Estradot comes in the form of a transdermal delivery system, otherwise known as a skin patch, and contains estrogen. This hormone is used for the short-term hormonal therapy (HRT) for women who lack sufficient estrogen production by the ovaries. The lack of estrogen can be due to several factors, some of the most common being menopause or following a removal of the ovaries from a hysterectomy. The Estradot patch helps relieve the symptoms—such as hot flushes, sleeplessness, and night sweats, vaginal dryness, lack of concentration, mood swings and loss of energy—usually attributed to estrogen deficiency through hormone supplementation. Estradot has also been demonstrated to help prevent postmenopausal osteoporosis (bone loss) and reduce the risk of a related fracture.
How Estradot Works
Estrogen is a steroid hormone produced by the ovaries that binds to specific receptors inside estrogen-responsive cells. The hormone then stimulates these cells to produce the proteins involved in producing secondary sexual characteristics, such as regulating the woman’s menstrual cycle. This key hormone also has several other notable metabolic functions, which include the job of maintaining bone mass and lapid (fat) metabolism.
The Estradot skin patch contains the active ingredient estradiol, which is the most important component in the female hormone estrogen. When applied directly to the skin, estradiol is released into the blood stream, delivering the medication. And because estradiol is in Estradot, it enters the blood stream directly and continuously, and is not broken down in the liver. This is beneficial because of the lack of side effects patients experience, as opposed to taking oral estrogen tablets. The Estradot patches are also at a lower dosage to provide more even blood levels resulting in a more natural release of the hormone estrogen into the woman’s ovaries.
Because the medication Estradot is not metabolized by the liver, side effects are typically less severe than others. The most frequently reported side effects when using the patch is: reddening of the skin after the patch has been removed (but this usually disappears after a few days), itching under the patch while wearing, abdominal pain, breast tenderness, nausea, headache, oedema, insomnia, skin rash and itching, and depression. As the doses increase, however, the side effects can become more severe.
Long term HRT with Estradot can increase the chances of contracting breast cancer, endometrial cancer, deep vein thrombosis and risk of stroke. For women with a fully functioning, healthy uterus, adding progestogen to an estrogen replacement regimen is strongly recommended to reduce the likelihood of developing endometrial cancer. For postmenopausal women 65 years or older, there is an increased risk of developing dementia.
References
Estradot 37.5 general information . (1994). Retrieved from www.inhousepharmacy.biz: http://www.inhousepharmacy.biz/p-162-estradot.aspx
Estradot Side Effects. (2014, August 13). Retrieved from www.drugs.com: http://www.drugs.com/sfx/estradot-side-effects.html
