Women’s dilemma: To undergo HRT or not

Simply put, menopause is the time in a women’s life when she stops having menstrual periods. During menopause, a woman’s hormone production drops below the level required to continue her periods. Thus, it changes the rate and patterns of hormone release.

The average age for menopause is 51, but it could happen as early as in the late 40s. The official start of menopause is declared when a woman has gone 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period.

With menopause comes its symptoms: hot flashes, fluid retention, night sweats, depression, mood swings, irritability, weight gain, headache, fatigue, and stress, to name a few.

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) was often used to treat the symptoms of menopause. By definition, HRT are forms of medication containing one or more female hormones, commonly estrogen plus progestin (synthetic progesterone).

For the past 50 years, HRT has been the accepted standard of care for menopausal symptoms and many other illnesses associated with and following menopause.

It should be noted that unfortunately, HRT was introduced in the pharmacopeia before rigorous evidence of the efficacy and safety of medications was required by the FDA and other regulatory agencies.

According to Dr. Ronald Hamdy, FACP doubts about the efficacy of HRT started after the results of the HERS Study were published. In fact, the study had to be prematurely terminated because more patients in the estrogen/progesterone group sustained cardiovascular events during the first year of the study than those who were taking placebo. In fact, HRT’s role in the treatment of osteoporosis is now questioned.

A study by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) in 2002 showed that HRT is associated with less benefits and more risks. In short, the overall health risks exceeded the benefits.

Because of this development, health authorities agreed that HRT products should carry precautionary advice, that HRT should be used only for a short period of time, and only for the relief of menopausal symptoms – not for osteoporosis – and that herb-based therapies for relieving menopausal symptoms may be explored.

Recently, an all-natural herbal supplement, Hemofer Liquid Herbal Tonic Supplement was introduced in the Philippine market to help give relief to menopausal symptoms.

It contains eight herbs that have been used for hundreds of years, specifically for women, in Chinese traditional medicine.

The tonic supplement is manufactured by Pangashou Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. in Guangzhou, China and exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Spring Vine Herbal Trading Corporation. It is now available in all Mercury Drugstores, Watsons, Mansons, and other leading drugstores. For more information, text 0915-4208612 or 0927-4347832.