Posted on 04/20/2024 4:08:54 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
After the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) in 2002, many women have resisted taking hormone therapy (HT), especially after age 65 years, because of fears of increased risks for various cancers and heart disease. A new study shows that those fears may be unfounded, depending on the type, route, and dose of HT.
A new large-scale study based on the records of 10 million senior Medicare women from 2007 to 2020, however, suggests that the implications of HT use beyond age 65 years vary by type, route, and dose. These findings are in line with the 2022 HT Position Statement of The Menopause Society that states there is no general rule for stopping HT in a woman based on age alone.
The statement goes on to say that, for healthy women with persistent hot flashes, continuing HT beyond age 65 years is a reasonable option with appropriate counseling and regular assessment of risks and benefits. Moreover, the mitigation of risks through the choice of low-dose and non-oral routes of administration becomes increasingly important as women age.
Based on the results of the study, the researchers concluded that, compared with never use or discontinuation of HT before the age of 65 years, the use of estrogen monotherapy beyond age 65 years was associated with significant risk reductions in mortality, breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, congestive heart failure, venous thromboembolism, atrial fibrillation, acute myocardial infarction, and dementia.
The use of a combination estrogen and progestogen therapy was found to increase the risk of breast cancer, but such risk can be mitigated using low doses of transdermal or vaginal progestin. In addition, progestin usage resulted in significant risk reductions in endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure, and venous thromboembolism.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I have an older friend who is post menopausal and dealing with pretty bad hot flashes. She’s not sleeping and her health is now a problem. I am hoping this could be of benefit.
I did HT for years but quit as soon as I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I later was diagnosed with uterine cancer. No previous cancer in my family.
I’m 72; never had a hot flash, maybe because I am apple shaped and estrogen is stored in fat, but my mother was 95 lbs. wringing wet, and she never had any, either. Just blessed, I guess. I understand they’re miserable.
Progestin is synthetic drug form of progestogen. Natural health doctors do not use this form, because it is toxic and has bad side effects.
Instead, natural health doctors use bioidentical Progesterone, which is the major and most important natural progestogen in the body. Progesterone is the good version.
My wife is 84 and on no hormonal therapy.
She has 3 distinct hot flashes in a day. The arrive about every 8 hours and last for about 45 minutes.
I wouldn’t take HRT before because of knowing several women who took it and then had breast cancer.
I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, though, and have been told that bio-identical hormones should make a difference.
My doctor told me I could take estradiol patches until I died as a very old woman. My mother stopped hrt when her sister got breast cancer. Her sister is still alive 20 years later and is 80. My mother died from Parkinson’s Disease at 81. My mother aged quickly after stopping hormone therapy. Hormone therapy is also protective against PD.
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