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.
Estrogen can ease vaginal symptoms of menopause, such as dryness, itching, burning and discomfort with intercourse. Need to prevent bone loss or fractures. Systemic estrogen helps protect against the bone-thinning disease called osteoporosis.
Symptoms can linger for a lifetime. And the continued low estrogen levels lead to more serious health concerns. The rate of bone loss speeds up, increasing your risk of low bone density, osteopenia and osteoporosis. You also have a higher chance of having a heart attack, stroke or other heart-related issues.
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.
Among women age 65 and older, those who took estrogen alone or estrogen plus progestin had an increased risk of developing dementia (7, 8). Stroke, blood clots, and heart attack. Women who took either combined hormone therapy or estrogen alone had an increased risk of stroke, blood clots, and heart attack (1, 2).
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.
Estrogen increases your risk of blood clots, which can cause a stroke, a heart attack, and even death. Cancer. Estrogen may increase your risk of certain cancers, specifically breast cancer. Talk with a doctor about your personal health history, your family history, and your risk of breast cancer.
Side effects of oestrogen
breast tenderness or swelling. swelling in other parts of the body. feeling sick. leg cramps.
It is not common to start hormone therapy for bone health at or after the age of 60. By the age of 60, arteries are generally stiffer and women at this age are more at risk of cardiovascular disease, hence commencing hormone therapy may increase their risk of cardiovascular disease or events.
Some evidence suggests that estrogen hormone therapy increases a woman's resting metabolic rate. This might help slow weight gain. Lack of estrogen may also cause the body to use starches and blood sugar less effectively, which would increase fat storage and make it harder to lose weight. Other age-related factors.
The prolonged use of estrogens has been reported to increase the risk of endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the uterus) in women after menopause. This risk seems to increase as the dose and the length of use increase. When estrogens are used in low doses for less than 1 year, there is less risk.
Signs & Symptoms of Low Estrogen
Weight gain. Thinning hair. Dry skin/lips. Vaginal dryness (which may make sexual intercourse painful)
Low estrogen symptoms include changes to your period, headaches, moodiness, and hot flashes. Other signs include dry skin, difficulty concentrating, breast tenderness, and vaginal dryness. Estrogen is a hormone responsible for maintaining vaginal blood flow and lubrication.
Phytoestrogen/Isoflavones
Phytoestrogens are natural chemicals in plant foods that have a mild estrogen-boosting effect. Isoflavones are the major class of phytoestrogens, found in soybeans and soy products, nuts and seeds (such as sesame seeds and flax seeds), and chickpeas and other legumes.
Clonidine. Clonidine is a prescription medicine that can help reduce hot flushes and night sweats in some menopausal women. It's taken as tablets 2 or 3 times a day. It does not affect hormone levels, so unlike HRT it does not carry an increased risk of problems such as breast cancer.
Although hormone replacement may improve many menopausal symptoms, it is not safe for every woman. Hormone replacement therapy is usually not prescribed to women in the following categories: diagnosed with breast, or other hormone-sensitive cancers.
The most widely cited natural remedy is soy, which is very high in phytoestrogens, or plant estrogens. Other sources are red clover and flaxseed, both of which are available as supplements.
Benefits of HRT
The main benefit of HRT is that it can help relieve most of the menopausal symptoms, such as: hot flushes. night sweats. mood swings.
Menopausal hormone therapy is the term used to describe the two hormones, estrogen and progestin, that are given to relieve bothersome symptoms of menopause. Estrogen is the hormone that relieves the symptoms. Women with a uterus must also take progestin (a progesterone-like hormone) to prevent uterine cancer.