Hormone Therapy for Menopausal Women – The Advantages and Disadvantages
Hormone Therapy for Menopausal Women – The Advantages
The most highly prescribed method today to treat the nasty symptoms of menopause is through HRT or Hormone Replacement Therapy. There are more women now than ever taking natural hormone replacement to help curb the side effects of entering the menopause phase of life. It is no wonder why it is one of the fastest growing areas in medicine today. There are so many happy women out there today that no longer need to suffer and can once again enjoy life. What the replacement therapy is all about is giving a woman back the appropriate levels of hormones that her ovaries are no longer producing on their own. As the female sex hormones decrease, a woman will begin to feel the side effects of the onset of menopause. She will no longer be ovulating regularly or at all. Because a woman no longer ovulates or does so infrequently she will also no longer produce enough progesterone as well. This will also intensify the symptoms as she begins menopause. HRT will give the body the right amount of both progesterone and estrogen that reduces any if not all the side effects of menopause.
Hormone replacement therapy is widely used in many possible ways to best fit a woman's individual body, symptoms, and health issues. The most common type of HRT involves using both estrogen and progesterone replacement at the same time to create the feel of an actual normal menstrual cycle. This gives a woman's body the appropriate amount of hormones to mimic each phase of her cycle. This would be a therapy specifically designed for women who have a uterus to actually stimulate via the hormones. A woman would take a regular does of estrogen daily and the progesterone would slowly increase through out the cycle and then would be stopped to create a menses to shed the uterine lining. This gives the body the feel that ovulation has occurred and makes a woman feel more normal. The estrogens that they use in HRT come from natural sources and are the same configuration that occurs naturally in the body. The progesterone supplements are synthetic versions of the actual hormone and are specifically meant to bring on a menses and should not be taken by women who are pregnant or having regular periods. A woman who still has her uterus will want to be on both hormones to make sure that she does not get a over growth of the uterine lining. The only time estrogen therapy alone is given to a woman is if she no longer has a uterus due to a hysterectomy that caused surgical menopause. With no uterus there is no need to recreate menstruation. Progestin-only therapy is not prescribed very often. Progestin does seem to provide awesome relief for hot flashes, though.
When a woman uses hormone replacement she is benefiting herself in so many possible ways. HRT is an excellent way to help reduce the nasty symptoms of menopause, such as insomnia, fatigue, depression, incontinence, and vaginal dryness. It can also significantly reduce the frequency and intensity of hot flashes and night sweats as well. Using natural estrogen can help make a woman’s skin feel smoother, help regulate and improve sleep, and make her less prone to depression. This hormone is also responsible for keeping the vagina well lubricated and the muscles in the pelvic floor area tighter to help prevent any incontinence. Using HRT can also help women prevent bone density loss and the onset of osteoporosis that can cause them great pain and suffering later in life. Hormone therapy has been known to not only reduce or get rid of short-term side effects of menopause, but the long term ones as well. Advantages include:
- Reduced number and severity of hot flashes
- Decreased dryness and thinning of mucous membranes
- Decreased risk of osteoporosis (bone disease)
- Protection against cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease
The short-term symptoms of menopause can seriously affect a woman’s health and well being. The symptoms of menopause can be truly uncomfortable and even embarrassing to a woman. Suffering from an array of emotional fluxes and hot flashes in public can be quite upsetting. The hot flashes a woman gets at night can cause her to get the sweats and chills. This will disrupt her sleep and ultimately producing fatigue in the morning. Using the HRT technology can help women to greatly reduce or even eliminate the nasty side effects and symptoms that menopause brings on. Menopause does not have to be a negative experience anymore.
Hormone Therapy for Menopausal Women – The Disadvantages
Using Hormone replacement is considered the norm in today’s society at large. The first thing women think about when they hear the word menopause is HRT. Menopause is not an illness but rather a very normal stage of the aging process in a woman, leading her out of her childbearing years. It is the physical changes and symptoms that can make a woman feel like she has a disease not to mention put her at risk for developing certain illnesses later on as she ages. Women need to make sure they know all of the information available on HRT today to make an informed decision for them. Not knowing what the issues are that concern HRT can end up causing some woman more discomfort and side effects then the menopause itself.
The hormones involved in the normal menstrual cycle and with hormone replacement are extremely complex and carry out many functions. Estrogen and progesterone are the two hormones that play the most critical role in a woman’s physical and emotional state through out her life. Once menopause occurs the production of both these hormones goes down and the ovaries lose their function. This causes multiple physiological affects and changes in the body. The most common changes and symptoms are missed menstrual periods, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, increased risk of heart disease, and loss of bone density.
Hormone replacement is a full or partial replacement of the female hormones progesterone and estrogen into a woman’s system once her ovaries have ceased their biological function. These replacements are available in several forms that include pills, skin patch, a cream that is vaginally inserted, or through injection at a doctor’s office. The pill form of these hormones is taking in different doses through out the recreated menstrual cycle to mimic what the body would have been doing. Usually estrogen is taken daily through the entire cycle while progesterone is only taken in the later half. One the progesterone is stopped the menses begins and the HRT cycle is repeated. The actual doses will vary woman to woman and depend on the severity of symptoms as well as other issues. The patch is worn on the skin and hormones can pass directly through and not even have to be processed before they begin to work. This helps to lessen the side effects of the HRT in general. Vaginal creams are a great way to help solve vaginal dryness that can be quite irritating and cause painful intercourse. They do not help as well as other therapy types when it comes to other symptoms or prevention of menopausal diseases. Injection hormones are quite effective but can be a pain since more doctor appointments are required.
When considering whether HRT is for you really need to make sure you are fully aware of all the possible side effects and risks to your health before receiving treatment. It is important to know that using estrogen alone for women who still have their uterus is not healthy and can increase the risk of uterine cancer. For these women a progesterone supplement must also be in the mix to make sure that they get a menses each month. This sheds the uterine lining build up that the estrogen makes as well as reducing the risk of cancer. The risk of breast cancer is more prominent for those women on HRT of any kind verses the women who elect to not be on it. The studies thus far have been inconclusive with the majority of woman who now has breast cancer having been on HRT for more than 15 years. These are the same risks as for women on birth control as well. If a woman already has a form of cancer that has yet to be detected then HRT can cause its rapid growth. More common and less life threatening side effects of HRT are nausea, breast tenderness, cramping and weight gain. These can also be very annoying for a woman. Rarely, hormones can interfere with liver function and have also been associated with an increased risk of gallbladder disease in the women who use them. There are over 40 different combinations of HRT available, so if one doesn't work well for you there will be other options.
You should try each method of treatment for 3 months before deciding if it's suitable for you. Possible side effects:
- Nausea
- Breast tenderness
- Bloating, due to fluid retention
- Headaches
A Reminder. This article is meant to inform only. Please see your medical practitioner before making any decisions.
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