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Making the HRT Decision: What You Must Know About Hormones, Estrogen, and Menopause
Menopause Treatment News:
HRT:
Making The Hormone
Decision Today
What Every Woman Needs
To Know!
It's been five years since the Women's Health Intiativve studies declared hormone replacement therapy a danger for women. But at least some of what we learned about menopause and hormones has changed since then. Here's what you need to know to make the HRT decision today.
By Colette Bouchez
It was the summer of 2002 when the news about hormone replacement therapy (HRT) shook us to the core.
In what felt like a bomb dropped on all womankind the US federal government prematurely halted the Women's Health Initiative – a study designed to evaluate the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy on disease prevention.
The reason: Not only had HRT failed to be the protective fountain of youth doctors and women had long since believed, evidence was mounting that taking so much as a sip from it's tainted waters might very well kill us.
"It was like an abrupt hit in the solar plexus –with a message that was loud and clear: If you value your life, don't even be in the same room as a bottle of hormones, " says Steven Goldstein, MD, professor of medicine, NYU Medical Center and board member of the North American Menopause Society.
An increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and blood clots were just some of the problems researchers documented in women using HRT.
And while the study also found hormone therapy reduced the risk of hip fracture and possibly colon cancer, on a cultural as well as a medical level that didn't seem to matter. The moment the estrogen hit the fan, women began rejecting hormone use in droves, while doctors traded HRT prescriptions for suggestions like " Dress in layers" and "Carry a paper fan."
At the time, certainly the WHI findings seemed to be the final word on HRT. But fast-forward five years and we find the picture of hormone replacement therapy is changing yet again.
"We have had time and resources to carefully tease out the data and perhaps collect a little bit more, and what we have found at least reassures us that for some women who have menopausal symptoms, HRT is not the ominous prescription we thought when the data first came out," says Cynthia Stuenkel MD, professor of medicine, division of endocrinology and metabolism, University of California at San Diego.
Clearly, at least some of the problems with HRT brought to light in 2002 are still in place today.
Indeed the WISDOM (Women's International Study of Long Duration Oestrogen after Menopause) study recently published in the British Medical Journal, duplicated many of the same findings detailed by WHI, particularly concerning the increased risk of heart disease in women who began, or restarted hormone therapy after age 60.
At the same time, however, in the five years since the WHI, another, equally important fact has emerged: The seemingly huge difference a few birthday candles can make when it comes to the impact of HRT on a woman's heart.
Next Up: HRT - Why Your Age Matters
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