Vampate, insomnia, extra kilos, mood changes: if menopause disorders compromise the quality of life, they intervene with the Tos, pros and cons.
From a medical point of view, menopause begins when menstruation is missing for 12 months in a row. Usually, it happens between 45 and 55 years of age, after about two years of premonitory symptoms (vampires, headache, irritability, accumulation of fat around life etc.), which intensify over time but which, in the following years, attenuate … to leave room for other problems, which have an even greater impact on health.
The constellation of ailments that accompanies the end of the fertile age of women is caused by the drop in female sex hormones, which occurs when the ovaries close for “ceased activity”. In fact, there are several organs, as described in an article recently published on Nature Reviews Endocrinologyedited by the doctors of the Obstetrics and Gynecology University of the University of Pisa.
Replace hormones? The adoption of a healthy lifestyle helps to contain many of the disorders related to menopause. If that’s not enough, to replace the hormones that the ovaries no longer produce doctors can prescribe hormonal replacement therapy (or TOS), based on estrogen only, or estrogen and progesterone.
The question is delicate, because several studies in the past have linked it to increases in the risk of some tumors and cardiovascular diseases. “These effects depend on the doses and duration of the Tos”, explains Luca Pasina, head of the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology and prescriptive appropriateness of the IRCCS Mario Negri in Milan. “Currently, the relationship between the benefits and risks is considered favorable if the symptoms compromise the quality of life in an important way”.
The real risks of the Tos. Based on the available data, the TOS determines:
– Stroke and heart disease: 3 additional cases every 1,000 women in therapy for 5 years.
– deep venous thrombosis: 1 additional case every 1,000 women in therapy for 5 years (for the tos based on estrogen only); 5 additional cases for associations with extruprogestin, in the same period.
– breast cancer: 7 additional cases out of 1,000 tos users after 10 years (based on estrogen only) and 21 additional cases out of 1,000 women after 10 years (for combined estro-progestinal tos).
– ovar cancer: 1 additional case every 2,000 women in therapy for 5 years (2 every 2,000 in younger women).
Are there “natural remedies”? There are also numerous women who turn to “natural” remedies – or deemed such – such as phytoestrogens (which, extracted from plants, have a structure similar to that of female hormones), or certain products from herbal medicine (grass of San Giovanni, the black cohosh, the primula oil).
“In the studies carried out so far, phytoestrogens have shown modest effects on the symptoms of menopause and herbal remedies no benefit”, continues the expert.
Are bio -otons natural hormones? «Biohydecentic hormones instead have a chemical structure and activity identical to those of the hormones naturally produced by the human body. However, they are summarized starting from vegetable substances treated in the laboratory and therefore cannot be defined as “natural”. From the point of view of the risks and benefits are the same as the hormones commonly used in the Tos », concludes Pasina.
