Test 1 Hormone Therapy Flashcards
Menopausal transition
- term used to define the years from the onset of the loss of ovarian cycling to her last menses
- Transition between fertility and menopause
Menopause
- cessation of menstruation following loss of ovarian function
- Less than 1000 follicles left à ovarian function stops
- No menstruation for 12 months
- Average age is 51
- Permanent cessation of menses following, or in association with, loss of ovarian follicular activity
- Age
- Ovaries stop working when there are < 1000 follicles
- Ovaries removed
- Will have hot flashes and night sweating
- Uterus removed, but ovaries remain
- No bleeding
- Watch for symptoms to determine when they are going through menopause
- Age
Perimenopause
- time in a woman’s life from the onset of her first symptom to loss of ovarian function thru 1 year after her last menses
- Usually begins mid-late 40’s
- Fluctuating estrogen levels
- Women can still get pregnant - sometimes they will still ovulate
ET
estrogen therapy
EPT
combined estrogen-progestogen therapy
MHT
menopausal hormone therapy
Progestogen
· encompassing both progesterone and progestin
Perimenopause symptoms
- Hot flashes
- Night sweats
- Cycle length begins to increase in the last 2 years of cycling
- May extend to 80 – 90 days → progresses to 1 year
- Anxiety, mood swings, depression
- Disturbances in sexuality
Treatment of persistent or severe vasomotor symptoms in perimenopause
- Low dose or Ultra-low dose BC pill
- Estrogen helps with the symptoms
- Protects them from getting pregnant
- Post-menopausal estrogen (premarin)
- Helps with symptoms
- They could still get pregnant
- Progestin-only contraceptive should be given if they have a uterus
- Standard menopause treatment – premarin, prempro
- Post-menopausal estrogen treatment
- Will help symptoms, but won’t protect against pregnancy
- Non-hormonal treatments
- Will help with symptom relief
Menopause Diagnosis
- Diagnosis (retrospective – diagnosis of exclusion)
- Amenorrhea for 12 months with no other etiology
- FSH and LH will be high (estrogen will be low → negative feedback → produce more FSH and LH to try to produce more estrogen)
Menopause Symptoms
- Hot flashes (85%) / night sweats
- If you can fix the hot flashes, many other symptoms will improve
- Difficulty sleeping (50%)
- Fatigue
- Moodiness
- Depression, anxiety
- Decreased libido and orgasmic response
- Changes in memory and cognition
- Weight gain
- Joint pain
- Scalp hair loss
- Hair growth or acne on face
- Skin changes
- Palpitations
- Nausea
- Headaches
- Urinary tract infections
Menopause Nonhormonal Treatment of Vasomotor Symptoms
- Lifestyle Modifications
- OTC agents
- Nonhormonal prescriptions
Menopause Nonhormonal Treatment of Vasomotor Symptoms:
Lifestyle Modifications
- Fan
- Chillow (chilled pillow)
- Avoid spicy foods
- Exercise
- Meditation / yoga
- Control breathing during hot flashes
- Wear layers – take off as much as possible when a hot flash occurs
Menopause Nonhormonal Treatment of Vasomotor Symptoms:
OTC Agents
- Soy isoflavones – active ingredient = genistein and daidzein
- Conflicting data
- Placebo effect is about 50%
- Has some estrogenic activity – do not recommend for a woman with breast cancer
- Black cohosh (Remifemin)
- Largest randomized controlled trial showed no difference compared with placebo
- Do not use for more than 6 months – hepatotoxicity
- Weak estrogenic activity – do not recommend if there are contraindications to estrogen
- No evidence of efficacy for hot flashes
- Evening primrose oil
- Chasteberry
- Dong quai
- Ginseng
- Vitamin E
- Kava
- Wild yam
- Red clover isoflavones
Menopause Nonhormonal Treatment of Vasomotor Symptoms:
Nonhormonal prescriptions
- Clonidine
- 0.05-0.1 mg/day or transdermal equivalent
-
Raises the sweating threshold (only for hot flashes)
- Decreases hot flashes by 38%
- Reasonable for woman who can’t take estrogen and has HTN
- SSRIs and SNRIs – may be good for people who have depression or sleep issues. Well help with mood and hot flashes.
- Paroxetine
- Brisdelle (7.5 mg) – indicated for menopause
- Fluoxetine
- Venlafaxine
- Dexvenlafaxine
- Gabapentin
- Originally studied in women with breast cancer and hot flashes
- Takes high doses – 2400 mg or more
- More side effects such as dizziness
Menopause Hormonal Agents for Vasomotor Symptoms:
Estrogen
- Estrogen provides the hot flash / night sweat benefit (90% effective)
- May be given in a woman who has had a hysterectomy (no uterus)
- Gold-standard treatment
Menopause Hormonal Agents for Vasomotor Symptoms :
Estrogen/progestin therapy
- Estrogen/progestin therapy
- Progestin must be given in a woman with a uterus – estrogen-only will cause building of endometrium →endometrial cancer
- Gold-standard treatment
Menopause Hormonal Agents for Vasomotor Symptoms:
HT
- HT may have a slow onset of action
- Should see some effects in a week but may take a month for full effectiveness to be seen
- Abrupt discontinuation may worsen symptoms
- Hot flashes may be worse than before
- Taper dose – increase the interval between doses
- Low doses can reduce hot flash frequency and severity almost as well as “conventional” doses
- 0.625 premarin was the conventional dose
- Only used if absolutely necessary
- 0.3 – 0.45 are now used – still work
- 0.625 premarin was the conventional dose
Menopuase Hormonal Agents for Vasomotor Symptoms :
Bioidentical Hormones
- Bioidentical hormones
- There is no data to support that they are safer than conventional therapy
- They work, but the safety data is not there
- No link between symptoms and saliva levels (often used for dosing guidance)
Hormonal Agents for Vasomotor Symptoms:
Contraindications
- Contraindications to hormone therapy
- Unexplained vaginal bleeding (may have cancer)
- Acute liver dysfunction
- Estrogen-dependent cancer
- Breast cancer
- Coronary heart disease
- Stroke
- Thromboembolic disease
- Peanut allergy (micronized progesterone only)