Estrogen Replacement in Menopause

Healthy women whose reproductive system is in working order are being advised to undergo Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to treat uncomfortable symptoms of the inevitable condition known as menopause. There are over 470 million women in the world over the age of 50, around the age women experience menopause, and over 40 million of these women reside in the United States. During and post menopause, the female body does not produce as much estrogen leading to uncomfortable side effects including hot flashes and changes in sexual desire.

When women are faced with this condition, a list of pros and cons must be made in order to decide if HRT is the right form of treatment. For this reason, it is important to be informed of the risks associated with the therapy before women hit the age when this condition strikes. Being educated about the condition and the most common type of treatment, HRT, empowers women to avoid associated dangers and help in choosing methods that are most suitable for the individual.

Physicians are quick to recommend the fairly new replacement therapy. While the therapy does help control hot flashes, sleep sweat, mood changes and other uncomfortable symptoms associated with menopause, research concerning the side effects is premature and contradicting. Some studies have shown the therapy to be useful in fighting osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease, while additional research tells a different story. A common result in research on this topic yields an increase in breast cancer and endometrial cancer in women being treated with HRT. In other research, it is suggested that additional trials need to be conducted in order to clearly define the results obtained for how HRT relates to conditions such as Dementia and Cardiovascular disease (CVD). Dementia and CVD are said to be prevented and caused by replacement estrogen depending on the source. More research, over longer periods of time, needs to be conducted to be certain of the effects of hormone replacement therapy.

As the life expectancy for women increases, the length of time women are on the therapy increases. Estrogen and Estrogen-Progesterone replacement therapy drugs are the main component in 6 out of 100 of the most common prescribed drugs in the United States. These drugs strive to reproduce the most abundant type of estrogen circulated in the body. When the drugs are taken orally the estrogen is rapidly metabolized in the stomach and therefore not circulated but when injected, the estrogen impacts lipid and cholesterol levels. The only true natural form of estrogen used as a replacement is conjugated equine estrogen. The equine estrogen is the most common replacement but is mixed with chemically synthesized estrogen in the therapy. The current challenge is to find an estrogen preparation that is biologically available and selective for estrogen receptors in the target organs only. None of the pharmacologic formulations available today are refined