Answer. Hormone therapy can be extremely beneficial for bone health purposes for women up to the age of 60 years, and in some circumstances women may continue hormone therapy after this age, depending on their general health, family history and bone density / history of fracture.
The International Menopause Society guidelines recommend that if menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) is prescribed, it be commenced before the age of 60, or within 10 years of menopause.
Women who begin hormone therapy at age 60 or older or more than 10 years from the onset of menopause are at greater risk of the above conditions. But if hormone therapy is started before the age of 60 or within 10 years of menopause, the benefits appear to outweigh the risks.
However, most women who are otherwise fit and well do still gain benefits from taking HRT even if it has been more than 10 years since their menopause. You may decide to start HRT now because your symptoms have worsened, or you were expecting them to have gone by now but they haven't.
One of the common treatment options for menopausal symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), supplementing your hormone levels to rebalance your system. However, you may prefer to move through menopause without using hormone treatments. And, women with previous hormone-dependent cancer shouldn't use HRT.
Answer. Hormone therapy can be extremely beneficial for bone health purposes for women up to the age of 60 years, and in some circumstances women may continue hormone therapy after this age, depending on their general health, family history and bone density / history of fracture.
Combined HRT can be associated with a small increase in the risk of breast cancer. The increased risk is related to how long you take HRT, and it falls after you stop taking it. Because of the risk of breast cancer, it's especially important to attend all your breast cancer screening appointments if you're taking HRT.
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.
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.
It is not usually appropriate for women over 60 to be starting HRT but as the WHI study shows, women initiating it over 60 years do not seem to be at increased risk of cardiovascular events or mortality. Many women seek advice on the effects of HRT on sexual activity and desire.
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.
Weight gain and HRT
Many women believe that taking HRT will make them put on weight, but there's no evidence to support this claim. You may gain some weight during the menopause, but this often happens regardless of whether you take HRT.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is medicine used to treat the symptoms of the menopause. It is common to have side effects in the first few months of taking HRT. These usually settle on their own within 6 to 8 weeks. Side effects include weight gain, irregular bleeding, feeling sick (nausea) and skin irritation.
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
If your mood changes are related to the perimenopause and menopause, evidence indicates that HRT is better at improving your mood and anxiety than antidepressants.
The therapy, Bijuva, is an oral softgel capsule containing a combination of artificial hormones chemically identical to human female sex hormones, estradiol and progesterone.
A recent study of postmenopausal women, ages 50 to 80, found that those who took hormones had significantly lower levels of belly fat than women who did not take hormones.
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.
Skin health, sexual and bladder function will all be impacted by lack of estrogen. The skin will become drier and so will the lining of the vagina. The impaired blood supply in these tissues of the vagina, for example, impacts on cell repair, nutrition and sexual response.
The primary risks associated with HRT use are related to breast cancer and cardiovascular health. Recent clinical trial data have pointed to a slight increase in the number of breast cancers among women using HRT compared to placebo.
All of the data that we have suggests that HRT does not cause weight gain and it is in fact menopause that causes weight gain. Of course weight gain is very multifactorial. Many women actually find that they lose weight by using HRT as it shifts the metabolism back into a pre-menopausal metabolic state.
Muscle mass and strength will decrease. Additionally, arms and legs will appear smoother. This is because the fat below the skin becomes thicker. As the fat under the skin increases and moves, the eyes and face may take on a more “feminine” appearance.