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Women on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) who have no family history of breast cancer have the same risk of developing breast cancer as women with a family history who are on HRT, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center Study.
The more than 2 million baby-boomer women who are approaching menopause may find themselves in a precarious position when it comes to handling hot flashes and mood swings. Should they risk the threat of breast cancer from use of hormone replacement therapy, or simply suffer through the agonizing symptoms? According to Forbes, new and detailed research offers women the opportunity to make a more educated decision.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and its link to breast cancer and other serious conditions continue to make headlines. This week, U.S. News & World Report announced that women who take HRT and then get breast cancer are at lower risk of dying from their disease, according to a new study by the University of California-Irvine.
Overweight women suffer more hot flashes during menopause than women who maintain a normal weight, according to the Hartford Courant. The news story references a study published by the American Journal of Epidemiology that debunks an earlier belief that menopausal women who were heavier experienced fewer hot flashes than thin women.
In the 1960s, a New York gynecologist wrote a book called “Feminine Forever,” in which he recommended estrogen for menopause, stating that women on the hormone replacement drug “will be much more pleasant to live with and will not become dull and unattractive.”
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals caught wind of the book and its author’s claims that estrogen reduced a woman’s risk for both breast and genital cancers, and began distributing the book to physicians across the country. Soon after, sales of Wyeth’s HRT drug Premarin took off, growing to more than 30 million prescriptions each year.
Women with existing heart conditions should consider their heart disease risk and visit a doctor for a heart health evaluation when considering estrogen hormone replacement therapy (HRT), according to a University of Michigan study.
Women who take breast cancer drugs Arimidex or generic tamoxifen and suffer with menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats or painful joints may be less likely to have a reoccurrence of their cancer tumors, according to Reuters.
Postmenopausal women who experience a slump in their sex drive may rediscover their libido by taking the male sex hormone testosterone. However, researchers are unsure if there may be a link between the use of testosterone and breast cancer, according to FoodConsumer.org.
Years before the onset of menopause, women can begin to feel many of the symptoms as part of perimenopause, according to a story by AsiaOne.
Perimenopause is the body’s natural transition toward menopause. This is period leading up to menopause – anywhere from two to eight years – as well as the first year after a woman’s last menstrual cycle.
