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Traditionally, doctors have prescribed estrogen replacement therapy to women who have entered menopause to ease the physical and emotional discomforts that are caused because the body is no longer producing estrogen.

When ERT was first initiated on a widespread basis in the 1950s, women pretty much believed that their doctor and the medical establishment knew what was best for them. However, times have changed. ERT is no longer the panacea it was once purported to be, and the fact is that there are some women who shouldn’t take estrogen medication at all.

Here are the facts about estrogen replacement therapy for menopausal woman.

Estrogen replacement therapy comes in four different forms. You can take it orally, in tablets in dosages ranging from 0.3 milligrams to 2.5 milligrams, though the typical dosage is one 0.625-milligram tablet taken once a day for three weeks. A vaginal cream called Premarin is also available, as is a transdermal patch called an Estraderm patch; the latter is worn on the skin and changed twice a week and allows a steady stream of estrogen to be absorbed through the skin. Make sure that it is changed at the same times each week.

One of the main advantages of estrogen replacement therapy is that it helps prevent osteoporosis, since estrogen helps keep bones strong. Estrogen also helps keep the genitals and reproductive organs from atrophying and losing their elasticity and support; this helps prevent the uterus from falling, which is a common condition among postmenopausal women. ERT also helps reduce the risk of heart disease because it increases the amount of the “good” HDL cholesterol in the system while lowering the level of “bad” LDL cholesterol. Estrogen is also frequently used during premenopause to reduce the severity of symptoms such as hot flashes and mood swings.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 10:41 am and is filed under General health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.