Why hormone therapy is a lifeline for some women before and during menopause

As women approach menopause, their bodies produce fewer hormones like estrogen and progesterone. This causes many people to feel a range of symptoms, some of the most common being hot flashes, sleeplessness and mood changes.

One option to treat those symptoms is what's known as hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Simply put, HRT puts hormones back in the body through methods like patches, injections or pills. The therapy was popular in the later half of the 20th century, but after one big study in 2002, doctors mostly stopped prescribing it. Now, it's seeing a resurgence.

To learn more, WBUR's Radio Boston spoke with Dr. Tara Iyer, medical director of the menopause and midlife clinic at Brigham and Women's Hospital; Dr. Hadine Joffe, a psychiatrist and executive director at the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology at Brigham; and Hannah Stevenson, Lincoln resident and advocate for women’s health and hormone replacement therapy.