Many women find that they feel calmer, have more energy, are more motivated and generally much happier when they take HRT.
Immediate results are what we all want, but the benefits of HRT take a little time. While many people notice improvements in sleep or mood within weeks of starting HRT, changes like improved muscle mass or fat loss can take at least three to six months.
Oestrogen and progesterone are female hormones that play important roles in a woman's body. Falling levels cause a range of physical and emotional symptoms, including hot flushes, mood swings and vaginal dryness. The aim of HRT is to restore female hormone levels, which can bring relief to many women.
However, women given HRT systemically (either via pills or through the skin using a patch) were more likely to be diagnosed with depression, especially between the ages of 48 and 50, compared with women who were not on HRT.
If you continue to be healthy and feel the benefits of taking HRT, there is no reason for stopping it. Women are often surprised when their menopausal symptoms return after coming off HRT, even those women that have taken it for many years. Symptoms of the menopause can last over a decade, as we have discussed.
There are also risks to HRT. Some risks include: Breast cancer (small but increased risk) Deep vein thrombosis (small but increased risk)
HRT is also known to help women maintain softer, smoother skin, resulting in a younger look. In addition to—and, often, as a result of—these physical changes, HRT often changes how you see yourself. In very real ways, using HRT to address symptoms of hormonal change can help you feel younger.
It is common to have side effects in the first few months of taking HRT. These usually settle on their own within 6 to 8 weeks. Side effects include weight gain, irregular bleeding, feeling sick (nausea) and skin irritation.
Some women feel more side effects when they are taking the progestogen part of their HRT. This includes taking Utrogestan, or norethisterone in the Evorel Conti patches of the Evorel Sequi or Conti box. You may feel 'premenstrual' with bloating, headaches and/or irritability.
When starting HRT, it's very common to experience some initial side effects or start-up symptoms such as breast tenderness or breast size increase. Some women describe slight nausea, headaches or abdominal bloating. Light erratic bleeding is also quite usual.
How long HRT takes to work. It usually takes a few weeks before you feel the benefits of HRT. It can take up to 3 months to feel the full effects.
On average, however, you can expect it to take about 2 – 3 weeks for the effects of HRT to become noticeable. After a few months of treatment, you should begin to notice further relief from your symptoms and feel more like your younger, healthier, more energetic self.
You may notice physical symptoms get better first, for example, at the correct dose of estrogen, hot flushes and night sweats are often much better after 4-6 weeks. However psychological symptoms, such as low mood or anxiety, can take a few more months to improve.
Can Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) Help Brain Fog? Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is a treatment that can help relieve the symptoms of menopause, including brain fog.
HRT with Estrogen May Lower Fear Response & Anxiety
They found that estrogen may have a calming effect on the fear response, including for women suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Therefore, there is some evidence that increasing estrogen may reduce anxiety-like symptoms.
1) You are tired ALL the time.
This is often because the oestrogen used in HRT is the most active form of oestrogen and it's also a pretty big dose of it. This oestrogen is very stimulating. If we have already been dealing with quite a lot of stress, our nervous system can struggle to deal with this much stimulation.
Hormone therapy helps to feel and express those emotions and stop suppressing them as they did in the past. Some have even started to feel more positive emotions than before, feeling happier and more emotional.
In fact, a recent study found that women who used HRT had one point lower on the BMI scale and also about three pounds less of body fat compared to women who didn't use hormone replacement therapy.
Benefits of HRT
The main benefit of HRT is that it's effective at relieving most perimenopause and menopause symptoms, such as: hot flushes. night sweats. sleep problems caused by menopause.
Over the last 15 years, these studies, and others, have found little or no evidence that HRT reduces the risk of heart disease. In fact, they have found evidence for an increased risk of blood clots and stroke. They also found an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women using HRT.
So in summary, the safest types of HRT are the oestrogen applied through the skin as a patch, gel or spray with body identical micronised progesterone. Many women also benefit from testosterone, which may help if you're forgetful or having trouble concentrating at work.
There's little evidence that most types of HRT make you put on weight.
Thus, HRT may effectively treat fatigue and the symptoms that can exacerbate it.
Indeed, according to a major study on HRT and coronary heart disease (CHD) found that HRT can significantly reduce the risk of CHD, but “appears to exert its greatest benefit when initiated in women before 60 years of age and/or within 10 years of menopause.” Meanwhile, a 2009 metareview by Barbara Sherwin, Professor ...