Re: NEWS: Slight rise in heart problems found in estrogen study

[Barb_MSN <Barb_MSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Beverly....

I've been using the estrogen PATCH ( never have taken an oral ERT)
for about 11 years. and have had PD for approximately 25 years.

Originally I took a patch that needed to be refreshed twice a
week, however, I've been using a change-once-a-week patch.

While I can't say that I've noticed a lessening OR an enhancement
of PD symptoms by during the first few days after a patch
change,.I CAN say the each patch works for about 5 1/2 days, and
then I get notice an "antsy-Parkinson-y" feeling which only goes
away when I refresh the old patch.with a new one.

The thing that comes into my mind in instances such as this, is
what if someone took, say, a coupla Tylenol, or popped a few Tums,
or even just used the same make-up, or soaps on a regular daily
basis?

I know there's such a thing as a "rebound headache", where folks
who take drugs ( and it makes no difference whether they use an
OTC drug or a prescription drug) for frequent headaches often
experience kinda of a "carry-over" of that headache for days after
the original dose of med has done the job.    And the only way to
stop getting that carry-over headache is to not take any drugs for
it.

Weird....

Barb Mallut
barb_msn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

THAT'S how habitual the human body is
-----Original Message-----
From: Beverly Forte <bforte@xxxxxxxx>
To: PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, April 06, 2000 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: NEWS: Slight rise in heart problems found in estrogen
study


>Severa; years agp I was on Premarin for a year or so and there
seemed to be
>an enhanced effect on my medications - my symptoms improved. Do
you know of
>any research or anectodal info on a relationship between
symptoms, meds, and
>hormone levels?
>
>Beverly
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: janet paterson <janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Date: Thursday, April 06, 2000 10:06 AM
>Subject: NEWS: Slight rise in heart problems found in estrogen
study
>
>
>>Slight rise in heart problems found in estrogen study
>>
>>WASHINGTON (April 4, 2000 1:30 p.m. EDT
) - Older
>women taking estrogen in one of the nation's largest medical
studies were
>slightly more likely to suffer heart attacks, strokes or blood
clots during
>their first two years of treatment compared with women who took a
placebo,
>according to preliminary findings.
>>
>>The findings are preliminary and the risk was very small - in
fact, it
>seems to go away after the first two years of hormone use.
>>
>>But the preliminary findings add to growing questions about
estrogen's
>effect on the heart. Two other recent studies found no evidence
estrogen
>helped the hearts of postmenopausal women who already have heart
disease.
>>
>>Yet the hope behind estrogen was not that it could help existing
heart
>disease but that it could prevent or delay it, something the
Women's Health
>Initiative is studying.
>>
>>And experts stressed Tuesday that it is too early to change how
women and
>their doctors decide who should try estrogen - already a complex
decision.
>>
>>An estimated 16 million postmenopausal women already take
hormone
>replacement therapy, either estrogen alone or combined with
progestin.
>Hormone replacement can reduce menopausal symptoms, such as hot
flashes and
>vaginal dryness and can reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Some
previous
>studies suggested it reduced the risk of heart disease, and it is
being
>studied as possible protection against Alzheimer's disease. But
it also can
>increase the risk of breast cancer.
>>
>>"We don't know how this is going to play out," cautioned
Elizabeth Ross of
>the American Heart Association. "I don't think there's anything
here to make
>us change our clinical practice. ... It's a patient-to-patient
decision."
>>
>>The initiative is a huge, federally sponsored study of women's
health
>issues, and 27,000 women are participating in the hormone-therapy
portion.
>Those women all were mailed letters Friday notifying them of the
preliminary
>findings.
>>
>>Only a little more than 1 percent of the 27,000 participants
have suffered
>either a heart attack, stroke or blood clot regardless of whether
they were
>given hormones or a placebo, said the initiative's acting
director, Jacques
>E. Rossouw.
>>
>>But the frequency of these health problems was slightly higher
in
>hormone-treated women than placebo-treated women, Rossouw said,
although he
>refused to provide actual figures.
>>
>>The initial increased risk "seems to go away" after the first
two years of
>hormone treatment, Rossouw said. But he cautioned that the study
isn't
>slated to end until 2005, so results could change.
>>
>>Another recent study of estrogen in heart-disease patients also
found the
>first two years of treatment posed a heart attack risk that
decreased with
>longer hormone use.
>>
>>Although estrogen has long been known to cause blood clots,
"these findings
>for heart attacks and strokes were not expected ... when you
first jointed
>this landmark study," say letters to the participants.
>>
>>However, independent safety monitors concluded the study should
continue,
>and the letters urged women not to withdraw.
>>
>>"We really owe it to the public out there to continue so we have
definitive
>answers," Rossouw said.
>>
>>
>>Copyright 2000 Nando Media
>>Copyright 2000 Associated Press
>><
3744-501291
>186-0,00.html>
>>
>>janet paterson
>>53 now / 41 dx / 37 onset
>>a new voice: 
>>613 256 8340 PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario Canada K0A 1A0
>>