Menopause: Hormone therapy helps, but it’s not a magic solution

Gynecologist and menopause specialist Dorinda Van Dyken finds the growing popularity of hormonal supplements for menopausal complaints fascinating. Because it helped many women. But she doesn’t see a miracle pill in those hormones for women’s health. In the long run, lifestyle is crucial.

It makes sense that more and more women want to take hormones to combat menopausal symptoms, says Dorinda van Dijken, MD, a gynecologist at OLVG in Amsterdam. “Using bioidentical hormones helps: Women can sleep again and have fewer hot flashes.” Wherever she can, Van Dyken declares that menopausal complaints deserve full attention.

“My personal opinion is that the cautious prescription also had to do with our Calvinist national character.”

Gynecologist and menopause specialist Dorinda Van Dyken

Shoulders underneath

Doctors are increasingly reluctant to prescribe hormones for menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, sleep problems and mood swings. Much to the delight of Van Dyken, who has faced a lot of misery in her consulting room in recent decades. She runs a self-established clinic for complex menopausal complaints at OLVG in Amsterdam, where she collaborates with internists and psychiatrists, among others.

“Due to incorrect conclusions from an American study, the prescription of hormones stopped for a long time, and doctors no longer dare to burn their fingers,” says Van Dyken. “Now, even in GPs, things are gradually moving in a new direction with V