| | The hormone replacement therapy (HRT) controversy | For many years HRT was regarded as a panacea to prolong youth, cure menopausal symptoms and prevent heart disease and osteoporosis. For decades women were persuaded to take HRT as soon as the first signs of menopause appeared and to continue using it indefinitely.
A billion-dollar scientific study conducted by the American Women's Health Initiative (WHI) recently confirmed that using HRT for longer than 5 years increases a woman's risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and pulmonary embolism. 1 In 2002 the trials were halted 3 years early as the increased risks outweighed any benefit that continuation of the study might have provided.
While the study confirmed that HRT does reduce the risk of osteoporosis and certain cancers, it also showed that HRT increases the risk of heart attacks by 29% and the risk of stroke and breast cancer by 26%. The results were unexpected and caused worldwide panic and anxiety. A year later the Million Women Study2 in England and other studies around Europe, supported the findings of the WHI study. Women need to approach the transition into menopause in a holistic, integrative way. Managing menopause is about managing your entire lifestyle, including eating correctly, using the correct food supplements, stress management and healing herbs to assist you gently through the menopause and peri-menopause. Many trials have been conducted to prove the efficacy and safety of plant hormones.
More and more women are reluctant to use HRT. At present, only 11% of postmenopausal women in the UK are using HRT. The reasons for this reluctance include previous hormonal experience with the old high-dose oral contraceptives in their younger days that led to weight gain, migraine, depression and premenstrual syndrome (PMS), as well as the side-effects often experienced with HRT. | | Symptoms associated with menopause | - Irregular periods
- Hot flushes with night sweats, heart palpitations, nausea and anxiety
- Headaches
- Fluid retention with swelling and oedema
- Tender, painful breasts
- Lowered libido and vaginal dryness
- Insomnia (aggravated by hot flushes)
- Fatigue
- Muscle and joint aches and pains
- Irritability and impatience
- Emotional instability
- Depression
- Loss of short-term memory
- Lack of concentration.
| | What is a woman supposed to do? | - Natural alternatives to HRT have all the same benefits as HRT, but few side-effects because they are only 1:1 000 to 1:10 000 as strong as HRT.
- General health and wellbeing improve by following natural guidelines.
Become informed and make an informed decision on what you want to do - ask your doctor about the side-effects of HRT and other options, and read about them. You may then decide to try the natural options first, or to go with HRT for a few years (not longer than 5 years, though) until the worst symptoms subside and then use natural alternatives, or use some natural alternatives (see below) to start with, especially if your symptoms are not severe or you're in the peri-menopausal period where periods might become irregular (heavier or less bleeding, longer or shorter periods in between cycles, emotional liability, etc.). I recommend that you try the natural options first, and be patient, as it might take up to 3 months before symptoms improve!
| | References | Writing group for the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Investigators. Risks and benefits of estrogen plus progestin in healthy menopausal women - principal results from the WHI randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2002; 288: 321-333. - Million Women Study Collaborators. Breast cancer and hormone replacement therapy in the Million Women Study.
Lancet 2003; 362: 419-427.
| | More information on Menopause and HRT | |
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