Estrogen Therapy: Pros and Cons of Estrogen Therapy

There has been conflicting news over the years about estrogen therapy. At first women were told that it would help them, but then many stopped taking estrogen hormones because there were reports that it could cause heart disease. However new research appears to indicate that estrogen hormones are not as bad as researchers once thought.

Estrogen hormones have proven to be helpful in deterring diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. If a woman has too little estrogen in her body the only way to increase this is by taking estrogen therapy. Estrogen hormones can be dispensed in a variety of forms including pill, patch, cream, implant, injection and vaginal ring.

Since each woman has a unique medical history it is hard to say exactly who should take estrogen hormones and who shouldn't. However, women who have the following symptoms or fit the following criteria may be able to benefit from estrogen therapy.

Women who experience serious vasomotor symptoms including hot flashes

Those who are more prone to osteoporosis and having bone fractures

Women who have experienced early menopause as a result of surgery on the ovaries, chemotherapy or malfunction of the ovaries.

There are many advantages of estrogen therapy. It can help to prevent osteoporosis, lessen the threat of cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease, reduce hot flashes, reduce mood swings and enhance psychological comfort. However, there are risks involved in taking estrogen therapy as well. These include an increased threat of uterus cancer, and increased threat of breast cancer, an increase in headaches and migraines, an increased threat of endometrial cancer and liver failure.

There are many risks and benefits that can be associated with estrogen therapy. If you are interested you need to consult your doctor. If the risks sound too scary for you may want to consider what the American Medical Association has to say about estrogen therapy:

Estrogen therapy is the only reliable and adequate therapy to maintain system dependents with the hormones in the ovary and to reduce hot flashes.

Indicative vaginal waste and vaginitis and waste changes of the lower urinary tract with irregular and inconsistent urination are reversible with the estrogen therapy.

Estrogen replacement is necessary to help avoid osteoporosis.

If you want to find out more information about estrogen therapy before consulting your doctor you can always check it out on the internet. There are many sites that are dedicated to providing women with objective information. Choosing to take estrogen therapy is no small decision and should not be taken lightly. You can chat with women on the internet who have taken hormone therapy and can get a lot of information from them. They will be able to help answer your questions because they are the ones who have actually experience it before and know how it affects them on a daily basis.

More evidence hormone therapy can muddy mammograms

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Hormone replacement therapy after menopause may interfere with the accuracy of mammograms used to screen for breast cancer - and the risk may be greater with hormones delivered by patch or injection compared with pills, a new study finds.

Discovery Rule Exception in Hormone Replacement Cases Ruled a Jury Question

Restoring 1,000 hormone replacement therapy mass tort cases to the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court's caseload, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled it is a question of fact, not of law, whether the plaintiffs could have known at the time of their diagnoses with breast cancer that alleged cause of their cancer was their HRT prescriptions.

Breast, ovary removal found to raise cancer survival rates

Even if a patient has already been diagnosed with breast cancer, the surgery can reduce risk of dying, finds a study of women with two common breast cancer genes. Preemptive removal of breasts or ovaries in women with two common breast cancer genes can sharply reduce the risk of contracting cancer and dying, even if a woman has already been diagnosed with breast cancer, a new study confirms.

Acupuncture Helps Ease Side Effects and Symptoms of Some Cancers

Recent studies have shown that acupuncture can help control a number of symptoms and side effects -- such as pain, fatigue, dry mouth, nausea, and vomiting -- associated with a variety of cancers and their treatments. Experts from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Integrative Medicine Service, who have either conducted or reviewed many of those studies, recommend that cancer patients ...

Study shows molecular imaging benefits treatment planning for wide spectrum of cancers

A series of studies published in the September Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM) show that molecular imaging plays a critical role in the evaluation and treatment planning for a broad spectrum of cancers, including thyroid cancer and lymphoma.