by celebrity magazines and various major outlets, such as Oprah, Larry King, and ABC News, to talk about it that it went viral before we even knew what that meant. It wasn’t just because of her celebrity, her appearance, her use of medical terminology, or her friendly yet confident demeanor. Somers was interesting to the public because she had estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer, and instead of following the full treatment recommendations, she took estrogen, seemingly in very high doses, something that is universally recommended against. She took the position that women are essentially nothing without hormones, which played into misogynistic tropes that got and still get the attention of the press and the public. And the press positioned her as someone who “did their own research” and might even know more than doctors. This was the dawn of the era of “doing your own research” for your health, but instead of discussing what that might actually entail, like listening to real experts and developing a strong understanding of reproductive biology, the public could buy into Somers's words and by proxy, they had done their own research too.
Somers almost single-handedly vaulted a fringe, untested medical hypothesis into the mainstream. This is important because, according to Google Trends, searches for bioidentical hormones have spiked since the announcement of her death. Some people are paying homage to her “menopause advocacy,” and others are posting about how her “regimens” saved them. This means many people are clearly unaware of the dangerous and unproven nature of Somers’ recommendations.
Given the possible renewed interest in what she promoted and the truth behind Somers’ research and experts is often glossed over or even completely ignored, I felt it was appropriate to set the record straight.
The Suzanne Somers Effect
I often show this graph when speaking about misinformation on social media and the celebrity effect. It’s a Google Trends search for “bioidentical hormones” back to 2004 (as far back as I can search).
Notice the three biggest spikes, which are in 2004, 2006, and 2009. Each one is linked temporally with Somers. The first spike is in March 2004 and corresponds with the release of her book. “The Sexy Years: Discover the Hormone Connection--The Secret to Fabulous Sex, Great Health, and Vitality, for Women and Men” (March 2004). The second spike (behind the label) is October 2006, when her book “Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones,” was published. The massive January 2009 spike coincides with Somers’ appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, where she was essentially given a free platform to promote medical disinformation about “bioidentical hormones” to Oprah’s following.
The “Research”
Somers used a variety of sources to “research” her medical care over the years, cherry-picking the ones that supported her beliefs. Still, one that seems to have had the greatest impact on her and also stands out in horror is the Wiley Protocol®, which sounds medical but is a hormone regimen designed by T.S. Wiley, a woman without medical training. The Wiley Protocol® is apparently “bio-mimetic HRT” (a nonsensical term) that was a “thought experiment” by Wiley. It involves a series of color-coded syringes with varying concentrations of compounded estradiol and progesterone that are applied to the skin and are purported to raise the serum levels of the hormones cyclically to mimic the levels seen in a twenty-year-old woman.
Somers’ 2006 book, “Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones,” is essentially an infomercial for Wiley, who is introduced as an “anthropologist who focuses on evolutionary biology and environmental endocrinology in molecular medicine and genetics.” That sounds impressive, and Somers promotes Wiley as a scientist, but anthropologists don’t typically recommend medical protocols or instruct pharmacists about compounding hormones. After the press snooped, Wiley changed her biography to state she "Attended the B.A. Program in Anthropology, Webster University, 1970-1975." The Riverfront Times had her lack of degree confirmed by Don Morris, the school's registrar.
The Wiley Protocol is best described as medically absurd, and it’s no shocker that someone with no medical training or expertise conceived it. A deep dive into this “protocol” was published in 2007 in the journal Menopause, and frighteningly, it was being promoted unethically to the unsuspecting public as a study. And yes, some doctors still prescribe the Wiley Protocol® today, and there are pharmacists willing to make it.
Promoting an unstudied, dangerous hormone protocol from a completely unqualified person as science-based is not advocacy.
The Wiley Protocol® is so DANGEROUS that not even Dr. Christianne Northrup would recommend it! Northrup and several other doctors wrote an open letter to Somers’ publisher about the harm involved in the Wiley Protocol. In truth, these doctors might have viewed the Wiley Protocol as competition for their own compounded hormone practices. But still, imagine being too out there for Northrup.
Another of Somers’ experts was Dr. Prudence Hall, who wrote the foreword for Somers’ 2013 book, “I’m Too Young for This!” Dr. Hall was placed on four-year probation by the Medical Board of California in 2018, charged with “gross negligence, repeated negligent acts, and failure to maintain adequate and accurate medical records in the care and treatment of two patients” related to her prescribing of hormones. It is extremely difficult to get suspended by a medical board, so there’s that.
Somers clearly believed deeply in the Wiley Protocol®, in the “miracle” of compounded hormones, and in the doctors who apparently told her what she wanted to hear: that high doses of hormones were healing when what she was taking was not supported by science and was medically concerning. The charitable take here is that she was misled, like so many other women, by medical grifters, and the success of her books and all the media attention just reinforced her idea that she was helping women and had “the answer.”
