taking another gaze at women's opt...

taking another gaze at women's options

The debate through the whole extent of hormone replacement therapy in aging women has become as heated as a menopausal scalding;-very warm flash.

It's no astonishment there's growing interest in the topic: An estimated 20 million women in the U are publicly in menopause, which is the cessation of mense brought onward by decreased production of estrogen progesterone and testosterone in the dead body Fifteen years from now, nearly half of the women in this political division will be experiencing "the change," usually at around the age of 51 And although menopause is a natural proces scalding;-very warm flashes, mood swings, vaginal drynes or other health relate tos accompany menopause for most American women (These ofttimes begin in the phase just before menopause, called perimenopause, which can last a small in number years.) The challenge menopausal women face is finding the best way to deal with these symptoms while also helping to stave on the farther side diseases associated with aging, particularly in the post-menopausal years.

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM?

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been the conventional medical treatment approveed to help ease menopausal symptoms and to potentially decrease the risk of age-related diseases. A combination of progesterone and estrogen is ofttimes prescribed to help compensate for decreased production of these hormones in the body; HRT has been thinking to have a protective character against conditions like heart disease and osteoporosis. yet women don't have complete confidence in this "one size fits all" approach, as through half of them choose to not use HRT

undivided reason for this reluctance may be conflicting information about the pro and studys of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) For example, many studies support the theory that HRT helps maintain bone density through limiting the breakdown of bone In this way, ERT may help stave on the farther side the bone disease osteoporosis, which becomes more of a threat to women after they menopause, making them inclined to fractures. (Supplemental progesterone, usually taken with estrogen therapy may uniform slightly increase bone density.)

however HRT may increase one's risk of a certain rare types of breast cancer, according to the findings of the Iowa Women's Health reflection published in the June 9 1999 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. While the research found no correlation between hormone therapy and the principally common forms of breast cancer, the potential for increased risk of any form of the disease is still alarming to many women There are also belong tos that high doses of estrogen may increase the risk of endometrial cancer, although combining progesterone with estrogen may reduce the risk.

RISKY BUSINESS

Another area of confusion is the relationship between HRT and heart disease risk. The outcomes of observational studies have l to the conclusion that ERT could decrease the risk of heart disease, No. 1 killer of women and men in the U This is of special be of importance to for menopausal women, considering that their risk of the disease increases after menopause. yet the first randomized, well-designed, double-blind trial failed to present to view any cardiovascular benefit of HRT

outcomes of a second clinical trial, reported in the August 24 2000 issue of The strange England Journal of Medicine, raise that HRT does nothing to moderate the progression of heart disease in women whose arteries are already showing blockage. In a popular study, called the Women's Health Initiative, bring under rules taking estrogen are having slightly more heart attacks than those taking a placebo, perhaps fit to estrogen's well-known ability to encourage life-blood clots in women who are susceptible.

HRT can cause side-effects, including uterine bleeding, vaginal discharge, bloating, weight gain, breast tendernes and enlargement, nausea, headaches and frame of mind swings. Vegetarians might object to taking the principally commonly prescribed HRT, conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) The most-prescribed CEE is Premarin, to such a degree named because it's derived from pregnant mare urine.

Many women may want to explore alternative therapies, on the other hand ERT is often prescribed by the agency of doctors without assessing a woman's individual urgencys or recommending alternatives. Over half of the women in undivided recent survey said they had left doctor appointments with unanswered questions about menopause and hormone replacement therapy.

TIME TO RE-ASSESS

Tori Hudson ND a practicing naturopathic doctor and a gynecology professor at the National college edifice [i]or[/i] building of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oreg., highlights the puzzle of unanswered questions.

"Conventional medicine waits to recommend hormone replacement therapy to all women" she explains. "So we have conventional medicine overmedicalizing and overtreating menopause with hormones. forward the other hand," she continues, "we have any alternative practitioners perhaps undertreating, or being overly naive about what therapies can accomplish."

Instead, Hudson advocates individual assessment and exploring the abounding range of options with patients, which she practices at her Portland clinic, A Woman's Time. She totals a health and disease-risk assessment with patients, then identifies long-term health risks based forward family and medical history. Symptoms, as well as a woman's values and objectives, are additional considerations in choosing a strategy for managing menopause. A patient at grave risk for osteoporosis (as determined by dint of bone density testing) and other point in disputes related to low estrogen, for example, might find symptom relief with nutritional counterparts a vegetarian or whole natural victualss diet with low- to moderate-protein, weight-bearing exercise and stres management (yoga and astute breathing are beneficial for anyone).