Should You Take Estrogen After Your Hysterectomy?

HRT after Surgical Menopause: Pros and Cons

The Pros in Getting HRT

* Women who go into surgical menopause are not that old — The risks of getting hormone therapy that grabbed the headlines are those found in older menopausal women, there may be minimal risks or none at all for younger women who get HRT. Experts believe that estrogen plays a vital role in allowing younger women to live their lives normally even after surgery. There is also a growing body of evidence that hormone therapy helps prevent the occurrence of heart disease and Parkinson’s disease in young women.
* Other treatment for menopausal symptoms did not work – Some women find that their hot flashes, vaginal dryness, sleep problems are excruciating and nothing seems to work. HRT can be quite effective in reversing many symptoms, even preventing them in the first place. Some studies show that HRT can cut the number of hot flashes by up to 75%.
* HRT provides other health benefits – HRT has been identified as a contributing factor in slowing down osteoporosis and increasing bone density. It seems treatment with both estrogen and progestin also reduces the risk of developing colorectal cancer even slightly.

The Cons to not get HRT:

* Your menopausal symptoms are not that unbearable – The pain threshold of individuals vary, the same goes for women who have had surgery. Some patients do not have severely uncomfortable symptoms after surgical menopause and do not need HRT while others just don’t want to take HRT. Besides even if you do have acute symptoms, HRT is not the only way to control them. Other forms of medication or perhaps a lifestyle changes can help.
* You got the surgery at 50 or older – Women who go into surgical menopause at 50 or older when it is approximately the natural time of menopause often decide not to get HRT. Their reasoning is that their supply of estrogen would naturally drop during menopause anyway.
* You suffer from liver disease – taking estrogen pills orally can put more stress on the liver. There are other ways of getting estrogen that bypass the liver, like by using estrogen patches.
* You are worried of the side effects - HRT can actually cause symptoms that it is meant to prevent. Some women on HRT experienced symptoms that resemble those of premenstrual syndrome like headaches, swollen and painful breasts and nausea.
* HRT increases the likelihood of health problems like strokes, blood clots, heart attacks, breast and ovarian cancer. – although there is still no conclusive evidence to identify HRT as the cause of these diseases, it has been found out that the risks of getting these diseases were higher in patients taking HRT.