Treatments & Drugs

Hormone Replacement Therapy: HRT

“Is It the Common Way to Deal With Menopause?”

Several prescription drugs are available to help relieve menopause-related symptoms and decrease long-term health risks across the menopause transition and beyond. This section focuses on hormone therapies—the prescription drugs used most often when treating menopause symptoms.

Various terms and an “alphabet soup” of acronyms are used to describe hormone therapy and they can sometimes be confusing. Here is a brief primer:

• ET means Estrogen Therapy. Treatment of menopause-related conditions with estrogen was once called estrogen replacement therapy (ERT). However, the term “replacement” is a misnomer because this therapy provides only a fraction of the estrogen once produced by the ovaries; estrogen supplementation is a more accurate description. The FDA now mandates use of the term estrogen therapy (ET).
• EPT (Cyclical HRT) means Combined Estrogen plus Progestogen Therapy. Estrogen is the hormone in this duo that provides the most symptom relief. Progestogen is added to protect the uterus from estrogen stimulation.
• HT means hormone therapy, technically encompassing both ET and EPT. The FDA, however, refers to EPT as HT. A wide variety of ET and EPT products are government approved in the United States and Canada for the treatment of moderate to severe hot flashes and vaginal atrophy, symptoms.

Many of these products are also approved for the prevention of osteoporosis, if used long term. Some studies suggest that ET/EPT has beneficial effects on other physical changes sometimes observed around menopause, such as sleep disturbances and mood swings. For some women, hormone therapy has a positive effect on quality of life—they report that they simply “feel good” while on hormones.

ET/EPT is an option women should consider for the relief of menopause-related symptoms. If bone health is an issue, hormones can help. If particular conditions need treatment or if ET/EPT is not an option, often more targeted therapies are available, usually one drug for each condition. Like all therapies, hormone therapy is associated with risks, and these must be considered when making a decision about therapy.

A number of factors should be considered when a woman, with the guidance of her healthcare provider, decides which plan is right for her. There is no “one size fits all” approach to menopause therapy or hormone therapy.

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