When women reach menopause, there is a decline in their sex
hormones such as estrogen and progesterone which causes various symptoms such
as the mood swings, hot flashes, insomnia, decline in bone density, urinary
tract infection and etc. This is where hormone replacement therapy is used to
replace these hormones. Hormone replacement therapy is replaces the sex hormones
the body no longer produces and by doing so, hormone replacement therapy
relieves the symptoms of menopause.
The benefits sound good but the problem is that HRT has side
effects as well. It’s difficult to say whether the costs of HRT outweigh the
benefits or the other way around. Data have shown that hormone replacement therapy
increases the risk of conditions such as heart disease, stroke, blood clots,
and breast cancer. Yet, other than the relief of menopausal symptoms, hormone
replacement has benefits such as maintaining skin collagen levels due to
increased estrogen levels, fighting against osteoporosis, and boosting
short-term memory.
In my opinion, choosing to do hormone replacement therapy
depends on the patient’s condition and health history as well. For instance, the
benefits may outweigh the risks if the menopausal symptoms are severe and they
really interfere with daily life. In that case, if the women are healthy, HRT
may work great for them and relieve them of the burden of their symptoms. Also,
hormone replacement therapy may be beneficial to women with severe loss of bone
mass (osteoporosis). However, women who
are not in good health or have reached menopause at a later age in their life,
hormone therapy may have more risks than benefits and they should find alternative
options.Because of the side effects, I think that hormone replacement therapy
would not be healthy however if used over a long term. The body naturally stops producing the sex hormones, so by synthetically increasing them, the homoeostasis of the body would be affected.
I believe that in the future more risks and side effects with
the hormone replacement therapy may be discovered. People are becoming more educated about the consequences/ side-effects of health related procedures and that's another reason that less women might choose hormone replacement therapy in the future. However, this may cause
scientists to research healthier solutions to help with hormone imbalances.
