How long does hormone therapy take to work for womb cancer?

Hormone therapy is considered when the cancer has features that make it responsive to hormone signals. Depending on the situation, the aim may be to control cancer, shrink it before another treatment, or manage disease that cannot be treated with surgery alone. The medicine may slow hormone-driven growth without causing an immediate change that you can feel.

Your gynaecological oncology team sets the review schedule using the cancer grade and extent, receptor information, previous treatment, and your health. Bleeding may improve before a scan changes, or symptoms may stay similar while the medicine is being assessed. Only the planned review can show whether the chosen treatment is helping.

Take the medicine exactly as directed and keep a record of bleeding, pelvic pain, discharge, appetite, and energy. Attend examinations and scans even when you feel well, because symptoms alone may not show the full response. Tell the team about other medicines, supplements, or missed doses before making changes. Background information is available in [Hormone Therapy for Cancer](/treatments/systemic-therapy/hormone-therapy-for-cancer/) and [Womb Cancer](/conditions/endometrial-cancer/).

Tell your cancer team promptly about heavier or persistent vaginal bleeding, new pelvic pain, increasing abdominal swelling, worsening breathlessness, or marked weakness. Seek urgent care for bleeding that makes you faint, severe pain, sudden breathlessness, chest pain, or new confusion. Do not wait for the next routine scan when a symptom is rapidly worsening.

Ask what the treatment is intended to achieve, which symptoms should improve first, when your first response review will occur, and which test will guide the next decision. Ask how bleeding should be managed and which side effects require a same-day call.