Many health risks were discovered in the use of hormone therapy to treat menopausal symptoms in women. As the female body grows older, it slows down the production of progesterone and estrogen. The lack of these hormones can result in mild symptoms of heat flashes and irritability to severe symptoms of deep depression and radical mood swings. The traditional treatment for this ailment was hormone therapy.
Some women responded very well to this treatment and were extremely grateful that there was relief available. However; in 2002, it was determined in the Women’s Health Initiative clinical trial that the health risks of hormone therapy outweighed the benefits. As result, many doctors would not prescribe it or female patient would discontinue the use of hormone therapy on their own.
A lot of confusion about hormone therapy has been created because of many mixed results from many different sources. It is the long term use of the combination of progestin and estrogen that places women at risk. There are documented benefits that results from the short-term use of estrogen only. Osteoporosis or bone loss, colorectal cancer and heart disease can all be prevented or the risk can be decreased from the use of hormone therapy.
The risks of long term hormone therapy, combining progestin and estrogen, can result in more incidents of heart disease, blood clots, strokes and breast cancer. These are the results after tracking 10, 000 women over the period of one year. A solution for women is to take the estrogen by itself; however, only women that have had a hysterectomy can take estrogen without progestin because a woman using estrogen only increases the risk for uterine cancer.
There are several alternative solutions to treat menopausal symptoms. However; hormone therapy is the most effective for treating menopausal symptoms. For some women, the relief from the symptoms is well worth the possible risks. It is a decision that every woman will have to make for herself.
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