The climacteric years are often associated with complaints such as night sweats, heat flushes, and sleep disturbances. This has a lot to do with the negative appreciation of ageing in our culture, but little with reality. Many women who undergo menopause feel well and are quite content about their health and fitness. There is, however, a substantial number of women who do experience climacteric symptoms which, in some cases, severely affects the quality of living over a many years.
Women who experience their first menopausal symptoms are often confronted with the question whether hormone therapy might be useful or even necessary for them. The use of female sex hormones does indeed result in a profound and sustained improvement of climacteric symptoms. However, especially during the last years the risks and threats of long-term hormone substitution have become more apparent. In fact, most physicians have become reluctant to prescribe hormone substitution that is purely aimed at preventing cardiovascular disease or osteoporosis. The decision for an effective, yet safe treatment of climacteric symptoms has thus become a more difficult one. It requires a thorough analysis of symptoms and personal preferences and has to be custom-tailored to the patient.
