Hormone Replacement Therapy on Trial

Re “Risks of Hormone Therapy Stop Study,” July 10: I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had been on hormone replacement therapy for 10 years, a double dose. I did not know at that time what the “standard” dose was, nor was I given any warning of possible side effects. When I asked my doctor if the HRT could have caused the cancer, he laughed at me.

I hope this article will save women’s lives. My suggestion is to have at least second and third opinions on this issue. My lump was discovered by an annual mammogram and was very small. With some doctors now questioning the value of an annual mammogram, I would like to suggest that women educate themselves and ask lots of questions.

Kathryn H. Phillips

Santa Barbara

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Re your July 11 editorial: Far from taking female hormones to retain the “nubile” look, my wife has been constantly instructed by her doctors to take hormone replacement therapy to lessen the possibility of future heart attacks and strokes. It now appears that her doctors were as ignorant of the true effects as you are in pontificating on the reasons why most women took these hormones.

Carl Schiermeyer

Long Beach