The Oprah Connection
Somers appeared on Oprah in 2009, where she was positioned as an expert. Here’s Oprah holding up Somers’ recently published book immediately after Somers gave this quote, “The synthetic hormone business is a 20 billion dollar a year business.” There is no mention of how much money T.S. Wiley had made from her patented, yet unstudied, Wiley Protocol®.
The implication from Somers was Pharma wants to harm you and that she has a safe gateway to the fountain of youth. Somers and Winfrey successfully rebranded every misogynistic trope about hormones as feminism, and the absence of medical evidence was not presented as a concern; rather, it was advocacy.
This is why I am also cynical about Oprah’s current foray into menopause education. Allowing Somers to promote an unstudied hormone protocol designed by someone without a college degree doesn’t scream menopause advocacy. And if Oprah didn’t research those things and just elevated Somers because menopause makes bank, then again, that too suggests to me a lack of judgment needed to take the lead on menopause.
Then again, when it comes to health, Oprah has always leaned into the “what they are keeping from you” conspiracy theory aspects, never asking any important questions, just providing the illusion of investigation. For example, the fact that Suzanne Somers developed her breast cancer and precancer of the uterus while taking her “bioidentical hormones” should have been worth discussing but was ignored.
Oprah did give Somers space to discuss her precancer of the endometrium by way of an excerpt from one of her books on Oprah.com. Somers never considered that her cancer could have been caused by high doses of unregulated estrogen and topical progesterone (essentially a recipe for causing endometrial cancer). No, the cause was a medication she received to dry up her milk postpartum, the birth control pill, and not “cycling” her hormones, none of which is biologically plausible. The birth control pill actually reduces the risk of endometrial cancer. Oprah, the menopause champion she is, still has that misinformation up on Oprah.com (or at least she did as of my writing this piece).
The Truth about “Synthetic Hormones”
“Bioidentical hormones” can only be good if “synthetic hormones” are bad. So Somers’ promotion of “bioidentical hormones” included a campaign of disinformation about tested pharmaceuticals, labeling them “synthetic,” when in reality she was also taking “synthetic” hormones. The word synthetic was useful to her as it’s a devil term, meaning a word we automatically think negatively about; it is commonly abused to scare people unnecessarily. Whether something is synthetic or natural is irrelevant. What matters is whether or not a medication has been tested to be safe in humans. Synthetic can mean one of two things:
Made in a lab
A novel compound, for example, levonorgestrel, a hormone used in birth control pills, or bazedoxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator.
The hormones Somers was taking were made in a lab, just like the safe, tested, and regulated Pharma hormones that I prescribe.
To add to the confusion, the process of making hormones also uses similar words, synthesis and semi-synthesis. Semi-synthesis means the starting compound was found in nature and then converted in a lab to another substance. Hormones can also be made by synthesis, meaning from smaller molecules not found in nature. Estradiol made by semi-synthesis and synthesis are identical. The estradiol we prescribe today and have always prescribed is made by semi-synthesis.
If you want natural estradiol, that would have to be extracted from animal or human ovaries, placenta, or urine from pregnant animals or humans. There is no natural estradiol to prescribe because the process of extracting it requires far too much raw material (animal ovaries, placenta, or urine) to make it feasible to scale.
The Truth About “Bioidentical” Hormones
Bioidentical is simply a marketing term that is medically meaningless. Bioidentical implies that the hormones are identical to what your body makes, so people assume they are safer, which is not the case. Here’s what you need to know about them:
No hormone made in a lab can truly be identical to what your body makes, and that’s okay because your body doesn’t know the difference and doesn’t care. It treats estradiol as estradiol, be it lab-made or ovary-made.
If you are stuck on using the term bioidentical, all estradiol and progesterone is bioidentical.
I can kill you with enough estrogen from your ovaries, meaning exactly identical estrogen, by giving it to you in high doses over a long period of time so that you get cancer. Being similar or even identical to a hormone does not make a hormone safe.
You need to know that transdermal estradiol is the first-line therapy for MHT and that conjugated equine estrogens definitely have their place as an option.
Compounded Hormones are Not “Special,” and they are Less Safe
The estradiol in a compounded product is the same as the raw hormone that becomes estradiol in a pharmaceutical product. There is no compounded hormone estradiol tree. Yes, the raw estradiol that was eventually made into the cream Somers used came from the same place as the estradiol used by pharmaceutical companies.
Estradiol from a pharmaceutical company is measured, prepared, and dosed with precision. These products have been rigorously studied so doctors know how much is absorbed in our patients’ bodies. Making a hormone that a human can use with controlled dosing takes years, if not decades, of research; this cannot be safely whipped up on the fly. Compounded products, like those used and promoted by Somers, do not have this research on which to base their recipes, and they don’t have the quality control of Pharma.
