Let’s Start The Conversation...
Preventing Menopause
For ourselves… for our daughters… for our granddaughters
Let’s start by not saying
HRT anymore. HRT is short for hormone replacement therapy. Only in women’s medicine, unlike every other area of medicine, does HRT not mean HRT. Hormone replacement therapy means something different to everyone in women’s medicine because there are no standards or guidelines for replacement of ovarian hormones and any treatment for ovarian failure (menopause) that doesn’t include all of the ovarian hormones isn’t HRT. If you are seeking treatment for failed or removed ovaries (menopause) saying HRT is not the way to start the conversation.
Standard HRT doesn't
truly replace the function of a woman’s ovaries. Standard HRT, an oral estrogen and an oral progestin, was designed to treat only some of the symptoms of ovarian failure (menopause) while at the same time causes unhealthy side-effects. Any doctor who has studied ovarian function will tell you standard HRT is loosely based on ovarian function. This is why it does not restore sexual function. It is called HRT because it is easy and sounds good, not because it is. Trials like the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) did not actually replace a woman’s ovarian
hormones. Even though women did not receive replacement of the hormones that their ovaries once made in the WHI, the regime was still called HRT.
Ovarian Replacement Therapy (ORT)
is clearer because it is based on ovarian function. Ovarian Replacement Therapy means including all of the ovarian hormones in your treatment, estradiol, testosterone and progesterone. When you start to talk about Ovarian Replacement Therapy you know you are specifically talking about replacing all of the ovarian hormones and maintaining levels at adult levels of sex hormones. This is for all women, including those without a uterus. Just like thyroid replacement therapy is clear and abbreviated TRT, ovarian replacement therapy is clear and abbreviated ORT. This is much clearer to both a woman and her healthcare provider. Ovarian Replacement Therapy means the same thing to all who understand ovarian function.
A common language
between you and your doctor is the best way to ensure that you get the healthcare you want and deserve. The ovaries make multiple hormones so
treatment should include all of these hormones. Before starting any treatment to be sure you are on the same page, ask for Ovarian Replacement Therapy not HRT. Now you and your doctor are on the same page!
Lend Your Voice
I need your voice to change the current cultural and medical norm towards ovarian failure (menopause). Together we can do this.
1) The first thing we have to do is to stop saying HRT and instead talk to each other about Ovarian Replacement Therapy.
2) Begin discussing it with your spouse, your daughters, your friends, and your doctor.
3) Let the pharmaceutical companies know that you want better products to address ovarian failure. Also, let the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) know that you want accurate labeling on current products.
By working together, all people, men and women, healthcare professionals, the FDA, NIH and pharmaceutical companies can usher in a better and healthier future for all women.
Reviewed by Susan Marcolina, MD