Posts Tagged ‘womens’

Health & Wellness

May 2, 2024

Hormone therapy is a treatment that uses medications containing hormones like estrogen or progesterone to replace those the body stops producing during menopause. It can be a powerful tool for managing menopausal symptoms.

"While hormone therapy can significantly improve quality of life and overall health for many women, its not a one-size-fits-all solution," says Dr. Taryn Smith, a Mayo Clinic internist and womens health specialist.

She emphasizes the importance of a personalized medicine approach to hormone therapy, allowing healthcare providers to consider your health and potential risks.

Having discussions around menopause is important because it's often not a topic that is openly discussed or acknowledged, despite its significance and importance, she says. Menopause is a natural biological process, marking the time that a woman ends her menstrual cycle. It's diagnosed after a woman goes 12 months without a menstrual period.

"Many women dont know how to navigate menopause and the symptoms that come along with it, such as hot flashes and night sweats. Hormone therapy is used to manage many of these symptoms," says Dr. Smith. "But it's not for everybody."

Watch: Dr. Taryn Smith talks about hormone replacement therapy

Journalists: Broadcast-quality sound bites with Dr. Smith are available in the downloads at the bottom of the posts. Name super/CG: Taryn Smith, M.D./Internal Medicine/Mayo Clinic

Menopause symptoms and hormone therapy Hormone therapy is used to manage symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, night sweats, trouble sleeping, and irritability.

"For the average healthy woman, these options are very safe. But if there are any concerns about these risk factors, its best to consult your physician or your womens health specialist," she says.

Treatment options Hormone therapy is a prescribed medication that can come in different forms, including patches, gels, sprays and oral medications.

Those options may include "A patch you wear on the skin, almost like a bandage in the lower groin or over the buttocks. We have gels that you can rub into the inner thigh and sprays that can be sprayed on the forearm. We also have some oral options. With all the options available, typically, we can find a good option that meets the average woman's needs," says Dr. Smith.

Expected outcomes After starting hormone therapy, women can expect relief from symptoms. In many cases, hot flashes can be completely resolved, improving the womans quality of life.

"Often, we're able to completely resolve hot flashes. But if we cannot completely resolve them, we hope to get significant relief at least and help a woman restore her quality of life," she says.

Safety concerns While there are safety concerns associated with hormone therapy, such as potential risks of breast cancer, stroke, or heart disease, it is generally safe for the average woman who is close to the menopause transition and younger than 60.

"For the average healthy woman, these options are very safe. But if there are any concerns about these risk factors, it's best to consult your physician or your women's health specialist," says Dr Smith.

For those who are unable to take hormone therapy or choose not to, there are FDA-approved nonhormonal treatments for menopause symptoms. Talk with your healthcare team to find out what is the best option.

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Hormone therapy: Four things a Mayo Clinic women's health specialist wants you to know - Mayo Clinic

Hormone therapys benefits to treat menopausal symptoms outweigh the risks for women under 60. And its safer than previously thought, according to a new study published in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. But the use of menopausal hormone therapy is not recommended to prevent heart disease, stroke, dementia or other chronic illnesses. It doesnt reduce those risks.

The study says roughly 55 million women in the U.S. and 1.1 billion worldwide are postmenopausal. A national coalition of researchers launched the Womens Health Initiative, which is the biggest study of womens health in the country, enrolling 161,808 postmenopausal women ages 50 to 79, to inform clinical practices around aspects of health impacting older women. Recruitment for the study began in 1993 and each participant was followed for up to 20 years.

For years, it was believed that hormone replacement therapy lowered the risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia, chronic disease and even death. But as United Press International reported, one of the Womens Health Initiatives clinical trials slammed the brakes on hormone replacement therapy in 2002, however, reporting that women taking combination (estrogen and progestin) hormone therapy had an increased risk for breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and blood clots.

But they continued to study the issue, as the popularity of hormone replacement therapy dropped and many doctors stopped prescribing it. The article said that a more nuanced picture of hormone therapys risks and benefits has emerged as the research continued.

The article said that research over time has continued to show that hormone therapy doesnt solve age-related risks like heart disease or hip replacements, which other early studies suggested. But its not as risky as believed for younger women bothered by symptoms as they approach menopause. And in menopause, hormone replacement therapy can offer relief from those symptoms. .

