Five Takeaways

Women going through perimenopause and menopause are often shocked by the dearth of resources to help mitigate sleepless nights, loss of libido, flaring body heat and flashing angry moods. No, it’s not all in your head; it’s in your unbalanced hormones, shifting and swerving for years. You need relief now, so you talk to your physician about trying hormone replacement therapy or see an online HRT ad, but it’s easy to be overwhelmed by conflicting information and indecipherable clinical statistics.

Renuva HRT & Wellness wants to bring sanity to the HRT therapy discussion with a synopsis of a New York Times Magazine article that tackles HRT issues in a realistic, relatable way. Here are the key points.

Takeaway #1: Numerous new studies reveal HRT safety.

Over the past 20-plus years, peer-reviewed, evidence-based studies have demonstrated that for many healthy 45-to-55-year-old women, the benefits of HRT therapy ‘outweigh the risks:’ a clinical phrase physicians use when prescribing any medication, not just bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. This is the best answer to the common question: Is HRT safe?

 Takeaway #2: Estradiol (estrogen) does not cause breast cancer when properly prescribed for the right woman.

In addition, when given under the skin – not orally by mouth –  it does not increase the risk of blood clots, heart disease, or stroke. These safety risks only come into play when estrogen is taken orally and processed by the liver to reach the body. It’s important to note that many 2002 WHI study medications were made from pregnant mares’ urine and taken by mouth. That treatment was vastly different from today’s bioidentical hormone replace medications, which are identical to human hormones and delivered via a pellet under the skin, among other methods.

Takeaway #3: Women are surprised by the difficulty finding treatment for menopause symptoms.

Nearly 85 percent of women experience symptoms, ranging from an occasional hot flash to life-altering night sweats, insomnia, mood swings, sapped energy and a loss of libido.

“It occurs naturally between the ages of 42 and 58 years and is a consequence of reproductive senescence. The average age at onset appears fixed, as it has been unchanged since ancient Greece.” Yet today, even though there are proven hormonal therapies to alleviate symptoms, doctors either are unfamiliar with, or reluctant to prescribe hormone replacement therapy.

Takeaway #4: HRT medications with estrogen and testosterone can deliver health benefits such as preventing heart disease and bone loss.

New evidence shows that, for women in perimenopause and menopause, between ages 45 and 55, properly timed and dosed HRT therapy reduces the occurrence of bone loss and osteoporosis, colon cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Takeaway #5: Hormone replacement therapy is complex and nuanced; only a physician or certified nurse practitioner should prescribe it.

Only a trained and experienced clinician can determine which bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is most favorable for an individual, taking care to monitor both the ongoing therapy and a woman’s general health.