Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) treats menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness, by replacing lost hormones. When you first start hormone therapy, you may feel a little “baffled” and may not feel like yourself. You may feel a little sick or nauseous, or you may have breast tenderness, swelling, or headaches, especially for the first few days. You can see a full list of the side effects of the different hormones in hormone therapy here.
Your body will begin to redistribute its weight. Fat will accumulate around the hips and thighs, and the muscles in the arms and legs will become less defined and appear smoother as the fat just under the skin becomes slightly thicker. Hormones may not have a significant effect on belly fat, also known as “gut.” You can also expect your muscle mass and strength to decrease. To maintain muscle tone and for your overall health, I recommend that you exercise. In general, you can gain or lose weight once you start hormone therapy, depending on your diet, lifestyle, genetics and muscle mass.
Your eyes and face will begin to look more feminine as the fat under your skin increases and displaces. Since these changes can take two or more years to fully develop, it's a good idea to delay the decision to undergo facial feminization surgery until you've been on hormone treatment for at least a year. What won't change is the bone structure, including the bones in the face, hips, arms, hands, legs, and feet. As your hormones level out, your energy levels and libido should increase.
You should also notice greater mental clarity, less frequent mood changes, and a reduction in night sweats and hot flashes. If you don't see a significant difference in your symptoms within two weeks, our providers can adjust the dose of hormones you take. Hormone therapy for menopause is a medication with female hormones. It is taken to replace the estrogen that the body stops producing after menopause, which is when periods stop for good. This therapy is most often used to treat common menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes and vaginal discomfort.
Hormone therapy for menopause used to be called hormone replacement therapy.This page tells you about some of the side effects that hormone therapy can cause. Your healthcare team will tell you about the specific side effects of your own treatment. It's important to remember that you probably won't suffer from all of the side effects on the list, as everyone is different. You may feel more tired when you are taking hormone therapy. Some hormone therapies can cause vaginal bleeding.
It is more common when you start hormone therapy for the first time or if you switch from one treatment to another. Tell your healthcare team if you have any of these symptoms. Hot flashes and sweating can be annoying. How often you have them and how long they last will vary from person to person. Talk to your healthcare team if you have trouble coping with hot flashes and sweating.
There are treatments that can help. Menopause may start when you start hormone therapy. This can be temporary or permanent. Your periods will stop if you are taking a luteinizing hormone (LH) blocker. Your periods may stop or become lighter if you are taking tamoxifen.
You may also have other menopausal symptoms, even if you've already had menopause. For example, you may have vaginal dryness, mood changes, sweating, and decreased sexual desire. Some women who have these symptoms can still become pregnant. Talk to your health care team about using birth control.
If you are concerned about thinning hair and would like advice on how to cover it, you can learn more about thinning hair and anticancer drugs. You could develop joint pain. This often goes away after a few weeks. You can take a mild pain reliever to help control aches and pains.
Some hormone therapies, such as aromatase inhibitors, can cause weight loss of the bones. Tamoxifen may cause bone thinning in premenopausal women. It does not cause bone thinning in post-menopausal women and may help maintain bone strength. Bone thinning can lead to osteoporosis and bone fractures if it continues for a few years.
Therefore, your doctor may treat you with a medication (a bisphosphonate) to strengthen bones. Talk to your healthcare team if you have any of these side effects. Often, there are things they can give you to help. You should be able to control this with diet and exercise.
However, it's often difficult to maintain a low weight when you're undergoing hormone treatment. Ask a dietitian for advice on how to control your weight. Tell your doctor or nurse if you have headaches. You may be given pain relievers, such as paracetamol, to help you. Some people feel that their memory worsens during hormone therapy and for a while afterward.
There are ways to make life easier, such as making lists so you don't forget things. Talk to your health care team if you think memory problems are having a significant effect on your life. Some people have mood changes or feel depressed while receiving hormone therapy. Talking to someone close to you can help. If you don't feel comfortable sharing your feelings with people you know, seeing a counselor can help.
The risk of blood clots (thrombosis) may increase slightly when you take some types of hormone therapy. Tell your doctor if you or a close family member have had a blood clot in the past. Tell your doctor or call 111 if you have pain, redness, or swelling in your legs. Also tell them if you have trouble breathing, chest pain, or if you suddenly cough up blood.
Remember that the side effects we've listed above are general. Tell your doctor or nurse if you have any side effects. They may be able to help reduce them. We know that it's common to have mental health problems when you have cancer or care for someone with cancer. Some cancer treatments can affect levels of sex hormones.
This can cause a variety of different symptoms. However, there are things you can do and treatments that will help you cope with these changes. Find the type of cancer you want to learn about. Each section contains detailed information about symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, research, and how to cope with cancer. If you're in the perimenopausal stage when you start hormone therapy (and therefore still have menstrual periods), bleeding patterns may change initially and may take three to six months to stabilize into a regular pattern.
If you're in menopause when you start hormone therapy (and you no longer have menstrual periods), bleeding may occur, but it usually goes away within a period of three to six months. It's also important to note that after you change the dose or type of hormone replacement therapy you're using, bleeding can occur that can take three to six months to go away. The breasts may become tender, sore and more sensitive. This may last for several weeks, but it usually goes away.
Wearing a well-fitting and supportive bra can also help if you have this symptom. If your HRT regimen includes progesterone or a synthetic progestin, you may feel uncomfortable and bloated. Hormone replacement therapy is a medication that replaces estrogen and progesterone that the body has stopped producing naturally. It may take several weeks before you see results once you start taking hormones.
Like all medications and treatments, hormone replacement therapy can cause side effects in some women, such as breast tenderness, headaches, and stomach pain. If you're concerned about risks, talk to your doctor and find out what's best for you. Progesterone is usually added to a regimen after hormone levels have stabilized after the initial period of initiation of estrogen and testosterone administration. Progesterone can cause hormone levels to rise or fall, so hormone tests should be repeated a few months after starting to use progesterone. All gender-affirming hormone therapies are not indicated on the label, which means that, although the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration. The U.S. has approved the use of the drugs that are used, they have not been specifically approved for gender-affirming treatments. We perform in-office blood tests to identify a hormonal imbalance and customize your HRT plan to help you find quick and lasting relief from your symptoms.
If you have any mental health problems, it's recommended that you continue to talk to a mental health professional when starting hormone therapy. Hormonal hormone therapy is a treatment option for hormonal imbalances that occur with age or due to existing health problems, such as a thyroid disorder. If you have had any baldness on your scalp, hormone therapy usually stops it; however, the degree to which it will grow back is variable. Because bicalutamide has a risk of liver injury and because spironolactone and GnRH analogs, such as leuprolide, are so safe and effective, the use of bicalutamide as part of a feminizing hormonal regimen is not recommended.
In addition, many of the risks of hormone replacement therapy are the same or even less important than other behaviors, such as alcohol consumption, which can increase estrogen levels in the body. While some data suggests that stopping taking hormones for 3 to 6 months may cause your sperm count to return, it's best to assume that, within a few months of starting hormone therapy, you may lose the ability to create sperm permanently and irreversibly. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) helps treat menopausal symptoms, such as vaginal dryness and hot flashes. Because early estrogen loss increases the risks of many conditions, including cardiovascular disease, people who lose estrogen before age 40 are at risk of heart disease if they don't use hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
While the idea of stopping having menstrual cycles is appealing, this hormonal transition can lead to unwanted side effects.
