Lupron

What Does Lupron Do?

The generic name (the name of the substance) is leuprolide, while the other two brand names (the names that you should ask for in the pharmacy shop) are:

Eligard and Viadur.

Leuprolide is related to a naturally occurring hormone called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which governs the the ovulatory cycle. Lupron, as well as some other drugs (Synarel, Busrelin), causes the body to gradually quit producing GnRH and that is why it called an GnRH agonist. The patient enters a state of temporary menopause -- a process known as pituitary downregulation. In effect, Lupron shuts down the natural production of both testosterone and estrogen. and that is why it is usually prescribed for the following circumstances:

1) as a palliative drug for advanced prostate cancer,

2) for endometriosis (as approved by the FDA)

3) preoperative treatment, most commonly before endometrial ablation or some other kind of surgery on the uterus.

4) central precocious puberty -- a condition in which a child enters the puberty too soon, including accelerated bone growth and the development of secondary sexual characteristics.

Unfortunately, the list does not stop here. Lupron is being also used by fertility doctors in order to suppress female hormones to start the IVF. They suppress them first and then stimulate the production of multiple eggs in order to increase the probability of success of the whole procedure. Patients usually have no idea that such treatment may harm them in many other ways, as follows.

Lupron Side Effects

There are two kinds of side effects, the ones that should not happen and the ones that are expected to happen since that is what you took the drug for. The he unexpected ones are:

. an allergic reaction (difficulty breathing; closing of the throat; swelling of the lips, tongue, or face; or hives);

. difficulty urinating;

. bone pain; or

. numbness, tingling, or weakness in the legs or arms.

If any of this occures, stop taking Lupron as soon as you can, and contact your doctor as soon as you can. (You may or may not be able to stop taking Lupron, depending on how the drug was administered in the first place.)

The "less severe" symptoms are to be expected as that is what happens when you meddle with your own production of hormones:

. hot flashes or sweating -- this one's a classic; taking Lupron is inducing menopause of a kind. Your body needs estrogen to function normally!

. decreased libido or impotence -- another classic. Without proper hormonal mix, you are no good either. Again, meddling with your hormones is dangerous to your health and if you think there is no other way, then see the end of this page.

. lack of energy;

. depression;

. breast enlargement -- another great site to see what the misuse of sexual hormones does to your body.

. nausea or vomiting;

. constipation;

. weakness;

. dizziness;

. headache; or

. redness, burning, itching, or swelling at the injection site.

Lupron -- Horror Stories

There are thousands of women in the USA that have been truly victimized by this drug. There are cases of

. permanent neurological damage,

. noncancerous tumor,

. breast cysts,

. cardiac arrythmias,

. dizziness,

. swelling and

. fatigue.

All this have been documented but the FDA feels that the advantages of using Lupron still outweigh its shortcomings.

Your doctor may order blood tests and/or other kinds of medical evaluations in order to monitor your health state.

Pregnancy and Lupron

If you take Lupron, you should be exercising some kind of birth control. If you are already pregnant, you may not use this drug at all. If you get pregnant while on Lupron, contact your doctor immediately, since Lupron is known to cause birth defects in an unborn baby.

Administering Lupron

There are several varities of this drug, depending on the way of administering it:

. a subcutaneous injection (under the skin), as

. an intramuscular (into muscle) depot injection (a shot given periodically at a doctor's office), or as

. an implant.

It can be injected daily, monthly, every 3 months, or every 4 months, depending on the formulation being used and the condition being treated. Different formulations are not interchangeable. The implant is called Viadur and must be removed after 12 months. In certain cases, you will be expected to administer Lupron to yourself. Do not do it if you do not know how to do it, or are unsure of the exact procedure. Ask the doctor, the pharmacist or any other medical practitioner that you contact with.

Estrogen Dominance -- There Must Be A Better Way

Lupron is used for states induced by estrogen dominance. The proper solution to this problem is to heal the glands that produce the hormones, not to patch the state as it is. Here are some of the possible ways to do it:

. for the surplus of estrogen, take natural progesteron to counter balance;

. improve the diet,

. use Reiki to achieve overall energy balance,

. address the underlying (emotional) problems that actually cause the glands to not work properly,

. cure endometriosis or fibroids with a properly chosen homeopathic remedy.

Fixing Your Emotional Problems With Flower Remedies

Apart from Reiki, there are two main ways -- flower remedies and EFT. With flower remedies, you can balance your emotional state and cut the energy flow to the impaired parts of the body. All tumors and cancers need energy to feed upon; put them on a "diet", that is, eliminate bad emotions that these cells feed upon and you have won more than one half of the battle. The good news is that you do that at a very low cost or even free, especially compared to $400+ that you would have to pay for just one Lupron shot!

Flower remedies are very cheap and once you buy a bottle of a remedy you will be able to use it for many months and years. You may need up to seven bottles at a time, but you can also do with less. A treatement with one group of flower remedies usually lasts for a couple of weeks up to 2-3 months. The results are practically always favourable -- I often recommend Bach flower remedies after a delineation of the natal chart and I have yet to enounter a case in which there were no results, sometimes spectacularly within a day or two!

Emotional Freedom Techniques

Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT as it is better known is a new development. It enables you to literally obliterate your negative emotions and thus free your body from imbalanced energies. There is extenstive clinical evidence that EFT is very useful for reducing or eliminating pain. For more details, see here.

Lupron -- The Conclusion

Avoid it at all costs. If you need endometrial ablation, try NovaSure endometrial ablation, which needs no Lupron Depot. If that is not possible, read the rest of this site in order to come up with ideas which alternative healing methods would work in your case or just ask me directly.

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