Estrogen is a hormone that is produced by your body. It is found in both people assigned male and female at birth. Estrogen is an important part of your reproductive system, but it also protects your bones and heals wounds.

Your body can make too much estrogen. This can happen for a variety of reasons. Estradiol production slows down as people get older. Some conditions can affect your hormones.

If your estrogen levels are low, a doctor or healthcare professional may prescribe hormones to help you.

According to a 2015 American Cancer Society article, some research suggests that long-term hormone therapy may increase your risk of developing other conditions, including severe conditions such as cancer. Talk with a doctor about this before you begin using hormone therapy.

There are symptoms of low estrogen.

You can learn more about the benefits and risks of hormones and how they may be used to treat certain conditions.

Your natural estrogen production changes over time. As you begin puberty, you’ll create more estrogen. If you are a person with ovaries, you’ll continue to have higher levels throughout the period between puberty and menopause. As menopause approaches, your estrogen levels will begin falling.

Symptoms of menopause will start to occur as your estrogen levels fall. These symptoms are most often.

  • There were hot flashes.
  • vaginal dryness
  • “It’s cold.”
  • Difficult sleeping
  • excessive sweating.

Doctors will prescribe a medication for menopause symptoms. Replacing the declining estrogen with hormone therapy may help ease the symptoms of menopause.

Estrogen can help with vaginal health. When estrogen levels decline, you may experience changes to your vagina. These changes can cause vaginal health problems.

  • vaginal dryness
  • vulvar atrophy causes a lot of problems, including incontinence.
  • atrophic vaginitis, or inflammation of vaginal tissues that’s frequently caused by dryness and irritation

Estrogen may be able to help treat these conditions.

Your ovaries produce estrogen. If they fail to produce the hormone or are affected by any other condition, hormone therapy may be necessary.

These conditions may require supplemental estrogen.

  • female hypogonadism, or decreased function of your ovaries
  • Both of your ovaries failed.
  • The removal of both of your ovaries is an option.

If you’ve had your ovaries removed, hormone therapy may be used to help ease symptoms of premature menopause. Sometimes, both your uterus and ovaries are removed. This is called a total hysterectomy.

Estrogen may help decrease bone loss after menopause. However, new medications are better able to stop and reverse bone loss, so most doctors rely on those now.

The side effects of those medications may be too severe. In those cases, a doctor may recommend using estrogen to treat osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis treatments can be learned.

“Hormone therapy has risks. The risks of long-term use of hormone therapy have begun to be revealed, so it isn’t as widely used as it used to be.”

Thanks to these studies, doctors and medical researchers have a better idea of who will benefit from estrogen therapy and who should not.

There are risk factors and side effects associated with estrogen use.

  • Blood clots. Estrogen increases your risk of blood clots, which can cause a stroke, a heart attack, and even death.
  • Cancer. Estrogen It may increase your risk of certain cancers., specifically breast cancer. Talk with a doctor about your personal health history, your family history, and your risk of breast cancer.
  • Birth irregularities. If you’re using estrogen or hormone therapy and become pregnant, your pregnancy may end prematurely. If you’re able to carry a pregnancy to full term, birth irregularities are common for babies born to people using estrogen.
  • Dense breast tissue. People who take estrogen may develop dense breast tissue. Dense tissue makes reading mammograms harder, so identifying breast cancer in its early stages may be difficult.

If you have your ovaries, doctors will usually prescribe only estrogen-only medication.

“If you haven’t had a hysterectomy, you’ll usually get a combination of estrogen-progesterone medication. The risk of endometrial cancer is increased by the use of estrogen-only treatments.”

The uterus has a lining called the endometrium. The risk of cancer is removed when the uterus is removed.

What’s been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)?

“The FDA approves all the estrogen therapy medications. Some hormones are sold as bio-identical hormones, but aren’t FDA approved.”

They are not held to the same safety standards as prescription drugs. The hormones are not more natural than the FDA-approved treatments.

Estradiol therapy can help ease symptoms of several conditions and lower your risk of developing other conditions. There are health concerns related to hormone therapy.

Before you start using estrogen, you should have a doctor weigh the pros and cons. If you can, use it at the lowest dose you can and use it for a short time to reduce risks.

Pros

  • It may improve your vaginal health.
  • can help reduce your symptoms
  • It may promote your health.

Cons

  • It may increase your risk of certain cancers.
  • It can lead to heart disease or a stroke if you have blood clot.
  • It may cause a birth defect if taken while you are pregnant.

You can help alleviate the symptoms of estrogen loss by not having your hormones fluctuate. Some of the consequences of estrogen loss can be prevented.

These strategies for managing estrogen loss are available.

  • Eating a balanced diet. Foods rich in calcium and vitamin D can boost bone health and help prevent osteoporosis.
  • Considering a calcium supplement. Estrogen and calcium need each other to help build bone strength. Eat plenty of calcium-rich foods to give your body natural building blocks for your bones.
  • Lifting weights. Strength training is a highly effective way to build bone strength and lower your risk of osteoporosis. If you’ve never done strength training, work with a certified physical trainer to create a routine.