Is the Hormone Estrogen Good or Bad for the Brain?

Why do you seem to discount the many, many studies linking low estrogen levels to cognitive dysfunction that mimics dementia, and/or the studies linking low estrogen to later development of Alzheimer's in women? The fact that the HRT studies were stupidly done on fully post-menopausal women in their mid-60s (and involved questionable products like Prempro and Premarin) does not make them useful for thinking about the effects of low estrogen on younger, pre or peri-menopausal women!

I have been suffering insanely from cognitive problems that were totally related to low estrogen--now that I am taking bio-identical estrogen supplements, my brain is back to normal functioning (I'm 41 ,by the way.). Please do not discount women who make a claim (and the science that supports this claim) that hormone changes are wreaking havoc on their brain function! And by the way, low estrogen is also clearly linked to osteoporosis, so low estrogen is nothing to be sneezed at on that score, either!

M Doran of PA 11:00AM October 08, 2009