What to bring to a 3-month HRT review
NICE guideline NG23 recommends reviewing HRT "at 3 months to assess efficacy and tolerability; annually thereafter."
Two questions, then: is it doing what it was meant to, and how are you tolerating it? Both are answered from what has actually happened over those three months — which is very hard to reconstruct from memory in a short appointment.
A record that covers the three months
What is worth having written down:
- What you took, and when it changed. Product, dose, and the dates of any change. This is the single most valuable item, because effects have to be read against a timeline.
- The symptoms you were tracking before starting, recorded the same way since — so before and after are comparable.
- Anything new that appeared after starting or after a dose change. Dated.
- Bleeding, if relevant. Dates and pattern. NG23 addresses unscheduled bleeding specifically at the 3-month review, so it is a thing your clinician will ask about.
- Anything you missed — patches that fell off, doses forgotten. Not a confession, just information that changes how the rest is read.
Why dated dose changes matter so much
Because without the dates, nothing else can be interpreted. "I've felt better recently" and "I changed dose six weeks ago" mean something together and almost nothing apart. If you record only one thing, record what changed and when.
Questions worth writing down beforehand
The Menopause Society's advice to write your questions down in advance applies particularly here, because a review appointment is short and structured. Things people commonly wish they had asked:
- Is what I'm experiencing expected at this stage, or worth investigating?
- How long should I give this before we consider a change?
- What would make you want to adjust the dose or the form?
- What should prompt me to get in touch before the next review?
- When is the next review, and what will we look at then?
What we can't tell you
Whether your HRT is working. Whether your dose is right. Whether a symptom is a side effect or something else. Those are clinical judgements about you specifically, and no app or website is in a position to make them. What a good record does is put your clinician in a much better position to make them well.
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.
How to log an HRT dose change. · What to track when stopping HRT. · What to take to your first appointment.
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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
When should HRT be reviewed?
NICE guideline NG23 recommends reviewing HRT at 3 months to assess efficacy and tolerability, then annually after that.
What record helps most at a 3-month review?
What you took and when it changed, the same symptoms tracked before and after so they're comparable, anything new that appeared, bleeding pattern if relevant, and anything missed — a patch that fell off, a dose forgotten.
Why do dated dose changes matter so much?
Without the dates, nothing else can be interpreted. "I've felt better recently" and "I changed dose six weeks ago" mean something together and almost nothing apart.
Can HormoneLog tell me whether my HRT is working?
No. Whether it is working, whether the dose is right, and whether a symptom is a side effect are clinical judgements about you specifically. A record puts your clinician in a much better position to make them.
HormoneLog. “What to bring to a 3-month HRT review.” Baker Ventures LLC, September 8, 2026. https://hormonelog.bakerventuresstudio.com/guides/hrt-review-appointment/