How to keep a record of HRT dose changes
Record four things every time something changes: the date, what it changed to, what it changed from, and why.
The date is the one that carries everything else. "I've felt better lately" and "the dose changed six weeks ago" mean something together and very little apart.
Why this is worth a page of its own
Search for how to track HRT dose changes and you mostly get generic dosage charts, or trackers built for men on testosterone injections. Women adjusting patches, gels and tablets over months — often through several changes before something settles — have essentially nothing written for them. It is a real gap, and it is an odd one, because titration is exactly the period where a record earns its keep.
What a change entry needs
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Date | Anchors everything after it. Without this the record cannot be read. |
| What it is now | Product, dose, form (patch, gel, tablet, spray), and how often. |
| What it was before | The comparison is the information. A dose alone tells you nothing about direction. |
| Why it changed | In your own words. "Still waking at 3am" reads very differently from "skin reaction to the patch." |
What to keep tracking between changes
- The same symptoms, described the same way. Consistency is what makes before-and-after comparable. Changing your own wording midway makes a pattern invisible.
- Anything new since the change, dated.
- Bleeding, if relevant. Dates and pattern. NICE NG23 addresses unscheduled bleeding specifically in the context of the 3-month review, so it is likely to come up.
- Doses missed, patches that came off, days skipped. Not a confession — information that changes how everything else is read. A quiet fortnight of missed doses explains a lot, and only if it's recorded.
Two practical notes
Log the change on the day it happens. Reconstructing dates later is where records lose their value, and dose-change dates are unusually hard to remember accurately after a few months.
Don't try to draw conclusions in the log. Writing "the higher dose isn't working" turns an observation into an interpretation, and it will colour how you read everything after. Record what you took and what you noticed. Interpretation is your clinician's job, at the review.
Where this gets used
NICE NG23 recommends reviewing HRT "at 3 months to assess efficacy and tolerability; annually thereafter." That review asks two questions — is it working, and how are you tolerating it — and both are answered from the period since the last one. See what to bring to a 3-month review.
This is general information, not medical advice. HormoneLog is a tracking tool, not a diagnostic or treatment device, and nothing here can tell you whether your symptoms are normal, what they mean, or what you should do about them. Those are conversations for a clinician who knows your history.
What to bring to your HRT review. · HRT formulations explained. · What to track when stopping HRT.
More in this section
About HormoneLog
HormoneLog is an iOS app from Baker Ventures LLC for tracking perimenopause and menopause symptoms and keeping an HRT record: what you took, at what dose, from when, and what changed afterwards. It is built for the appointment, where "it has been bad lately" is worth far less than a dated record of frequency and severity. The app is in development.
HormoneLog is a record-keeping tool. It does not diagnose, does not score you, and makes no claim about symptom relief. The guides on this site link to NICE, the NHS, the Menopause Society and peer-reviewed sources, and say plainly where the evidence is thin. Everything here is free and needs no account.
Questions and answers
What should you record when your HRT dose changes?
The date of the change, what changed (product, dose, form and how often), what it changed from, and why. Without the date, later observations cannot be related to the change.
Should I write down whether the new dose is working?
Record what you took and what you noticed, not a conclusion. Writing "the higher dose isn't working" turns an observation into an interpretation, and it will colour how you read everything after. Interpretation is for the review, with a clinician.
What if I miss a dose or a patch comes off?
Record it, dated. It is not a confession — it is information that changes how everything else is read. A quiet fortnight of missed doses explains a lot, and only if it is recorded.
When does this record get used?
NICE NG23 recommends reviewing HRT at 3 months to assess efficacy and tolerability, then annually. That review asks two questions — is it working, and how are you tolerating it — and both are answered from the period since the last one.
HormoneLog. “How to keep a record of HRT dose changes.” Baker Ventures LLC, September 8, 2026. https://hormonelog.bakerventuresstudio.com/guides/how-to-log-hrt-changes/