Hormone replacement therapy

If you decide together with your doctor to start a hormone replacement therapy, then both the composition and the dosage will vary from person to person. It may also be that the start of therapy is gradual, so that the effect of the individual hormone can be assessed in each case. Compared to tablets, creams have the advantage that you can dose them very individually and that their effect occurs without the drug being transported through the liver (as is the case with oral hormones). However, you may also be prescribed capsules, and sometimes these are also used vaginally.

The individual therapy planning is largely based on the symptoms. In order to get an overview of your situation, we ask you to fill out the Hormone Coaching questionnaire and bring it with you to the first consultation. The laboratory values obtained are used to rule out unexpected special situations and diseases and to assess the relationship between the hormones and one another. They have less sense of making an absolute statement because of their height. Much research has been done in recent years on the benefits and risks of hormone replacement therapy.

At no time was the benefit of hormone replacement therapy disputed with regard to

• Reduction of menopausal symptoms
• Reduction of broken bones (osteopenia and osteoporosis)

At no time was the risk of hormone replacement therapy disputed with regard to

• Risk of thrombosis and cerebrovascular events

Again and again discussed risks of hormone replacement therapy

• Increase in the incidence of breast cancer

The increased risk of breast cancer and the associated fear of hormone replacement therapy has its origins in the results of the WHI Study 2002, which were uncritically marketed by the media. Until 2002, hormone replacement therapy was considered safe and reliable and was widely prescribed worldwide. The WHI study raised doubts as to whether such hormone replacement therapy would increase the incidence of breast cancer. Since then, the WHI study has been supplemented by many other studies and the results revised. However, the fear of breast cancer when taking hormones has remained anchored in people's minds. Therefore, it is certainly correct that Faruen should seek individual advice from qualified specialists, taking into account all aspects of their own and family anamnesis.

Furthermore, with regard to the above-mentioned concerns about the use of hormone replacement therapy, it is undisputed that the timing of hormone therapy use plays an important role. If hormone therapy is started in the so-called "favorable window" (i.e. within the first 10 years of the onset of menopausal symptoms), the benefits clearly outweigh the side effects and survival is demonstrably prolonged in the group of women who take or have taken hormones in the "favorable window" phase.