Well, now I am just confused! I mentioned that I went to a menopause seminar here at the health science center where I worked. It was conducted by a nurse who was very pro-hormone therapy.
Even years ago, I remember hearing bad stuff about hormone therapy (HT) (or as they used to call it hormone replacement therapy). A fifteen-year study called the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) began in 1991. It looked at 160,000 post-menopausal women using HT.
What they found was that HT didn’t exactly do what they had hoped (prevent chronic illnesses such as heart disease) and it also caused a few problems (such as an increased risk of blood clots, stroke, and possibly breast cancer) that labeled HT as risky.
The other day, the seminar nurse said that many of the women still taking HT were of advanced age, not just right out of the onset of menopause and had taken it for years and that was the problem. Then, she proceeded to tell us about so many different HT options that I just totally zoned out.
Today, I read that the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force said that women who are taking HT in hopes of preventing things like dementia, heart disease, and bone fractures should stop. While it might lower your risk of those things, it could increase your risk of other problems. And, HT not only didn’t lower the risk of dementia, it can actually increase it. Postmenopausal women stats break down into this – 30 percent will have some type of heart disease, 22 percent will be affected by some form of dementia, and 15 percent will experience a hip fracture.
However, women who are taking for menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats need not necessarily stop. This task force also suggested recently that women under 50 not get routine mammograms (unless they find a lump or experience a problem).
Apparently, this is never going to be a cut and dry thing. Approximately 1 in 5 American women are still on HT right now, but I think for myself, I am still going to try to avoid it.