Hormone Replacement Therapy Still Good For Menopause?

By Adriana Noton

Hormone replacement therapy, now more commonly known as hormone therapy, use to be medical worlds standard treatment for those women suffering from hot flashes and other side effects of going through menopause. They also thought that it could help prevent osteoporosis and even heart disease.

In 2002 however; the minds of many in the medical field changed when they saw the results of a clinical test. What the test uncovered is that the hormone replacement therapy could actually be causing a lot more health hazards than benefits. As the doctors saw the increase of health hazards with women on this therapy they began to prescribe it less and less and a lot of women completely stopped it on their own when they heard the news about it may being dangerous.

Those who took the hormone replacement therapy were given estrogen and progestin. This therapy would ease some of the symptoms of menopause making life easier for the women going through a difficult menopause. The long term prescriptions for this are rarely given now, on occasion though, women are given the treatment for short term.

If the bioidentical hormone replacement is given short term, there still might be some health benefits. Over short periods of time, doctors have discovered that it can help lessen the chances of getting osteoporosis. If used moderately, the hormone therapy may still be able to lower the risk of developing colorectal cancer. Heart disease risk can be lowered if estrogen is given in the early stage of postmenopausal years but not throughout the entire cycle of menopause.

There are risks for taking hormone replacement therapy and women who are experiencing menopause should weigh the facts and figure out if menopause is causing that much disruption in their lives that it would be worth chancing the hazards that come with the therapy.

Long term use of the therapy actually increased the threat of heart disease in women who took the real therapy. Breast cancer appeared to increase with long term use. Strokes increased in women that took the long term therapy. There were also an increase in false positive mammograms.

On the other hand, if women only took estrogen did not seem to have an increase in heart disease or breast cancer, but; they did have an increase in strokes, blood clots in their legs and an increase in abnormal mammograms.

If your menopausal symptoms are far greater than the risk, you should talk to your doctor if the following things are bothering you the most. If you have severe hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms that are interfering with daily life. It has been discovered that you have lost bone mass and you have stopped having your period before the age of forty.

If you experience any of the above mentioned situations, it might be wise for you to consider the treatment anyway. Your doctor will be able to identify whether or not what you are experiencing is extreme enough to begin you on the hormone therapy. - 32608

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