Hormone Therapy.

Often times, science is about taking risks. Without taking steps into the unknown, there would be no advancement in science. With that being said, when do we know to take the risks ? Logically, it should be when the pros of the situation outweigh the cons, so that in taking the risk, there is a relatively beneficial result. Given that train of thought, hormone replacement therapy would sit right on the dividing fence between the two sides.

                           

At the moment, hormone replacement therapy is probably most commonly used in women who have experienced menopause, since the decline of estrogen and progesterone in their bodies caused heart diseases and dementia. Since the loss of the sex hormones were responsible for these problems, it was decided that perhaps providing these women with a healthy dose of the sex hormones would resolve the issue. At that time, the pros of replacing the loss of sex hormones seemed to overpower the cons, especially since it was going to help the two most vital organs in our bodies; the heart, and the brain. However, that certainly didn't seem to be the case, as the hormone replacement therapy actually posed more problems than it was set out to cure. Side effects that the women experienced included strokes, blood clots, and breast cancers.

So then, should women use hormone replacement therapy as a solution? It really depends. Even though I put the case as black and white in the beginning, there are tons of grey areas as well. Hormone replacement therapy works great wonders for some women, and the treatment will definitely be worth it for them. However, with other women who have menopause at later ages, and are not in the best health, they should probably avoid hormone replacement therapy and try other options. All in all, hormone replacement therapy is a gamble, as women will not know whether they will receive the side effects until they've went through with the process.

Just whether it's a risk that you should take or not, is really up to the patient themselves. If the pros seem more appealing than the cons, then they should take it, but if they really believe hormone replacement therapy will not be beneficial for them, then they should move on to other treatments. After all, science is constantly advancing, and there will most likely be a better method to treating the diseases that follow menopause.

Personally, I'm also on the fence about the future of hormone replacement therapy, as it can go either way. The risks and side effects of the treatment may increase as time goes on, to the point where there are too few patients actually willing to consider going through with the procedure, thus encouraging scientists and researchers to find better ways to treat the symptoms of menopause. On the other hand, if the kinks and problems of hormone replacement therapy is worked out, then it could be a huge success, and used as treatments for many other diseases linked with hormones, for example, hypothyroidism, or hypoinsulinism.