HRT is not all bad news

AS IF menopausal women didn’t have enough to worry about, there was yet another study published this week that was full of doom about HRT (hormone replacement therapy).

The research found that the risk of developing breast cancer nearly tripled in those taking the combined form of the medication, which contains the female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone, than non-users.

This is one of just a number of studies that have raised serious concerns about the safety of HRT.

While it was initially heralded as a panacea for the problems facing women going through the menopause, over the past two decades the pendulum has swung the other way and there has been near relentless negative publicity.

It means, unsurprisingly, that doctors of my generation and younger are very reluctant to prescribe it.

Yet there’s no doubt that, for some women, the physical and psychological aspects of The Change are crippling.

I’ve seen many women who are struggling to cope and for whom HRT has been a godsend, helping them manage low mood and acute anxiety.

And the positive benefits from taking HRT — reduced risk of bone fractures from osteoporosis, reduced rates of heart disease and certain cancers such as bowel cancer — are forgotten.

We know that HRT has associated risks and it’s not right for everyone. But, like many medicines, whether or not it’s right for someone is a careful balancing act between risks and benefits.

With this constant negative publicity, we mustn’t overlook the fact that for some women, HRT is the best solution.