Patches, Creams, Pellets: New and Safe HRT Options Offer Relief for Menopausal Symptoms

Great news for women battling weight gain and depression.

A Huge Win for Women’s Health

When you hear discussions about hormone health, it usually involves men and their loss of testosterone as they age. Rarely, if ever, do you hear discussions about women’s loss of hormones. That is changing now. After more than twenty years of fear and misinformation surrounding hormone replacement therapy (HRT), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is removing the broad “black box” warnings from HRT products for menopause.

One Faulty Study Causes Years of Discomfort for Women

Prior to the early 2000’s, millions of women used hormone replacement therapy to eliminate the sometimes-debilitating effects of hormone loss that begins in the mid to late 30’s. In the early 2000’s, a study by the Women’s Health Initiative issued a since disproven study that claimed Hormone Replacement Therapy caused breast cancer. The problem with the study was its participants were women that ranged in age from their 60’s to 70’s who had been without significant hormones for decades and they were given a hormone formulation that is no longer in use. The FDA responded to the study by placing a Black Box warning on all HRT methods.

What Happens to Women When Hormone Levels Drop?

Many of us are familiar with the effects of low testosterone in men due to the abundance of products marketed to men to reverse the effects. Guys lose muscle, gain weight, lose virility, experience brain fog and depression and so on. Women have the same experience with hormone loss in addition to heart palpitations, dizziness, hot flashes, brain fog, sleeplessness, bone loss and painful intercourse.

How Have Women Dealt with These Issues Without Hormone Replacement Therapy?

Without HRT, women have had to suffer in silence. Many doctors refused to acknowledge menopausal symptoms existed, claiming it was a mental condition. Other doctors refused to fix the underlying problem (lack of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone) and instead prescribed medications to mask the underlying problem. Women were given anti-depressants, heart medications and weight loss pills instead of being given the simple substances that the body needed...hormones.

The Science of Hormone Replacement Therapy

As women go through menopause, the ovaries produce less estrogen and progesterone. FDA-approved HRT containing estrogen and progesterone (or estrogen alone for women without a uterus) can restore the declining hormones. Estrogen regulates everything in a woman’s body, so replacing the estrogen that is lost provides a healthier, happier existence for women. According to the FDA, HRT helps women reduce their risk of cardiovascular diseases by as much as 50%, Alzheimer’s disease by 35%, and bone fractures by 50 to 60%.

Forms of HRT Available to Women

While there is still concern about oral forms of estrogen due to the changes it undergoes when passing through the liver, other forms of HRT are deemed safe. There are estrogen and progesterone combo patches, estrogen only patches, progesterone pills, estrogen creams, estrogen pellets, testosterone pellets, injections and creams. Women with a uterues must take progesterone with estrogen to prevent abnormal buildup of tissue in the uterus.