The Consensus on HRT

Every time I have a miserable night’s sleep, and last night was the fifth in a row that I had to take Ambien to knock me out, I reconsider taking hormones for relief of the hot flashes and the associated anxiety that keeps me awake all night and cranky during the day. It would be SOOO easy and I’d feel better in no time. Even my doctor takes them! But then all I have to do is read the latest article in the Harvard Women’s Health Watch newsletter that I now subscribe to. They published an excellent article that revisits hormone therapy’s risks and benefits based on data from the government’s “massive” postmenopausal hormone trials.  The article’s bottom line?   ”Hormone therapy should be taken for the shortest time possible and at the lowest effective dose, although we don’t know whether lower doses are actually safer.”  This view is echoed by six different organizations including the FDA, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).  When a woman begins taking hormone replacement  – that is, the gap between the onset of menopause and when she began taking hormones –is proving to be a risk factor for heart attacks, stroke and blood clots, and breast cancer as is whether she took estrogen alone or combined it with progestin. My bottom line?  I don’t want to put my health at risk and I will try complementary and alternative medicine for relief.   The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), which is part of the NIH,  (and the Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on CAM) concedes that “there’s very little scientific evidence the supports the effectivness of CAM therapies for menopausal symptoms, but they may provide some relief to women during the menopausal transition.” That’s good enough for me!