Menopause is a normal part of the aging process, affecting most people assigned female at birth in their mid 40s to early 50s.
During this transition, up to three-quartersTrusted Source will experience some kind of symptoms related to menopause, such as hot flashes, night sweats, or sleep problems.
Many people believe that menopause is just something you have to “deal with” and that there’s nothing you can do about it.
And while you can’t treat menopause exactly, recent advances have made it so that you can treat bothersome symptoms. This can make the menopausal experience more comfortable and help protect your long-term health.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the common treatment options for symptoms of menopause, including some of the newest research in menopausal care.
Hormone therapy
The menopausal transition represents the period of time in adulthood when hormone levels begin to decline and menstruation comes to a permanent end.
During this time, declining levels of estrogen and progesterone — two hormones produced by the ovaries — can lead to many of the bothersome symptoms that some people may experience during menopause.
As a result, treatment of menopausal symptoms has historically involved the use of hormone therapy to reduce symptoms.
But in 2013, results from a large studyTrusted Source involving over 27,000 women with up to 13 years of follow-up found that long-term use of combination hormone therapy (estrogen plus progesterone) was associated with increased risk for heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
Since then, experts have changed the way that hormone therapy is used to treat menopause. There’s now more emphasis on ensuring that the benefits outweigh the potential risks.
Based on the most up-to-date research, the North American Menopause SocietyTrusted Source still considers hormone therapy the most effective treatment option for the vasomotor and genitourinary symptoms of menopause. It can also help prevent bone disease.
Healthcare professionals are starting to take a more personalized approach when prescribing hormone therapy based on your individual needs and circumstances. Your doctor may recommend avoiding hormone therapy if you’re over 60 years old or are at increased risk for heart disease or stroke.
To lower the risk for long-term health effects, your doctor will likely prescribe hormone therapy at a low dose for no more than 3 to 5 years. If you don’t have a uterus, you may also choose to use estrogen alone, which minimizes the risk for complications such as breast cancer.
Hormone therapy may be taken:
- orally
- topically as a patch or gel
- vaginally as a cream, tablet, or ring
Bioidentical hormone therapy
Bioidentical hormones are plant-derived hormones such as estradiol and estriol that have the same structure as human hormones.
Some people claim that bioidentical hormone therapy is a safer alternative to traditional hormone therapy. But there’s no evidence to suggest this is the case.
In fact, most of these types of therapies are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), meaning they aren’t held to the same quality standards as traditional hormone therapy. They also don’t require the same safety warnings, which may lead people to underestimate the potential risks associated with their use.
