What happens when you stop using HRT all of a sudden? · Hot flashes · Night sweats · Insomnia · Anxiety · Mood disorders · Vaginal dryness. Side effects of discontinuing hormone replacement therapy include the return of menopausal symptoms, especially hot flashes. If there are symptoms, they may be more manageable than before HRT. Some women have uncomfortable symptoms after stopping hormone therapy with little relief.
Unfortunately, it's impossible to know in advance who will be most affected. If people decide to stop taking hormone therapy, they should reduce the dose gradually. Stopping taking it abruptly can cause menopausal symptoms to return, such as hot flashes and sleep interruption. If you were receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and had to stop it when you were diagnosed with breast cancer, you may experience a combination of natural and medical menopause.
The so-called “cold stroke menopause” is the result of the drastic decrease in estrogen that occurs when HRT is suddenly discontinued. If you stop taking hormone therapy and your symptoms, such as hot flashes, come back, your doctor may recommend that you try non-hormonal treatments before returning to hormone therapy. Therefore, it is recommended to stop hormone therapy if you are found to have breast cancer, regardless of whether the cancer has positive or negative hormone receptors. Studies show that about half of women who take hormone replacement therapy stop treatment after one year, and up to 75% after that of two years.
It's common to have some vaginal bleeding after stopping hormone therapy as the body adjusts to new hormone levels. While you can immediately stop milder forms of this therapy, such as topical creams for vaginal dryness, most HRT medications require users to stop taking it gradually over a period of two to four months. If you stop hormone therapy abruptly, your hormone levels will go from high to low in a short time. The effect of discontinuing hormone therapy on the risk of heart disease is not clear, but the risk of blood clots forming is smaller.
Here's what women's care experts recommend for starting and stopping HRT, even after a hysterectomy, and what to expect from side effects when stopping HRT. Most people don't have any problems while they stop taking it; however, stopping taking it suddenly increases the risk of menopausal symptoms returning, so you shouldn't stop taking hormone therapy without consulting your doctor.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT
) can help alleviate the discomfort that many women experience during menopause by replacing estrogen that is lost once the ovaries stop producing it. If you need help deciding when to start or stop hormone therapy, ask your gynecologist for the most up-to-date guidelines on hormone therapy and how they relate to your personal and family medical history.People may want to stop taking menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) if they have been taking it for a long time, if menopausal symptoms decrease as they age, or for other health reasons. People may decide to stop hormone therapy after taking the medication for a certain period of time, once they reach a certain age, or once menopausal symptoms start to go away.
