Hormone Replacement Therapy is medication that contains female hormones. The medication replaces the estrogen that your body stops making during menopause.
Hormone therapy is most often used to treat hot flashes and vaginal dryness and discomfort. HRT has also been proved to prevent bone loss and reduce fractures in postmenopausal women.
Basic Types of Hormone Therapy:
There are 2 main types of estrogen therapy:
- Systemic estrogen — which comes in pill, skin patch, ring, gel, cream or spray form — typically contains a higher dose of estrogen that is absorbed
- throughout the body. It is use to treat any of the common symptoms of menopause.
- Low-dose vaginal preparations of estrogen — which come in cream, tablet or ring form — used to minimize the amount of estrogen absorbed by the body.
- This is why low-dose vaginal preparations are usually use to treat only the vaginal and urinary symptoms of menopause.
If you haven’t had your uterus removed, your doctor may prescribe estrogen along with progesterone or progestin (progesterone-like medication). This is because estrogen alone, when not balanced by progesterone, can stimulate growth of the lining of the uterus, increasing the risk of endometrial cancer. If you have had your uterus removed (hysterectomy), you may not need to take progestin.
Who Benefits most from Hormone Replacement Therapy?
- Systemic estrogen therapy remains the most effective treatment for the relief of troublesome menopausal hot flashes and night sweats.
- Estrogen can ease vaginal symptoms of menopause, such as dryness, itching, burning and discomfort with intercourse.
- Systemic estrogen helps protect against the bone-thinning disease called osteoporosis. However, doctors usually recommend medications called bisphosphonates to treat osteoporosis. But estrogen therapy may help if you either can’t tolerate or aren’t benefiting from other treatments.
- If you had your ovaries surgically removed before age 45, stopped having periods before age 45 (premature or early menopause) or lost normal function of your ovaries before age 40 (primary ovarian insufficiency), your body has been exposed to less estrogen than the bodies of women who experience typical menopause. Estrogen therapy can help decrease your risk of certain health conditions, including osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, dementia and mood changes.
What are the risks of Hormone Therapy?
In the largest clinical trial to date, hormone replacement therapy that consisted of an estrogen-progestin pill (Prempro) increased the risk of certain serious conditions, including:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Blood clots
- Breast cancer
The Benefits of Hormone Therapy may outweigh the risks if you’re healthy and you:
- Have moderate to severe hot flashes and night sweats. .
- Estrogen can ease vaginal symptoms of menopause, such as dryness, itching, burning and discomfort with intercourse.
- Systemic estrogen helps protect against the bone-thinning disease called osteoporosis. However, doctors usually recommend medications called bisphosphonates to treat osteoporosis. But estrogen therapy may help if you either can’t tolerate or aren’t benefiting from other treatments.
- If you had your ovaries surgically removed before age 45, stopped having periods before age 45 (premature or early menopause) or lost normal function of your ovaries before age 40 (primary ovarian insufficiency), your body has been exposed to less estrogen than the bodies of women who experience typical menopause. Estrogen therapy can help decrease your risk of certain health conditions, including osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, dementia and mood changes.
How can you reduce the risk if you take Hormone Therapy?
Talk to your doctor about these strategies. Find the best product and delivery method for you. Minimize the amount of medication you take. Use the lowest effective dose for the shortest amount of time needed to treat your symptoms. Include physical activity and exercise in your daily routine, eat a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight, don’t smoke, limit alcohol, manage stress, and manage chronic health conditions, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
Your doctor can help you find the delivery method that offers the most benefits and convenience with the least risks and cost. To determine if hormone therapy is a good treatment option for you, talk to your doctor about your individual symptoms and health risks. Be sure to keep the conversation going throughout your menopausal years. As researchers learn more about hormone therapy and other menopausal treatments, recommendations may change. If you continue to have bothersome menopausal symptoms, review treatment options with your doctor on a regular basis.