This could explain why women were more likely to receive a diagnosis of depression soon after starting HRT. Regardless of which form of hormone therapy you choose (and there are many), the safest approach is to use the lowest dose for the shortest time needed to control symptoms. The type of hormone therapy you need will also depend on a number of factors, such as whether you've had a hysterectomy (in which case you'll be prescribed estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy) and the specific menopausal symptoms you're experiencing, which will determine which hormones and doses are the most appropriate. For many women, HRT is the answer they've been looking for when it comes to minimizing or stopping their often soul-draining perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms.
Hormone replacement
therapy, or HRT, is still considered a safe and effective option for many women whose hot flashes, night sweats, and other symptoms are intolerable.If in the end you don't find a treatment for HRT that you can follow or you just don't want to keep taking it, there are other prescription medications that can help, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), antidepressants that are effective in reducing night sweats. It also found that “locally administered hormone replacement therapy” is actually associated with a lower risk of depression in women age 54 and older. Media outlets that wrongly suggested that hormone therapy causes depression in their initial coverage of the study may have inadvertently discouraged some women from stopping using hormone therapy, meaning they could lose their benefits. Physicians are urged to be cautious when administering hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to women, after a new Danish study once again linked HRT to depression.
As research into hormone replacement therapy continues, it's understandable for women to become concerned when they see studies or headlines showing the potential harmful effects of using hormone replacement therapy. However, women who received hormone replacement therapy systemically (either in pill form or through the skin with a patch) were more likely to receive a diagnosis of depression, especially between the ages of 48 and 50, compared to women who did not receive it. Similarly, local hormone replacement therapy is usually only given for genitourinary symptoms, such as vaginal dryness, and not for women who have other menopausal symptoms, such as depression. People who receive sequential hormone replacement therapy may notice a total change in their symptoms on the days they take estrogen and progesterone together, compared to days when they take estrogen alone.
In addition, it cannot be ruled out that women who started using HRT pills or patches did so because their menopausal symptoms were more severe. In fact, researchers found that, in women aged 54 to 56, local HRT was associated with a lower risk of they will be diagnosed with depression.
