Spray that flash away

Posted by Liz on Jun 9, 2008 in estrogen, hot flash | 0 comments

The FDA just approved a low-dose estradiol spray to treat moderate-to-severe hot flashes. Approval was largely based on a study, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, which showed significant declines in the frequency and severity of hot flushes after 4 to 12 weeks. Interestingly, women using the placebo spray also experienced declines in flush frequency although not to the extent as the prescription product, which is called Elestrin.

This form of estrogen carries the same risks as other forms, although delivery through the skin does bypass the liver and general metabolism to reduce some of the side effects of oral estrogen. Still, a key consideration remains the imbalance between estrogen and progesterone that I discussed in a previous post. This can become even worse with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that focuses on the estrogen component at the expense of the progesterone component.

Clearly, I’m not huge advocate of HRT although I do believe that it is an individual decision that every woman must make for herself. I’ll be interested in monitoring responses to Elestrin. Has anybody tried it?