This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Female hormone estriol, combined with Copaxone, reduces MS relapse rate by nearly 50 percent

A study conducted by Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl, a UCLA neurologist, shows that combining estriol, a female hormone, with Copaxone, a medication currently used to treat multiple sclerosis, reduced the relapse rate of MS by nearly 50 percent with only one year of treatment..... Read More - http://www.ms-uk.org/trimesta

Note that the study included women ONLY. It has been shown that estrogen and specifically estriol increases MS issues in Men.

Hi Kronk

It has been shown that estrogen and specifically estriol increases MS issues in Men.

Do you happen to have a link to that research or study? I was just about to post the link below in the estriol thread in the regimens section but it looks like you've found in person (rather than mice research about estriol in men):

Estriol Treatment Ameliorates Disease in Males with EAE: Implications for MS

Thanks--I'll delete this EAE link from my other post.

As "oldtimers" at TIMS might guess this news about estriol makes me a happy camper today.

Sharon

There are several studies that point to testosterone/ estrogen and other sex hormones effects on MS. The info I found was actually for estradiol, my mistake. They are both estrogens and only differ by an extra hydroxyl in estriol.

Estriol is actually an interesting little hormone… even though it is one of the 3 main estrogens it is considered very weak compared to the other estrogens. Its levels are approximately equal in men and women unless a women is pregnant in which case the level skyrockets due to it being produced by the fetus. Unfortunately EAE seems to be a pitiful substitute for MS as pretty much everything cures it. If only the real thing was so simple.

Below are a few examples of the negative impacts of estrogen in men. Whats good for the goose isnt necessarily good for the gander. But will be watching to see what happens with Estriol.

http://www.lef.org/protocols/neurologic ... sis_01.htm

"... men with MS who had the highest levels of the female hormone estradiol were found to have the greatest degree of brain tissue damage (Tomassini 2005). ..."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19660660

http://www.webmd.com/multiple-sclerosis ... -sclerosis

Thanks for that clarification Kronk.

I was about to go ballistic if they'd measured estriol in men but not women....and I'm still not real happy that the recent info on testosterone didn't include women as there is a history of low testosterone impacting women as you and Leonard have both pointed out. Quote from one of your links:

The women with multiple sclerosis had lower testosterone levels than the healthy women. That was true throughout their menstrual cycle.

Women with multiple sclerosis and abnormally low testosterone levels had more brain inflammation than women with multiple sclerosis and normal testosterone levels.

However, irreversible brain tissue damage was more common in women with multiple sclerosis and abnormally high levels of testosterone.

That's one of the reasons I think it's wise to test hormone levels and go for normal ranges.

Thanks again....

Sharon

Posting this just because I read it a few hours ago and then read your post...

Women with ms had elevated testosterone levels relative to healthy controls
http://m.jimmunol.org/cgi/content/meeti ... cts/S221-c

I noticed a lot of mention of the opposite as I tried to dig that link up again. I wonder which is true!!

Here is the opposite...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2689399/

Conclusions - Our study indicates that serum testosterone is reduced in women suffering from MS, as in other autoimmune inflammatory syndromes, especially during the active phase of the disease, as documented by brain MRI. We therefore propose that oestrogens and testosterone play a role in modulating the development of brain tissue damage in MS. The respective contribution of these two hormones and their types of actions and interactions deserve further analysis.

Man I wish they could find some consistency in this disease! Seriously these 2 studies found exactly opposite results. Did someone have there beaker upside down?!?

Hi Kronk

Did someone have there beaker upside down?!?

In all likelihood they did. Testing hormone levels is not as straightforward as one might think so without knowing exactly how they measured the levels and did the testing, it's hard to tell what's happening.

Here's a link from the Mayo Clinic Clinical: Testosterone, Total, Bioavailable, and Free, Serum

IMO you want to know the amount that's bioavailable so it's available to your brain and spinal cord. If it's bound, it's not so available for neuroprotection. Note the huge difference in values in the normal range too--extremely wide variation.

Here's the link from the Mayo Clinic on estradiol Clinical: Estradiol Free, Serum (includes Estradiol and SHBG) Again, I think you'd want to measure the free level of estradiol. They don't even have a test for "bioavailable" estradiol, and the testing is actually done by a lab in California. Testosterone testing is much more advanced than testing for estradiol.

Re: women and testosterone, there was a study many years ago presented at a meeting but never published which found women with the lowest levels of testosterone had higher EDSS scores. I don't know why it wasn't published.

And, it's my understanding different labs have different ranges for normal, so it's important to know the values of the lab you use (not unlike testing for nutrient levels).

Onward....Sharon

Kronk wrote:Note that the study included women ONLY. It has been shown that estrogen and specifically estriol increases MS issues in Men.

There is a separate study by the same group of testosterone for men with MS that showed benefits.