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Tag: hormone therapy

  • Chelsea Manning Will Receive Hormone Therapy Following Suit

    Chelsea Manning, the Wikileaks leaker formerly known as Bradley Manning, is finally getting the hormone treatments she’s been demanding for months.

    In September of last year Manning sued the US Department of Defense, claiming she had been “denied access to medically necessary treatment” in connection with a gender disorder.

    “She brings this action to compel defendants to treat her serious medical needs consistent with their obligation under the Constitution,” said the lawsuit. Manning’s lawyers claimed that lack of hormonal treatment would cause Manning to “suffer continued pain, depression and anxiety” and that she “is at an extremely high risk of self-castration and suicidality.”

    Manning and the ACLU said that the military was stalling.

    Now, after many months, they’ve caved. USA Today obtained the internal memo, which grants Manning the “medically appropriate and necessary” treatments.

    “After carefully considering the recommendation that (hormone treatment) is medically appropriate and necessary, and weighing all associated safety and security risks presented, I approve adding (hormone treatment) to Inmate Manning’s treatment plan,” wrote Col. Erica Nelson in the memo.

    The American Civil Liberties Union, who has represented Chelsea Manning, applauded the decision.

    “We are thrilled for Chelsea that the government has finally agreed to initiate hormone therapy as part of her treatment plan,” said Chase Strangio, an attorney with the ACLU. “This is an important first step in Chelsea’s treatment regimen and one that is in line with the recommendations of all of her doctors and the basic requirements of the Eighth Amendment.”

    Still, it’s not a total victory. According to Strangio, the officials at Leavenworth are still refusing to let Manning grow her hair out – a step in her transformation that he describes as “critical”.

    In August of 2013, Pvt. Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for supplying WikiLeaks with 700,000 classified documents in 2010. Manning was found guilty on charges under the Espionage Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the code of military justice – but was spared the charge of “aiding the enemy”, the most serious of all the charges. If convicted of that crime, Manning could have faced up the 90 years behind bars.

    Shortly after sentencing, Manning revealed that she was transgender, suffering from “gender dysphoria” – a condition in which a person does not identify with the sex assigned at birth.

    It was recently announced that Chelsea Manning would soon begin writing columns on “war, gender, and freedom of information” for the US wing of The Guardian.

    Above: Army Image of Chelsea Manning, in 2012 when known as Bradley Manning

  • Hormone Therapy May Reduce Alzheimer’s Risk

    A new study published this week in the journal Neurology showed that women who begin taking hormone therapy within five years of menopause may reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. However, the study also found that women who start hormone therapy at a very late age could increase their risk of Alzheimer’s.

    “This has been an area of debate because observational studies have shown a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease with hormone therapy use, while a randomized controlled trial showed an increased risk,” said Dr. Peter Zandi, lead author of the study and a professor at Johns Hopkins University. “Our results suggest that there may be a critical window near menopause where hormone therapy may possibly be beneficial. On the other hand, if started later in life, hormone therapy could be associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”

    Zandi’s study looked at 1,768 women 65 years and older for 11 years. Using their history of hormone therapy use and the date at which they began menopause, the study found that those women who began hormone therapy within five years of starting menopause had a 30-percent lower risk of Alzheimer’s than those who did not use hormone therapy. The women who began hormone therapy more than five years after menopause did not have a significantly higher risk of dementia. However, women who started hormone therapy when they were at least 65 years old were found to have a higher risk for Alzheimer’s.

  • Hormone Therapy Not Recommended For Chronic Disease Prevention

    The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) today issued a final statement on the use of hormone therapy in post-menopausal women to prevent chronic conditions, saying that it recommends against the practice. The task force also stressed that its recommendation does not touch on whether hormone therapy should be used for women to manage menopausal symptoms.

    “In the past, it was thought that taking hormones after menopause ended might reduce a woman’s risk of developing certain chronic diseases, such as heart disease or dementia,” said Dr. Kirstin Bibbins-Domingo, USPSTF member. “However, its use in this way does not help prevent these conditions and may even increase a woman’s chance of developing them. Importantly, the use of these medications can cause serious harm to a woman’s health – such as stroke, blood clots, or gallbladder disease.”

    This recommendation comes just weeks after a new study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology showed that women taking hormone therapy for 10 years following menopause saw a reduced risk of heart failure, heart attack, and death, while also not having any increased risk of cancer, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or stroke.

    When considering its decision, however, the USPSTF commissioned a comprehensive review of all the science published on hormone therapy and its use to prevent chronic conditions in the years since the task force issued a similar recommendation in 2005. Instead of hormone therapy, the USPSTF has recommended other, more established preventive measures for chronic diseases.

    “Everyone is interested in preventing chronic diseases,” said Bibbins-Domingo. “The Task Force recommends a number of important preventive measures women can take to avoid chronic diseases, including quitting smoking and identifying and treating high blood pressure and high cholesterol. There are also other effective ways that women can reduce their risk of bone fractures, such as weight-bearing exercise and being screened and treated, as appropriate, for osteoporosis.”

    The USPSTF is an independent group of doctors and experts in evidence-based preventive medicine. It’s recommendations are used by primary care physicians in the U.S. when determining what preventive treatments should be used. The task force last month recommended against using ovarian cancer screenings as a preventive measure.

  • Hormone Therapy Reduces Heart Risks, Study Finds

    A new study has found that women who take hormone replacement therapy for 10 years following menopause have “significantly” reduced risk of heart failure, heart attack, and dying. In addition, those same women are not at any increased risk of cancer, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or stroke.

    These findings come just weeks after a different study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology showed that hormone use among postmenopausal women has been declining. Speculation as to the reason for this decline focused on patient and doctor fears based on a 2002 study by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) that found estrogen/progestin hormone therapy can increase risks of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, and breast cancer.

    The new study, published today in the journal BMJ, throws into question the results from the WHI research. Researchers from Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark looked at 1006 white, healthy Danish women from ages 45 to 58. After a 10-year randomized trial and six years of follow-up, the study authors concluded that the women treated with long term hormone replacement therapy “had significantly reduced risk of mortality, heart failure, or heart attack, without any apparent increase of cancer, DVT, or stroke.”

    ABC news quotes Dr. Louise Schierbeck, the study’s author as saying the study confirms the “timin hypothesis,” which holds that women who begin hormone therapy shortly after their final menstruation are not at greater risk for heart problems.

    The researchers did hedge their bets a bit, though, stating that “due to potential time lag, [a] longer time may be necessary to take more definite conclusions.”