Is Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for Menopause Symptoms Risky?

Question: Is Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for Menopause Symptoms Risky?

Can Some Cancer Patients Take Hormone Replacement Therapy?

When someone receives the diagnosis of cancer, life changes forever. Just one minute before, that individual and her family led normal lives. Never more. They suddenly are flooded with questions. “What does this mean? What can be done? Do I need a second opinion? Do I need surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and/or immunotherapy? Am I going to die? And again, what did you just say?”

Is There a Window for Menopausal Hormone Replacement Therapy to Help Reduce the Risk of Dementia?

Dementia conjures up many images. As we age, we all worry that the momentary misplaced car keys or the questionable location of the parked car in a large lot may indicate early dementia. In reality, the early signs of dementia are more likely evidenced by putting the car keys in the refrigerator or forgetting how to drive to your familiar home.

Update on Timing of Hormone Replacement Therapy in Menopause

In 1964, Dr. Robert Wilson, a gynecologist in New York City, advocated in his book Feminine Forever that all menopausal women should receive hormone replacement therapy (HRT).  The outrage of the feminist movement led the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) in 1991 to determine if HRT could safely protect women’s cardiovascular and bone health.  In July 2002, the trial was prematurely canceled due to findings of a statistical increase in both breast cancer and stroke.  Based on these findings and the resultant publicity, millions of women stopped their HRT, and doctors stopped prescribing HRT.  As a result of this precipitous change, the majority of menopausal women have gone without HRT for more than a decade.

Was The Women's Health Initiative Good Or Bad For Women's Health?

Most women are familiar with the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), the largest randomized controlled trial to date, sponsored by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to evaluate the role of hormone therapy in menopause to protect cardiovascular and bone health. Begun in 1991 as a proposed 15‐year study, women in menopause with a uterus were randomized to take orally either a placebo or PremPro®, a combination of Premarin®, a conjugated equine estrogen (CEE), and medroxyprogesterone, a synthetic version of progesterone. Women with a hysterectomy were given either CEE alone or placebo. In part, this $725 million study was intended to resolve the controversy over whether menopause should be embraced as a natural transition in life, a position taken by the feminist movement at the time, or, as proposed by such books as Feminine Forever (Pocket Books, NY, 1968), that menopause was a hormone deficiency totally preventable with hormone therapy.