If you are having menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, fatigue, bad moods, etc., this can be difficult to live with. Fortunately, there are treatments available to help you. One of these treatments is hormone therapy. Below is information on what this is, as well as how it helps.
Hormone Therapy
Estrogen is the main hormone that causes menopausal symptoms. In some cases, progesterone also plays a role in this. Many doctors will add progesterone if they prescribe you estrogen as this will reduce the risk of uterine cancer. If you have had a hysterectomy, however, the doctor will only prescribe estrogen. HRT will reduce hot flashes and other symptoms you are having.
Hormone therapy is also known as hormone replacement therapy (HRT). It can be administered in many different ways. One common way is to take a pill each day. The doctor can do a blood test to determine how low your hormone levels are. This will tell them the right amount of estrogen and progesterone, if needed, to prescribe to you. They will likely start out at a low dosage to see how it works for you. If you are still having symptoms, they will raise the dosage. The doctor may prescribe you a gel that you rub on your skin or a patch that you place on your skin.
Treat Vaginal Dryness
In many cases, low estrogen levels can cause vaginal dryness. If you have this, you will notice that you have a lot of pain during intercourse. This is because the vaginal walls dry out when you have low estrogen.
The doctor can prescribe an estrogen cream that you deliver through the vagina. The cream comes with an applicator to do this. If you do not like a cream, there are estrogen pills that you insert into your vagina. There is a device the doctor can insert into your vagina that stays in for a few months. This device delivers a low amount of estrogen daily. You will have to return to the doctor to have the device removed and a new one put in. You will hear this referred to as a vaginal ring. If you use a pill or cream, it will take a couple of weeks to build up the walls of your vagina. You may be told to use the cream once a day for a couple of weeks. After this time, you can use the cream only a couple of times per week.
Your doctor can give you much more information about hormone therapy.
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