Women will sit, doing nothing, and suddenly feel warmth from the neck up and begin to sweat. Their faces become flushed. We call those hot flashes, or hot flushes. Hormone replacement therapy treats those very nicely. HRT also prevents vaginal atrophy, or thinning of the vaginal wall, and thinning of the wall of the bladder, which can both occur when estrogen levels fall after menopause.
Some women complain of difficulty remembering things, a diminished short-term memory.
And in many of those women, hormone replacement therapy helps them function at a higher level in their communities. We believe that long-term use may perhaps delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. There may also be long-term benefits of hormone replacement therapy. We know for sure that it prevents osteoporosis, or bone loss. We believe that long-term use may improve a woman's cognitive function and memory, and perhaps delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease.