Why is hormone therapy not recommended?

If someone has a history of blood clots, research shows that for most women, the benefits of hormone replacement therapy outweigh the risks. If a person has a history of blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, liver disease, or cancer caused by hormones, such as breast cancer, there are other treatment options. A patch, for example, has a lower risk of blood clots than other methods of administration and may provide better protection against osteoporosis than take pills.

Hormone therapy

can help alleviate menopausal symptoms.

However, it is associated with many serious risks if used in the long term. While treatment reduces the risk of bone fractures, it increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (problems with the heart and blood vessels) and breast cancer. Women should know that taking a combined progesterone and estrogen regimen or estrogen alone is no longer recommended to prevent heart disease. Women should talk to their healthcare provider about other ways to protect their heart.

Like all medications and treatments, hormone replacement therapy can cause side effects in some women, such as breast tenderness, headaches, and stomach aches. The new analysis is based on two decades of follow-up data from the Women's Health Initiative study, which followed thousands of women receiving hormone replacement therapy. The WHI recommends that women follow FDA recommendations for hormone therapy (estrogen only) or estrogen plus progestin.). Most importantly, there are now different types of hormones administered at lower doses that have proven to be safer.

Streicher says it's clear that the Women's Health Initiative study was wrong and that some of the risks identified were related to the type of hormones being administered to women. According to her, there are a variety of options, from lifestyle modifications to hormone replacement therapy. The researchers of the Cochrane Collaboration wanted to summarize what is known about long-term hormone therapy. Because hormones control anxiety, appetite, body temperature, brain function, heart rate, metabolism, mood, sleep cycles, sexual function, stress, urination, and, in fact, everything, imbalances (too low or too high) can cause annoying (at best) and uncomfortable symptoms.

According to Streicher, other types of hormones are increasingly being used, such as micronized progesterone, which does not increase the risk of breast cancer. All women were randomly assigned to the hormonal drug under study or to the placebo (inactive substance). However, hormone therapy (HT), in which estrogen and progestogen (a synthetic progesterone) are combined, has been the subject of controversy over the years. These products are approved therapies for relieving moderate to severe hot flashes and symptoms of vaginal dryness.

Hormonal hormone therapy involves taking estrogen and, if you still have a uterus, another hormone called progestin (progesterone). It can start as early as age 30, driven by natural processes that gradually decrease hormone levels, or it can occur abruptly through surgical removal of the uterus and ovaries, causing you to enter menopause almost overnight.