If you don't take hormones after menopause, you'll likely experience classic symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, brain fog, and mood swings, but you also face increased long-term risks for osteoporosis (bone loss), cardiovascular disease, urinary issues, and potentially dementia, though managing lifestyle with diet, exercise, and supplements can help mitigate some effects.
Answer by OB-GYN Karen Carlson, MD: No, menopausal women do not need to take estrogen and progesterone. However, they can be helpful in treating hot flashes and night sweats for certain patients. Every woman is different.
These lower hormone levels cause a number of health issues throughout your body: Brain and nervous system – You experience a mix of physical and emotional symptoms like mood swings, memory loss, irritability, hot flashes, fatigue, night sweats, anxiety, and depression.
Bottom line: women without life-altering menopausal symptoms will do well with diet and exercise alone. Women with menopausal symptoms that influence their quality of life should start HT early for maximum benefit.
Once you enter postmenopause, you're in this stage for the rest of your life. Your hormone levels will remain low and you'll no longer have a monthly period. You can't get pregnant because your ovaries stop releasing eggs.
You also may benefit from menopause hormone therapy if you're healthy and you: Have moderate to severe hot flashes. Systemic estrogen is the most effective treatment for hot flashes and night sweats.
With menopause: The ovaries stop making the hormones estrogen and progesterone. The ovaries also stop releasing eggs (ova, oocytes). After menopause, you can no longer become pregnant.
Lifestyle changes to make if you're unable to take HRT
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved elinzanetant, marketed as Lynkuet, for moderate to severe hot flashes due to menopause, the third FDA-approved nonhormonal treatment option for vasomotor symptoms, which include hot flashes and night sweats.
Some women benefit from hormone replacement therapy to relieve their symptoms. But you may also be able to improve your estrogen levels naturally. Foods containing phytoestrogens, vitamin and hormone supplements, and some herbal remedies show promise.
Low estrogen levels can cause a wide range of symptoms, including physical issues like hot flashes and breast tenderness, cognitive problems such as brain fog and mood swings, and sexual health challenges like decreased libido and vaginal dryness.
Vitamin B, which helps your body create and use estrogen. Vitamin D, which functions as a hormone in the body and helps with estrogen production.
Low estrogen levels after menopause can take a toll on your heart, bones, brain, and urinary/sexual/vaginal health (known as Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause).
Scientific research confirms that we do age faster when estrogen levels decline, particularly during menopause. Studies show that lower estrogen accelerates biological aging by approximately 6%, with early menopause adding up to one extra biological year.
Hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, brain fog, mood swings, and joint pain can disrupt sleep, work, relationships, and overall quality of life for years. There are health risks of not having HRT too.
Some women find that when they stop taking HRT after just a few years, they have no more symptoms. Other women have a return of their symptoms when they stop taking HRT. There is no set length of time you should take HRT for; it is an individual decision between yourself and your doctor or nurse.
For people who cannot, or choose not to take hormone replacement, there are nonhormonal options for treating many menopause symptoms. Below are common non-hormonal approaches used to treat some of the symptoms of menopause. For some people, menopausal symptoms may decrease naturally over time.
Jennifer Aniston is known for her vigorous wellness routine, which involves compression boots, collagen supplements and infrared saunas. Now, she's hit the headlines with her favourite fitness regime, Pvolve, which has been shown to be particularly beneficial for menopausal women.
Many women, like Oprah, are given systemic estrogen. This can be taken in a pill form, gel, skin patch, spray, or cream to relieve menopausal symptoms. Estrogen HRT has even been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease when taking post menopause – which is one year after your period has stopped entirely.
Plant estrogens, also called phytoestrogens.
There are natural estrogens in certain foods. There are two main types of phytoestrogens, called isoflavones and lignans. Soybeans, lentils, chickpeas and other legumes have isoflavones. Flaxseed, whole grains and some fruits and vegetables have lignans.
In postmenopause, symptoms of menopause may have eased or stopped entirely, but some women continue to have symptoms for longer. The change in your body's hormones however is a sign to keep looking after your health and wellbeing, and be mindful to listen to your body.
Symptoms of low estrogen can include: Hot flashes, flushes, and night sweats are the most common symptoms of low estrogen. At times, blood rushes to your skin's surface. This can give you a feeling of warmth (hot flash).
Signs you might need Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) often relate to menopause disrupting your life, including severe hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, sleep problems, mood swings (irritability, depression, anxiety), brain fog, low libido, fatigue, joint aches, and bladder issues, with HRT helping manage these symptoms and potentially protecting against osteoporosis and heart disease, though a doctor must determine if risks outweigh benefits.
If estrogen levels are low, it is possible to increase them without taking hormones. Natural ways to increase estrogen include adding more vitamin D, magnesium, phytoestrogens, and boron to your diet, managing stress, exercising regularly, and getting enough quality sleep.
Staying healthy after menopause