Hormone replacement therapy is generally safe and effective for long-term use, especially when started at a younger age and taken with the lowest effective dose. However, it's important to talk to a healthcare professional about the risks and benefits of hormonal hormone therapy before starting treatment. While the dosage may need to be reevaluated each year, men and women can continue to enjoy the benefits of hormone therapy indefinitely. An accredited medical clinic will continuously monitor your symptoms and your health status to ensure that you are getting the right hormones in the ideal amount for your particular needs. Estrogen replacement therapy helps prevent osteoporosis, which is fatal and paralyzing.
Mild side effects, such as nausea and fluid retention, are another reason to doubt that a woman is better off with estrogen therapy. In theory, people can take hormone replacement therapy for the rest of their lives, but the risks involved may increase with age. At least three studies show that estrogen therapy provides definitive protection against cardiovascular disease. While hormone replacement therapy is not recommended for women with a history of breast cancer, there are other forms of cancer for which exposure to estrogen has been shown to have a beneficial effect. However, in the early 2000s, the Women's Health Initiative published the results of two large clinical trials aimed at evaluating the preventive health benefits of oral hormone therapy, either with estrogen alone (called ET) or with estrogen plus progesterone (EPT), in nearly 30,000 postmenopausal women.
Evidence that women who take estrogen have a lower mortality than those who don't take hormones may be affected by statistical bias. Although estrogen therapy increases the risk of endometrial cancer, this is not usually a fatal disease. Since osteoporosis medications tend to have adverse side effects, it makes sense to use estrogen replacement as the primary means of preserving bone mass. Colon and cervical cancers, specifically, appear to be less likely to form when enough estrogen is present. For example, if a person takes a combination of estrogen and progestogen for more than 5 years, the risk of breast cancer may increase even after stopping hormone therapy.
