Hi - I'm a 70 y/o woman with osteoporosis - is it too late for me too help myself besides taking meds for bone density? If you have any suggestions please lmk. I'm envious of the younger generation's options!
I see a lot of content online suggesting most (all?) women should take MHT to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, diabetes, etc. The only solid evidence I have seen on the benefits of MHT suggest it can do exactly TWO things. 1. Manage symptoms of menopause including hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, GSM, possibly aches and pains associated with decreased connective tissue elasticity, and a few other things. 2. Reduce osteoporosis risk.
Data, as of today, are equivocal regarding the possibility that MHT can reduce risk of dementia, heart disease, and other chronic conditions associated with advancing age.
If a woman has no menopause symptoms, no hot flashes, no insomnia, is there any reason she should take MHT? Weighing the modest increased risk of breast cancer against the as-yet-to-be-proven benefits for other chronic conditions, my takeaway is, "no, a woman without menopause symptoms and who is at average risk of osteoporosis should not take MHT."
Despite this, I feel constant pressure that I am going to 'miss out,' regret, or otherwise damage my long-term health by NOT taking MHT. Why is there so much pressure and so many people pushing MHT?
Don't get me wrong, I saw the incalculable damage to women's health when the WHI scared women away from any MHT options. That study was poorly designed, and thankfully, medical science has caught up and is correcting the record on that. But, gosh, the drumbeat of TAKE MHT is pretty crazy right now.
Take it for the bone health benefits alone. Estrogen has been approved by the FDA for bone health for a while. When was your last DEXA scan?
Everyone experiences the ‘pause differently. Your ovaries are going to stop producing hormones at some point (you don’t mention your age), that’s just female biology, and perhaps that hasn’t happened yet for you and they’re still going strong. When were your last blood levels taken of E, P & T? If they’re within ‘normal’ ranges, good for you.
However the vast majority of women in midlife experience terrible symptoms. See above. Why not replace lost hormones with bio identical, below physiologic levels, of hormones your body has been producing all of your life?
Nobody’s pushing HRT on anybody; ignore the seeming drumbeat.
The point of the doctor’s post is that bio identical hormones are safer than synthetic ones. The medical establishment also could have - if they had been educated properly - helped literally millions of women experience relief of not simply bothersome ailments, but life-threatening ones. Marriages could have been saved as libido returned. Genito-urinary symptoms of menopause and constant UTIs would have been alleviated. There would have been far fewer hip and femur fractures in elderly women, along with the horrible pain, loss of mobility, and early death those fractures lead to.
Everyone chooses their own path, if they can get decent midlife care, and each woman’s case is different. Hence the doctor’s stress on individualized care. Which is hard to get, given the paucity of practitioners who feel knowledgeable enough to prescribe HRT.
Hi - I'm a 70 y/o woman with osteoporosis - is it too late for me too help myself besides taking meds for bone density? If you have any suggestions please lmk. I'm envious of the younger generation's options!
Please scroll back to my very first Substack post - it's called "Late Start HRT" and has lots of information.
Thank you
I see a lot of content online suggesting most (all?) women should take MHT to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, diabetes, etc. The only solid evidence I have seen on the benefits of MHT suggest it can do exactly TWO things. 1. Manage symptoms of menopause including hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, GSM, possibly aches and pains associated with decreased connective tissue elasticity, and a few other things. 2. Reduce osteoporosis risk.
Data, as of today, are equivocal regarding the possibility that MHT can reduce risk of dementia, heart disease, and other chronic conditions associated with advancing age.
If a woman has no menopause symptoms, no hot flashes, no insomnia, is there any reason she should take MHT? Weighing the modest increased risk of breast cancer against the as-yet-to-be-proven benefits for other chronic conditions, my takeaway is, "no, a woman without menopause symptoms and who is at average risk of osteoporosis should not take MHT."
Despite this, I feel constant pressure that I am going to 'miss out,' regret, or otherwise damage my long-term health by NOT taking MHT. Why is there so much pressure and so many people pushing MHT?
Don't get me wrong, I saw the incalculable damage to women's health when the WHI scared women away from any MHT options. That study was poorly designed, and thankfully, medical science has caught up and is correcting the record on that. But, gosh, the drumbeat of TAKE MHT is pretty crazy right now.
Take it for the bone health benefits alone. Estrogen has been approved by the FDA for bone health for a while. When was your last DEXA scan?
Everyone experiences the ‘pause differently. Your ovaries are going to stop producing hormones at some point (you don’t mention your age), that’s just female biology, and perhaps that hasn’t happened yet for you and they’re still going strong. When were your last blood levels taken of E, P & T? If they’re within ‘normal’ ranges, good for you.
However the vast majority of women in midlife experience terrible symptoms. See above. Why not replace lost hormones with bio identical, below physiologic levels, of hormones your body has been producing all of your life?
Nobody’s pushing HRT on anybody; ignore the seeming drumbeat.
The point of the doctor’s post is that bio identical hormones are safer than synthetic ones. The medical establishment also could have - if they had been educated properly - helped literally millions of women experience relief of not simply bothersome ailments, but life-threatening ones. Marriages could have been saved as libido returned. Genito-urinary symptoms of menopause and constant UTIs would have been alleviated. There would have been far fewer hip and femur fractures in elderly women, along with the horrible pain, loss of mobility, and early death those fractures lead to.
Everyone chooses their own path, if they can get decent midlife care, and each woman’s case is different. Hence the doctor’s stress on individualized care. Which is hard to get, given the paucity of practitioners who feel knowledgeable enough to prescribe HRT.
I did not subscribe to this thread. I prefer Bonnie’s red hot rage. We could use more of it on the front lines right now.
Fair. I'll bring back more Bonnie and agree about the rage.