The Estrogen Dilemma: Maybe the best article ever on hormone replacement
“I started taking estrogen because I thought I was going crazy. Then the studies on hormone replacement really made me nuts. What’s a woman to do?”
If you are in perimenopause or menopause, you know this feeling. Do you or don’t you seek hormone replacement therapy? If so, do you go with synthetic or bio-identical hormones? And do you stay on it for a long time or just use it as a short-term battle plan against hot flashes and other symptoms? Plain and simple, if you have ever asked yourselves any of these questions, you must read Cynthia Gorney’s weekend article in the New York Times magazine.
Gorney tells her own story, first of the puzzling dark “Pit” she would fall into periodically, then of the experience of how her estrogen patches helped pull her out of that pit and gave her her mind back. But she also explores, deeply and relevantly, the science behind estrogen therapy, the conflicting scientific and emotional views of it, her rollercoaster search for answers, and – in laywoman’s terms – the tsunami of hormone replacement research, the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study that produced so many warnings and so many worries about HRT.
Gorney writes:
“The patches my gynecologist prescribed worked, by the way. I didn’t understand how, beyond the evident quieting of some vicious recurring hormonal hiccup, and neither did the gynecologist. But she had other women who came in sounding like me and then felt better on estrogen, and I would guess many of them, too, decided after the W.H.I. news that they could surely find other ways to manage their “mood swings,” to use the wondrously bland phrasing of the medical texts. (I’m sorry, but only someone who has never experienced one could describe a day of “I would stab everyone I know with a fork if only I could stop weeping long enough to get out of this car” as a “mood swing.”) We muddled along patchless, my mood swings and my patient family and I, until there came a time in 2006 when in the midst of some work stress, intense but not unfamiliar, I found myself in a particularly bad Pit episode and this time unable to pull out.
“It was profoundly scary.
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
Add a Comment5 Comments
Hi,
I just love this article because it describes the unique struggles that women can have with menopause. There's no one shoe fits all for menopausal experience or choice of treatment.
While some women will require hormone therapy, or other medical intervention such as antidepressants etc, other women can do very well just with lifestyle changes, fitness and diet to ease their symptoms.
Glenda de Vries
April 20, 2010 - 1:03pmwww.nursingmenopause.com
This Comment
This was a great article. It contained alot of information without feeling like a lecture on what you should and shouldn't be doing.
April 21, 2010 - 10:44amHolly
http://www.menopausechitchat.com/
Hi,
Yes, I agree with Holly a.k.a startingat40. We're lectured enough in life, we certainly don't need a lecture at menopause.
All of our womanly functions are unique-from the choices we make whether or not to use painkillers during labor and delivery to whether or not to use hormone replacement therapy at midlife. All of our risks, benefits and tolerances are different and no one should feel bad or guilty because their menopause is harder or easier than someone elses.
Glenda
April 21, 2010 - 11:05amwww.nursingmenopause.com
This a good read and great site! I agree with "Staringat40" - definitely not a lecture. I think that there's a lot of misinformation and half-truths surrounding the risks and benefits of hormone therapy, be it bioidentical or not. A friend of mine at work mentioned that she started using bioidentical hormones and claimed that they were safer because they were natural. I read that they're compounded in pharmacies - how does this make it "natural"?
Does anyone know anything about this?
April 29, 2010 - 8:44pmThe word 'natural' is an interesting word when it comes to drugs. Heroine is natural, by the way. Natural is the buzzword that gets the sale. All natural products also have side-effects although they are milder and fewer than other drugs.
Glenda de Vries
April 30, 2010 - 4:49am