Many women have a wide variety of distressing side effects when dealing with menopause. For this reason, women are considering hormone replacement treatment (HRT) once they’re entering menopause.
Menopause is an unavoidable part of aging and cannot be prevented. Thankfully, HRT can help with the overall management of the illness and the relief of individual symptoms. There may be more benefits to using hormone treatment to alleviate menopause symptoms than you now realize.
Menopause Hormone Replacement Therapy: Pros and Cons
HRT offers many advantages, but it is not without its dangers. They can be anything from a minor convenience to lifesaving protection against deadly sickness. Here are some benefits it can offer you:
1. Improved Vaginal Relaxation
You probably don’t think much of your vagina unless there’s a problem. Vaginal dryness, itching, and burning are common menopausal symptoms that can affect any woman. Having this problem can make sex extremely painful, and it’s already uncomfortable daily.
By restoring hormonal balance, hormone therapy can ease discomfort and restore your ability to enjoy your sex life.
2. Better Night’s Rest
The fact that menopause symptoms persist even when you’re asleep is one of its more annoying aspects. Sleep is disrupted by night sweats, frequent urination, and other symptoms.
Even if hormone replacement therapy doesn’t immediately improve your sleep, it often alleviates the distressing side effects that keep people up at night.
3. Enhance Your Sexual Life
Many women experience a decline in sex pleasure after menopause because of vaginal discomfort. Even in the absence of vaginal symptoms, menopause can cause a decrease in a woman’s libido and sexual desire.
Hormone replacement therapy can increase libido, allowing you to rediscover the joys of sexuality at any age. As a bonus, it can help women with vaginal dryness or other vaginal discomfort enjoy their sex experiences more.
4. Fewer Urinary Symptoms
Symptoms of increased urine frequency are common among women experiencing menopause. Menopause has been linked to bladder dysfunction.
Any gathering can be disrupted by the need to use the restroom frequently. As a result, many postmenopausal women avoid lengthy hikes and other activities that need them to be away from a washroom for an extensive period. You can reduce menopause urination with hormone therapy.
5. Reduced Frequency of Hot Flashes
It’s the first symptom of menopause many women experiences; it can strike at any time, even when they’re going about their daily routines. They always seem to occur when it’s most inconvenient.
However, hormone replacement therapy can lessen the severity of your hot flashes. You shouldn’t anticipate them going away, but you can count on them to be less intense and less frequent.
6. Reduced Occurrence of Sweating during the Night
A simple test for menopause is to look at how often you change your bed linens compared to how often you did it ten years ago. It is never good to wake up in the middle of the night, completely drenched in sweat.
Night sweats, like the other menopause symptoms, are caused by a shift in hormone levels. Hormone replacement therapy, then, can significantly reduce their severity.
7. Helps Prevent Osteoporosis
Did you know osteoporosis is the leading cause of bone fractures in women over 50? Menopause is a major cause of bone loss in women.
Bone mineral density is enhanced with hormone replacement therapy. This lessens the severity of bone fragility brought on by osteoporosis.
8. Reduced Emotional Symptoms
The psychological effects of menopause can be particularly challenging. They interfere with your capacity to experience joy and pleasure in life. Women’s emotions might vary wildly throughout menopause, and some even experience despair. Both symptoms are shared by many women, often at the same time.
When your hormones are balanced, you feel better overall. This reduces menopause’s emotional impacts without the usage of psychotropic drugs.
Conclusion
Hormone therapy for menopause is a treatment option that can help to alleviate some of the indication connected with menopause, such as hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, and mood swings. However, weighing the risks and benefits of hormone therapy with your healthcare provider before starting any treatment is essential.
Additionally, other treatment options are available for menopause symptom relief, so be sure to discuss your options with your doctor. To get the full list of HRT’s benefits, don’t forget to check out the second part of this article.
Do you want to learn more about anti-aging hormone therapy that can help you look and feel younger for longer? Melinda Silva, MD, is available for these procedures. Our Chula Vista clinic offers bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, medically-supervised weight reduction, and CoolSculpting as part of our comprehensive approach to anti-aging and wellness. Schedule your consultation with Dr. Melinda Silva today!