>laurie wrote:
> > Only the oral medications are systemic, so they may offer heart
>benefits,
> > but may also sustain or increase risks for other hormone-triggered
> > conditions.  Topical treatments such as creams or rings are generally
>for
> > dryness/pain only, although if used enough, they can often also
>alleviate
> > the specific kind of female incontinence caused by lack of hormones.
>
Richard wrote:>I don't think this is true. Creams with progesterone bypass
the liver and go
>through the skin where they are absorbed. My wife uses the cream and tastes
>a metallic taste in her mouth within seconds. It is definitely absorbed and
>then is available systemically.


Richard's right. A lot of folks don't realize that anything you put on your
skin has the potential to be absorbed into the body: creams, lotions,
makeups, household cleansers...the skin has the ability to absorb anything
that it comes into contact with, provided that there are small enough
particles (and when you consider that some skin pores are visible with the
naked eye, it's obvious that those particles can be rather large).

Let's not forget about transdermal NTG, nicotine and morphine patches: they
work rather well. Perhaps not as quickly as other means of administration,
but they are quite effective.

Don't put anything on your skin that you would not put into your mouth. And
don't put anything on your skin that sounds like it came from a lab (sodium
laurel sulfate,; propylene glycol, methylparaben, etc.).

Likewise anything that goes into the air can be absorbed very quickly right
through the lungs into the body. (Lysol, Glade, Raid, Windex,
hairspray...all very toxic) Don't spray anything into the air that you would
not eat.

Stacie
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