What Symptoms Does Menopause Hormone Therapy Treat?
A breakdown of what hormone therapy treats, what it doesn't and common side effects.
Welcome to the third post in my series on menopause hormone therapy! Today, the focus is all about what symptoms menopause hormone therapy (MHT) treats, what symptoms it doesn’t treat, and what side effects you may experience on MHT.
Alright, let’s get into it!
I know you already covered it, but can you remind me what MHT is FDA approved to treat?
MHT is FDA approved to treat vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats), genitourinary symptoms of menopause (vaginal dryness, burning and irritation, urinary tract infections, etc.) and prevention - but not treatment - of osteoporosis.
Got it. But MHT can help with other menopause symptoms as well?
Yes! While not FDA approved to treat these symptoms, menopause hormone therapy may help treat a number of other menopause-related symptoms. Here’s the run down of what we know MHT can help with, according to the 2022 hormone therapy position statement of The Menopause Society:
Sleep: Poor sleep is common during the menopause transition (often due to vasomotor symptoms like night sweats) and is associated with mood swings, depression, memory problems, metabolic syndrome, obesity and increased cardiovascular risk factors. The good news is that low dose MHT may help chronic insomnia in menopausal women.
Stress incontinence, overactive bladder & UTI’s: Vaginal estrogen therapy has been shown to help with incontinence, overactive bladder & UTI’s, however systemic hormone therapy has been shown to increase incidence of stress incontinence. So if you’re having issues with leaking, you want to talk to your doctor about vaginal estrogen therapy, not systemic hormone therapy!
Sexual function: Both systemic & vaginal hormone therapy have been shown to improve blood flow, lubrication and sensation in vaginal tissues. However, hormone therapy has not been shown to increase desire or arousal beyond its role in treating menopause symptoms that may be impacting your desire/ability to be aroused (i.e. painful sex).
Skin: Estrogen therapy may help with skin thickness, increased collagen and elastin, skin moisture and fewer wrinkles.
Joint pain: Studies show that MHT may help reduce joint pain, but further research is needed to learn how MHT contributes to overall joint health and if it can help prevent osteoarthritis.
Depression: Estrogen therapy may help with mild to moderate depression, particularly during perimenopause. However, estrogen therapy has not been shown to help treat depression in post-menopausal women.
And what symptoms do we know MHT does *not* help with?
Hair: While menopause is associated with changes in hair thickness, texture, and growth, there is little research on if or how menopause hormone therapy can help with age-related hair changes and female pattern hair loss.
Loss of muscle mass: Sadly, the use of MHT is not shown to prevent the accelerated loss of lean muscle mass that’s common during late perimenopause. There is some evidence that estrogen therapy combined with weight training may help slow the loss of muscle mass, but more research needs to be done.
Weight gain: Studies have shown no significant difference in slowing menopause weight gain between women on MHT and women who did not take MHT. What to learn more? I dive much deeper into the topic here.
Brain fog: There is no data to suggest that MHT helps with brain fog. Thankfully, we do know that menopause-related brain fog is temporary and has no permanent, long-term impacts.
While we’re talking about symptoms, what side effects are common with MHT?
The most common side effects include bloating, irregular bleeding, breast tenderness, mood changes, nausea and headaches.
Got it. Now what are we talking about next?
In the next installment of this series, we’re diving into the term “bioidentical hormones” and talking about compounded MHT (i.e. hormone pellets). This is where the world of MHT gets particularly complicated and is rife with misinformation, manipulation and Very Big Feelings so it should be a fun one (haha).
xo, Rebecca