What is Hormone Replacement Therapy?

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a treatment for women who have reached or passed menopause. It involves taking small doses of female hormone, estrogen. This hormones is necessary for the proper functioning of a woman’s reproductive system.

Advantages of HRT:
Hormone replacement therapy is the most effective cure for the undesirable changes that accompany menopause. These changes include, hot flashes ,sleep disturbances , osteoporosis etc. Estrogens are remarkably effective in eliminating these annoying symptoms. Hot flashes can occur during the day or at night, and “night sweats,” can cause sleeping disturbance by making the victim take a shower, change night clothing, and change bedding. HRT brings relief from hot flashes and an improvement in sleep.

This therapy also helps decrease vaginal dryness by increasing the lubricating capacity of vaginal tissue. The probability of urinary tract infections also lessen due to hormone replacement therapy. Estrogen prevents post menopausal osteoporosis as it helps bones absorb the calcium they need to stay strong. It also helps conserve the calcium stored in the bones by encouraging other cells to use dietary calcium more efficiently.

HRT is also useful in curing the emotional effects of menopause, such as, depression and mood swings. Estrogens have many effects within the brain and the nervous system which help elevate mood reducing the minor depression that some women experience after menopause. Moreover, improved short-term memory is a distinct advantage of HRT. Findings have proved that when women take estrogen their short-term memory improves.

Drawbacks of HRT:
Hormone replacement therapy also has some potential drawbacks. For instance it can lead to breast pain, nausea, cramping, headaches, vaginal bleeding, fluid retention, irritability, weight gain etc. Moreover, if the woman smokes, drinks, is obese or has high blood pressure, HRT will increase her risk of heart diseases. Breast cancer is another factor to add in the HRT list of drawbacks.