Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) treats menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness, by replacing lost hormones.
Hormone therapy
for menopause is a medication with female hormones. It is taken to replace the estrogen that the body stops producing after menopause, which is when periods stop for good. This therapy is most often used to treat common menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes and vaginal discomfort. Hormone therapy for menopause used to be called hormone replacement therapy. Hormone therapy for menopause has also been shown to prevent bone loss and reduce bone fractures after menopause.Some women receive hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to ease menopausal symptoms. HRT is a medication that contains hormones that the ovaries produce less of as women age and reach menopause. If you've experienced menopausal symptoms, you can probably identify with the feeling of wanting them to, well, stop.
Hormone replacement therapies (HRT
) are hormonal medications that can help reduce menopausal symptoms.While these therapies offer positive symptom relief for many people, they have also been associated with side effects, such as an increased risk of breast cancer. In general, women going through early menopause can use menopausal hormone replacement therapy. It can also be used to help with the transition from premenopause to postmenopause. It should not be taken indefinitely. Talk to your doctor to decide what type of hormone therapy is best for you.
The doctor may also consider using non-hormonal methods to relieve symptoms, if appropriate. However, while estrogen and progesterone may increase the risk of cancer, they may also have benefits. For example, estrogen can alleviate menopausal symptoms and help improve bone health, skin health, heart health, and sexual health. While hormone replacement therapy and hormone therapy seem similar, they work in the opposite way.
Hormone replacement therapy is not recommended for women who have or have had breast cancer with a hormone receptor-positive subtype of breast cancer, such as estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (ER) positive. There isn't much data on the use of hormone replacement therapy in women who have or have had other types of breast cancer, including triple-negative or ER-negative breast cancer. However, in general, if a person has breast cancer or has a history of breast cancer, we prefer that they not receive hormone replacement therapy. If you have or have ever had another type of cancer, hormone replacement therapy has the same risk for you as it does for people without cancer.
Hormone replacement therapy isn't the right choice for everyone. There are non-hormonal medications and other interventions you can use to treat menopausal symptoms. Medications that can treat menopausal symptoms without hormones include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and gabapentin. A new FDA-approved drug called fezolinetant can also treat menopausal symptoms, but its effectiveness in specifically treating breast cancer survivors has not been evaluated.
Exercise, yoga and acupuncture can alleviate menopausal symptoms. As a breast oncologist, I work with each patient to weigh the risks and benefits of each option. In some cases, it may make sense for a patient to use hormone replacement therapy, such as an estrogen vaginal cream, to alleviate severe vaginal dryness. It's not a black and white situation.
If you have menopausal symptoms, talk to your care team to decide if hormone replacement therapy is right for you. The health care team can also offer suggestions for other ways to reduce menopausal symptoms. Hormone therapy is a medical treatment that can help alleviate the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause. Hormone therapy is also called “hormone replacement therapy” or “menopausal hormone therapy.” There is no scientific evidence that compound hormones are safer or more effective than standard hormone therapy. Bioidentical hormone therapy (BHT) is the use of hormones that are chemically identical to those produced in the body.
If you have menopausal symptoms that affect your quality of life, you may wonder if hormone therapy is an option for you. That's why choosing to use hormone replacement therapy is a decision that each person must make with their health care team. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), also known as menopausal hormone therapy or postmenopausal hormone therapy, is a form of hormone therapy used to treat symptoms associated with female menopause. This means that your doctor will consider your age, your health history and your symptoms to decide if hormone replacement therapy is right for you and for how long it should be used.
The benefits of menopausal hormone therapy may outweigh the risks if you start treatment before age 60 or within 10 years of menopause. Hormone therapy is a type of cancer treatment that blocks the body's ability to produce hormones and those that interfere with the behavior of hormones in the body to treat or prevent cancer. There is no statistically significant increase in the rate of breast cancer in the case of hormone replacement therapy with synthetic progestins. The long-term effects of HRT on most organ systems vary depending on age and the time elapsed since the last physiological exposure to hormones, and there may be large differences in individual regimens, factors that have made it difficult to analyze the effects.
You should discuss the risks and benefits of hormone therapy with your provider to determine if it's right for you. Birth control pills also offer a much higher dose of hormones than menopausal hormone therapy, due to the fact that they must be high enough to prevent pregnancy. Doctors also call it hormone therapy (HT), especially when you get treatment after age 50. If you decide to take hormone therapy, you and your obstetrician gynecologist should talk every year about whether you should continue with hormone therapy.
