Take Elleste Duet as instructed by your prescriber. Your clinician will look to prescribe you with the lowest dose possible to treat your symptoms for as short a period of time as they can.

If you think that the dose you have been prescribed is either not strong enough or too strong, you should let your clinician know. They may decide to adjust your dose, or can discuss alternative treatment options with you where necessary.

If you are still experiencing regular periods, you should start taking Elleste Duet on the first day of bleeding.

If you aren’t having regular periods, you can start using Elleste Duet immediately.

Take 1 tablet every day at the same time. Swallow the tablets whole, with water.

You should follow the direction of the arrows on the pack and take a tablet each day until the pack is empty.

If you’re using the 1mg dose, the first day should be above the white tablet which has the start arrow beside it. The 1mg pack has 16 white tablets and 12 light green tablets in it. Start with the white tablets.

If you’re taking the 2mg dose, the first day should be above the orange tablet which has the start arrow next to it. The 2mg pack consists of 16 orange tablets and 12 grey tablets. Start with the orange tablets.

Once you have finished your first strip, start a new strip the following day. Apply a fresh sticker to your new foil strip. To make it easier to remember taking your tablet, there are stickers in the pack with the days of the week printed on them. So for instance, if you’re starting to take the tablets on a Friday, use the sticker which starts with ‘Fri’. Stick this along the top of the foil strip where you can see the tablets.

If you are switching to Elleste Duet from another form of HRT, start taking Elleste Duet once you’ve finished the HRT you’re currently taking. If your prescriber has given you advice on switching from one type of HRT to Elleste Duet, you should follow their instructions. If you’re uncertain, discuss it with your clinician.

You will probably experience a monthly bleed (although some women may not have any). This bleed can start anywhere between day 21 of your pack and day 5 of the next pack. This cycle will normally be the same from month to month.

You may get some irregular bleeding during the first few months of use, but if it persists beyond this timeframe, let your prescriber know.

If you miss a dose, take the tablet as soon as you remember to, and the next tablet as normal. If you are more than 12 hours late in taking a tablet, safely dispose of this tablet and take the following tablet as you would usually. Don’t take a double dose to make up for a missed tablet. You may find that you get some breakthrough bleeding or spotting.

You should always speak to your clinician first before you stop taking Elleste Duet. Gradually reducing your dose, rather than coming off Elleste Duet suddenly, is usually recommended, as there’s less chance of your menopausal symptoms returning in the short term.

It’s not normally advisable, and it’s very important that you discuss it with your prescriber in the first instance.

In some cases, women delay their periods whilst taking Elleste Duet by taking additional tablets as opposed to maintaining the 28-day cycle. Taking too many tablets with oestrogen in them can be dangerous however, as a rise in oestrogen levels in the body will make the uterine lining thicken excessively, and this enhances your risk of developing endometrial cancer. So you should always talk about delaying your period with your clinician first.

Yes. Headaches are a very common side effect with Elleste Duet, affecting more than 1 in 10 women. They usually subside within a few weeks of taking HRT, but if you find that your headaches persist, you should let your prescriber know. They may recommend alternative HRT products if necessary.

Besides headaches, breast pain, tenderness in the breasts, painful periods and difficulties with your menstrual cycle are the most common side effects (more than 1 in 10 women are affected). They tend to pass once your body has got used to the hormones, but if they continue to cause you discomfort, speak to your clinician about them.

If you get any side effects that concern you, you should always contact your prescriber. Contact your clinician immediately if you experience: yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes (jaundice), a significant rise in your blood pressure (headache, tiredness and dizziness are symptoms), migraine-like headaches that occur for the first time, if you become pregnant, and if you develop any signs of a blood clot (painful swelling and redness of the legs, sudden pain in the chest and breathing difficulties).

No. There’s no evidence that Elleste Duet causes weight loss (or weight gain). The menopause can impact on your weight, but this usually happens whether you use HRT or not.

Our clinician can talk you through any other alternative treatment options during your EveAdam consultation.

Making certain adjustments to your lifestyle can sometimes help to ease menopausal symptoms:

• Sticking to a balanced diet can help you to maintain a healthy weight, and keep your bones healthy
• Regular exercise can reduce hot flushes, and improve sleep too. It can also boost your mood if you’re feeling irritable, depressed or anxious. Any weight-bearing activities are particularly beneficial for keeping your bones strong
• Wearing loose-fitting clothes at night and sleeping in a room that’s well-ventilated can help if you experience any night sweats or hot flushes
• Cutting back on caffeine, alcohol and spicy food can help with hot flushes
• Vaginal lubricant or moisturiser may be effective treatments for vaginal dryness

No. They do contain the same hormones, but Kliofem is a continuous combined HRT tablet, whereas Elleste Duet is a combined sequential HRT tablet. So you take the treatments in different ways. Kliofem is also an HRT product that’s recommended for postmenopausal women who haven’t had a period for at least 1 year, whereas Elleste Duet is a treatment for menopausal women who are still experiencing their period.

If you’re taking Kliofem, you take 1 tablet that contains 2mg estradiol and 1mg norethisterone every day. So just the one dose and one combined tablet each day.

With Elleste Duet, the two hormones in the tablet are split up, and unlike Kliofem, which is only available in one dose (2mg estradiol and 1 mg norethisterone), there are two different doses of Elleste Duet that you can buy: 1mg estradiol and 1mg norethisterone (low dose) and 2mg estradiol and 1mg norethisterone (medium dose).

If you’re using the low dose tablets, you take one white tablet (which are oestrogen only tablets) for the first 16 days of your cycle, and then you switch to one green pill for the following 12 days of your cycle (which is a combination of oestrogen and progesterone).

If you’re using the medium dose tablets (so the tablets with 2mg estradiol in them) you take one orange pill (which contains oestrogen only) for the first 16 days of your cycle, and then switch to the grey tablet (which contains both oestrogen and progesterone) for the following 12 days of your cycle.

Kliofem and Elleste Duet are also made by different companies (Kliofem is manufactured by Novo Nordisk and Elleste Duet by Mylan), so their packaging will look different, and the tablets themselves will not look the same either, given that Elleste Duet consists of tablets which are different colours.

They’re not exactly the same, but they’re very similar. They’ve got the same two hormones in them (estradiol and norethisterone acetate) and they’re both combined sequential HRT treatments. The pill regime is the same too. It’s just the colour of the pills that are different, along with the manufacturer and the packaging (like Kliofem, Novofem is made by Novo Nordisk, rather than Mylan).

With Novofem, you take one red tablet (which contains oestrogen only) for the first 16 days of your cycle, and then you take one white tablet (which contains oestrogen and progesterone) for the following 12 days.

Novofem is also only available in one dose: 1mg estradiol and 1mg norethisterone, rather than as a low dose and medium dose tablet.