Menopause Cream - Information and Discussion

Thinking of using or want to find out more about a menopause cream? Information on this subject is provided and discussed here. Please note that we do not necessarily endorse its use.

In the past, doctors recommended hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for everything from preventing heart disease to reducing the risk of osteoporosis. However, in recent years, studies have shown that the long term use of synthetic hormone replacements can lead to an increase in the risk of ovarian and other cancers of the reproductive system.

Currently, experts consider HRT safe in the short-term, for periods lasting not more than a year. In the search for safer alternatives to hormone replacement therapy for the treatment of menopausal symptoms, menopausal or menopause creams have found new popularity, as they can be applied topically and at lower doses than more potent pills.

The creams, marketed under names like Estrace, Ortho-Dienestrol, or Premarin, generally contain either progesterone or estrogen, depending upon the hormonal imbalance causing the symptoms the woman experiences. Women who have tried both the pill form and a topical application report that they experience much less nausea with the topical application versus the tablet form; this is most likely because oestrogen travels directly to the liver when taken orally.

Menopause creams have a better success rate with relieving urinary symptoms and vaginal dryness than the patches, and when used in the pelvic region have a very low incidence of heart disease or breast cancer. It has been shown that the creams do not appear to improve bone density, and so a woman in the first stages of osteoporosis should continue traditional HRT therapy after consulting with her doctor.

Alternatives to menopause creams which can also be applied topically include patches and gels. Patches include Climara, Dermestril, Estraderm, Femtran and Menorest. Both contain oestrogen, and can be applied daily or weekly.

Progesterone, a steroid hormone normally produced by the ovary’s corpus luteum area during ovulation and in smaller amounts by the adrenal glands, begins to decline in perimenopausal and menopausal women due to the gradual cessation of the menses. The effects of sometimes over abundant estrogen in relation to progesterone may too need to be balanced.

During menopause, estrogen may remain at levels between 40 and 60%, while progesterone may drop down to zero. Estrogen dominance can cause weight gain, bloating, irritability, headaches, breast tenderness, mood swings, endometriosis, depression and a host of other illnesses. It also increases the risk of cancer of the reproductive tract and breasts.

A lack of progesterone inhibits the production of other important hormones like testosterone, and may increase the risk of osteoporosis. The progesterone need only be used during anovulatory months, that is, months when they fail to move into the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle.

Many experts theorize that topically applied creams present fewer risks that regularly ingested pills. The progesterone used in this type of replacement therapy derives most often from wild yams or soybeans (an active ingredient called diosgenin) and is then further synthesized in the laboratory to mimic human progesterone.

The menopause cream should be applied to areas like the face, neck, chest, breasts, inner arms and palm, where it can be most readily absorbed into the capillary blood system. Oral doses sometimes become lost (up to 80%) because of over processing by the liver. The transdermal creams appear to be more quickly absorbed into the blood system, yet provide lower doses of progesterone overall in the body.

In cases of estrogen imbalance, estrogen creams can be used to relieve hot flashes, the single most recognizable symptom of menopause. Some debate exists as to how individual women absorb the hormones via the application of cream. Some experts assert that the quantity of hormone within the cream cannot be regulated, that individual women tend to absorb at varying rates, and that the quantity of cream applied cannot be regulated as effectively as dosages given in capsule or tablet form. For the time being, however, it seems that menopause creams, patches, and gels have outpaced traditional HRT for longer term use.

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