Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Estrogen hormone replacement method affects growth hormone replacement

According to a study reported on MedPage Today, the method/route of replacing estrogen may affect the amount of growth hormone (GH) needed as a replacement therapy.  Many folks with Cushing's are also GH deficient and take GH replacement shots.  These main points were made to clinicians:
  • Explain to interested patients that estrogen replacement in women taking growth hormone supplementation may affect the growth hormone dosing requirement.
  • Explain that this study did not find that any particular type of estrogen replacement was unsafe.
  • Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Transdermal (vs. oral) estrogen replacement showed a significantly lower dosage need for GH replacement.  Also, "there were modest trends suggesting lower triglycerides and LDL cholesterol with the transdermal estrogens."

This study has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet, but was presented at a conference.



2 comments:

  1. Oh, I need to start using my estrogen gel again. It's like free GH. ;-)

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  2. No, Lisa...what it's saying is that transdermal vs oral makes a difference in the dose. The oral works in a way that blocks some of the replacement, but the transdermal doesn't. Sorry if I was unclear with it.

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