All the safety data we have on hormones is with appropriately dosed pharmaceuticals. With compounded hormones, we don’t know if you are getting far more estradiol than has been studied, so we can’t know your risk of cancer or stroke. And if you are getting far less, you risk not getting the estrogen's benefit. The dosing and absorption of these products is erratic. And topical progesterone just doesn’t work because it isn’t absorbed.
It’s Complicated…and It Isn’t
Nothing Somers recommended was evidence-based. EVERY professional medical society recommends against compounded products, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine also recommends against compounded hormones. And as you’ve learned, bioidentical is medically meaningless marketing.
There will likely be people claiming that Somers lived longer because of the compounded hormones that she took. To anyone thinking that it’s equally possible that she would never have had breast cancer recurrence if she had followed her doctors’ advice. The answer isn’t possible to know, so we shouldn’t presume one way or another or rely on anecdotes.
I know that Suzanne Somers was beloved. I have great memories of watching her on Three’s Company, which is why, as a doctor, I was really taken aback by her claims about hormones. My fond memories were replaced by anger as she leveraged her privilege and used it to promote harmful ideas. Ideas that have harmed my patients and countless others. There was no more effective champion for unsafe hormones in menopause than Somers. She almost single-handedly made the lie of bioidenticals being “safer” a thing and vaulted unsafe, unregulated compounded hormones into the daily lexicon. She also paved the way for the second generation of untested, unsafe compounded hormones: pellets.
And doctors like me are still undoing this harm every day.
References
Rosenthal MS. The Wiley Protocol: an analysis of ethical issues. Menopause. 2007;15:1041-1022.
Open letter to Suzanne Somers and publisher https://drerika.typepad.com/notepad/2006/10/letter_to_suzan.html
Riverfront Times https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/weird-and-wiley-science-2574568
Book excerpt from Ageless, the Naked Truth about Bioidentical Hormones, oprah,com https://www.oprah.com/health/excerpt-from-ageless-the-naked-truth-about-bioidentical-hormones-by-suzanne-somers/all
Pinkerton JV, Santoro N. Compounded bioidentical hormone therapy: identifying use trends and knowledge gaps among US women. Menopause. 2015 Sep;22(9):926-36. doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000000420. PMID: 25692877; PMCID: PMC4547729.
The Clinical Utility of Compounded Bioidentical Hormone Therapy: A Review of Safety, Effectiveness, and Use (2020). The National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-67712-7.
FDA actions against compounding pharmacies https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/compounding-inspections-recalls-and-other-actions
Jiang X, Bossert A, Parthasarathy N, et. al. Safety assessment of compounded non-FDA-approved hormonal therapy versus FDA-approved hormonal therapy in treating postmenopausal women. Menopause 28, 8. DOI: 10.1097/GME.0000000000001782
Dohm J, Kim J, Woodcock J. Improving Adverse Event Reporting for Compounded Drugs. JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179(11):1461–1462.
I know you advised against this, but maybe we need a headline that says 'celebrity who promoted compounded hormones dies from cancer after taking compounded hormones.' |
One of my sister-in-laws is at present battling 3 forms of breast cancer after taking compounded hormones for years (roughly from ages 65-71). She's getting them from her "internist," who is not accredited in internal medicine, doesn't take insurance, etc. etc. I vary from rage to weeping over this. As far as I'm concerned, this behavior should be seen as criminal behavior given the harm inflicted upon my sister-in-law. |
I am one of those that fell for the Suzanne Somers bioidentical hormones back in 2005. I have been on them ever since, I am now 67 years young. I have had my doubts about them, now I see the reality of what she was saying is so wrong, WTH was I thinking all these years? I am on Progesterone SR 250MG, Estradiol SR 2.5 MG, all from a compounding pharmacy. I had the Testosterone cream but stopped that a few months back. All the Doctors I have seen over the years for this have all kept me on the same thing. Even did the pellets for a short time. I am so confused now on who to go see, what to take, what to do? Argghhhh Help! |
Another fabulous article. You put your heart & soul and so much of your time into educating us. I am so glad I found you and have been able to crawl out of this misinformation hole that I was also in FOR YEARS! You are so appreciated. |
Totally with you about compounded products - I've used Topical Premarin for years but during a shortage two years ago my doctor (now ex) prescribed a compounded cream that brought back a full blown period at age 63 - I was less than pleased . What really peeved me was that the pharmacist wanted me to use another commercial grade product that I'd already used safely. The compounded product was something his clinic partner recommended as she had a private side practice 'specializing' in menopause. Big learning moment - reading your stack has really reaffirmed my own experiences |
What a sad, sad trajedy. And I have nothing good to say about MD's who have fallen for the snake oil sell. Such useful idiots for Big Natural. I recently had a friend recommend a supplement for osteoporosis. She got the info from someone who "did his own research". But I found out the company was in court with the Federal Trade Commission for false advertising and misrepresenting science. This just makes my blood boil. PS: laughted out loud at the Northrup comment.