Category Archives: Hormone Replacement Therapy

As distant as this information first appears, understanding the evolution of menopause treatment provides doctors, researchers, and patients better methods to address womens health care issues. Even more imporant is knowing that the most accessible sources of information are not necessarily the best ones. This study focused on how informed Borneo Island women were about HRT, and how many women were taking HRT for menopausal symptoms. In particular, the participants selected lived in Sarawak State region of the island. A group of 356 women, aged between 40 and 65 years took part in personal interviews conducted to assess attitudes and awareness about HRT. The average age of the women was 50 and the average age of menopause was 51, which corresponds to the generally accepted menopausal benchmarks. Just under one quarter (23%) of the women were premenopausal, over one-third (39.6%) were perimenopausal, and 37.4% were postmenopausal; 77% of the participants were in some stage of going through menopause. One of the outcomes noted that only 36% of the women in the study knew about HRT. Younger women who had higher levels of education and who tended to be employed were better informed than their older and less educated peers were. … Continue reading →

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a small study of Finnish women who had recently entered menopause, those who stuck to an aerobic exercise program for six months were less likely to report night sweats, mood swings and irritability than women who didn't exercise. The study's authors say their results suggest exercise could serve as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy for quelling bothersome menopause symptoms. "I would definitely recommend physical activity. I think that among all the options out there that it's probably the best thing for health and also symptoms of aging," said Steriani Elavsky, a professor at Penn State University, who was not involved in the new research. In the years just after a woman reaches menopause, up to 80 percent may experience some or all of the most typical symptoms, including hot flashes and night sweats, sleep disturbances, headache, depression, irritability, urinary problems and vaginal dryness. Estrogen-based therapy can ease those symptoms, but concerns about health risks associated with the hormones have led many women and their physicians to shy away from that treatment. Though not all studies have agreed, some earlier work has shown that exercise can help as well. Dr. Riitta Luoto at the … Continue reading →

Breast cancer risk may decline in postmenopausal women who take estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy, a review released Thursday concludes. That represents a substantial change from how estrogen-only hormone therapy was viewed a decade ago, the authors said. Older observational studies suggested that both of the major forms of hormone therapy -- estrogen-only for women who have had hysterectomies and an estrogen-progestin combination for women with uteruses -- raised breast cancer risk. The landmark Womens Health Initiative found that the estrogen-progestin combination did significantly increase the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. However, the estrogen-alone arm of the study was inconclusive. A reanalysis of data from that study published earlier this month found that estrogen-only did not raise the risk of breast cancer and even lowered it in women who do not have risk factors for the disease, such as a family history or a history of benign breast disease. The new review, led by Dr. Rowan T. Chlebowski of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor UCLA Medical Center, again examined the Womens Health Initiative data and concluded that estrogen-alone significantly decreased the risk of breast cancer while estrogen-progestin significantly increased the risk. A couple of points about … Continue reading →

A new study published in Lancet Oncology states that estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may protect a small group of women against breast cancer. The findings of this study are in direct contradiction to multiple other studies that state estrogen can cause breast cancer. Should women consider taking estrogen to prevent breast cancer? The findings of the study indicate they should not. The study The latest edition of Lancet Oncology contains an article authored by Garnet L. Anderson Ph.D., titled "Conjugated equine oestrogen and breast cancer incidence and mortality in postmenopausal women with hysterectomy: extended follow-up of the Women's Health Initiative randomised placebo-controlled trial." The article details the results of a follow-up study done on 7,645 women, ages 50-79 years of age, who have undergone a hysterectomy and were using estrogen-only HRT for menopausal symptoms. The results of the study showed that for women with an average risk for breast cancer, the estrogen-only HRT seemed to offer protection against breast cancer when taken over an average time period of 5.9 years. The Lancet article further states that women in the same group who had a higher risk of breast cancer due to behavioral, genetic or family history did not receive … Continue reading →

(Reuters) - A few sessions of behavioral therapy, even a "self-help" version, may help some women find relief from menopausal hot flashes, according to a British study. Researchers writing in the journal Menopause said that after six weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy, more than two-thirds of the women who underwent, through group sessions or self-help, had a "clinically significant" drop in problems related to hot flashes and night sweats. Hormone replacement therapy is considered the most effective treatment of hot flashes, but since hormones have been linked to increased risks of heart disease, blood clots and breast cancer, many women want alternative remedies. Some antidepressants have been found to cool hot flashes, but "natural products" -- such as black cohosh, soy and flaxseed -- have generally failed to meet the test of clinical trials. "These results suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy delivered in group or self-help format is an effective treatment option for women during the menopause transition and postmenopause with problematic hot flashes/night sweats," wrote senior researcher Myra Hunter, at King's College London. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a treatment option for problems ranging from depression to sleep problems to digestive disorders. It aims to change the unhealthy thinking patterns … Continue reading →

