The average age for menopause is 51.4 years.   However, there is a long period of time prior to the menopause, that lasts approximately 10 years, which is referred to as the climacteric or peri-menopause phase.

Many people ask me how they are supposed to know when they are finished with the menopause.  Very simply, once you have gone a full 12 consecutive months without a period,  then you are considered to have completed the menopause.

Until 2002 hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was routinely used to treat menopausal symptoms and protect long term health.  So what happened in 2002?  Well, there was a large clinical trial called the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) that reported that HRT actually caused more health risks than benefits for the women in the trial.  Doctors started to get very nervous about prescribing it to their patients.  The final outcome was that up to two-thirds of women discontinued its use, quite often without even discussing it with their doctors.

Even though there is still plenty of confusion surrounding HRT, it is still considered the most effective treatment for dealing with menopausal symptoms.  The following are some of the benefits of replacement therapy.

• relief of hot flashes and night sweats;
• relief of vaginal symptoms including dryness, itching and burning;

For the most part, these are the symptoms that bother women the most .

It is no longer routinely recommended that a women take HRT on a long-term basis.  However, even for those women who take it for the short-term relief of menopausal symptoms, they might also gain some protection against the following conditions:-

• OSTEOPOROSIS. After the menopause, women are at risk for osteoporosis-related hip fractures.  Studies have shown that HRT can prevent the bone loss than occurs after menopause, thereby decreasing their risk for bone fractures;
• COLORECTAL CANCER. The studies have also shown that HRT can decrease the risk of getting colorectal cancer;
• HEART DISEASE. Even though all the data is not yet in, what they do have suggests that estrogen can decrease the risk of heart disease, if it is taken early in the postmenopausal years.

If you have transitioned into menopause naturally,  your doctor will generally prescribe a combination therapy of estrogen and progestin.  The reason for this is because estrogen alone can increase the risk of uterine cancer.  For women who have undergone a hysterectomy (the surgical removal of the uterus),  they can take estrogen alone.  Even in these cases, some doctors like to prescribe a little progestin, obviously for reasons other than the prevention of uterine cancer.

This is one blog post in a series.  Other posts will deal with:-

(a) the risks of hormone therapy, and

(b) how to protect yourself from the added risks, if you do decide to take it.

I recommend that you get all the facts before making a decision that can affect your health in a number of ways, both positively and adversely.  Be an informed consumer and take an active part in taking care of your health.

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