Hormone therapy can increase your risk of blood clots, heart disease and breast cancer. You will need to have regular exams and medical tests to check for these effects.
You may take hormone therapy as a pill or liquid, by mouth or through a vein. Your doctor will explain how to get your medication and what to expect. Contact House of Aesthetix now!
Hormone therapy uses drugs to block the effects of certain hormones in your body. This can help reduce the size of a tumour or slow its growth, depending on the type of cancer you have. You may receive hormone therapy alone or as part of other treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy or surgery. You might take the drugs orally (as tablets you swallow) or by injection (as a solution). Your doctor will discuss any side effects with you.
Some people experience changes in their day-to-day life and relationships because of hormone therapy. For example, you might feel tired more often or have a change in your relationship with your partner or family. This can also affect your mood and emotions. You might become anxious or depressed. Some people find that these feelings get better with time. If they don’t, your physician might prescribe medications or recommend a support group to help you cope.
Other side effects include hot flashes and night sweats, changes to the menstrual cycle in premenopausal women, and vaginal dryness or discharge in both women and men. In men, this can lead to erectile problems or changes in sex drive. Some people might have musculoskeletal side effects such as joint or muscle pain. Others might have gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea or abdominal cramping. Hormone therapy can increase your risk of heart disease and blood clots. Some doctors may advise you to follow a diet low in fat and cholesterol as part of your treatment.
You might be advised to have regular blood, urine or saliva tests to check your hormone levels while you’re having hormone therapy. This helps your doctor adjust the dose of medication you’re taking. You might also be advised to have a hysterosalpingogram, which checks for the presence of oestrogen in your arteries or other organs.
If your PSA level falls and stays low, this suggests that your cancer has been successfully treated. If it rises again, your doctor will talk to you about further treatment options. You might be able to try intermittent hormone therapy, in which you stop the medication when your PSA level is low and resume it if your doctor thinks you need to.
Oral hormone therapy
Hormone therapy blocks cancerous hormones to stop them from growing or multiplying. It can treat certain types of breast, ovarian and uterine cancer. Hormone therapy may be used with other types of cancer treatment. These other treatments include radiation, chemotherapy and targeted therapy.
Some types of hormone therapy can be taken by mouth in pill, gel or liquid form. Others can be injected into the body, usually in the arm or leg. These are called systemic hormonal therapies. The most common type of systemic hormonal therapy is estrogen alone or in combination with progestin. It is commonly used for early-stage breast cancer or ER-positive metastatic breast cancer that has come back after surgery and/or radiation (also known as local recurrence).
Side effects from systemic hormonal therapies can include pain or swelling in the breasts, vaginal discharge, headache, nausea or other digestive problems. These can be mild or moderate and often get better as treatment continues. It’s important to tell your doctor or nurse if you have these symptoms so they can help you manage them.
Other systemic hormone therapies can include drugs that prevent the body from making hormones or reduce the amount of hormones it makes. These are used to treat metastatic hormone-sensitive breast cancer and breast cancer that has recurred after other treatments (also called locoregional recurrence). These drugs may also be used to reduce the risk of the cancer returning in the future.
Men who have hormone-sensitive prostate cancer may be treated with a drug that stops the body from making testosterone or a drug that lowers levels of natural or synthetic hormones, such as androgens, in the blood. These treatments are sometimes combined with targeted therapy, which targets specific chemicals in cancer cells.
While on hormone therapy, PSA tests are done to check for the presence of prostate cancer cells. If your PSA level stays the same or goes down, you can stop taking hormone therapy. If it rises, you may need to start hormone therapy again.
Whether you’re having oral or injectable hormone therapy, your cancer doctor, called an oncologist, will ask about any side effects that occur. You’ll probably have regular checkups, including an exam of your neck, underarm, chest and breast areas. You may also have other medical tests or scans.
Injectable hormone therapy
Some cancers grow in response to hormones and need hormone therapy to stop or slow their growth. These cancers are called hormone-dependent and include some types of breast, uterine and prostate cancers. Hormone therapy works by blocking the effects of certain hormones or using drugs to interfere with hormone production or receptors on cancer cells.
Doctors give the hormone therapy drugs by mouth or injection. They may use different combinations of hormone therapies for a specific length of time or until the cancer no longer responds to treatment. Doctors also prescribe drugs to prevent bone pain from tumour flare and help your bones stay strong (bisphosphonates).
Hormone therapy can affect different parts of the body, depending on the type of cancer and treatment you get. For example, if you have estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer that has spread beyond the ovaries to other parts of the body, you might receive an operation to remove your ovaries. This surgery is called an oophorectomy.
For some people, especially men, hormone therapy lowers testosterone levels and can result in a loss of sexual desire (low libido) or problems with getting or keeping an erection, known as erectile dysfunction. This side effect is usually temporary and can be treated.
In some cases, you might need to prepare for hormone therapy by cutting back on exercise and other activities that make you sweat a lot. This helps to reduce your risk of heat stroke and can improve how well you feel after your treatment is over.
You might also need to cut down on weight-gaining exercises such as strenuous aerobics or resistance training because they can increase your blood pressure and lead to water retention and swelling. Talk to your doctor before you start these types of exercise.
If you’re receiving a hormone-blocking drug like apalutamide (Erleada) to treat prostate cancer that hasn’t spread, your PSA levels might go up after the first few treatments. This does not mean that the drug isn’t working, but it does suggest that you should get regular follow-up exams and tests.
Follow-up care
If you have cancer that has affected the glands that make hormones, you may need treatment that adds, blocks, or removes hormones. Hormone therapy can help treat these symptoms and prevent cancer from spreading to other parts of the body.
Your health care team will check your condition during hormone therapy and treat any side effects that occur. You will meet with your cancer doctor, called an oncologist, regularly. Your appointments will include a physical exam and medical tests.
You will have regular PSA (prostate-specific antigen) tests to see if your hormone therapy is working. These are done with a blood test. If your PSA levels go up, it may mean that hormone therapy isn’t working. Talk to your health care team if you have any questions or concerns about the results of these tests. You will also have a follow-up care plan that includes regular exams and checks of the chest, abdomen, breast, and thyroid areas. This is called survivorship care. You may also need to have a mammogram of your reconstructed breast.