In theory, people can take hormone replacement therapy for the rest of their lives, but the risks involved may increase with age. Doctors recommend taking an individualized approach and regularly weighing benefits and risks. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Menopause Society are now in agreement that there is no maximum duration for the use of hormone therapy. Decisions about how long to continue hormone therapy now depend on individual health factors, symptoms and personal goals.
In a nutshell, you can stick with menopausal hormone therapy as long as it works for you. There is very little evidence about the initiation of hormone therapy in older women because this research has not been carried out. However, most women who are otherwise physically fit continue to benefit from hormone therapy, even if it's been more than 10 years since menopause. Every woman's experience and symptom profile is different, so a doctor may prescribe estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, or a combination of any of these hormones to meet needs individual.
The duration of therapy is personal and depends on how the patient responds to treatment. Hormone replacement therapy is considered long-lasting if a person continues treatment for more than five years. Long-term hormone replacement therapy has some health benefits, but it's only appropriate for women if there are certain health conditions.
Hormone replacement
therapy can usually be taken for up to five years. Howell explained that the risks increase and generally outweigh the benefits.However, some people may be able to follow hormone therapy for longer, depending on their health and family medical history. It's best to take hormone replacement therapy only as long as the benefits outweigh the risks. This depends on your symptoms, your age, and any risk factors you have. Vaginal estrogen doesn't have the same risks as other types of hormone replacement therapy, so you can keep taking it for as long as you need it to control vaginal dryness. Because hormone therapy is available in different doses, it's possible to reduce it and see how you feel.
The symptoms usually last about five years, although sometimes longer. If symptoms return, you may decide with your menopausal professional to continue hormone therapy. There is no absolute age limit. Overall, however, research clearly shows that hormone therapy is safe for most women who start it about 10 years after their last menstrual period, Howell says. For these women, there are actually more benefits than risks, especially during the first 5 years of treatment.
A careful analysis of the WHI and other data shows that estrogen actually protects women under 60 from heart disease and osteoporosis, she says. You may have had significant concerns about the safety of HRT or that other health professionals have advised you not to take it. Hormonal hormone 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, since the early 2000s, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) suddenly stopped research for safety reasons, and there have been conflicting messages about the risks of hormone therapy.
The administration of progesterone and estrogen as a continuous treatment can have positive consequences for a woman's health in the second half of his life. We now know that starting estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy and, possibly, combination treatment earlier actually reduces the risk of heart disease (. If you've weighed the information in this fact sheet and decide that leaving HRT is the right decision for you, it's generally recommended that you decrease your estrogen dose gradually, every few days, for a few weeks. For most women, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a safe and effective option for relieving menopausal symptoms, which can be nearly disabling and last for years.
Although each woman's experience is different, the loss of estrogen can cause a variety of symptoms, hot flashes, mood changes and pain during sexual intercourse, among others that can last for years. Estrogen therapy combined with progestin or progesterone therapy alone appears to reduce the risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer and heart disease (2). To reduce these symptoms, hormone therapy increases estrogen levels slightly, but not to premenopausal levels). While the findings also suggested that estrogen-only therapy could reduce the risk of breast cancer, concerns about strokes and blood clots persisted.
Abrupt discontinuation of estrogen replacement therapy can sometimes cause some menopausal symptoms “similar to those of withdrawal”, on a temporary basis. As hormones decline during menopause, bioidentical estrogens can help maintain this protection against potential obstruction in the heart or blood vessels. 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 HRT, either with estrogen alone (called ET) or with estrogen plus progesterone (EPT), in nearly 30,000 postmenopausal women. Data from the widely cited Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS) show that topical estrogen is especially powerful in improving desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and reducing pain during sexual intercourse (1).
