The most popular way to treat menopause has been with the use of hormone replacement therapies. These therapies have been going on for the past 60 years and were prescribed to millions of women all over the world. The majority of these therapies would entail replacement of the hormone estrogen. For many years, these therapies were seen as a miracle cure and a means to help rid women of this potentially debilitating condition. For the millions of women around the world, this therapy was God sent.
Then reports started coming in about unintended side effects. These reports were investigated and the investigations concluded that the use of these hormone replacement therapies resulted in an increased risk of coronary heart disease. Further reports showed that patients treated with these therapies were also at a substantially increased risk of stroke and developing breast cancer. In fact, the report by the Women's Health Initiative, sponsored by the National Institute of health, revealed the following shocking statistics: Women who were on hormone replacement therapy had a 41% increased risk of suffering from a stroke, a 22% increase in total cardiovascular disease, and a 29% increase in the risk of heart attacks. More shockingly, the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (in women over 65) has increased by 100%.
The statistics above are not very comforting. In fact, they are terrifying! With figures like these, how is it possible that doctors around the world are still prescribing hormone replacement therapy? Are we not playing Russian roulette with our bodies by popping these pills and praying with all our might that we do not suffer from one of these dreaded side effects? This is probably what they mean by living life on the edge. It is a scary thought to think that in order to make ourselves feel better, we are willing to put our lives in such danger by submitting our bodies to these therapies.
With all the scary reports that have been revealed to us by the Women's Health Initiative, do we really understand the risks and are we taking them seriously? Perhaps in order to take control of our lives and our health, we need to understand how treatments such as Hormone Replacement Therapies and Growth Hormone Therapies work. Do they actually work? Is there a danger in using synthetic hormones? What happens to our glands and the natural hormones that they produce when we undergo hormone replacement therapies?
It would be great if we could get answers to these questions in a clear and easy to understand format. Many health and advice books today can be very difficult to understand, and when they are finally deciphered, it turns out that they do not contain any new information anyway. Messing around with our hormones is not child's play and should be treated very seriously. Therefore, it is important to take the time to find out all the relevant information that is understandable, logical, and based in science. Only when you have a clear understanding of the risks and benefits of hormone therapy, and you have discussed the treatment with your doctor, only then, should you consider the treatment.
