While we strongly recommend quitting smoking to significantly improve your overall health, smoking is not a contraindication to using HRT.
As long as you don't have any other contraindications or underlying health conditions, such as heart disease, people who smoke can safely take HRT.
There's often confusion surrounding the use of HRT in people who smoke because combination birth control pills are contraindicated for smokers over 35 years old. Smoking cigarettes while using hormonal birth control raises the risk of adverse effects on the cardiovascular system. Using HRT to control menopause-related symptoms is acceptable because of the types of hormones used and the relatively low doses of the hormones.
Choosing a transdermal option for administering HRT, such as creams and patches on the skin, decreases the risk even further.
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