Hormone depletion is not a mental illness

A nightmare of the future is that postmenopausal women with hot flushes, depressionFeelings of sadness, hopelessness and a loss of interest in life, combined with a sense of reduced emotional well-being, sexual problems and low bone density, who need oestrogens perhaps with testosteroneThe main male sex hormone., will be given a SSRIAn abbreviation for selective seratonin re-uptake inhibitors, a relatively new class of drug used to treat depression and bisphosphonate combination.  PROFOX , a Frankenstein combination of PROzac and FOsamaX. As these two drugs are now available as cheap generics they are already being prescribed together. 

The menopauseThe time of a woman’s life when her ovaries stop releasing an egg (ovum) on a monthly cycle. is a term that merely refers to the cessation of periods, for most women this occurs around the age of 51. The first important time is the five or ten years around the time of the menopauseThe time when a woman's periods permanently cease. when the worst of the symptoms occur. This is known as the ‘transition’ years leading up to the cessation of periods. After the transition years there are then often problems of vaginal atrophyWithering or weakening of a body tissue due to disease or disuse., painful sexual intercourse (dyspareuniaPain experienced by a woman during sexual intercourse.) and of course loss of bone tissueA group of cells with a similar structure and a specialised function. (osteoporosisA condition resulting in brittle bones due to loss of bony tissue.).