Hot flashes, irritability, mood swings, night sweats, depression, low libido, insomnia, fatigue, brain fog, vaginal dryness… most women of any age know what those symptoms add up to: menopause. The Change of Life. But very few probably know what weight gain, nausea, headaches, bloating, joint pain, brain fog, fatigue, mood swings, digestive issues and tender breasts indicate. These are all common side effects of taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
Of course, the possible repercussions of HRT don't stop there. For women taking HRT to mitigate menopause and perimenopause symptoms, over the years studies have shown an increased risk of breast, ovarian and uterine cancers; blood clots and stroke; pulmonary embolisms; and cardiovascular disease.
HRT has had an enormously checkered history. It all started in 1941 when the American pharmaceutical company Wyeth Ayerst (then known as Canadian firm Ayerst, McKenna & Harrison) came out with Premarin, an estrogen product made from pregnant mares' urine specifically designed to treat hot flashes. It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and quickly turned out to be a highly successful product.
As research identified links between menopause, osteoporosis and heart disease in the 1960s, the potentials and popularity of the drug expanded. Told that HRT would prevent these conditions, doctors wrote ever more prescriptions for female patients "of a certain age"—patients who quickly came to see estrogen as the magic bullet that would protect them from a wide variety of late-life "female problems."
Then came Brooklyn gynecologist Robert A. Wilson with his 1968 book In the book, he convincingly wrote about how estrogen therapy (sometimes referred to as ERT or MHT for menopause hormone therapy) would allow women to stay feminine for the rest of their lives and not have to endure the "living decay" of post-menopausal life. "HRT can cure menopause," the book proclaimed. Unsurprisingly, rapidly became a best-seller, and the number of women asking their doctors to
