Estrogen Replacement Therapy

Estrogen replacement therapy has been found out to have great effects among women who are encountering their menopausal stage.

Menopause or menopausal stage is a health state in where a certain woman experiences absence of

Most women encountered menopausal stage during their fifty first birthdays, and that is the average time of its existence. However, some woman may experience menopause during their forty fifth to fifty fifth birthday. On the other hand, it can exist or happen in an earlier span of time, even after your thirty’s. It is only a myth that when you have had your first menstrual cycle at a very young age, you will end up experiencing your menopausal stage at an early age too. According to studies, menopause happens before the age of sixty.

However, the symptoms of menopause can vary from one certain woman to the other. Some woman can experience few or more menopausal symptoms. Aside from that, the severity of menopausal symptoms also varies to every woman. Listed below are some of the menopausal symptoms usually experienced by many female individuals.

1. Irregular vaginal bleeding

This is the first commonly manifested symptoms for woman who is entering the menopausal stage. Some even have irregular vaginal bleeding in heavy periods; others may have it only at minimal amount of blood discharge. This happen usually more frequently than the normal menstrual period. The reason for this is that, ovulation becomes irregular and fertility of the woman is decreased. Furthermore, some woman who is in the premenopausal stage can still get pregnant even before they reached menopause.

2. Urinary discomforts

Due to the decreasing amount of estrogen levels inside the body of the woman who is near to enter menopause, the urinary tract including the urethra and tissues of the vagina becomes drier. In this event, possible occurrence of urinary tract infection and urinary incontinence may happen.

3. Emotional symptoms

4. Hot flashes and night sweats

Hot flashes are a certain feeling of warmth that is spread across the chest and the body. Hot flashes usually last for thirty seconds and is always accompanied with night sweats after experiencing it. The existence of hot flashes and night sweats among women with menopause are not fully understood, the main reason that is believed to its existence is the hormonal imbalances that happens inside the woman's body.

And since menopause can cause the gradual decrease of estrogen level inside the woman's body, different medical skin conditions can develop.  With the aid of the high technological advancement in our society, different procedures likes’ hormone replacement are now available. Such of these hormone therapies is the Estrogen Replacement Therapy.

As mentioned from the first part of this article, ERT is a medical process in where the estrogen hormones are administered medically to replace the hormones that are not produced in a body of a menopausal woman. A conjugated estrogen is administered into a specific menopausal woman, either thru an estrogen patch or injections.

What is estrogen? Estrogen is the main sex hormone in women and is found to be responsible for the presence of menstrual cycle. However, it is also present in the man's body, but it has higher amounts inside the body of the female. In addition, estrogen contributes to the development of secondary sex characteristics and an important part of the reproductive process.

With ERT (estrogen replacement therapy), estrogen are injected or administered to a woman suffering from menopausal symptoms. As based on studies, administration of conjugated estrogen alone or with the combination of progestins has been found out to reduce the levels of PA-1. PA-1 is a certain inhibitor of fibrinolysis which usually increases when a certain woman reaches menopausal stage. This PA-1 has been found out to increase the risk of woman into different harmful medical conditions like heart diseases.

On the other hand, like many medications and therapies, estrogen replacement therapy may also produce side effects. Such side effects may include the following: blood clot problems, heart disease, and endometrial cancer. Aside from that, persons who engaged with this kind of hormonal therapy are found to be twenty four percent breast cancer risk compared to those women taking placebo.