Per NPR, Most significantly, there are now different types of hormones delivered at lower doses that are shown to be safer.

Women should know that hormone therapy is safe and beneficial, Dr. Lauren Streicher, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told NPR.

The same studys findings do not support routinely recommending women take calcium plus vitamin D supplements to prevent fractures, but these supplements are appropriate to fill nutritional gaps for women who dont get enough of those nutrients through their diet, the researchers said.

They also noted that a low-fat dietary pattern with increased intake of fruits, vegetables and grains did not prevent breast or colorectal cancer, but was associated with lower rates of death from breast cancer in long-term follow-up, offering an option for women seeking to reduce this risk, Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital and first author of the new report in JAMA, said in a news release. Women also have more options for treatment now, including estrogen in lower doses and delivered through the skin as a patch or gel, which may further reduce risks; non-hormonal treatments are also available.

The Mayo Clinic News Network talked with Dr. Taryn Smith, one of Mayos internists and womens health specialists, about the value of a personalized approach to medicine when it comes to hormone replacement therapy. Smith offered four things women should know:

More here:
For women under 60, no reason to fear hormone replacement therapy - Deseret News

Theres a universal fact for women. If they live long enough, their capacity to bring forth children will end, and they will become menopausal. Menopause can be when the thermostat becomes their most prized possession.

But not all women have hot flashes. Some go through this period wondering why they have no symptoms. The best advice for them is, Enjoy the smooth sailing!

Other women endure needless suffering. There are treatments, and these women should see their doctors.

The medical journal The Lancet has urged women to become educated about hormone replacement therapy. Menopause should not be considered a disease. It is a natural process. Be cautious with commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies propaganda. Seek information from a medical specialist.

The authors of The Lancet report stress they are not opposed to HRT, as it can be effective in treating hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and genital urinary symptoms. Many years ago, HRT was often used by women to control menopausal symptoms. The standard treatment involved the hormones estrogen and progestin, a synthetic form of progesterone.

But a large and widely publicized study called the Womens Health Initiative identified problems with HRT. Doctors and patients concluded HRT was dangerous, and this misconception lingers today. The study had significant shortcomings, however, and subsequent studies have more nuanced conclusions. For women under 60, or for those less than a decade out of menopause, the benefits of HRT in fighting debilitating symptoms outweighed the risk. There was one other caution. Those using HRT should not have a family history of stroke, breast cancer, or coronary heart disease.

Which women suffer the most from menopause? Its those who are affected by severe symptoms. Imagine a stalwart high school principal. She has handled the tough job for years. But with the onset of menopause, the slightest provocation has her bursting into tears behind closed doors. For the first time, she feels incapable of the task. If she meets the criteria mentioned above, then she is a textbook case for HRT. Within a week, her problem would be history.

Menopause is not just one event or one symptom, such as hot flashes. A gradual decrease in the production of estrogen influences organs such as the vagina and urinary bladder. Its these organs that women are loath to discuss with their family doctor, to say nothing of their partners.

It may come as a shock to younger people to know that seniors have sexual relations. But menopause can make vaginal tissues thinner and more easily irritated. Past columns have tried to explain this with a touch of eloquence, noting that its hard for females to sing with a sore throat. Put plainly, its hard for menopausal and post-menopausal women to enjoy sex with an inflamed vagina (atrophic vaginitis). Sometimes neither the woman nor her partner knows whats causing the severe pain. Unfortunately, many women suffer silently.

Those who ask for help will find there are good remedies. Something as simple as an estrogen cream can resolve an irritated vagina within two weeks. Other consequences of menopause, like the accelerated loss of bone density, may also be treated with HRT.

Sometimes problems are missed because a vaginal examination is not done during a check-up. Or patients dont mention issues to the doctor.

The comedian Joan Rivers made a joke about news that having a dog makes you 10 years younger. My first thought was to rescue two more, she said, before adding, but I dont want to go through menopause again.

Today, women can and should get their symptoms treated.

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones, aka Ken Walker, is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Harvard Medical School. You can reach him online at his website, docgiff.com, or via email at contact-us@ docgiff.com. Follow him and his daughter on Instagram @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones.

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The Doctor Game: What women suffer most from menopause? - The Westerly Sun