Women undergoing menopause experience symptoms including hot flashes, sleeplessness, depression, joint pain, and poor concentration, to name a few. Hormone therapy has proven to improve some of these symptoms in menopausal women, but new research shows that treatment may only improve quality of life in those who undergo a significant number of hot flashes.

A recently published study done in Finland, looked at use of hormone therapy in women who had recently gone through menopause. 150 women were divided into two groups, those with seven or more moderate to severe hot flashes per day, and those with three or fewer mild hot flashes per day. In each group, half the women used hormone therapy and half received only a placebo.

As enrollment statistics in the new health insurance marketplaces start to become available, there is a growing focus on whether the enrollment of so-called “young invincibles” will be sufficient to keep insurance markets stable according to the Kaiser Family Foundation excerpted below.

Concerns about hormone therapy safety have made many women turn to alternatives, such as phytoestrogens (soy, flaxseed, etc)  to alleviate their menopausal symptoms.  A recent systematic review of flaxseed intervention was recently done and reported in the journal Menopause.   Their findings:  “Flaxseed is currently not indicated for the alleviation of vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women, and there is little evidence to support an effect on circulating sex hormones.  A paucity of appropriate randomized controlled studies indicates that the effects of flax intervention on BMD are inconclusive.”

Information gaps are widely apparent in patient-physician relationships due to a multitude of factors.  Some patients are not interested or emotionally able to process information provided by the physician while certain physicians may not be comfortable discussing various options with their patients or feel that they are not appropriate candidates for a particular procedure.  Whatever the reason for the disconnect, healthcare providers and patients need to find a way to meet in the middle and discuss the difficult decisions and side effects of potential treatments.