Sometimes doing it alone isn’t enough. Over 17 million Italians between the ages of 45 and 55, struggling with the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause, know this well and, depending on the case, find relief by resorting to hormone replacement therapy. Yet, the latest series of studies published by the scientific journal The Lancet has rekindled the debate on the topic, underlining “the importance of alternative approaches”, such as behavioral therapy, for managing a phase of life that often “is treated as an illness”, managed with “excessive medicalisation” and a “simplistic increase in estrogen prescriptions”. In reality, there is no one-size-fits-all recipe. If there are various solutions available to reduce some symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness or insomnia, this does not mean that women have to resort to do-it-yourself, as underlined by Giovanni Scambia, Scientific Director of Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli IRCCS and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. “Women today spend about a third of their lives in menopause and have many solutions available that allow them to live this time in an optimal way – she explains -. Sometimes, however, self-medicalisation is more of a risk than a concrete help and even supplements should be taken under medical supervision.” As for the replacement of hormone therapy, this “should not be demonized but contextualized based on the patient we are dealing with, on her familiarity with certain pathologies such as osteoporosis or the risk of cardio-metabolic diseases. But there is no absolute rule – continues-.
It is clear that in the absence of major symptoms, an alternative approach can also be evaluated, but when faced with a patient with recurrent hot flashes, for example, hormone therapy should be prescribed. There is a possibility that it could increase the risk of breast or uterine tumors in some cases, but if the therapy is balanced and above all personalized, it is a calculated risk that can be managed because there are many potential benefits for the patient. ” A patient often struggling with a load of work stress and daily commitments that the symptoms of menopause put to the test. “The symptoms are varied. Some consequences of estrogen deficiency must necessarily be treated with medical therapies and should not be underestimated – adds Paola Villa, head of the senior gynecology unit, menopause and osteoporosis clinic and integrated follow-up for cancer patients -. There is a risk of passing off certain symptoms as insignificant and neglecting them.” But thinking of predicting the exact moment when you will go through menopause with the rapid tests currently on the market, similar to home pregnancy tests, and thus believing that you know manage it better, or rely on natural remedies to reduce the symptoms, does not mean prevention.
“Self-management is reductive and to the detriment of the woman – continues Villa -. We don’t need a test to measure FSH to know if you are in menopause. They are often unreliable because the FHS can fluctuate and in any case they cannot replace the medical approach that allows us to take stock of the general state of health, also in anticipation of the following years. Just like many other products on the market designed for menopause, they cannot be the solution. If we do not want to medicalize menopause too much but then treat it with these approaches we will have big problems for women’s health because they do not resolve important symptoms”, he concludes.
breaking latest news © Copyright ANSA