Hearing about risks can make hormone therapy hard to judge, so it helps to ask about them head on.
Hearing the risks in plain words
Ask your prescriber to explain the risks that apply to you, in plain words, while you are still deciding.
Seeing the whole picture of risk
Risk is easier to weigh when you can see all of it:
- What are the main risks of the exact treatment being suggested?
- Which of those apply to you, given your history?
- What checks happen before you start and while you are on it?
- What would lead you to stop?
- What are the lower-commitment options?
For menopause questions, a few calm starting points are a federal women's health office's guide to menopause treatment, a federal medical library's health topic page on hormone replacement therapy and a university health system's fact sheet on menopause. Use them to write better questions for your prescriber.
Going in with your questions written out
Go to the first appointment with your questions written out. If age is part of what you are wondering, one menopause society press release carries the headline ongoing individualized hormone therapy appears to have no age limit. Ask your prescriber how age affects your own plan.
Risks that belong to your own history
The risks that apply to you are for a licensed clinician to explain once your health history is on the table.