The Good, The Bad and The Unhealthy of Hormone Therapy for The Signs of Menopause
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010There has been a lot of discussion of late around the advantages and disadvantages of natural hormone replacement therapy (HT) and specifically the effects it has on the circulatory system of post-menopausal women.
Prior to undergoing the menopause, many women have a lower chance of developing heart conditions than men in that age category. If a woman were to have a heart attack before the age of fifty, however, they would be twice as likely to die from it as a man is. The reasons behind this still illude medical researchers.
It is understood, however, that women whos ovaries are still able to create estrogen holds a slightly lower risk of developing a condition known as coronary artery disease, and hence are less likely to have a heart condition, compared to women of comparable age that have had their ovaries removed.
The estrogen produced in the ovaries seems to decrease the risk of heart disease. Because of this nearly all women who die from heart attacks have passed the menopause. These are some of the factors why natural progesterone cream was brought out, to work towards reducing these hazards of health issues during menopause.
Medical researchers have proven estrogen to have a direct effect on the muscles of the heart, improving heart function by increasing its ability to pump efficiently. But that's not all, it can also effect your blood vessels, and minute estrogen detectors have been found in the tissue walls surrounding even the smallest of veins and arteries. If these receptors detect estrogen in your bloodstream they will cause this muscular tissue to relax and thus keep the blood vessels flexible and dilated, and the blood pressure low. Estrogen is thus a powerful ingredient in herbal remedies for menopause, and is usually combined with other herbs for menopause particularly black cohosh.
Likewise, if your blood-estrogen level drops, the walls of your blood vessels will tighten and contract, this will stop blood flowing so freely causing your blood pressure to increase. As blood pressure rises, more and more damage occurs to the inner surface of the blood vessels – in particular the arteries, which are pivitol in transporting blood around your body. These damaged surfaces then cause fat to stick to them, which can lead to blockages, eventually causing heart failure or even a stroke.
The effect of female hormones on the circulatory system is even now not fully understood and this remains scientific research~an area in which scientists continue to work}
Cholesterol Problems
It is commonly known that there are two different types of cholesterol present in our blood and that the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL, is the harmful one. Following menopause, the amount of bad cholesterol present in the blood grows whilst the amount of healthy cholesterol falls. LDL cholesterol causes atherosclerosis and hardening of the artery lining. On the other hand, HDL cholesterol actually protects against heart conditions by removing its counterpart cholesterol from the bloodstream. Estrogen serves to keep cholesterol at bay and create the ideal ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol.
During the menopause, a woman's levels of cholesterol and insulin tend to rise. Insulin does not only regulate blood sugar levels, but it also controls your lipid metabolism aswell.
One of the ways in which estrogen effects the human body is that it decreases the levels of insulin in our blood; when estrogen levels fall of the menopause}, the insulin in your bloodstream will go up, as does the posibility of you developing diabetes – as if the risk of heart disease isn't enough. Those women who undergo hormone replacement therapy are not as likely of getting Type 2 diabetes.