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136 - Is Our Estrogen Hormone the Key to a Healthy Heart?

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

Release Date: 05/08/2026

136 - Is Our Estrogen Hormone the Key to a Healthy Heart? show art 136 - Is Our Estrogen Hormone the Key to a Healthy Heart?

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

Estrogen plays many significant roles in a woman’s body, but on this episode of HOW MD, we’re talking about why estrogen is so important for heart health. In 2002, women and doctors were told estrogen therapy would increase the risk of a cardiovascular event. But the truth is much more complicated, and when taken correctly, estrogen can be more beneficial despite its potential—and often minimal—risks. In this episode you’ll learn… Why women started fearing estrogen therapy, and what has changed since. Why the truth about estrogen is more complicated than one simple study. ...

info_outline 135 - Introducing the Hormone Optimizing Warrior: Your Guide for Perimenopause, Menopause and Beyond show art 135 - Introducing the Hormone Optimizing Warrior: Your Guide for Perimenopause, Menopause and Beyond

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

When I started this podcast, I focused largely on overall wellness and even beauty. After looking back on the last three years of my journey, I came to realize it was time for a change. I’m shifting to focus specifically on optimizing hormones for women in menopause and beyond. From now on, I’ll be providing hormone tips and strategies you can bring to your medical provider to help you feel your best! In this episode you’ll learn… How my passion and focus has shifted with time. The services I actually provide in my practices and what it highlights for me. How menopause...

info_outline 134 - Rethinking Breast Cancer Screening on Hormone Therapy: A Fresh Perspective, Part 4 show art 134 - Rethinking Breast Cancer Screening on Hormone Therapy: A Fresh Perspective, Part 4

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

In this episode we’re concluding our conversation about breast cancer screening. This part discusses the importance of breast exams and what an ideal breast surveillance process could look like (versus how it looks today for most women). Many women today are bypassing a breast exam by believing that a mammogram is sufficient. Here’s the truth: 10% of breast cancers are not picked up by a mammogram. You should have a breast exam performed at the doctor’s office annually. You can also perform your own regular breast exams at home. Regardless of whether or not you need a pap smear, you...

info_outline 133 - Rethinking Breast Cancer Screening on Hormone Therapy: A Fresh Perspective, Part 3 show art 133 - Rethinking Breast Cancer Screening on Hormone Therapy: A Fresh Perspective, Part 3

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

We’re moving on to part 3 of our conversation about breast cancer screening in this episode. Previously, we’ve covered breast health surveillance in general. Today, we’re going to dive into breast cancer screening when a woman is on hormone therapy, as this therapy often brings up concerns for breast cancer risk. So, is there an association between hormone therapy and breast cancer? Although hormone therapy doesn’t cause breast cancer, this kind of therapy can act as a catalyst for existing cancerous tissues—if they’re already growing, estrogen-sensitive cancers can respond....

info_outline 132 - Rethinking Breast Cancer Screening on Hormone Therapy: A Fresh Perspective, Part 2 show art 132 - Rethinking Breast Cancer Screening on Hormone Therapy: A Fresh Perspective, Part 2

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

In today’s episode we’re continuing our conversation about breast cancer surveillance, focusing on the risks of getting a regular mammogram. Last week, we discussed the cumulative risk of radiation damage that women are subjected to over decades of annual mammogram screenings. Mammograms also have shortcomings: they don’t detect pre-cancer changes. Many women aren’t aware of the unintended harm a regular mammogram can cause. One of those issues is overdiagnosis. This doesn’t refer to a false-positive diagnosis, but rather when a mammogram finds a cancer that grows slowly or not at...

info_outline 131 - Rethinking Breast Cancer Screening on Hormone Therapy: A Fresh Perspective, Part 1 show art 131 - Rethinking Breast Cancer Screening on Hormone Therapy: A Fresh Perspective, Part 1

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

Today we’re beginning our conversation about breast cancer screening when on hormone therapy. There are biological markers and overall wellness indicators that need to be assessed every time a woman has an annual checkup when on hormone replacement therapy. Regardless of what therapies she is taking, every woman should have their breast wellbeing monitored, especially as she ages. Is an annual mammogram done over decades actually safe? Some medical experts say that the benefits of identifying cancer early outweighs the risk of yearly exposure to radiation. But the reality is that radiation...

