There are effective ways of minimizing, or indeed even eradicating, these side effects. Thus nausea can be reduced by taking the HRT tablet at night with food instead of in the morning, or by changing from tablets to another type of HRT such as transdermal patches.
It is up to you; it is usually advised that women take micronised progesterone in the evening as it has a mild sedative effect and therefore aids sleep at nighttime. It needs to be taken on an empty stomach, so it is worth bearing that in mind too.
Feeling sick (nausea) You might feel sick when having HRT. Taking the HRT tablet at night with food instead of in the morning can help with this. Changing from tablets to another preparation of HRT (such as a gel or patch) might also help.
Research says yes. Many studies have consistently shown a benefit of HRT on sleep in women who have vasomotor symptoms, when the vasomotor symptoms are causing the sleep disturbance. The main part of HRT is estrogen, to treat symptoms caused by estrogen deficiency.
While some hormones such as progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone can contribute to insomnia— especially in premenstrual women, pregnant women, and women in menopause— those problems are temporary and resolve once hormone levels return to normal.
The primary aim of HRT is to treat symptoms caused by oestrogen deficiency. However, for sleep disturbance, the addition of progesterone may have an added benefit.
Avoid visible meat fat, butter, fried foods, cakes, pastries, packaged snack foods and biscuits.
It may take a few weeks to feel the effects of treatment and there may be some side effects at first. A GP will usually recommend trying treatment for 3 months to see if it helps. If it does not, they may suggest changing your dose, or changing the type of HRT you're taking.
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. If you have not felt the benefit of HRT after 4 to 6 months, it may help to try a different type.
Doctors recommend that Progesterone be taken before bed since it has a sedative effect and helps resume normal sleep cycles. It is important to note that Progesterone is a bioidentical hormone, and not a drug treatment. A bioidentical hormone replenishes the chemicals naturally made in your body.
Therefore, we conclude that postmenopausal women with coronary disease should be discouraged from using both HRT and high doses of vitamins C and E.
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.
High estrogen levels can cause symptoms such as irregular or heavy periods, weight gain, fatigue, and fibroids in females. In males, they can cause breast tissue growth, erectile dysfunction, and infertility.
A review approximately 3-4 months after starting or changing HRT is a good time to assess both satisfaction with the HRT prescription and its effectiveness in treating menopause symptoms. By this time most start-up symptoms (if any occurred) should be settling.
Many women believe that taking HRT will make them put on weight, but there's no evidence to support this claim. You may gain some weight during the menopause, but this often happens regardless of whether you take HRT. Exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet should help you to lose any unwanted weight.
You might feel a bit sick or nauseous, or experience breast tenderness, bloating or headaches, particularly in the first few days. You can see a full list of side effects of the different hormones in HRT here. Bloating is a common side effect of HRT and can be a result of taking oestrogen or progestogen.
Benefits of HRT
Hot flushes or night sweats often improve within a few weeks. Other symptoms like mood changes and vaginal dryness can take a few months to improve.
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.
Moderate alcohol consumption may increase estrogen levels in women receiving HRT, potentially affecting their risk for various adverse health effects. Two recent studies, however, provide no strong evidence for an effect of alcohol on hormones in postmenopausal women.
There is a slightly increased risk of cardiovascular disease and a stroke for women over 60 who take HRT. This is more likely if they started HRT late into the menopause and use combined HRT. The risk can depend on the amount (dose) of HRT and how you take it.
There is no easy answer, but rebalancing the hormones, exercise routine and diet can help to increase your metabolic rate, which will ensure fat is burned more efficiently. Reducing overall stress in your life can help too, because stress can cause increased amounts of cortisol to be released.
Taking testosterone as part of your HRT can help improve your mood, energy levels and libido. Testosterone is usually given as a gel on the skin and at very low doses so it is very unlikely to cause facial hair growth/skin problems.
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 Replacement Therapy
Thus, HRT may effectively treat fatigue and the symptoms that can exacerbate it. In particular, estrogen replacement is considered the most effective treatment for the vasomotor symptoms that tend to occur in concert with fatigue and can be instrumental in restoring energy levels.