Biomimetic Hormones | Smoking and Bioidentical Hormones

Smoking and Bioidentical Hormones

I’ve had lots of emails from our readers who still smoke, asking about the dangers of smoking  and bioidentical hormones together, so many in fact, that I thought I should do some research and talk to my bioidentical doctor about the issue.

Now everybody knows, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years, that smoking is definitely bad for you and your health.  We all know that with smoking your chances of lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease and bronchitis.  We also know the dangers of smoking from second hand smoke on the people and children around us.  Second hand smoke can cause lung cancer.

Aesthetically, smoking gets on your clothes, smells up your home, burns your clothes and makes you smell like an ashtray.  Along with this, there is the cost of smoking which can add up to big dollars over time.  If we say that smoking costs $7.00 on average per day, $210 per month, and $2,520 per year, the costs add up.  There are more fun ways to spend your money than wasting it on cigarettes.

From a vanity point, for those interested in how they look as they age and interested in anti aging, smoking dries out your skin, causes wrinkles around the eyes and the mouth, discoloured skin and overall increases the aging process.  It also, by the way, causes the early onset of menopause in women.  Smoking causes free radicals to form in your body which causes damage to DNA and disease.

Smoking reduces the absorption of vitamin C – a very important antioxidant for the health of your skin.  Vitamin A, which protects the skin from damage, is reduced in the body.  Collagen, which is vital for the elasticity of the skin, is broken down by the production of an enzyme produced when one smokes a cigarette.  Also, smoking constricts the blood flow in the capillaries, which cuts off oxygen and nutrients required to nourish the skin.

And how does smoking effect hormone levels?  What are the dangers of smoking and bioidentical hormones?  For younger women trying to get pregnant, smoking can cause infertility.  For premenopausal and menopausal women, smoking is one of the worst habits to keep.  If one inhales enough nicotine, it will convert in the body to an anti-estrogen, a catechol estrogen or otherwise know as a xenoestrogen which will make it necessary for your bioidentical doctor to prescribe higher doses of the bioidentical hormone estrogen to combat your menopause symptoms.  Catechol estrogen damages the DNA and causes cancer.

These are all the facts about the dangers of smoking, especially during menopause and while using bioidentical hormones.  I asked my doctor about bioidentical hormones and smoking and she said that it will increase the chances of lung cancer by 62%, and your risks of breast cancer and stroke increase dramatically too.  Smoking will decrease the circulation in your arms and legs, possibly leading to blood clots.  In other words, if a patient continued to smoke, she would stop prescribing bioidentical hormones until the patient ceased smoking.

One of the things you have to do once you reach menopause if you are not living healthily before menopause is to make major lifestyle changes.  One of the first things you should do is quit smoking, as well as remove chemicals from your life, exercise and eat a nutritious diet.  Bioidentical hormones will ease the passage through menopause and combat menopause symptoms.  Using bioidentical hormones and smoking is not a wise health choice.  Making these changes will increase your health and wellbeing and reduce your menopause symptoms.

There are many ways to help you quit smoking if you are still smoking at menopause.  There are smoking cessation aids such as nicotine patches and nicotine gum.  There is also various medications available on the market which you can obtain from your bioidentical doctor by prescription.  These drugs are called Wellbutrin, Chantix and Zyban.  Talk to your doctor about solutions for getting rid of the habit of smoking.  If you are smoking and using bioidentical hormones, you should also speak to your doctor about this subject.

It’s obviously not a good decision to continue smoking and use bioidentical hormones at the same time.  You must remember, bioidentical hormones are still hormones and must be used carefully and as prescribed by your bioidentical doctor.  So, for my readers who have emailed and asked about the dangers of smoking and bioidentical hormones, the choice is clear:  Don’t do it.

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