info_outline 130 - The Future of Aging: Embracing Hormone Optimization, Part 3 show art 130 - The Future of Aging: Embracing Hormone Optimization, Part 3

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

In this episode I’m concluding our conversation about hormone optimization. Previously, we’ve discussed the difference between hormone therapy and hormone optimization, as well as the myths and benefits about hormone use for health optimization. Today, we’re looking at the bigger picture of overall health and how the rest of your body plays a role in hormone balance. How well our bodies function as we age is highly dependent on how balanced our hormones are. For women, that’s not just about estrogen. It’s also about how all the other major hormones in your body are balanced...

info_outline 129 - The Future of Aging: Embracing Hormone Optimization, Part 2 show art 129 - The Future of Aging: Embracing Hormone Optimization, Part 2

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

Last week, I introduced the concept of what hormone optimization is and how it differs from hormone therapy. In this episode, let’s focus on exploring the myths about using hormones and how you can use hormone optimization to age on your own terms. Going through menopause means experiencing significant changes in hormone levels, including estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. These hormone shifts will have an impact on how you feel (both mentally and physically) and may even lead you to feel a loss of control over things you had a handle on before. Hormone therapy, especially hormone...

info_outline 128 - The Future of Aging: Embracing Hormone Optimization, Part 1 show art 128 - The Future of Aging: Embracing Hormone Optimization, Part 1

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

Hormone optimization is a new and complicated topic, and we’re going to begin covering it in today’s episode. As women enter menopause and seek hormone replacement therapy as a solution, it’s important to have an understanding of how aging impacts the body and how hormone optimization can help. I recently listened to a podcast which compared hormone therapy to home renovation. The host, a retired doctor, discussed using the estradiol patch with oral progesterone (a common pair used in hormone therapy today). Taking into account the doses available for these products, there are only 10...

info_outline 127 - Prolapse Warning: The Unspoken Role of Estrogen in Female Health, Part 3 show art 127 - Prolapse Warning: The Unspoken Role of Estrogen in Female Health, Part 3

H.O.W. MD - Your Hormone Optimizing Warrior

On today’s episode we’re concluding our conversation about prolapse, specifically focusing on pelvic prolapse. These pelvic floor muscles are a small yet crucial aspect of your overall muscle structure. Women who have given birth vaginally are more susceptible to experience pelvic floor prolapse, making this area of muscles even more important to know about. Menopause can also cause various changes in the pelvic area, and the farther ahead a woman when she started menopause, the more likely she is to experience pelvic prolapse. Yes, this is in large part due to hormonal changes, however...

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More Episodes

Estrogen plays many significant roles in a woman’s body, but on this episode of HOW MD, we’re talking about why estrogen is so important for heart health.

In 2002, women and doctors were told estrogen therapy would increase the risk of a cardiovascular event. But the truth is much more complicated, and when taken correctly, estrogen can be more beneficial despite its potential—and often minimal—risks.

In this episode you’ll learn…

  • Why women started fearing estrogen therapy, and what has changed since.

  • Why the truth about estrogen is more complicated than one simple study.

  • Which types of estrogen are easiest on your liver and heart.

  • Why knowing about cardiovascular health risk factors for women is so important.

  • What the biggest risk factor for heart disease is (and what you can do about it).

  • What FSH is and how it’s impacted by low estrogen during menopause.

  • What happens with your FSH levels over time and the symptoms that can arise.

  • Why getting treatment to control symptoms isn’t good enough—and what to do instead.

  • How hot flashes impact your health in the short term and in the long run.

  • How physicians who understand hormone therapy can help you deal with fluctuations.

  • Why untreated hot flashes are bad for your heart.

  • Why addressing hot flashes can be even more important than a pap smear.

  • The lifestyle choices that influence your risk of heart disease.

  • What typically happens to your cholesterol during menopause and beyond.

  • The truths you haven’t heard about hormone therapy that you need to know.

 

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