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dr. Dan Hale, 67, founder of HRC Medical and the visionary developer of the companys Amor Vie, has announced his intention to retire from the natural hormone replacement company. The company also announced the launch of a new website which features hundreds of stories from real people who have had profound improvements in their health and well-being as a result of HRC Medicals Amor Vie. http://www.hrcmedical.com HRC Medical is a privately held company that manages 37 HRC Medical Centers located in 21 states. Through its affiliated physicians, the company has served more than 30,000 patients with its Amor Vie. Amor Vie therapy is a highly personalized treatment plan that seeks to improve natural hormone levels to improve the health and well-being of patients. To everything there is a season, Dr. Hale said. The time has come for me to step back from active involvement in HRC Medical. Don Hale, President of HRC Medical and Dr. Dan Hales brother, said, This is a bittersweet time for me and for this company. Dr. Dans vision is now being realized as we grow HRC Medical to a national company helping thousands of people. My brother is a true visionary who … Continue reading →

March 7, 2012 A new study published this week shows that women who used estrogen alone as hormone replacement therapy after menopause had a lower risk of developing breast cancer up to five years after they stopped taking it, reports Shari Roan for the Los Angeles Times. This discovery adds yet another twist to the ongoing story on hormone replacement therapy for treatment of hot flashes and poor sleep quality. The estrogen-only therapy appears to cut the risk of having breast cancer by about 20 percent and significantly reduces a womans risk of dying from the disease and the benefits appear to last for years after the therapy has concluded, reports Brenda Goodman, MA, for WebMD. Executive director of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), Margery Gass, MD, explained to Goodman: certainly for some women hormone therapy dramatically improves their quality of life. The report is a follow-up analysis of the landmark Womens Health Initiative, a clinical trial of tens of thousands of women that began in 1993. That study compared two hormone replacement therapies, estrogen plus progestin, which most women must take, and estrogen alone, taken by women who have had hysterectomies. The double-hormone arm of the study was … Continue reading →

If one things clear about the data on the health effects of hormone replacement therapy after menopause, its that theyre confusing. But researchers are continually learning more about which women can safely use estrogen or progestin, and when. In the latest study, published in the journal Lancet Oncology, scientists once again mined data from the Womens Health Initiative (WHI) the large-scale trial begun in 1991 that first looked at the relationship between hormone replacement therapy and health risks such as breast cancer and heart disease. The study looked at the effects of both combination hormone therapy, including both estrogen and progestin, and estrogen-only treatment. In 2002, the combination-therapy arm of the study was halted when data revealed that women taking the hormone pills to treat the symptoms of menopause had a 24% increased risk of developing breast cancer. The results also showed that contrary to what doctors had thought, the hormones did not protect women from heart disease. That led doctors to change the way they prescribed estrogen and progestin therapy for postmenopausal women, limiting its use to short periods and only to help women manage the worst symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats. MORE: Making Sense of Hormone … Continue reading →

By Nicole Ostrow - Tue Mar 06 23:30:00 GMT 2012 Estrogen, a hormone known to fuel breast cancer, may protect against the disease in some cases, according to a study that found the therapy reduced the risk in women who took it after a hysterectomy. The trial of 7,645 women showed that those on estrogen, sold as Premarin by Pfizer Inc. (PFE), for six years and then stopped were more than 20 percent less likely to develop breast cancer and die from the disease than those who never took the hormone therapy. The study is published online in the Lancet Oncology. The research draws from the Womens Health Initiative, a U.S.-sponsored study of disease and disability in postmenopausal women, and source of the 2002 findings that found women who took Pfizers Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin, for menopause symptoms, had a higher breast-cancer risk. Earlier studies had pointed to estrogen as raising that danger. Todays finding may help dispel confusion surrounding the hormone therapies, said Garnet Anderson, a study author. We have not done the greatest job of distinguishing between the hormone therapies, said Anderson, principal investigator of the Womens Health Initiative Clinical Coordinating Center based at Fred … Continue reading →

However, this new study, published in The Lancet Oncology, shows that a less commonly-used type - oestrogen-only - can actually reduce the risk in some women. American researchers examined data from 7,500 women aged 50 to 79 in a trial, who had undergone hysterectomy and had no family history of breast cancer. Half were given oestrogen-only HRT for about six years, and the other half a placebo. However, researchers who followed the volunteers for another six years found those on the HRT were 23 per cent less likely to have developed breast cancer, over 12 years. Garnet Anderson, from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said the findings "should provide reassurance about breast safety of oestrogen use for durations of about 5 years for women with a hysterectomy seeking relief from postmenopausal symptoms". Several studies have linked combined HRT (oestrogen and progesterone) with increased rates of breast cancer, although these are increasingly disputed. No studies have definitively found oestrogen-only HRT causes breast cancer, said Dr John Stevenson, an menopause expert at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. He said about 100,000 women in Britain were now on oestrogen-only HRT, about a quarter of the total. Go here to … Continue reading →