Hormone Replacement Safe For Many Women

(CBS)  New studies show that the use of hormone replacement therapy for symptoms of menopause may not be as dangerous as once thought.

Five years ago this week, women's faith in HRT for symptoms of menopause was shattered when data suggested use would increase risk of heart disease, breast cancer and other health problems.

Medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay sat down with Hannah Storm on The Early Show to discuss the latest opinions regarding hormone replacement therapy.

Prominent scientists now believe that a woman's age when she starts using HRT is crucial. Last month, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that there may be a heart benefit for women who begin estrogen therapy early in menopause.

The new thinking is that estrogen may protect the arteries of a woman young enough to be without heart disease; however, HRT will accelerate disease that already exists in women old enough to have developed artery damage. This discovery suggests that a woman in her early 50s can safely use the therapy if her symptoms are intense.

Senay said, "The bottom line is that for women who are closer to menopause, women who are younger than some of the women in the original study, hormone replacement for menopausal symptoms may be perfectly safe."

The FDA still recommends — and experts agree — that a woman be given the smallest dose of replacement hormones that can relieve her symptoms for the shortest time possible. HRT should only be used by a woman whose hot flashes and night sweats are preventing her from sleeping.

The hormones should not be used as a way to prevent heart disease.

While bioidentical hormones had been promoted in the past as a safer alternative, there aren't enough data to indicate that they're any safer than synthetic hormones. The fact that they are promoted as natural does not necessarily make them better.

In 2002, the National Institute of Health stopped major clinical trials testing the risks and benefits of therapy involving estrogen and progestin for symptoms of menopause. After it was determined the risks of the hormone therapy appeared to be greater than its benefits, millions of women abandoned the therapy.

[godofredo29]

And, hormone replacement for men (TRT--Testosterone Replacement Therapy)is safe for many men experiencing the effects of andropause (such as osteoporosis). (I sure miss when Dr. Bob Arnot was on CBS.)