Advantages and disadvantages of hormone replacement therapy

What’s the purpose of hormone replacement therapy and what are the results?

 

Problems arising during the peri-menopause exhaust many women, so hormone replacement therapy is very welcome. (jlp)

Hormone replacement therapy helps restore your hormonal balance when your body undergoes rather drastic changes. Despite the term hormone replacement therapy, we have to stress that the peri-menopause isn’t a disease, but a natural physical process. A woman is as ill as when she has her period.

What’re the positive effects of hormone replacement therapy?

The basis of hormone replacement therapy is addition of estrogens. A lot of women don’t need additional hormones because their bodies produces enough estrogen in other organs and fatty tissue. On the other hand, hormone replacement therapy has a lot of beneficial effects on other women. We often realize what we had only when we lose it. The same goes for hormones. Only when our levels are low, we see how important they are. Hormones play an important role in the growth and maintenance of bones. If a person loses too much bone mass, the bones become porous and prone to fractures (osteoporosis). Damage to the skeletal system can be avoided if you undergo a timely and long-lasting therapy, supported by a diet rich in calcium. Hormone replacement also has a beneficial effect on your vagina. A lack of hormone affects vaginal elasticity and moistness, which are of key importance for satisfying sexual intercourse. The therapy is also effective in the fight against insomnia mood swings, stress and hot flushes.

Hormone replacement therapy can have an effect on headaches and a bad mood. (jlp)

When is hormone replacement therapy not recommended?

In hormone replacement therapy, precautionary measures should be taken into account. The therapy isn’t recommended for people with cardiovascular, liver and thromboembolic diseases, hormone dependent tumors (e.g. breasts) and systemic diseases (e.g. rheumatic diseases). In women who still have their uterus, estrogens are associated with a much greater chance of developing uterine cancer, so they are never taken on their own, but always in combination with progestogens. Women who have their uterus removed only take estrogens. The views on the preventive effect of hormone replacement therapy on coronary diseases are less clear. Today, some people believe that the therapy is the most important preventive measure in the fight against coronary diseases in women, while others are more reserved and believe that more concrete proof needs to be provided about its effectiveness and safety. There are there are more and more data indicating that hormone replacement therapy protects against Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most important cause of dementia in advanced old age. Studies also show that oestrogens reduce the risk of developing cancer of the large intestine (bowel cancer).

In the case of breast cancer, caution should be used when determining hormone replacement therapy. (jlp)

Potential adverse effects of hormone replacement therapy

Hormone replacement therapy somewhat increases the chances of having deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. There’s also a higher risk of developing endometrial cancer. A long-lasting treatment probably also increases the risk of developing breast cancer if the replacement therapy lasts more than 10 years and is employed above the age of 60. There’s no danger if the hormone replacement therapy used to resolve problems related to the peri-menopause lasts several years. When making a decision on a long-lasting treatment, you always have to consider other factors that influence the development of breast cancer. It’s particularly important to consider the data on the disease in the mother or other female relatives on your mother’s side and the data on late births. According to today’s’ views, the beneficial effects of hormone replacement therapy are considered to overweight any potential risks in women, so, in principle, it’s increasingly more recommended if there are no side effects.

It’s good that a woman starts taking care of her body at a very early age and thus avoids hormone replacement therapy. (jlp)

Methods of hormone replacement therapy

A woman can take estrogens orally, in the form of tablets, place them on her skin in the form of patches, or use in the form of injections in a muscle. It’s also possible to administer them locally into your vagina in small doses of estrogen, which doesn’t significantly increase the level of estrogen in your blood, but it protects your vagina against atrophic changes appearing during your peri-menopause.

Alternatives to hormone replacement therapy

Regular physical activity has a major protective effect on women, especially in their menopause and afterwards, because physically active women are 70% less likely to be at risk than inactive women. Regular physical activity largely slows the physical changes typical of the period after the menopause and linked to a higher risk of developing coronary disease. Exercise prevents you from gaining weight, increases the protective cholesterol HDL, and hinders the development of diabetes in women prone to the disease. This is an alternative, non-hormone treatment used to alleviate the consequences of the menopause. Treatments also include certain drugs that affect the central nervous system, such as clonidine, which is also used to reduce high blood pressure. Various sedatives, which have side effects, and various vitamins, particularly vitamin E, are also used.

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