Most people have heard about the hot flashes, fatigue, and irritability that can occur at menopause when estrogen production declines. Changes that are less obvious but more serious also occur.
Many women benefit from taking hormones to replace what the body has stopped making.
Restoring estrogen to your system lessens hot flashes and eases vaginal dryness and itching by renewing normal lubrication. It lowers the risk of osteoporosis and broken bones by slowing the calcium loss and bone thinning that begin in women in their mid-30s. It also reduces clotting tendencies of the blood and lowers the risk of stroke. These hormones may cause breast tenderness, fluid retention, cramps, headaches, or mood swings, and menstrual cycles may begin again. Other investigators believe that since cardiovascular disease is far more likely than breast cancer to develop as women age, the protection of hormone therapy greatly outweighs this risk in most women.