The menopause transition can be vary greatly for each woman, and the severity and impact of its symptoms differ from woman to woman.

Some women may sail through the transition with barely a hot flash, while others may experience debilitating symptoms, such as constant temperature fluctuations, joint and muscle pain, brain fog, weight gain, and painful vaginal dryness.

With HRT, many women start to notice some symptom relief within the first couple of weeks after starting treatment. Hot flashes, night sweats, brain fog, and sleep issues are the most common symptoms that improve the fastest.

HRT works best if taken consistently over time, so it may take 10 to 12 weeks to start to see the biggest changes. Within 3 months, about 80% of of women feel complete relief from their symptoms.

After 10 weeks, your Winona physician will check in and see how you're doing. At that time, if you're not experiencing the benefits you desire, they may be able to adjust the medication dose or method of treatment.

Menopausal weight gain can be one of the hardest symptoms to address for women, despite efforts to eat well and exercise regularly. HRT is not a weight loss drug, but it can help stop the rapid hormonal weight gain by addressing the metabolic effects of declining hormone levels.

There may be a temporary gain of water weight over the first week or two, but that should subside quickly, and you should then start to see the desired weight loss begin. Many women see a redistribution of weight to lower BMI and increase lean muscle mass.

It's uncommon to see notable weight loss in the first month. Studies have shown that slow, steady progress is the most beneficial for losing extra weight and managing it long-term. It's still important to eat well and exercise.

In addition to the direct metabolic effects, quality of sleep improves with these medications which, in turn, helps with weight loss by lowering cortisol levels and decreasing the food cravings that can result from being tired.