Menopause: it affects us all. Either we are the women going through it, or we are the husbands and family members dealing with the woman going through it. Common complaints about menopause include hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness. So when Prempro was put on the market women all over the country rejoiced. After years of use there have been terrible side affects have been identified from this so-called wonder drug.

Use of Prempro, or Estrogen/Progestin therapy has resulted in a 26% increase in breast cancer, 41% increase in strokes, 29% increase in heart attacks, doubled rates of blood clots in legs and lungs, 37% less colorectal cancer, 34% fewer hip fractures, and 24% less total fractures (http://www.prempro-side-effect.com/Prempro_Side_Effects.html).

Dealing with the symptoms of menopause is hard enough, but learning the drug prescribed to treat the symptoms could kill you, is overwhelming. Doctors and researchers earn good money to help improve the standard of living for all of us. It is infuriating to think that drug companies are more driven by profits than by producing a safe product.

Prempro is composed of estrogen and progestin combined into one pill. It is primarily used in treatment of menopausal symptom relief. The estrogen component of Prempro is identical to that used in Premarin, another popular HRT* drug by Wyeth and the medroxyprogesterone (progestin) that is in Provera manufactured by Pharmacia (http://www.prepro-side-effects.com/Prempro_Data.html).

Since the discovery of Prempro's side effects Wyeth the drug company who produces Prempro has had a decline in sales from $2.7 million down to $1.5 million ("Hormone"). Women shouldn't give up hope that a safe HRT drug will be found because Eli Lilly & Co. has been marketing a non-hormone estrogen-like drug called Evista. Evista, can elicit hot flashes, but will protect bone density. This past September sales of Evista rose by 24 percent ("Hormone").

The only positive outcome of this clinical study was the discovery that Prempro might aid, in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. "Alzheimer's disease is one of several disorders that cause the gradual loss of brain cells" (http://www.alz.org/AboutAD/WhatIsAD.htm). AD* is the most common

If these estimations were true, the United States would today have just about 8 million people suffering with AD. If we take the estimation to 2011, when the first baby boomers reach age 65, the average number of people suffering from AD will climb to 20.6 million. In 1998 it was estimated that the annual cost of caring for one AD patient is $18,408 for a patient with mild AD, $30,096 for a patient with moderate AD, and $36,132 for a patient with severe AD (http://www.alzheimers.org/pubs/prog00.htm). It doesn't take a mathemat

Some common words found in the essay are:
Evista Evista, Women HRT, Prempro Estrogen/Progestin, Loss Menopause, alzheimer's disease, Hormone Women, Lilly Co, hot flashes, women hrt, Therapy AD*, prevention alzheimer's, age 65, drug companies, health care, people suffering, prevention alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer's Disease, Heart Attack, women hrt 10, suffering ad, people suffering ad, heart attack,
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