HRT, short for hormone replacement therapy, can be ideal for a number of reasons. For one, hrt has become widely utilized among the transgender community, where it is used for transitioning from male to female or from female to male. But hrt also has a number of medical uses, and hrt can be used in conditions where there are hormone deficiencies or a considerable drop in hormones, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome and menopause.
Menopause is perhaps the most commonly use for HRT, as it happens to every single woman. Menopause is definite after twelve months with no menstrual cycle, after which menopause is considered to be officially begun. HRT is a common menopause treatment for the first five years of menopause, as it has not been shown to lead to any form of heart disease in this time frame. However, if a woman is embarking on a menopause solution such as HRT, it is important that she consults with her doctor and has the proper screening to make sure that she is not high risk for the treatment. Breast cancer, for instance, would be a common indication of high risk for hormone treatments such as HRT.
Menopause can happen at all times. The mean age – or the average age – that menopause occurs in a woman is at the age of fifty one, but it can happen earlier or later and depends on the woman herself. Early menopause is not unheard of even for women in their thirties, and some women on the other end of the spectrum do not officially enter menopause until their are in their sixties. However, though it is true that the average age of onset for menopause has not changed in hundreds of years (though our overall life expectancy has in most developed nations), there are a number of factors that can and may contribute to the onset of early menopause.
Financial strain and hardship is one of them. If a woman lived through any extended period of financial hardship, she has an increased chance of entering menopause before her peers who have not experienced such financial strain and instability. Depression, which is not uncommonly triggered or worsened by financial instability, has also been found to be a contributing factor to the onset of menopause. And early perimenopause is even more common.
Perimenopause is the condition that typically occurs before menopause officially hits. It can last for as long as four years (or perhaps even longer, depending on the woman herself) and is typically characterized by altered menstrual cycles. Perimenopause ultimately culminates in full blown menopause at the year mark of no menstrual cycles for an entire twelve months, after which women may begin treatments such as HRT.
HRT can also be prescribed by infertility, caused by early menopause, perimenopause, or conditions such as polycystic ovarian disease. Fortunately, fertility problems diagnosed in the United States are often highly treatable, and may just require a lifestyle change. Smoking cigarettes, for example, has been definitively found to lower the fertility rates of men and women alike. However, it is important to note that getting pregnant naturally simply sometimes takes some time, and for women who are under the age of thirty five, it is considered totally normal for it to take as long as year – a full twelve months – for conception to occur. After this period of time, or if the woman is over the age of thirty five, a fertility doctor or specialist should most likely be consulted.
As mentioned above, there are many varied fertility treatments for those who are struggling to conceive on their own, ranging from surgery and IVF to medications that can stimulate and even force ovulation to occur. A tubal ovum transfer is another option, though it is likely to be very expensive, as is HRT in cases of early menopause or even perimenopause in someone that is trying and failing to successfully conceive.
You should first contact your local gynecologist to rule out any obvious problems. If none are discovered or if they are not easily treated, you will be referred to a fertility specialist near you.
