Tridestra

Tridestra is a type of hormone replacement therapy that involves taking two hormones, oestrogen and progestogen, in a cycle. You take the tablets in a specific order over a three-month period. It's designed to help women manage menopausal symptoms that disrupt their daily activities. The pack contains 91 tablets arranged in a calendar format, making it straightforward to follow.

The combination of hormones is effective at lessening hot flushes and other symptoms like night sweats, tiredness, and mood swings. Tridestra can also help decrease bone loss, which can lead to osteoporosis.

During menopause, women's hormone levels decrease significantly. As oestrogen levels drop, the menstrual cycle, including ovulation, comes to a halt. When menopause begins, you might experience symptoms such as hot flushes, tiredness, and mood changes, which can disrupt your daily routine. Tridestra helps by replenishing the declining oestrogen levels in the blood. It also includes a form of progesterone, which helps lower the risk of endometrial cancer by balancing hormone levels.

When the menopause starts, it can bring several uncomfortable symptoms. Tridestra is designed for women seeking relief from menopause symptoms that are disrupting their everyday life.

Unlike other combined HRT treatments, Tridestra follows an extended cycle. Most treatments cycle through in a month, but Tridestra works on a three-monthly cycle. For two weeks every third month, the tablets include both progesterone and oestrogen. This can be more suitable for women advised to take combined HRT but who have experienced 'progestogenic side effects' such as bloating, tender breasts, or headaches with monthly cycle treatments.

If you're changing from another cyclic HRT regimen, you'll need to stop it for a whole week before beginning Tridestra. If you're still having periods, you should start taking Tridestra on the fifth day of your period.

Tridestra provides both hormones in a single tablet, making it a good choice for starting combined HRT. However, if taking a daily tablet for three months isn't suitable for you, Treated has other hormone replacement therapy options. You might consider Estradot, which is a patch, or HRT gels like Sandrena.

If you're under 50 and it's been less than a year since your last period, you could still be fertile. You can continue taking Tridestra, but it's important to use barrier contraception, such as a condom, during sex.

When you begin taking Tridestra, you should expect a menstrual-like bleed near the end of each 91-day cycle.

Some women may notice irregular bleeding for the first few months when starting their treatment, but this should settle down. If it continues beyond the initial months or if you have any heavy bleeding, please inform us, and our clinicians will guide you on the next steps.

It's a bit of both, really. It's a combined HRT, but only for two weeks each month. For most of the remaining time, it's just oestrogen (with a hormone-free break during the last week of every three months).

Taking oestrogen by itself can lead to the womb lining continuing to grow, so women who still have a uterus need to take progestogen as well. This helps lower the risk of endometrial cancer. Some women going through menopause might use progestogen in other forms, such as a gel, but Tridestra conveniently combines both hormones in an effective tablet cycle.

This makes it an ideal hormone replacement therapy option for women who haven't had a hysterectomy.

Some risks are small. The likelihood of developing any type of cancer increases as you get older, and at Treated, we understand you might have concerns about this when starting your HRT treatment.

Using oestrogen-based treatment can raise the risk of endometrial cancer. That's why some tablets include a balancing dose of progesterone. There is a slight increase in ovarian cancer cases among women who use combined HRT, but it's less than one in 1,000 for those who take it over five years.

Hormone replacement therapy can also lead to an increase in mammographic density. If you're worried about the risk of breast cancer when starting Tridestra, please have a chat with our team.

It's normal to be concerned about side effects with any new treatment, but it's important to remember that not everyone experiences them.

Tridestra can cause side effects like weight gain and unexpected bleeding or spotting, but that doesn't mean you'll definitely experience them. Some women notice weight gain when they start HRT treatment, but there's no confirmed connection between the two.

It's quite common to experience irregular bleeding when you first start HRT, and we don't fully understand why this happens.

When you start HRT, your bleeding should gradually decrease until it stops. Once it has stopped for a year, you are considered 'post-menopausal'.

If you experience bleeding after you've already stopped having periods for a while, it's important to consult a doctor.