Hormone treatment
Hormone treatment uses drugs to stop hormones that occur naturally in the body from causing certain types of cancer to grow more quickly.
Some hormones that occur naturally in the body can make certain types of cancer grow more quickly. Hormone treatment aims to use drugs to block the way that these hormones affect cancer growth. Several cancers respond well to this form of hormone therapy, such as breast, prostate, thyroid and uterus cancer.
Hormone treatment involves taking tablets or having injections of the drugs over a long period of time, or possibly even permanently.
Side effects
Common side effects include hot flushes, tiredness and nausea.
Hormone therapy can cause impotence in men during the period of their treatment, and loss of libido or sex drive in both men and women.
If this becomes a serious worry talk it over with your doctor or confidentially on the Macmillan CancerLine.
Read more about hormone treatment on our Cancerbackup site.