Topical Hormone Replacement – Relief and Safety at Last!
Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life that most women eventually have to deal with hot flashes, and a host of other symptoms, related to hormone deficiencies brought on by menopause or hysterectomy. To make matters worse, studies have found that estrogen hormone replacement therapies resulted in significant increases in factors leading to stroke, heart attack and breast cancer, making the “cure worse than the disease”. (1-3) This was scary and made many women believe there was no safe solution to turn to.
Thankfully, there is new hope on the horizon. First, it must be noted that many of the treatments in these studies (demonstrating increased heart attack, stroke and cancer risk factors) used horse estrogen.(1-3) Current therapies using bio-identical hormones have proven to be more effective and much safer. (4)
In fact, new topical estrogen replacement therapies have been shown to be the safest alternative yet! A large study compared the use of estradiol transdermal therapy (topical product applied to the skin) versus oral estrogen-only hormone therapy (pills).
The study found that participants who received the topical estradiol had a significantly lower incidence of blood clots (risk of stroke or heart attack) than the participants who received oral estrogen-only hormone therapy. (5)
Similar studies in Europe found the same results. “Transdermal delivery of native estradiol for [hot flashes] has significant advantages in safety and efficacy over traditional oral preparations.” (1)
The reason that topical estrogens appear to be more effective, and safer, than pills is pretty simple. If you take hormones by mouth they go directly to your liver.
Your liver’s job is to help remove substances from the body. When your body makes hormones naturally, in the ovaries for example, they circulate through your entire body before they go to the liver.
So, ladies, we’re making progress! We now have more, and better, alternatives to help alleviate those miserable hot flashes, so we can get back to a more comfortable and loving lifestyle, not to mention a good night’s sleep!
Sources:
1. Bagot, C. N., M. S. Marsh, et al. (2010). “The effect of estrone on thrombin generation may explain the different thrombotic risk between oral and transdermal hormone replacement therapy.” J Thromb Haemost 8(8): 1736-44.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/j.1538-7836.2010.03953.x/as...
2. Buster, J. E. (2010). “Transdermal menopausal hormone therapy: delivery through skin changes the rules.” Expert Opin Pharmacother 11(9): 1489-99.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20426703
3. Hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women: Past problems and future possibilities. Schmidt JW, Wollner D, Curcio J, Riedlinger J, Kim LS. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2006 Oct;22(10):564-77.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17135036
4. Could transdermal estradiol + progesterone be a safer postmenopausal HRT? A review. L’hermite M, Simoncini T, Fuller S, Genazzani AR. Maturitas. 2008 Jul-Aug;60(3-4):185-201. Epub 2008 Sep 5.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18775609
5. Hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women: Past problems and future possibilities. Schmidt JW, Wollner D, Curcio J, Riedlinger J, Kim LS. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2006 Oct;22(10):564-77.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17135036
Reviewed April 11, 2013
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith