If youre looking for relief from menopause symptoms, knowing the pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can help you decide whether its right for you.

HRT (also known as hormone therapy, menopausal hormone therapy, and estrogen replacement therapy) uses female hormones -- estrogen and progesterone -- to treat common symptoms of menopause and aging. Doctors can prescribe it during or after menopause.

After your period stops, your hormone levels fall, causing uncomfortable symptoms like hot flashes and vaginal dryness, and sometimes conditions like osteoporosis. HRT replaces hormones your body no longer makes. Its the most effective treatment for menopause symptoms.

You might think of pregnancy when you think of estrogen. In women of child-bearing age, it gets the uterus ready to receive a fertilized egg. It has other roles, too -- it controls how your body uses calcium, which strengthens bones, and raises good cholesterol in the blood.

If you still have your uterus, taking estrogen without progesterone raises your risk for cancer of the endometrium, the lining of the uterus. Since the cells from the endometrium arent leaving your body during your period any more, they may build up in your uterus and lead to cancer. Progesterone lowers that risk by thinning the lining.

Once you know the hormones that make up HRT, think about which type of HRT you should get:

Estrogen Therapy: Doctors generally suggest a low dose of estrogen for women who have had a hysterectomy, the surgery to remove the uterus. Estrogen comes in different forms. The daily pill and patch are the most popular, but the hormone also is available in a vaginal ring, gel, or spray.

Estrogen/Progesterone/Progestin Hormone Therapy: This is often called combination therapy, since it combines doses of estrogen and progestin, the synthetic form of progesterone. Its meant for women who still have their uterus.

The biggest debate about HRT is whether its risks outweigh its benefits.

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Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) - WebMD

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What is it? Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a treatment for women who have low hormone levels, like a woman going through menopause. HRT is also called estrogen (es-tro-jin) replacement therapy or ERT. With HRT a woman takes estrogen, and often progestin (pro-jes-tin), to help the symptoms caused by low hormone levels in her body.

What are hormones and how do they work?

What are the reasons I may not have enough estrogen?

What are the signs and symptoms of a low estrogen level? You can have physical and emotional changes when your estrogen level is low.

Will HRT help these symptoms? You may choose to take HRT to help or prevent the symptoms of low estrogen. Hot flashes and night sweats will occur less often and may possibly go away if you take estrogen. Estrogen helps prevent vaginal dryness and thinning of the tissue inside the vagina. Your chances of breaking a bone are much lower if you take estrogen. HRT may also improve your mood and memory. HRT may reduce your risk of heart disease.

Is HRT safe?

Are there side effects with HRT? Following are possible side effects of HRT.

How long do I need to take HRT? Bone loss is highest during the early years after menopause. To get the best results, HRT should start soon after the beginning of menopause. You should continue with HRT for at least 7 to 10 years. You and your caregiver can decide how long you should take HRT. You will need long-term treatment if you are trying to prevent heart disease or osteoporosis. Bone loss will begin right away when you stop taking HRT.

How do I take HRT?

Are there other ways to prevent bone loss or heart disease without HRT? Eating foods that are rich in calcium and low in fat is one way to control bone loss and heart disease. Caregivers may give you medicine to prevent bone loss or heart disease. Other ways to prevent bone loss and heart disease are to exercise regularly and to limit the amount of alcohol that you drink. You should not have more than 1 drink a day. A drink is 1 1/2 ounces of whiskey, 5 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer (regular or light). If you smoke, you should quit.

How often should I see my caregiver if I take HRT? Call your caregiver if you are bleeding from your vagina or have other side effects that are bothering you. You should see your caregiver every year for a check up. Your caregiver may want you to have the following tests.

Where can I get more information about HRT? You can call or write the following organizations for more information.

You have the right to help plan your care. To help with this plan you must learn about hormone replacement therapy. You can then discuss the treatment options with caregivers. Work with them to decide what care will be used to treat your decreasing estrogen levels. You always have the right to refuse treatment.

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Hormone Replacement Therapy - What You Need to Know

Lets put menopausal estrogen use in an historical perspective: Throughout history and as women have become over-nourished, the age of puberty has become younger. The age of menopause, however, has stayed the same, on average about 52. When the ancient Egyptians were going through menopause, the average age of death was ten years before menopause. Now the average age of death for women is 78 to 80. We live nearly half our lives past menopause. In the 1960s, scientists discovered hormone replacement and its benefits: improved cognition, less arthritis, stronger bones, better sleep, and better sex.

For decades now, millions of women entering menopause in America were prescribed Premarin or Prempro without much question. Premarin, a mixture of estrogens derived from the urine of a pregnant horse, and Prempro, a combination of horse estrogens and synthetic progesterone, served to replace female hormones that naturally dissipate in peri-menopausal and menopausal women, primarily estrogen and progesterone.

Healthcare providers and their female patients were shocked to learn that hormone replacement therapy was not as safe as they had once thought after receiving the data from the Womens Health Initiative. The results of the study suggested that this type of hormone replacement therapy did not protect a woman from getting heart disease, and actually increased her risk of breast cancer, blood clotting and possible stroke. A reanalysis of this study was completed in 2007 further suggesting that actual heart disease risk factors was dependent upon what age a woman was when she began hormone replacement therapy. These results still remain controversial. Again, in 2008 the study underwent a reanalysis which concluded that hormone therapy is associated with an increased risk of stroke, regardless of when hormone replacement therapy is initiated.

