More women should take hormone-replacement therapy

It’s safer than people think and has large health benefits for many.

 HRT: What you should know about the benefits and risks

If you are thinking about taking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) or wondering if you should be coming off it, or going back on to it, you will be aware that there continues to be debate about its safety..

 The Controversial History of Hormone Replacement Therapy

In the following years, a reanalysis of the WHI trial was performed, and new studies showed that the use of HRT in younger women or in early postmenopausal women had a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, reducing coronary disease and all-cause mortality. Notwithstanding this, the public opinion on HRT has not changed yet, leading to important negative consequences for women’s health and quality of life.

 The menopause myth: how demonised HRT came back from the brink

We need to normalise menopause, not be shamed by it. And women need to cast off their fear about treatment and feel empowered to seek help.

 Women Have Been Misled About Menopause

Hot flashes, sleeplessness, pain during sex: For some of menopause’s worst symptoms, there’s an established treatment. Why aren’t more women offered it?

 ‘She will not become dull and unattractive’: The charming history of menopause and HRT

HRT was first successfully marketed as a ‘cure’ for menopause in the 1940s before a misreported study crashed sales in 2002.

Hormone Replacement Skin Patches Don’t Raise Risk for Blood Clots

Oral H.R.T. increases the risk for blood clots, but transdermal hormone replacement doesn’t, a large analysis found.

The Long And Misunderstood History Of Hormone Replacement Therapy

While perhaps surprising, it is important to understand that testosterone is the dominant hormone in women. In fact, women have about 20 times more testosterone than estrogen. All estrogen in women is synthesized from testosterone or a testosterone-like hormone. Without testosterone, there is no estrogen.

Benefits of Hormone-Replacement Therapy Outweigh Risks, Reviews of Studies Show

The benefits of hormone-replacement therapy outweigh the risks for women who start it near menopause. That’s the conclusion of a series of articles in the June issue of Climacteric, the journal of the International Menopause Society, correcting a widespread impression left by the Women’s Health Initiative, or WHI, ten years ago.

Can Hormones Keep You Young?

I’ve been prescribing bioidentical hormones for years and can tell you miracles on both sides of the fence. For many of my patients, taking hormones at a low physiological dose along with other lifestyle changes is the answer to their prayers. Their lives absolutely turn around. But for others, taking extra hormones is too risky.

Estrogen Replacement Therapy in Menopause

I’m going to come clean and tell you that until the last couple of years, I really didn’t understand the difference between bioidentical hormones and what we call synthetic hormones. I also didn’t know that bioidentical hormones have actually been around for a very long time – like, nearly 100 years. Surprised? I was too.

FAQs about Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

The generation of women before us stopped taking HRT overnight after a 2003 report by the Women’s Health Initiative linked HRT with an increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, blood clots and stroke. Overwhelming concern with the study's research methods and the conclusions, led to further analysis of this study and the overall safety of HRT. It’s now believed that the risks in this study were overstated or non-existent. Our doctor, Karen Morton says that it is ‘absolutely clear’ that the risks of taking HRT are ‘very, very minimal’.

Hormone Therapy May Not Prevent Postmenopausal Brain Fog

New findings suggest that taking estrogen has no effect on brain performance, no matter how early or late women start taking it.

Hormone-Replacement Therapy Seems Safe, Study Finds

"The pendulum had swung very far away from the use of hormone therapy for any purpose," said JoAnn Manson, a Harvard epidemiologist who was a principal investigator in both WHI and KEEPS. "But the absolute risk in younger women in early menopause appears to be very small."

HRT shows why health scares can’t be trusted

For much of the past 60 years HRT has been dogged by controversy. Now a recent scare has been re-evaluated.

Jeanette Winterson: can you stop the menopause?

After two years of mental breakdown, I was physically depleted, unable to sleep and my hair was falling out. Was my only choice HRT? Or was there a natural alternative?

Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Cancer Risk

The decision to use estrogen, alone (ET) or with a progestin therapy (EPT), after menopause should be made by each woman and her doctor after weighing the possible risks and benefits. Things to think about include: • The woman’s baseline risk of breast, endometrial, ovarian, and other types of cancer, and how much this might be affected by hormone therapy • The risks of other serious conditions affected by hormone therapy that aren’t covered here, like heart disease, stroke, serious blood clots, and effects on the brain • What other medicines might be used to treat menopausal symptoms or osteoporosis instead

Menopausal Hormone Therapy Information

New findings from the Women's Health Initiative and other studies offer important information about the risks and benefits of long-term menopausal hormone therapy. The links below point to information resources, including the most current from the NIH, on both long-term and short-term hormone use, and other concerns related to women's health during and after menopause.

