Never take estrogen without taking progesterone. Estrogen and progesterone need to be looked at as one, like yin and yang. They’re both considered a woman’s “main-sex” hormone like testosterone and DHEA are for men. Progesterone triggers a receptor response for estrogen; it’s not about how much estrogen you give a woman, it’s about how much estrogen she receives. When estrogen peaks on day 12 of a woman’s cycle, it triggers a receptor response for progesterone allowing the body to receive the hormones and it’s benefits. On day 21 of a woman’s cycle, progesterone peaks hopefully high enough to trigger estrogen receptors in anticipation for the estrogen peak the following month. One doesn’t work without the other. T.S. Wiley wrote about this in Sex, Lies, and Menopause, a book worth the read.

I hear what you say about every woman has to make her own decision but that’s the tough part. There is so much misinformation out there that not even doctors know which end is up with regards to estrogen, menopause, cancer, and hormones. Doctors don’t know because medical schools teach doctors how to manage symptoms of diseases, not get to the root of the problem and fix it as naturally as possible. I started my blog because of what patients were telling me over the years about what they think and what their doctors think about these topics and no one knows what’s going on. I worked with a doctor who thought outside of the box and was more interested in getting to the root of the problems instead of disease management. I’ve been perimenopausal, have had a hysterectomy, and now menopausal. I’ve been on every hormone replacement therapy on and off the market, documenting every experience. Working with patients over a ten-year period since the genesis of the hormone replacement therapy boom has given me incredible insight and knowledge.

Medical schools are not teaching doctors that if we restore estrogen to optimal levels, we can reverse diseases like osteoporosis, diabetes, depression, weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and every chronic disease a woman has. There is no chronic disease a woman has that can’t be linked to estrogen deficiency. Doctors are taught which prescription to write for what symptom, including OB-Gyn specialists and endocrinologists. Conventional medicine says to give the lowest dose to treat the most symptoms. Dr. Tara Allmen, a good doctor I’m sure, has a conventional medicine approach to HRT. She doesn’t not cycle or optimize hormones. This is the type of training doctors get, manage symptoms but keep patients ill. Why treat the symptoms if we can fix the problem? PMS, perimenopause, menopause, PCOS, and endometriosis are all caused by estrogen deficiency. If we restored estrogen, these conditions wouldn’t exist.