Menopause

• Menopause is the time in a woman's life when the menstrual cycle ends, which normally occurs around the age of 50. Women who have their ovaries removed before then for any reason will experience immediate unnatural menopause. Leading up to this point, the female body produces less and less estrogen and progesterone until menstruation finally ceases.
  
  

Menopause Symptoms

• The loss of estrogen and progesterone results in the hot flashes, night sweating, and dryness experienced by women during menopause. Osteoporosis is also a common long-term side effect of hormone loss.
  
  

Hormone Replacement Therapy

• Many women take supplements of either estrogen alone or estrogen and progesterone or progestin (which is the synthetic version of progesterone). These hormones effectively reduce the normal menopausal symptoms and help to slow osteoporosis.
  
  

HRT Side Effects

• The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) performed two clinical trials involving hormone replacement therapy and found that women taking replacement hormones are more likely to suffer strokes and blood clots.
  
  

Cancer Risks

• The WHI also found that, while colorectal cancer risk decreased slightly, the risk of breast cancer increased for users of estrogen-progesterone hormones. Estrogen alone does not significantly increase breast cancer rates, but it does carry a higher risk of endometrial cancer.