As you can tell and have probably already experienced, either directly or indirectly by watching an emotionally crazed friend, the hormonal cycle is a delicate process, easily unbalanced by physical and emotional factors. You? Well, yes. But I'm really talking about the cycle itself.
Stress, for example, can wreak havoc on a usually regular menstrual cycle. Ever had an early, late, heavy, or unusually painful period due to a fight with your significant other, a job change or an anticipated event? All this simply means that the hypothalamus (an area in our brain) controls our response to stress, as well as the production of sex hormones.
During perimenopause, our ovaries are running out of ova (eggs). The hypothalamus works overtime as our bodies try to stimulate the production of more estrogen and ovulation. Hot flashes, insomnia, irregular periods, roller coaster emotions and other symptoms can emerge - and if we're under stress, this hormonal balance can get further out of whack exacerbating our already yucky symptoms.
HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY (HRT) Hormone Replacement Therapy replaces the estrogen and progesterone which the body no longer produces after menopause. It's taken in the form of pills, a skin patch, or vaginal cream.
HRT is a traditional, time-tested (since 1940) way to replace some of the female hormones your body stops producing when you reach perimenopause and menopause.
For women with a uterus, HRT usually consists of estrogen in tablet or patch form and progestin in tablet or intrauterine (within the uterus) form. The progestin is necessary to prevent the increased risk of cancer of the uterine lining, which can occur when estrogen is taken alone. The hormone doses in HRT are much lower than those in birth control pills - and much lower than the levels of hormones your body produced naturally when you were younger. Your doctor may prescribe these hormones every daily or cyclically, depending on your specific needs and responses.
For women who have had their uterus removed surgically, estrogen replacement alone can be used because there's no longer any risk of uterine cancer.
Benefits of HRT: As we enter the period preceding menopause, our estrogen depletes and we experience a variety of symptoms including - horrors - a decreased ability to multi-task!
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Susan Irene Fox's Menopause topic, please visit the Discussions page.