Menopause.

The use of naturally occurring sex steroids in humans represents faithful replacement of the steroids lost at ovarian failure. By using timed measurements of the replaced steroids to ensure attainment of premenopausal levels of the deficient hormones, the adequacy of an individual's therapy can be monitored. This method of hormone replacement has evolved over more than 10 years. It is inexpensive, gives good relief of symptoms, and is well tolerated. The endometrium is protected, and uterine bleeding is extremely infrequent. Patient compliance is excellent, and the positive effects of this hormone treatment encourage most patients to want long-term therapy. A general paradigm for HRT using natural sex steroids is given in Table 3.