Estrogen Therapy: Estrogen is taken alone. Doctors most often prescribe a low dose of estrogen to be taken as a pill or patch every day. Estrogen may also be prescribed as a cream, vaginal ring, gel or spray.
Side-effects of oestrogen-only MHT
Common side-effects, which are usually temporary, include breast enlargement and tenderness, and nausea. This may be dose related. Oral oestrogen may be associated with exacerbation of hormonally-sensitive migraine headache.
Vaginal oestrogen
It does not carry the usual risks of HRT and does not increase your risk of breast cancer, so you can use it without taking progestogen, even if you still have a womb.
Oestrogen-only HRT increases the risk of womb cancer. The longer this type of HRT is used, the bigger the risk. That's why oestrogen-only HRT is usually only offered to those who have had their womb removed (a hysterectomy) as they have no risk of womb cancer to begin with. Combined HRT can reduce womb cancer risk.
This is because estrogen alone, when not balanced by progesterone, can stimulate growth of the lining of the uterus, increasing the risk of endometrial cancer. If you have had your uterus removed (hysterectomy), you may not need to take progestin.
Side effects of oestrogen
breast tenderness or swelling. swelling in other parts of the body. feeling sick. leg cramps.
Estrogen Therapy: Estrogen is taken alone. Doctors most often prescribe a low dose of estrogen to be taken as a pill or patch every day. Estrogen may also be prescribed as a cream, vaginal ring, gel or spray.
By supplementing your body's natural hormone levels, HRT can help you maintain a more youthful body composition. While this effect is particularly evident in men, research suggests that women can also benefit. HRT is also known to help women maintain softer, smoother skin, resulting in a younger look.
There's no limit on how long you can take HRT, but talk to a GP about how long they recommend you take the treatment. Most women stop taking it once their menopausal symptoms pass, which is usually after a few years.
It depends on your situation. Not all women need, want or are candidates for estrogen therapy. Estrogen can reduce menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness. If you have a uterus, you'll likely need to take progesterone along with the estrogen.
To relieve the symptoms of menopause, doctors may prescribe hormone therapy. This can involve the use of either estrogen alone or with another hormone called progesterone, or progestin in its synthetic form (See Box 1.). The two hormones normally help to regulate a woman's menstrual cycle.
Oestrogen and progesterone are female hormones that play important roles in a woman's body. Falling levels cause a range of physical and emotional symptoms, including hot flushes, mood swings and vaginal dryness.
Five years or less is usually the recommended duration of use for this combined treatment, but the length of time can be individualized for each woman. Women who have had their uterus removed can take estrogen alone.
Estrogen is good for your heart by keeping cardiovascular tissue healthy. It also helps with keeping your blood pressure stable. And when your estrogen levels are high, it helps keep blood triglycerides (a type of fat) low, increases HDL cholesterol (the good kind) and lowers LDL cholesterol (the bad kind).
Overall, you may gain or lose weight once you begin hormone therapy, depending on your diet, lifestyle, genetics and muscle mass. Your eyes and face will begin to develop a more feminine appearance as the fat under the skin increases and shifts.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been shown to increase epidermal hydration, skin elasticity, skin thickness (Sator et al 2001), and also reduces skin wrinkles (Phillips et al 2001).
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can affect weight loss in women. In addition to having less abdominal fat, the same study found that women undergoing HRT were almost one whole point lower on the body mass index (BMI) scale, and they had nearly 3 pounds less of fat mass.
Irregular periods, hot flashes, difficulty sleeping, mood swings, and headaches can all be signs of low levels of the hormone estrogen in women. The most common cause of low estrogen is perimenopause, your body's transition into menopause, but other factors can be involved.
A Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study involving postmenopausal, overweight, and obese women who took 2,000 IUs of vitamin D daily for a year found that those whose vitamin D blood levels increased the most had the greatest reductions in blood estrogens, which are a known risk factor for breast cancer.
Bioidentical or "natural" hormones
Bioidentical hormones are hormone preparations made from plant sources that are promoted as being similar or identical to human hormones. Practitioners claim these hormones are a "natural" and safer alternative to standard HRT medicines.
Natural and synthetic estrogen may cause the following common adverse effects: breast tenderness, nausea, vomiting, bloating, stomach cramps, headaches, weight gain, hyperpigmentation of the skin, hair loss, vaginal itching, abnormal uterine bleeding, also known as breakthrough bleeding, and anaphylaxis.
In addition to regulating the menstrual cycle, estrogen affects the reproductive tract, the urinary tract, the heart and blood vessels, bones, breasts, skin, hair, mucous membranes, pelvic muscles, and the brain.