Estrogen and the menopause.

Currently popular dosage schedules of estrogens are not physiologic. Daily large peak fluctuations of circulating estrogen may induce unfamiliar patterns of target cell stimulation which may ultimately be expressed in abnormal cellular activity. For women who require estrogen to control menopausal symptoms, ethinyl estradiol or 17 beta-estradiol is recommended in small daily doses for three weeks (followed by one week off), with the addition of medroxyprogesterone in a small dose in the third week of estrogen treatment.