The Great Menopause Myth with Wise and Well
Ever wonder if hormone replacement therapy (HRT) really causes cancer? Or why there’s so much confusion around bioidentical hormones? In this episode, I’m sitting down with Maria and Kristen from Wise and Well to bust some of the biggest menopause myths out there.
Have you heard about the flawed WHI study that sparked fear around HRT? Curious about how progesterone and testosterone play a bigger role in your health than you might think? We’re diving into all of that—plus the truth about synthetic hormones, birth control, and how to make hormone therapy actually work for you.
But it’s not just about managing symptoms. This is about really understanding how HRT impacts your health and learning how to advocate for yourself with the right doctors.
If you’ve ever had questions about menopause or hormones, this is the conversation you don’t want to miss.
Does Taking Hormones Cause Cancer?
One of the most commonly asked questions about hormones is “won’t taking hormones cause cancer?” This question stems from a really flawed WHI study that didn’t pre-screen candidates for cancer, and used drugs called “hormones” but they were not hormones – they were synthetic molecules that were hormone disruptors – essentially causing DNA damage and in turn, causing cancer in six people who took the synthetic progestins.
Even in that study, the subjects using estrogen only did not develop cancer (and in fact had a lower risk of cancer). This makes complete sense because IF estrogen caused cancer, wouldn’t the majority of pregnant women develop cancer when their estrogen levels are thousands of times higher than when not pregnant? That just doesn’t happen. We now also know that truly bioidentical hormones actually HELP cancer in addition to reducing overall mortality, less aggressive tumors, and lower chance of recurrence.
Cancer isn’t CAUSED by hormones, but hormones CAN potentially be a catalyst for cancer that ALREADY exists – if it is a type of cancer that reacts to your specific type of hormone.
Can You Do Menopause Naturally (Without Hormones)?
Wanting to do menopause naturally is very aspirational. You might start off menopause being super optimistic in the early years, but down the road, it will likely be a different story. What is natural about being 70 and being on a statin and beta blocker and wearing depends? That is not natural. If your eyes were clouding over and you couldn’t see, would you deny yourself cataract surgery? Probably not.
A lot of the hangup comes around feeling like you are adding in something like a medication that is unnatural. But when you’re adding in bioidentical hormones, you are actually just “restoring” or “replenishing” something your body used to make itself – naturally!
The problem is…you can’t always FEEL the issues that are happening in menopause. Some people might not have very noticeable external symptoms while others not so much.
What Health Effects Can Menopause Cause Even With No Symptoms?
In addition to the “common” symptoms like lack of sleep and hot flashes and UTI’s and “not being in the mood”, without adequate hormones, many other things are happening inside of your body. You are not necessarily “in the clear”.
The effects of not having the right amount of hormones include things you cannot feel like: your arteries are stiffening, your bones are degrading, your liver is stopping processing and clearing cholesterol at the same rates, your cognition is changing due to proteins, your microbiome is changing, and more!
These are the things you find out LATER once you have a diagnosis of something more serious.
These and many more myths are addressed on this episode!
👉Get their new book “The Great Menopause Myth: The Truth on Mastering Midlife Hormonal Mayhem, Beating Uncomfortable Symptoms, and Aging to Thrive” here
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