The Truth About Hormones

The tricky part is going to be figuring out just how long women like Fulbright need to stay on HRT, how best to wean them off the treatment and then how to protect them from osteoporosis and other ravages of age without resorting to old-fashioned hormones. "The world of menopause management," says Utian of the North American Menopause Society, "has just become a lot more complex."

And part of that complexity is dealing with the emotional attachment that some women have to their HRT regimen. Many like the way they look and feel on the stuff. Change is scary.

And that, perhaps, is why Susan Pierres, the angry and frustrated Miami photojournalist, has yet to make her move in the wake of last week's news. Along with so many other women, she continues to fret over whether she really has to part with her pills. --With reporting by Amanda Bower/New York, Wendy Cole/Chicago, Jeanne DeQuine/Miami and Jeanne McDowell/Los Angeles