Menopause - No Flashy Answers

It's nearly impossible to make a decision about Hormone Replacement on your own. The data continues to conflict and so much of the decision is based on individual circumstances.

Muddled Guidance At Menopause

Summary judgment against HR is unfounded, misguided, and leads only to the perpetuation of a vintage mistake in new directions. I encourage the Task Force to reconsider this topic accordingly. In the interim, I advise a discussion with your provider about what’s right for you, to find a personalized path through the prevailing muddle.

No One Really Understands How to Treat Menopause

Hormone therapy is a tangled mess of risks, benefits, and side effects that even doctors have difficulty unraveling.

Reprising The Wrong Verdict For Hormone Replacement At Menopause

The right hormone replacement at menopause for the right women can prevent premature death. It can prevent the diseases, notably coronary artery disease, that precipitate premature death, too.

Taking Hormones for Menopause Doesn’t Raise Early Death Risk

The largest and longest clinical trials to date of menopausal hormone therapy have found that the drugs do not increase the risk of premature death.

The Incredible, Life Enhancing Importance of Our Hormones

Why not be proactive and do something about it while we can? After all, we have a 401k and IRA for our future financial status. Why not have a proactive plan for our health so we can go the distance?

Using Hormone Therapy Early May Prevent Heart Disease, Study Finds

Women in study who began hormone-replacement therapy shortly after menopause had less progression of atherosclerosis.

Yet Another Pellet Sufferer. Stop the Madness

Pellets are such a bad idea. They simply don’t make sense based on the biochemistry of our bodies. As we age and our hormone levels decrease, we need to replenish our hormones by refilling our hormone receptors of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone with physiological dosing of bioidentical customized compounded hormone creams ….exactly what our bodies need based on viable testing (not blood labs).

Do Hormone Treatments for Menopause Increase Dementia Risk?

A new study suggests a link, but experts caution that there’s more to the story.

Everything we know about menopause and hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

The history of HRT is controversial. Here is the latest research.

Here's what you should know about hormone therapy for menopause

Like far too many aspects of women's health, menopause is under-studied. Much of our understanding of how to treat it comes from just a few large observational studies, and most of the public's information on treatments comes from one highly-publicized study.

Hormone therapy, long shunned for a possible breast cancer link, is now seen as a short-term treatment for menopause symptoms

Look at the Internet ads and news headlines about menopausal hormone therapy and you’ll find two competing story lines: Taking hormones is either going to keep a woman young and solve all her menopause-related woes, or it’s going to give her breast cancer and other scary diseases. The truth is that neither narrative is universally correct.

HRT Has an Uncertainty Problem. Does Compounding Make It Worse?

The pendulum has swung back and forth on hormone replacement therapy. Bespoke and supposed more ‘natural’ hormone combinations put together by compounding pharmacists have become popular. Mainstream endocrinologists see compounding as risky, partly because the practitioners who prescribe it may not see the dangers.

Millions of women are missing out on hormone replacement therapy

This much-maligned treatment could save many lives.

No evidence that plant-based alternatives to HRT actually work

It’s no surprise that many women seek an alternative approach. Plant-based phytoestrogens, which resemble the body’s own form of the hormone, are found in foods such as soybeans and flax seed (linseed), and can bind to oestrogen receptors in the body. Many have long assumed that these compounds are good for us – they have even been thought to underlie the long and healthy lives of Japanese people, who tend to eat a lot of soy products.

Sex hormones and your heart

Here's the latest thinking about how estrogen or testosterone therapy may affect cardiovascular risk.

Why Every 20-Something Should Know More About Their Hormones

“You can’t change something you aren’t even aware of,” underscores Tolentino. “Hormone testing will show you where you stand.” Allowing you to see whether you’re producing the right hormones at the right times, as well as highlighting deficiencies that may need to be addressed, tracking the balance of your hormones through medical tests whether by blood, saliva, or urine can have a great long-term impact on important personal issues, like fertility.