Can a Menopause Medication Carry Potential Adverse Side Effects

Many menpause medications approved for use by the public have been known to have side effects that can possibly be worse than the condition for which they are prescribed. As with every menopause medication, doctors weigh the potential for harm from the side effects against the potential benefits to the patient when determining if the medication is right for an individual patient. While most women trust their doctors, others are not so sure about not only the side effects of their menopause medication, but also about the long-term results of those side effects.

Women going through perimenopause, for example, have been offered hormone replacement therapies along with estrogen supplements to help deal with the symptoms of menopause. Hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings and inability to sleep have all been known to affect women during this stage of their life. Although artificial hormones have shown to help reduce the symptoms, the side effects of many of these products have patients refusing to take them. They prefer rather to suffer from the symptoms than to jeopardize their future health. This is why natural menopause treatment is explored by many women.

It had been a long-held belief that replacing the estrogen that the body no longer produces would eliminate most of the menopause symptoms. While it does help, it can also cause other problems. Many of the replacement hormones are made in laboratories of chemical ingredients that the body cannot use. They are then trapped in tissue and treated as an invading foreign object, often attacked by the body's natural defense mechanisms. Many doctors believe that menopause medications should be focused on eliminating the symptoms as opposed to trying to stop the body from it natural process.

Many natural products can be used to help a woman fight off many of the symptoms of menopause, a process that can take up to 10 years. However, menopause medications made in the lab are designed to replace the hormones, which may not actually fend off the symptoms. During a woman's period, for example, the estrogen level declines while the progesterone level rises. There is also a drop in endorphins and developing the right balance of all of the steroid hormones, including estradiol and testosterone is nearly impossible in a single pill. This is because each woman's system dispenses hormones at different levels, creating different needs in all women.

Additionally, research has shown that women who have been on estrogen replacement therapy have a higher incidence rate of breast cancer. Many researchers believe that once the body has determined it has less need for estrogen, introducing more artificially can cause the body to stop fighting off the potential for cancer cells to grow. Fibroids in the uterus are also affected by the change in natural hormone production. Many of the artificial menopause medications make the uterus think fibroid growth needs to increase, therefore uterine cancer is also a possibility.

Many products made of bio-identical products are easily absorbed into the system. Phyto-estrogens from plants used to replace the human estrogen are a safer, more natural way to relieve many of the menopause symptoms. They do nto have the adverse side effects resulting from artificial a menopause medication.