A vaginal hormone replacement therapy cream may help with vulvovaginal symptoms related to menopause. Ask your doctor if this might be right for you.

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), also called Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT), is most commonly given to women during or after menopause.  HRT is used to help alleviate the symptoms of menopause. These replacement hormones are usually in pill, patch, gel, or pellet forms and work on the whole body. As far as using HRT for urinary incontinence symptoms, there is evidence from a meta-review from a 2012 report from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force*  that says using estrogen or estrogen plus progestin (the kind that acts on the whole body) actually increased cases of urinary incontinence.

HRT and ERT used alone are not effective to treat incontinence. They should also not be used solely to try and prevent incontinence symptoms.Continue reading→