There is good news for older women age who are experiencing menopause symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats. You can safely get relief with hormone therapy (HT), according to the North American Menopause Society (NAMS).
The Multiple Benefits of HRT After 65
Introducing exogenous estrogen via HRT therefore not only addresses more overt postmenopause symptoms, it can offer protection against bone loss and help you prevent osteoporosis. These benefits are no less important once you reach the age of 65.
And how do you go about it? If you are healthy, most experts agree that HRT is safe to use at the lowest dose that helps for the shortest time needed. If you're 59 or older, or have been on hormones for 5 years, you should talk to your doctor about quitting.
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.
There is no specific age cut-off for starting HRT.
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.
Yes, it is generally safe to take progesterone after menopause. However, as with any medication, some women may experience certain side effects. Your likelihood of experiencing these side effects, as well as the type and intensity, vary depending on several factors.
You take the medication to replace the estrogen that your body stops making during menopause. Hormone therapy is most often used to treat common menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes and vaginal discomfort. Hormone therapy has also been proved to prevent bone loss and reduce fracture in postmenopausal women.
While estrogen likely won't reverse or erase signs of aging, it may offer some protection against wrinkles and other common skin concerns in menopausal women.
Your skin also becomes thinner, because the levels of collagen and elastin also dip along with estrogen. The hormone estrogen is responsible for making skin look younger due to the hyaluronic acid it produces. Estrogen not only affects your skin but also your muscle mass, metabolism, and energy levels.
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 without progesterone increases the risk of uterine cancer.
Patients should be advised that estrogen will lower the chances of death and disability from cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Those with low bone density or risks for cardiovascular disease, including smoking and hypertension, will benefit more than those without.
Traditional natural hormone replacement therapies
phytoestrogens, which are dietary estrogens found in legumes, seeds, and whole grains. folate (vitamin B-9 or folic acid) St. John's wort.
Estrogen is naturally present in many foods — your ovaries aren't the only source. So you can supplement a healthy, plant-based diet with these foods to help elevate your hormone levels, many of them you probably eat already: Dried fruits and ripe fruits like apricots, oranges, strawberries, and peaches.
Although many women over age 65 have persistent menopausal symptoms, there are limited data to guide therapy among older women. Approximately 9-16% of women over the age of 65 continue to have menopausal symptoms,1,2 and 13.7% of those women are using some form of menopausal hormone therapy (HT).
What won't change is your bone structure, including the bones of your face as well as your hips, arms, hands, legs and feet. The hair on your body, including your chest, back and arms, will decrease in thickness and grow at a slower rate.
Estrogen is an essential component of skin function, health and wellness. It has been shown to improve skin elasticity, hydration and thickness.
You can usually begin HRT as soon as you start experiencing menopausal symptoms and will not usually need to have any tests first. However, a blood test to measure your hormone levels may be carried out if you're aged 40 to 45.
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.
For most women, if starting HRT before the age of 60, the benefits of HRT outweigh the risks. In women starting HRT when aged between 60 – 70 years, the benefits equal the risks. Starting HRT after the age of 60 does not lower the risk of heart disease but it is not thought that it increases it either.