Psychiatrists almost invariably refuse to accept the data demonstrating the value of oestrogens in certain forms of depression in women. It has become common to see women with peri-menopausal depression using mood-stabilising drugs for many years. If anyone asks when they last felt well the answer all too often is "during my last pregnancy." They were started on antidepressants for post natal depression, which developed into pre menstrual depression as their periods returned and culminated in climacteric depression.
Precise data is hard to come by however it's estimated that about 30% percent of women in the UK use antidepressants.
Hormone Replacement Therapy is the right approach
Too women undergo years of barely effective, addictive, multi drug therapy which produces profound personality change, loss of libido, weight gain and anxiety.
The tragedy for these women is that oestrogens are certainly more effective in protecting the skeleton, more cost-effective, longer lasting and probably safer in the early post menopausal years. Yet they are not being used. For the correct patient, there is little doubt that oestrogens through the skin improve energy, libido and mood. They should be first choice therapy for this common long standing depression in women.
Professor John Studd
The time of a woman’s life when her ovaries stop releasing an egg (ovum) on a monthly cycle, and her periods cease
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