Speculation Against HRT

Hormone Replacement Therapy HRT is use of medication containing one or more female hormones, commonly estrogen plus progestin (which is synthetic progesterone). It is often used to treat symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness, mood swings, sleep disorders and decreased sexual desire. This medication may be taken in the form of pill, patch or vaginal cream. The risks for various diseases are found to have increased due to the treatment which is the reason why there is a big question mark or whether it should be employed or not. Some drawbacks are given below.

Heart Disease -
The number of heart attacks increased by 29% among women taking HRT that is it is estimated that 37 of every 10,000 women on the treatment has a heart attack, while 30 in 10,000 not having treatment has a heart attack.

Strokes
Study shows a 41% increase in strokes among the women taking estrogen and progestin. For every 10,000 women taking the treatment, 29 will have a stroke, as compared to 21 in 10,000 women who are not taking treatment.

Blood clots/thromboembolic disease
For every 10,000 women taking treatment, 34 will develop blood clots in their lungs or legs, while 16 in 10,000 not taking treatment develop blood clots.

Breast cancer
Treatment was stopped primarily because of a 26% increased risk of breast cancer found in women using hormone therapy. For every 10,000 women taking treatment, 38 will develop invasive breast cancer; of 10,000 women not taking treatment, only 30 will develop the disease.

Ovarian cancer
In a study it has been found that women who use estrogen therapy alone have increased risk of developing ovarian cancer. This risk increases with the number of years for which a woman uses estrogen. For a woman who used estrogen for 20 or more years, the risk of ovarian cancer will be three times that of women who did not use estrogen.

Side effects
As with all medicines, this treatment has side effects associated with itself. Some women taking treatment tend to experience water retention, bloating, nausea, breast soreness, mood swings, and headaches. Changing the dosage or the form of treatment may help in alleviating these side effects.