An important warning for women with postmenopausal back pain

If you’re fed up with chronic, nagging back pain, think twice before you turn to addicting pain pills (which nowadays, mainstream doctors seem to be eager to prescribe). Especially, when there’s an equally viable, non-drug solution available to you right now.

I’m talking about physical therapy (PT), which is 100 percent natural, and often extremely effective.

And as I pointed out in a piece I sent you last spring, therapeutic massage, chiropractic adjustment, and yoga are also proven to be highly effective in treating chronic back pain.

But while these approaches bring relief, they may not solve the problem at the source of your pain. And that’s especially true if you’re a woman who’s postmenopausal.

If that’s the case, you may need another strategy that gets to the true root of your problem—a hormone-related degeneration of your lower back’s lumbar discs.

The risk factor of estrogen deficiency

In a recent study that included almost 3,000 men and women with lower back pain, researchers found that after menopause, women were far more likely to experience severe disc degeneration than men of the same age and menopausal women.

For postmenopausal women, severity of disc degeneration was worst in the 15 years after menopause, but less pronounced after 15 years.

Based on their findings, the researchers believe that estrogen deficiency should be considered a risk factor of lumbar disc degeneration.

In an analysis of this study in Dr. Fred Pescatore’s Pain-Free Life Protocol, he agrees with the researchers, and adds this observation: “It’s the stage in a woman’s life when hormone levels endure a seismic shift. Plummeting estrogen levels lead to all the common symptoms we think of when we think ‘menopause’—and symptoms we don’t usually think of, like disc degeneration.”

And here again, many doctors reach for the prescription pad to begin treating with hormone replacement therapy, or HRT.

As Dr. Pescatore notes, replenishing estrogen seems like a sensible next step—especially in the first 15 years after menopause—or as he calls it, the “sweet spot” for HRT.

But he cautions that HRT has a flipside—and a history of controversial red flags.

Bioidentical HRT isn’t your mother’s HRT

In Dr. Pescatore’s view, using synthetic hormone replacement not only provides a boost to Big Pharma’s bottom line, but from a public health perspective, it’s a complete disaster.

For instance, more than 15 years ago, the National Institutes of Health determined that an HRT called Prempro caused breast cancer in otherwise healthy women.

Fortunately, there’s a much safer, more tailored approach to replace hormones. It’s called bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, or BHRT.

And unlike the “one size fits all” nature of HRT, BHRT precisely matches the amounts and types of hormones your body would produce naturally.

Dr. Pescatore says, “I’ve prescribed BHRT to my patients for years, with great success. I’ve seen it restore health and vitality to women who feel their youth slipping away. It’s addressed their complaints about hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and other symptoms of menopause.”

And as the study I told you about a moment ago suggests, BHRT may help with back pain too, but only when a qualified doctor tailors the BHRT formulation to your individual needs.

Your hormones are a complex balancing act

Before you ask your doctor about BHRT, Dr. Pescatore explains that you’ll need blood tests to determine your overall hormone levels. “That way,” he says, “you can be clear about what actually needs to be replaced (and how much) rather than taking an arbitrary standard dosage.”

He adds that a safe and effective BHRT plan addresses your levels of all three types of estrogen: estradiol, estrone, and estriol. All three are different, and keeping them in balance is essential.

However, Dr. Pescatore cautions that, as much as he likes BHRT, it’s not for everyone…

He advises, “No one who has had an estrogen-related cancer should use hormone replacement therapy of any sort. Nor should those people with genetic markers for estrogen-related cancers—for instance, BRCA, the breast cancer gene.

“For these women, risks of HRT far outweigh the benefits. These women already have much higher risk of developing breast cancer, and adding more estrogen to the mix can be like throwing fuel on a fire.”

In Dr. Pescatore’s Pain-Free Life Protocol, he offers many more specifics about hormonal balance so you can discuss the topic knowledgably with your doctor. He also has a hot tip about a hormone supplement that can boost libido. And because it’s anti-inflammatory, it’s also likely to soothe back pain too.

Click here to learn more about this remarkable protocol, dedicated to making your life pain-free, or to get started right away.

SOURCES

“Association between menopause and lumbar disc degeneration: an MRI study of 1,566 women and 1,382 men” Menopause 2017; 24(10): 1136-1144. DOI: 10.1097/GME.0000000000000902