How It Is Given
Getting Started
Most Common
Not for everyone
Hormone therapy suits most women who want it and it does not suit everyone. Some situations rule it out entirely, others require specialist input first, and a third group simply need something investigated before anything is prescribed. How we weigh it with Las Vegas patients.
Absolute
Anything left out of your history changes what a Las Vegas clinician can sign off on, so bring records from any specialist you have seen. Current or past hormone-sensitive breast cancer, and other estrogen-dependent cancers, are generally contraindications to systemic therapy. Local vaginal estrogen is a separate question to raise with your oncology team.
Unexplained vaginal bleeding must be investigated before any hormone is prescribed. Starting treatment first can mask the cause of something that needs diagnosing, and that delay can matter a great deal.
Active liver disease, a history of venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, previous stroke or heart attack, and known thrombophilia all rule out or substantially complicate systemic therapy. There is more in breast cancer and hrt, safety and risks and vaginal estrogen for the rest of it. Each of these is asked about directly at a Las Vegas assessment, because a history you have not thought about for years still changes the answer.
Needs care, not a no
Shifts the calculation rather than settling it. Age at diagnosis, number of relatives and any known mutation all matter.
Not a contraindication to transdermal estrogen, though oral is avoided. The route solves most of it.
Worth controlling before starting rather than instead of starting. It is usually a sequencing issue.
Oral estrogen increases gallstone risk. Transdermal does not to the same degree, so again the route matters.
If it is ruled out
A no on systemic hormone therapy ends one conversation in Las Vegas and opens another, because several of the alternatives carry real trial evidence. Being told no to systemic hormone therapy is not being told no to treatment. Fezolinetant targets hot flashes directly without estrogen, and cognitive behavioral therapy and clinical hypnosis both have trial evidence behind them.
Low-dose vaginal estrogen is frequently appropriate even where systemic therapy is not, because absorption is so low. For many women that resolves the symptoms causing the most day-to-day difficulty. The detail sits in vaginal dryness, hormone therapy cost and is hormone therapy worth it go further into it. Vaginal estrogen is worth raising separately in Las Vegas, since being ruled out of systemic treatment does not usually rule you out of the local kind.
More on safety
Six concerns, each taken one at a time, with the actual numbers.
Common questions
What rules it out, what needs investigating and what is left if it does.
Patient reviews
I had been waking three or four times a night for two years and had been told it was just stress. The consultation actually went through my cycle history. Six weeks on a patch and I am sleeping through.
What I wanted was someone who would talk about the risks honestly rather than sell me something. They walked through the clot data and why a patch suited me better than tablets.
The brain fog was the part nobody warned me about. Having a clinician tell me it was a recognized symptom and not early dementia was worth the appointment on its own.
It took two dose changes before things settled, which they had told me upfront might happen. The three-month review was booked before I left the first appointment.
From the blog
Next step
Most women who are worried they will be refused turn out to be suitable. The ones who are not still leave with a plan.
Consultations are by appointment. Prescriptions are issued only where clinically appropriate.