Climara

What is Climara?

Climara is a patch treatment that eases menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, mood changes and vaginal dryness. It delivers an estrogen (estradiol) through your skin. Estrogen, along with progesterone, are naturally produced hormones that play a vital role in reproductive health.

As the menopause starts and these hormones decline, it’s common to experience a range of unpleasant symptoms as your body adjusts to its changing hormone levels. By providing you with a small amount of estradiol every day, Climara can help to control and relieve these symptoms.

How does Climara work?

Climara provides you with estrogen, to replace your body’s natural levels that start to decline as you experience the menopause. The adhesive patches deliver estrogen to your bloodstream through your skin in a gradual, controlled way, which replicates the way your ovaries would normally produce it.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) helps to control your hormone levels — by supplementing the lack of estrogen in your body, it can help ease common menopause symptoms like hot flashes, sleep disturbances and dizziness. Climara can also help treat bone density mineral loss (where your bones become weakened), known as osteoporosis, a condition which postmenopausal women are prone to.^[1] Using HRT has been proven to significantly reduce bone fractures.^[2]

A clinician can give you more advice about any other symptoms you’re experiencing, and the patient information leaflet (PIL) that comes with your medication lists all the symptoms Climara can help with.

How to use Climara

Each strength of Climara patch is applied in the same way. The patches need to be placed on your lower abdomen, or buttocks. You should never put the patches directly onto your breasts or waistline, where they are likely to rub or catch on your clothes. You should also avoid any areas where you have hair, as it can make removing the patches painful.

Apply the patches using the following steps:

1. Remove the patch from its pouch – tear the pouch open at the notched corner. Avoid using scissors, as this can accidentally damage the patch.
2. Take the clear plastic backing off the patch – remove the clear plastic backing by holding the edge of the patch in one hand. Peel the backing off using your other hand, following the crease line. When half of it comes off, apply the patch to your skin, then peel the rest of the backing off.
3. Apply the patch to your skin – make sure you place the patch on a dry, clean area of skin. When it’s in place, press the patch down for about 10 seconds to ensure it sticks well.

Climara patches need to be changed every 7 days. Remove the old patch by gently peeling it off, and find a new area of skin to apply a fresh patch.

Are there different doses of Climara?

Climara is available in five different strength patches that provide 0.025mg, 0.0375mg, 0.050mg, 0.060mg or 0.075mg of estradiol per day.

A clinician will prescribe the dose they think will work best for controlling your menopause symptoms. You’ll usually be started on the lowest dose patch to see how you respond to it. If you feel like it isn’t working well enough, you can speak to your clinician about trying a higher strength patch.