Hormone Replacement therapy is also known as HRT. The most common use of hormone replacement therapy is to treat menopause symptoms. Estrogen is the most common synthetic hormone used in hormone replacement therapy.

 

 

 

The reason that women going through menopause use hormone replacement therapy is to relieve the following Menopause Symptoms:

 

•    Hot flashes and night sweats
•    Vaginal dryness discomfort
•    Mood swings
•    Menopause insomnia
•    Decrease in sexual desire
•    Osteoporosis

There are side affects and health risks related to hormone replacement therapy, so some women try to find alternatives and natural remedies to manage the symptoms of menopause. The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study led health care providers to revise their recommendations regarding hormone replacement

Some of the health risks to women who use HRT to treat menopause include the following:

•    Blood clots (the risk increases for smokers, another reason to stop smoking)
•    Breast cancer
•    Heart attacks
•    Ovarian cancer
•    Endometrial cancer

Side effects include typical PMS symptoms, menopause symptoms continuing, and irregular bleeding.

For women with severe menopausal symptoms, hormonal replacement therapy will allow them to manage symptoms that interfere with the quality of their life. The HRT should be carefully monitored and at the lowest dose possible to take the edge off the symptoms of menopause. Risks can be reduced by a healthy lifestyle while being treated with hormonal replacement therapy.

There are different types of hormone replacement therapy. HRT is available in different forms like pills, patches, and vaginal creams. Discuss with your health care provider what will work best for you and will fit in best with your life style. Types of hormone replacement therapy include the following:

Cyclic Hormone Therapy this is the most commonly recommended. With this therapy, estrogen is taken in pill form for 25 days, with progesterone added somewhere between days 10 - 14. The estrogen and progesterone are taken together for the remainder of the 25 days. Then, no pills are taken for 3 - 5 days. There may be monthly bleeding with cyclic therapy.

Continuous, Combined Therapy estrogen and progesterone are taken together every day. When this therapy is started, or when switching from cyclic to continuous therapy, women may experience irregular bleeding. Most women stop bleeding within 1 year after starting this therapy.

HRT Patch is applied to the abdomen or the thigh. The patch allows the estrogen to be absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream. Some women prefer this method because they do not want to have to take pills.

Vaginal Cream is a cream containing estrogen may be given to women for vaginal dryness. The cream is usually given along with one of the other forms of HRT because the cream may not relieve many of the other symptoms and does not appear to protect against bone disease.

Hormone replacement therapy should be fully researched before beginning. Discuss side affects, risks, and alternatives with your health care professional.