How long should I go on hormone replacement therapy for?

The question is, what is the symptom that the woman is treating with the hormone therapy? If it’s based on motor symptoms, hot flashes and night sweats, then we used to think that those symptoms went away a couple of years after the final menstrual period. We now know that for 30 percent of women, those symptoms continue for more than a decade after the final menstrual period. In response to this new epidemiological data, the Endocrine Society, the North American Menopause Society and the International Menopause Society have all gotten together to have what’s called a global consensus statement to say that there is no stopping rule. The idea that a woman should use it for five years and then stop really is not grounded in this new appreciation for how different women can transition through menopause, and for some, the fact that these symptoms continue. It’s important to have continued checkups when women are on hormone therapy, but again, women are treating the symptoms, not the memory problems.