Dangers Seen with Hormone Creams

The dangers with <"https://www.yourlawyer.com/practice_areas/defective_drugs">hormone creams are actually manifesting in our pets, according to the New York Times. It seems that, nationwide, veterinarians are seeing hormonal behavior in spayed and neutered cats and dogs and in puppies and kittens, said the NY Times.

In female pets, symptoms seen in heat—engorged genitals, bloody discharge, even behavioral issues—are presenting; male pets are presenting with swollen breasts and loss of hair, said the NY Times. Treatments and surgeries have not helped.
Vets have figured out the link: Hormone creams female pet owners use to minimize the symptoms of menopause, which are transferred from their hands and limbs to animals who lick their owners are nuzzle or rub humans, explained the NY Times.

The issue had left some vets baffled, with one believing he left ovarian tissue behind after a spay procedure, said the NY Times. If women take the appropriate precautions—washing their hands thoroughly after applying the cream, which should be completely dry before coming in contact with others, or changing the location of the cream to an area protected by clothing—the transferred symptoms disappear, wrote the NY Times.

“The dogs are licking and rubbing the treated area and absorbing the drug, which is putting them back into heat,” said Dr. Terry Clekis, a veterinarian in Bradenton, Florida, quoted the NY times, which noted that Dr. Clekis has seen a number of these cases.

This year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning following eight children appearing to be in early puberty after exposure to Evamist, an estrogen spray; later the FDA received similar reports in dogs, and the prior year a warning was issued after eight other children were exposed to topical testosterone, according the NY Times.

Connecting the issues to their cause was problematic because physicians who treat menopausal women are not the physicians treating children and pets, said the NY Times, citing Dr. Cynthia A. Stuenkel, an endocrinologist at the University of California, San Diego and former president of the North American Menopause Society. “We need to connect the dots between these groups so pediatricians and vets think of it early before subjecting these children and animals to extensive testing,” Dr, Stuenkel urged, quoted the NY Times. Sadly, many women do not offer the information either because they have not made the connection or they are ashamed to admit that they are on hormone therapy.

Estrogen in topical form has increased exponentially following links made in oral medications and increased cardiac and cancer risks, said the NY Times. As a matter-of-fact, physicians wrote 440,000 prescriptions for brand-name topical estrogen last year, triple the amount from 2006, said IMS Health, according to the NY Times. But, about one million women are believed to actually use custom compounded creams using bio-identical hormones, added the NY Times.