Handmade corn husk dolls...

stone's throw posted a photo:

were gifts to the survivors and their guests at Okmulgee Indian Health Center's first annual Breast Cancer Survivor's Banquet.

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FORMS OF HRT


HRT is available in various forms, including pills, patches, and vaginal creams. Your health care provider will start you on a regimen that is best suited for you. It may be necessary to try more than one regimen before finding the one that works best for you.

* Cyclic hormone therapy is often recommended. With this therapy, estrogen is taken in pill form for 25 days, with progestin added somewhere between days 10-14. The estrogen and progestin are taken together for the remainder of the 25 days. Then, no pills are taken for 3-5 days. There will be monthly bleeding with cyclic therapy.
* Continuous, combined therapy is where estrogen and progestin are taken together every day. When this therapy is started, or when switching from cyclic to continuous therapy, women may experience irregular bleeding. Most women stop bleeding within one year after starting this therapy.
* HRT is also available as a patch which is applied to the abdomen or the thigh. This patch allows the estrogen to be absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream. Some women prefer this method because they do not have to take pills.
* Vaginal cream containing estrogen may be given to women for vaginal dryness. The cream is usually given along with one of the other forms of HRT because the cream may not relieve many of the other symptoms and does not appear to protect against bone disease.

Additional medications may be recommended for some women with severe symptoms from menopause, or women who are at very high risk for osteoporosis or heart disease. One of these supplemental drugs might be androgen, a male hormone given with estrogen to relieve severe hot flashes.

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

In addition to taking HRT, there are other things that can help women adjust to the changes in life during menopause. Eating healthy foods and getting regular exercise will also help to decrease bone loss and maintain healthy heart muscle.

CALLING YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER

It is important to have regular checkups with your health care provider when taking HRT. If you have continual vaginal bleeding during HRT, or for any other unusual symptoms, call your health care provider.

Update Date: 2/9/2006

Updated by: Frederic F. Little, M.D., Department of Allergy and Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

Pros and Cons of Hormone Replacement Therapy and Estrogen Use Alone

By Patsy Hamilton

Combination hormone replacement therapy and estrogen only replacement therapy are not prescribed as much as they were at one time for the relief of symptoms associated with menopause, due mostly to studies performed by the Womens Health Initiative. Those supporting estrogen replacement therapy have noted that these studies focused on the risks associated with long-term use and that no studies have been completed to date concerning bio-identical hormones. Dietary supplementation with herbs and other plant components may provide a safe and effective alternative to women seeking relief from menopausal symptoms.

Many women have questions about the safety of hormone replacement therapy and estrogen replacement therapy for the prevention of hot flashes, night sweats and other menopausal symptoms. The latest research supporting estrogen replacement at lower doses than were prescribed in the studies performed by the Womens Health Initiative indicates that women may experience a 60-70% reduction in hot flash symptoms. Doctors hope that lower dosages of hormones will be safer, but continue to advise that they should be used for the shortest period of time possible. This may leave many women frustrated, since some menopause related symptoms may appear five or six years before the onset of menopause and may continue for several years after their last period.

Research supporting estrogen like substances found in plants, which are called phytoestrogens or isoflavones, show that dietary supplements containing soy isoflavones can reduce hot flashes by 87.8%. This is about equivalent to the relief experienced by women who use traditional dosages of combination hormone replacement therapy and estrogen only replacement therapy.

The health risks associated with combination hormone replacement therapy and estrogen only replacement therapy include blood clots and stroke. Those supporting estrogen use that is bio-identical believe that since the hormones used are molecularly identical to those produced by the human body, it should be safe. Opponents of hormone replacement therapy and estrogen replacement therapy of any kind believe that menopause is a natural part of a womans life, and that efforts to keep hormones at a level similar to those of a younger woman will ultimately cause health problems of many kinds.

As with many drugs and other compounds created by pharmaceutical companies, the initial research focuses on relief of symptoms and unwanted side effects. Estrogen replacement therapy first became popular for the relief of menopausal symptoms during the sixties and continued to grow in popularity, until a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 1975 reported that women using estrogen were seven times more likely to develop endometrial cancer than women who had never used estrogen. The study showed that the risks increased with continued use and that those women who used estrogen for seven years or more were 14 times more likely to develop endometrial cancer.

In order to reduce the risk of endometrial cancer, pharmaceutical companies added synthetic progestin (similar to the hormone progesterone) commonly referred to as combination hormone replacement therapy and estrogen only replacement was typically reserved for use by women who had undergone a hysterectomy at some time in their past. Those promoting and supporting estrogen and progestin use theorized that estrogen causes the lining of the uterus to build up, but without progesterone, it is not shed, thus adding synthetic progestin would cause the endometrium to be shed and reduce the risk of cancer.

Opponents of hormone replacement therapy and estrogen use quote studies indicating that estrogen can cause breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and other health problems. The majority of experts now advise that if a woman chooses to use HRT, of any type, she should use the lowest dosages for the smallest amount of time possible. For information about alternative solutions for the relief of menopausal symptoms and special nutritional requirements for women, please visit the Menopause and PMS Guide.

Patsy Hamilton was a health care professional for over twenty years before becoming a freelance writer. Currently she writes informational articles for the Menopause and PMS Guide. Read more at http://www.menopause-and-pms-guide.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patsy_Hamilton
http://EzineArticles.com/?Pros-and-Cons-of-Hormone-Replacement-Therapy-and-Estrogen-Use-Alone&id=359454

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