There were major problems with the study. Sponsored by Wyeth, a major producer of HRT, the WHI looked at whether hormone replacement could prevent heart attacks, since estrogen is protective for heart disease. They set up the study as a placebo-control, double-blind study. The problem is, women who are on HRT know it, so they specifically chose women who werent having night sweats or hot flashes. The only women who fit that criterion had an average age of 63, more than 10 years passed menopause. By that age, permanent changes from estrogen deprivation, such as hardening of the arteries, have already occurred. Giving HRT at that point is too late to prevent it and can actually make it worse, so people had more heart attacks and strokes. If supplemention starts early in the mid-40s when menopausal symptoms first start, it has the potential to prevent heart disease. The recent increased concern about HRT is from following women in the original study who were on average ten-plus years beyond menopause, taking oral HRT for at least 15 years, in higher doses than are prescribed today, and taking a combination of estrogen and progestin. Even given that, the increase in breast cancer and death are very slight. None of the non-oral delivery systems or current age and dosage recommendations was studied.

Unfortunately many practitioners often label all hormone replacement therapy the same. What this means is that many women are often advised that the risks apply regardless of the type of hormones. The reality of the study and the reanalysis showed associated risks only for oral conjugated equine estrogens and synthetic progestins, not bio-identical hormones.

Bioidentical, non-oral estrogen supplementation is a different animal. Bioidentical hormones are made in the lab, and once they get into the body, your body recognizes them as their own. The only way that is likely to happen is via a non-oral route. Taking any estrogen orally requires processing in the liver before it goes to the rest of the body. That processing changes the oral medication into something else, a by-product not recognized as the youthful estrogen your body likes: estradiol. Transdermal creams bypass the liver.

Objectively, HRT is the best way to protect bones. Osteoporosis treatment is only second-best because while it increases the density of bones, it makes them very brittle. Its a different architecture.

Meanwhile, women continue to come to us every day, completely confused and even scared about hormone replacement. We have always been dedicated to clearing up misconceptions about hormone replacement therapy, and . providing women with alternatives to conventional hormone replacement, including bio-identical hormones Because there havent been many definitive studies done on bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, we do not know exactly what the risks are for every woman taking it. What we do know is that from the results of studies that have looked at bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, and from what has been seen in the clinical practice of prescribing bio-identical hormone replacement to patients, bio-identical hormone replacement therapy does not appear to have the same side effects consistent with conventional hormone replacement therapy, in particular transdermal forms.

Bio-identical hormones have been shown to share the exact same molecular structure with those found in our bodies. Unlike conventional or synthetic forms of hormone replacement therapy, they are not patented and sold by pharmaceutical companies. That is the main reason why there have been very few studies to evaluate their risks and benefits. Bio-identical hormones are not as profitable as the conventional synthetic forms. In the future, more studies will be done to help clarify the benefits or disadvantages associated with bio-identical hormone replacement therapy.

There has have been serious efforts made to shut down compounded bio-identical hormone replacement therapy as an option for women. The belief of our office is that women deserve to know all of their options and alternatives surrounding hormone replacement therapy. They need to be fully informed of everything we have learned and have access to these options when they need them.

In order to find answers to your questions about bio-identical hormone replacement therapy and how to decide if that could be a better choice for you, please call our office at (314) 292-7080 to set up a consultation with one of practitioners. We here at Womens Health Specialists of St. Louis are dedicated to your complete healthcare needs. Educating yourself as much as possible will always lead you to better health. Being informed is the only way you can decide the right decision for yourself.

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Hormone Replacement Therapy - Teresa knight

RejuvinAge, a Virginia Beach Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Center, focuses on Individualizing Hormone Therapy for Women and Men. RejuvinAge specializes in Hormone Replacement for approved indications of Menopause for women and Low Testosterone Replacement Therapy for men.

Women and men are very comfortable and confident in our boutique setting for hormone replacement. Programs are individualized; one size does not fit all. Every program is physician managed; appointments are always on time with our hormone replacement doctor, Jennifer Krup, M.D. Personalized care is our focus; we recognize the importance of one on one attention.

Focusing on menopause for women, Dr. Krup encourages every woman to embrace this phase of their life.Understanding BHRT empowers women with the knowledge to make the right decisions and successfully manage menopausal symptoms. Understanding appropriate dosages, appropriate routes of administration and the appropriate length of treatment for each woman keeps RejuvinAge in the forefront

Offering Low T options for men, Dr. Krup will help determine ifTestosterone Replacement Therapyis right for you. Making the right choice for TRT is an important decision for men today.

The RejuvinAge approach to Bio Identical Hormone Replacement for women and men is based on sound medicine. Hormone optimization takes patience, compliance, great communication and a partnership with you. Our Virginia Beach Hormone Replacement center is easily accessible to the surrounding cities of Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton Newport News, Williamsburg and beyond. Make your appointment today-meet Dr. Krup in her Virginia BeachBio-Identical Hormone Center.

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Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy | Menopause Doctor ...