Hormone Replacement Therapy E4 Women

[circular]

You go LB!!! Maybe Bredesen will add to protocol for middle aged and up e4 gals. I wonder!

[Sandraz]

Hi Lilly,
What is TA 65? What is it supposed to do and where do you get it? Or have I missed where you posted more about it?
Thx!

[circular]

Wondering about the possible role of estriol, as opposed to estradiol. My OB/GYN who put me on the BHRT includes it for all her patients and told me to look it up, which I forgot to do. It's a rather weak estrogen as far as I understand, but with its own unique properties. Have found these:

A trial underway to see if estriol improves cognition in MS patients
http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01466114

After glancing at WikiP I wonder if there is a justifiable reason for taking it??? Granted, this is only WikiP and who knows how current or comprehensive without more research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estriol

Has anyone already looked into estriol specifically?

[Stavia]

Im on "Biest" which is apparently estradiol:estriol mixture 20:80.
Cos my functional medicine doc said so....

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/571299_5

[KatieS]

Since estrodial is converted into estriol, I thought being on a ultra-low patch with yam-devived estrodial was fine. Now I'm questioning. Estriol might have better vaginal & urinary benefits. The BRAIN was noted in Stavia's link. Cir brought up the MS study using estriol. But it's individual, and I'm not convinced yet to change:
http://surmeno.blogspot.com/2006/07/thr ... trone.html

[circular]

Stavia I'm on Biest also.

[LillyBritches]

Hey, Sandraz (sorry this response has taken so long): TA-65, or Cycloastragenol, is a molecule that's isolated and derived from Astragalus Root, and allegedly lengthens telomeres. Well, we know it does in mice. (Same old, same old). Wikipedia has a great history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycloastragenol

And, note, that TA-65 did improve the health span, but not the life span, of mice. I recall that, at my last face-to-face appointment with Dr. Trutt, he said that researchers were in the throes of TA-65 human testing. I've really no idea the status or whereabouts of that. Of particular interest to me:

* From Wiki: TA-65 was shown to improve biological markers associated with human health span through the lengthening of short telomeres and rescuing of old cells, although the significance of these findings in actual life expectancy is unknown.
* From the Stanford Study: returning to Dr. Rasgon's study on HRT lengthening telomeres solely for ApoE4 menopausal/postmenopausal females; the e3s and e2s not only had no benefit from taking HRT, I believe their telomeres became shorter (or at least didn't grow) on HRT. Anywho, it was of no benefit to 2s and 3s. That all I need to know, really. Here's a link to the Stanford website about Dr. Rasgon's study:

http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2 ... s-say.html

Good read. And that's why I'm on bioidentical estradiol...as well as TA-65. When Dr. Trutt initially learned I was 4/4, the first thing he wanted to do was get me on HRT ASAP...the second was to get me on TA-65. The man knows about 4s and how vastly crucial it is to keep our telomeres longer...or at, the very least, to stave off shortening. He said that he has some patients whose telomeres are so short that he has them on FOUR CAPSULES a DAY. At roughly $200 for a 30-day supply, well. lol He quickly said that I only needed one a day, prophylactically, because my telomeres weren't bad (I had some long, some typical, and one short) (yep he had them tested), and that, combined with my being 4/4, would warrant only one TA-65 capsule per day. He continued that, and this is verbatim, "in my opinion, ALL ApoE4/ApoE4s should be on TA-65." Again, that was enough for me, because:

* LOAD is a disease of aging.
* 4s apparently age faster at a cellular level.
* So far, longer telomeres have been a good biomarker not for longevity so much as they are for better health.
* TA-65 lengthens telomeres.
* Bioidentical HRT lengthens telomeres specifically for ApoE4 women.

That's why I'm on both. All my life I've been told how much younger I look, act, think, and how much stamina I have. Other than high cholesterol (an e4 middle-aged thing) and low thyroid (also an e4 disease?), well, that's about it as far as any co-morbidities for me. I want this to continue a long, long time...just like it did for my mom who had nothing majorly wrong with her until she hit around 86 (got temporal arteritis - a form of vasculitis). Then again, all her telomeres were long with a couple typical and no short. And she just turned 94. She has a lot of chronic things wrong with her, but, again, no life-threatening or horrendous health issues. I don't think her carotids are even that clogged up for a 94-year-old; last test she was 50% in one carotid and 33% in the other. That's pretty good for her age.

Ah, my digression. I'm infamous for it.

I hope this helps, hon. I'm a great advocate of both TA-65 and HRT. If these two agents can effectively aid in the prevention of age-related health issues (again, especially for 3/4 and 4/4 menopausal women), shoot. Bring 'em on. Young mind and young systemic functioning is a pretty damned good foundation going into our golden years.

[LillyBritches]

LOL Thanks, circy! Gurl, I think we should address it with him. For realz.

[LillyBritches]

circ, Stavia, kit - I know that estrone is the weaker form of estradiol, but I don't really know re estriol. But then I googled, and I got this blog which pretty much sums it up:

http://surmeno.blogspot.com/2006/07/thr ... trone.html

Yeah, I'm stickin' to my bio estradiol. I can honestly say I trust Trutt implicitly, and I'm very skeptical re doctors and how potentially limited is their knowledge base. If I don't either learn something new from them, or if I tell them something that has good evidence and is well-established in journals, and they give me a "Duuuhhhh I did not know that..." as their eyes glaze over, NEXT.

Nope. Confidence that my doctors are more learned than I in all things health, anatomy, disease process, etc is a must-have for me. I'm not one of those people who can just walk out of an appointment and said, "wow...he/she really didn't know what ApoE4 is. Oh, well. I guess it's okay. He/She is the doctor, after all."

Nope. I'd be searching as fast as I could for a more savvy provider.

And that's why I adore my PCP, Dr. Long, and my HRT physician, Dr. Trutt. I've total respect for them. When Trutt attempted to draw me diagrams of this hormone being the precursor to that hormone and then this is what happens when it enters the bloodstream...MY eyes glazed over and I was infatuated with his knowledge. Good to go.

If he says my topical compounded estradiol is the stuff, then that's to what I'll stick. Sometimes I think we, as non-professionals, can hack our way into a hole attempting to dig at some of this stuff (other than Stavia...cuz, like...she's taken the Hippocratic Oath and stuff; oh, and WA - I really like the way he always puts a disclaimer on his posts to consult a physician). I mean, we lose perspective about the multitudes of studies available.

[Stavia]

Twas the Geneva Oath actually but ya. Gotta keep perspective.