Candida Controversy
Kathy from Canada writes:
Hello again, Catherine
Have you ever heard of this Christine, founder of the National Candida Society? She talks about people being turned away by Dr. Lee (see her email below). What is that all about? Do you know? Is she blowing in the wind here or what? Have you ever heard of this person or her concerns? Did Dr. John Lee turn people away who he could not help? Surely not …
I am so upset because I believe wholeheartedly that Dr Lee is right, and I’ve been using the cream for balance for several years now.
Here’s Christine’s response to my email:
“Dear Kathy,
About 10 years ago I used natural progesterone cream (a la Lees) and it gave me 6 ovarian cysts. Cholesterol is a precursor to progesterone and progesterone is a precursor to oestrogen. If your body doesn’t want any more progesterone, then it will (and did in my case) convert it to oestrogen and testosteone. Which is a cancer risk. As my mother had died (when I was a baby) from breast cancer, it was the last thing I needed. It took me two years of acupuncture to get the extra hormones out of my system. I have other examples from our members. I know all of the arguments put forward by advocates of John Lee’s philosophy, I also know of members who contacted him when it was disastrous for them, and he didn’t want to know. It may work for some people, but I believe that it should be treated with caution not least because in a British publication last year, What Doctors Don’t Tell You, there was a two-page article saying that it causes cancer in some people.” ~ Christine, founder National Candida Society
Catherine Rollins responds …
Dear Kathy,
No, I’ve not heard of Christine. I would suggest you take your concerns re her comments about Dr Lee up with Virginia Hopkins. I have no knowledge of this.
Dr John Lee and I spoke by phone on a number of occasions in my early days of advocating progesterone and, frankly, I found the man to be nothing short of a ‘saint’ for the patience he showed, and the knowledge he imparted. If he ‘turned people away’ I would imagine it might be because he was being hounded to death. Women, in those days, and I was one of them, just couldn’t find a GP skilled in BHRT treatment protocols.
Metabolic health is multi-factorial, of which hormone balancing is but ONE part.
Both my young daughters very recently incorporated bioidentical progesterone supplementation to successfully treat ovarian cysts. The culprit was, without question, sugar, being overweight, and generally not looking after themselves.
The body of evidence gathered by this Network in collaboration with the women out there at the coal face using progesterone for over a decade is inconsistent with the findings of the British report What Doctors Don’t Tell You. My rebuttal last year tackled some of the more outrageous statements put forward in this report for the benefit of our readers (and the authors of this article) who are perhaps a little confused!
Blessings
Catherine
Virginia Hopkins responds …
Dear Kathy,
Sorry to be so long in getting back to you.
Christine has a number of facts wrong. For example, excess progesterone cream does not convert to estrogen. Using transdermal progesterone does *not* raise other hormone levels. Progesterone made by the ovary converts to other hormones, but progesterone from cream does not.
Progesterone does not cause ovarian cysts — excess sugar and refined carbohydrates in the diet, and the resulting high insulin levels, cause ovarian cysts.
Extremely excessive progesterone doses can contribute to candida growth, but excess sugar is a much more direct cause of it.
Excess sugar also causes obesity, and fat cells make estrogen.
Someone who eats too many sweets and has a weight problem will often have ovarian cysts, estrogen dominance and candida.
Dr. Lee was known to become impatient when women wouldn’t listen to what he was saying.
The article in What Doctors Don’t Tell You … was factually and scientifically way off the mark. I wouldn’t have even bothered commenting on it except that it personally attacked Dr. Lee — here’s my response to it if you’re interested:
http://www.virginiahopkinstestkits.com/hhw_0610.html
Since I wrote the above, even more evidence has come out showing that progesterone does not cause breast cancer:
http://www.virginiahopkinstestkits.com/hhw_0701.html
Hope that helps
Virginia
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