What are the side effects of combination therapy?
Use of combination estrogen-progesterone therapy after menopause can cause vaginal bleeding. When you stop estrogen and progesterone combination therapy, or during the days in the cycle when you are not taking hormones, you will usually have some bleeding. Not a menstrual period, the bleeding typically lasts 2 or 3 days and is not usually accompanied by cramps or bloating. Who should not take ERT? If you have any of the following conditions or diseases, you should not take ERT: • unexplained vaginal bleeding • liver disease • history of blood clots or strokes (thromboembolic disease); however, transdermal estrogen (a skin patch) may decrease thromboembolic disease • endometrial or breast cancer. If you have any of the following diseases or conditions, you may want to avoid ERT: • uterine fibroids (These benign tumors grow in response to estrogen. They begin to shrink at menopause unless a woman takes estrogen. Taking progesterone with estrogen does not prevent the growth of uterine fib
