Busting myths, embracing hope and exploring treatment options with gynaecologist Dr Margreet Stegeman from the Shepparton Women’s Health Centre.
Menopause usually coincides with alterations happening in a woman’s life: children moving out, the empty nest syndrome, changes in relationships with partners and work, and on top of that you get hot flushes, night sweats, you’re not sleeping and you feel you can scratch someone’s eyes out.
You are then being told it is a natural process and to deal with it. If you weren’t ready to kill someone, now you are.
But there is hope. And treatments.
We’re defying nature, becoming older and postmenopausal in the course of it. We live longer without oestrogen, becoming 70, 80 or 90 years old.
Oestrogen is probably the hormone that keeps us and all our tissues happy. Why can’t we keep defying nature and use hormones that keep us fit, healthy and most of all pleasant company?
That’s where the myth that HRT kills us and causes breast cancer comes into play. The opposite is true.
HRT in most circumstances prolongs our life expectancy.
Not only that, it makes us feel better while doing that: we sleep better, our brain can function, we can concentrate, our bones stay healthier.
Unfortunately this is not for everyone. There are contradictions to the use of HRT and usually the advice is not to be on it longer than five years as it may increase breast cancer risk after this time in women who still have a uterus and need to take progesterone to protect the uterus.
Most women will have overcome the terrible stage of hot flushes and night sweats and are able to function after stopping HRT. Alas that is not for everyone.
About 20 to 30 per cent of women have persisting horrible symptoms and need to weigh up the pros and cons of continuing HRT.
On the one side is the small increased risk of breast cancer, on the other side of the coin is their quality of life.
All these decisions are easier in women who do not have a uterus anymore, as they do not need to take progesterone. In this group we now know that their life expectancy goes up with HRT, the breast cancer risk does not seem to be increased and there is some evidence it might even go down — and on top of that, they feel better.
There is also progress being made with natural progesterone types that seem not to have the increased risk of breast cancer.
HRT is still the best treatment for peri-menopausal symptoms but there are other options as well for women who cannot or do not want to use hormones. And there are options such as cognitive behavioural therapy, acupuncture, hypnosis and yoga.
For more information you can look at our website Shepparton Women’s Health Centre or the Jean Hailes site, which has excellent information and videos on women’s health issues.