As soon as her body fails to produce enough estrogen almost all women should start taking female hormones. The advantages are numerous, important and well-documented. Estrogen replacement therapy reduces a woman's risk of:
It also prevents hot flashes, mood swings, emotional lability and fatigue which may result from hormone deficiency.
Estrogen improves a woman's sense of well being. It slows the aging of the skin, loss of breast tissue and atrophy of the vagina. It slows the wrinkling of the skin and may even partially reverse it.
Women who take estrogen gain less weight than women who don't.
Estrogen supports vaginal lubrication and libido, making sex more possible and more pleasurable. It can improve bladder control.
There is no convincing evidence that estrogen replacement has any negative side effects.
It does not increase the risk of breast cancer! Women who take hormones have a small increased chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer. However, they have a decreased chance of dying of breast cancer. This apparent paradox is easy to explain. Women who take hormones are different than women who don't in many ways. Importantly, they are more likely to be in the health care system. They get more mammograms and more early breast cancers are discovered. That's why they are less likely to die of breast cancer.
Many studies have shown that women who take estrogen live longer and have a better quality of life.
Women who still have a uterus need to take a second progestational hormone to balance the effect of estrogen on the lining (endometrium) to reduce the risk of cancer at that site. A woman who takes both hormones has less risk of cancer than a woman who takes no hormones at all.
Early in her life a women's ovaries also produce some male hormones. The adrenal glands also produce male hormones. Some women benefit from small doses of male hormones in addition to the estrogen and progesterone. Possible advantages include stronger bones, more energy, greater physical strength, elevated mood and increased interest in sex.
Your gynecologist can provide more information to help you decide if hormones are for you.