To HRT, or not to HRT: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of menopause,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To HRT; to HRT….
Couldn’t resist plagiarizing a bit of Shakespeare & doesn’t he put it in context? The dilemma of the modern woman…..succinctly summarised by a 16th century man!! I had to use HRT though…To “hormone replacement therapy” just doesn’t read as well!
Ina nutshell HRT provides women with the hormones estrogen & progesterone, the hormones that decrease as you age. It can relieve the symptoms of menopause, and its use is associated with lower rates of bowel cancer & osteoporosis. Sounds good so far….but…..its use is controversial.
So just what is the story with HRT? (or Hormone Replacement Therapy for those readers who have been living in a cave somewhere away from modern civilization!) Is it safe to take or not?
Guess what- the answer depends on who you ask! And most people play safe & say things like…”As with most drugs, there are some risks associated with HRT”, and then go on to mention risks like “breast cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke and blood clots”. I mean we are not talking about minor risks here like “you might feel sleepy” or “do not operate machinery while taking this anti-histamine” type of side effects.
Then other people say that in healthy women the risks “of an adverse event” are extremely low. Then they give you numbers to illustrate this like:
In 10,000 women who have had menopause and do not use HRT, about 30 will get breast cancer.
If the same 10,000 women did use HRT, 38 women (i.e. 8 more) would get breast cancer.
This finding is from the US Women’s Health Initiative study, “a large trial investigating the major health risks and benefits of taking HRT for post-menopausal women aged 50to 79 years.”
(http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/whi/)
The study was stopped early because to was found that the women on HRT had a statistically greater risk of breast cancer and heart disease.
So what to do? The consensus seems to be that HRT should no longer be used long term. It should not be prescribed to prevent osteoporosis or heart disease. The risk, though small, is considered significant. There is lots of information about to help you with your decision. For example I found this web site useful: Menopausal Women’s Hard Decisions (http://bcendocrineresearch.com/newsletter/v06/n02/Menopausal_Women_s_Hard_Decisions_s01.php
If you think you just have to relieve the symptoms with HRT you are advised to only take for the minimum amount of time, do it under doctor supervision & continually reevaluate your need to take it.
To replace or not replace,
That is the question…
If you want to find out more there are lots of books on this topic. Books I have found helpful include:
HRT: The Answers - A Concise Guide for Solving the Hormone Replacement Therapy Puzzle
The HRT Solution : Optimizing Your Hormone Potential
If all this information about HRT has scared you off and you want to try and explore alternative therapies one of the best selling books at amazon on this topic is:
And finally, if you want to read more about the use of natural hormones, Erike Scwartz has written a best selling book about re-energising yourself with natural hormones called:
The 30-Day Natural Hormone Plan: Look and Feel Young Again–Without Synthetic HRT