Syndrome Symptoms

PMS is one of those things which the majority of women incline to feel that they just have to "put up with". But this is simply not the case. Yes, genetic programming predisposes some women to suffer from premenstrual tension, menstrual pains or period cramps, but this does not mean that there is nothing that you can do about it.

Symptoms of PMS?

Fatigue and lethargy
Disordered sleep or insomnia
Difficulty concentrating
Difficulty remembering
Acne
Sore, swollen breasts
Abdominal bloating and cramps
You have suicidal thoughts
You think about harming others
You need two sizes of clothing to accommodate your weight changes

Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy is another form of systemic therapy. It is also known as hormone replacement therapy or HRT. It is prescribed to offset the lower levels or estrogen and progesterone that common symptoms of menopause. It can also be used a pharmacological agent to help reduce the risk of cancer recurrence after surgery.

Hormone Replacement Therapy should not be mistaken for Hormonal (anti-estrogen) therapy. The anti-estrogen therapy works against hormone-receptive-positive breast cancer, while the HRT that is taken by menopausal women, is considered relatively unsafe for women diagnosed with breast cancer.

The Hormonal therapy medicines that are uses to treat hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer work by lowering the amount of hormone estrogen in the body and by blocking the action of estrogen on breast cancer cells. HRT drugs do the exact opposite. HRT is used to raise estrogen levels that drop after menopause. They fill for the needed hormones that the body fails to produce after the menopausal stage.

Hormone (Replacement) Therapy

There are many forms of hormone therapy. Generally, it is applied to provide low dosages of one or more estrogens. Sometimes, it is compounded with progesterone, depending on the patients needs. This chemical analog is known as progestin. For women who have a history of hysterectomy, the progesterone of the compound is eliminated to form the “unopposed estrogen therapy.” The different methods of delivering HRT to the body may be in tablet form, patches, troches, creams, vaginal rings, IUDs, gels or in where greater dosages are required, through Intravenous (IV) or injections.

To reduce the symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, irregular menstruation, and fat redistribution, HRT is usually given as a short-term relief (often one or two years, usually less than five). For younger women with premature ovarian failure or surgical menopause, HRT may be applied for many years until the age that natural menopause would be expected to occur.

There are two methods by which estrogens and progesterones are prescribed in HRT, the first method being, the “sequentially combined HRT” and the second, the “ continuous combined HRT.” Sequentially combined HRT prescribes that estrogens be taken daily and progesterones taken for about two weeks every month. Continuous combine HRT, on the other hand, requires that both progesterone and estrogen be taken on a continuous dosage all through out the month.

Risks of HRT

There are a number of risks associated with HRT that patients should be warned of. Endometrial cancer is one of them. Women undergoing hormone therapy are at risk of developing endometrial cancer, specifically those prescribed with estrogen but not with progesterone. According to results from the Million Women Study published recently, women taking a relatively new type of HRT, called ‘tibolone’ and women taking estrogen-only hormone therapy are at an increased danger of acquiring the disease compared with women who have never taken HRT. Even women taking the combination of estrogen and progesterone have the same or a slightly lower risk of endometrial cancer.

Estrogen and progesterone combined Hormone therapy increases the risk of breast cancer. In the same study conducted by the Million Women Study, it was found that 3 out of 100 women on combined HRT are at risk of developing breast cancer.

After sampling a population of over a million women between the ages of 50 and 64, who were being treated under the combined HRT method, result revealed that more than 1,3000 of them had endometrial cancer while more than 10,000 had developed breast cancer.

HRT increases the risk of heart attack or stroke for both in women with cardiovascular disease and in healthy women. This may be associated primarily with HRT using continuous combined oral estrogen and progestin (Prempro) or the daily use of an oral progestin such as Provera with estrogen.

Other Risks associated with hormone therapy are:

ovarian cancer;
gallbladder disease, associated primarily with oral estrogens such as Premarin;
Breast pain;
Bloating and fluid retention, primarily associated with progestins;
Negative effects on mood, primarily associated with progestins.

Practical Hints

Post menopausal Hormone therapy should be viewed as an only a short term treatment on premenopausal women
Estrogen plus progesterone (synthetic) should not be initiated or continued for the women suffering from coronary heart diseases.
The risk of HRT must be weighed against their benefits on a patient-to-patient basis before prescribing
Whenever it is possible, progestin should not be added to estrogen in HRT regimen. Patients on hormone therapy should undergo counseling and testing at least once a year.

To evaluate the severity of PMS symptoms take the Progesterone Deficiency online test at

http://www.hormonesolutions.com.au/content/natural-progesterone-cream/menopause-self-assessment.php

Click here to read about the symptoms of PMS

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