Side Effects of Female Hormone Replacement
Hormone replacement therapy to relieve menopause symptoms or for other purposes slightly increases users' risks for developing serious cardiovascular problems and cancer. HRT can also cause many unwelcome side effects, ranging from stomach pain to infections. Whether formulated as creams, patches or tablets---or containing estrogen, estriol or a combination of estrogen and progestin---all HRT have the same risks and side effects.
Purposes of Hormone Replacement
HRT relieves the hot flashes, mood swings, night sweats and vaginal dryness that come with the onset of menopause. Female hormone supplements can also slow bone loss (osteoporosis) and prevent the development of colon cancer.
Common Side Effects
As listed in the prescribing information for Premarin, a branded tablet formulation of conjugated estrogens marketed by Wyeth, women using HRT most often experienced abdominal pain, back pain, gassiness, itching (pruritis), leg cramps, vaginal bleeding, vaginal discharge (leukorrhea), vaginitis, weakness and lack of energy (asthenia), and yeast infections (vaginal moniliasis) as side effect during clinical trials of the product.
Rare Side Effects
Other side effects from HRT have included balding, body hair growth, discoloring in the face (chloasma and melasma), raised blood pressure, skin rash (for example, erythema multiforme), thickening of the uterine lining (endometrial hyperplasia) and yellowing of the skin and eyes (cholestatic jaundice).
Warnings
Women who use HRT have slightly increased risks for blood clots, breast cancer, dementia, gall bladder disease, heart attacks and stroke. Also, women with an intact uterus are at increased risk for developing endometrial cancer when they take supplemental estrogen.
Avoiding Problems
To decrease the chance of experiencing side effects and long-term problems, the FDA advises women to use the lowest dose of HRT that provides the desired benefits and to limit how long they take estrogen supplements. The agency further recommends assessing the need for HRT every 3 to 6 months. After reviewing all of the clinical literature on HRT, the editors of Consumers Report wrote in October 2008 that women who had breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer or a family history of deaths from cardiovascular causes should not use HRT.
