Tag: Ovary

Possible Side Effects of Taking Estrogen Hormone

Estrogen hormone is a group of compounds called steroid. It is dubbed as estrogen because of its big importance in the oestrus cycle. The main function of it is, as female sex hormone.

This hormone is found in both men and women but women of reproductive age have high levels of it. Estrogen hormone helps in developing the breast of the women, thickening of the endometrial, affects the discharge of hormones from pituitary gland and changing the menstrual cycle.

There are a total of six estrogenic substances in the womens body. However, there are only three top occurring estrogens in women namely: estrone, estradiol and estriol.

1. Estrone this is the most powerful among the three. This is the main estrogen being produced in the ovary.

2. Estratiol this is the most common estrogen. It is adapted to estrone. This is the most powerful estrogen produced by the ovary before menopausal stage.

3. Estriol – this is the least powerful among the three.

Since these estrogen hormones can be taken, they have the same effects and side effects especially if the doses are the same. The hormones should not be used when a woman is pregnant because it can lead to miscarriage. If taken at the earlier stage of pregnancy, it can badly harm the developing fetus.

For most senior women, they take the hormone even without any preventive measures. What they do not know is the risk of its side effects increases as they become older and older.

What are the possible side effects when a woman takes an estrogen hormone? The most common side effects with estrogen hormone are:

Softness of the breast, either men or women
Inflammation of the ankles and legs
Lesser cravings for food
Sudden changes in weight
Nausea
Vomiting
Abdominal pains
Skin Irritation

Other side effects are:

Bleeding gums
Vaginal bleeding and spotting
Changes in menstrual flow
Painful menstruation
PMS or the pre-menstrual syndrome
Vaginal infection such as Candida
Diarrhea
Loss of scalp hair
Migraine
Faintness
Despair
Increased sexual desires
Decreased sexual desires

Rare side effects include:

Blood clotting
Sudden feeling to urinate
Unclear speech
Changes in vision
Breathlessness

Estrogen hormone should always be balanced. When a woman has an imbalance or has a lesser count of hormone, chances are, she has an irregular menstrual cycle. This is the reason why there are women who resort to different estrogen hormone therapy just in order to make her hormone balance.

Though this is important still, women should be aware of its side effects before taking it.

Benefits of Estrogen Replacement Therapy

Maintaining the hormonal balance of a person is difficult. A woman is advised to take an estrogen replacement therapy to improve the level of estrogen that decline due to a disorder called hysterectomy after the menopausal period.

It is given for women who undergo either the premenopausal and postmenopausal period in their menstrual cycle. This is usually done in order to avoid possible discomfort and health problem brought by the imbalance estrogen hormone in the system of a woman.

The therapy is classified into short-term and long term relief. The short term relief usually lasts for one or two years. On the other hand, there is no exact duration for a long term relief because as long as the patient needs cure in order to lessen the risk, she will be recommended for a thorough treatment.

Estrogen replacement therapy replaces the hormones that are no longer produced by the ovary. It also provides relief for the unpleasant risks and effects that are brought by the symptoms of menopause in a womans body specifically the hot flashes and the night sweat.

Aside from merely using estrogen it is also sometimes associated with progestin. This is another type of hormone that is important during the menopausal period. It still varies on the doctors advice whether the patient still needs to have the progestin replacement.

There are some women who make use of herbal treatments for treating their hormonal imbalance. However, most of the doctors still prescribe the use of conjugated estrogen because this is proven to be more effective. Several arguments rise regarding the use of conjugated estrogen, but it was also studied that it can even help in reducing the risk of heart diseases.

Due to the great effect that has been brought by estrogen replacement therapy in curing other types of illnesses, this paves the way for the American women to support the use of estrogen replacement therapy to cure the disorder in their estrogen hormones. At present, the therapy is patronized not only in America but in many parts of the world.

For most women who are going through estrogen therapy, they are required to have salivary hormone testing to gauge the level of the saliva hormone as well. According to some studies, this is an important factor for recommending the dosage of medicines that will be given to the patient. Thus, it will prevent the person from overdosing on medication or lack dosage on the medications of the therapy.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Estrogen Therapy

In the past years, many women have stopped taking estrogen hormones because of the report that it can cause heart disease. Now, researchers have found out that this hormone is not as terrible as what others thought.

Estrogen hormones are helpful in avoiding diseases such as heart attack and stroke. Once a woman has an insufficient number of estrogen in her body, she needs to get a solution to this kind of problem. And the only solution for it is an estrogen therapy.

An estrogen therapy is a therapy for the body, emotional and health-risk factors linked with menopause. It can be in the form of a pill, patch, cream, implant, injection or vaginal ring.

Who should take the estrogen therapy?

There is no exact answer for this since every woman has her own medical record and desires. However, the women who can benefit more from estrogen therapy are those:

With serious vasomotor symptoms like hot flushes

More prone of having bone fracture and osteoporosis

Who have experienced early menopause which is resulted from:

1. Surgery of the ovaries
2. Chemotherapy
3. Malfunction of the ovary

What are the advantages of estrogen therapy?

1. It lessen the threat of osteoporosis
2. It lessen the threat of cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease
3. It reduce hot flushes
4. It may reduce mood changes and enhance psychological comfort

Although there are severe threats associated with estrogen therapy, many health practitioner and institutions believe that the helpful result set aside the risk factors. Consider the following statements made by the American Medical Association:

Estrogen therapy is the only reliable and adequate therapy to maintain system dependents with the hormones in the ovary and to reduce hot flushes.

Indicative vaginal waste and vaginitis and waste changes of the lower urinary tract with irregular and inconsistent urination are reversible with the estrogen therapy.

In order to avoid osteoporosis, it requires estrogen replacement.

What are the disadvantages of the estrogen therapy?

1. It increases the threat of uterus cancer

2. It increases the threat of breast cancer especially when used for over 10
years.

3. It can be very dangerous for women who are more prone to blood clotting.

4. It can give headaches or migraines

5. It increases the threat for endometrial cancer

6. It can destroy the liver

With all these advantages and disadvantages presented, it all depends to the person if she wants to have the therapy. However, if you really want to take an estrogen therapy, it would be a nice idea if you discuss the matter carefully with your doctor. Keep in mind that it is your health that will be at stake so, you have to think about it a hundred of times.

Great details and information can be found in the Internet. Having an estrogen therapy could be a very big decision. It is imperative that a woman should be well aware of what she does with her body. This is where the information superhighway, the Internet, could be of valuable help.

Many support grouped and sites dedicated to estrogen therapy could provide invaluable information to many women who are thinking about getting estrogen therapy. Forums and discussions are abound and many women could help each other out. Professional advices are present and women who has undergone the therapy could point out some more advantages and disadvantages about estrogen therapy.