96: Is HRT Safe?: Pros and Cons for Women Entrepreneurs

Unlock the secrets to managing menopausal symptoms safely and effectively! This episode of Breaking Boundaries for Entrepreneurs promises a deep dive into the controversial topic of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for women. With millions of women turning to HRT for relief from hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings, it's essential to understand both its life-changing benefits and the serious health risks that may be overlooked. As your host and personal high-performance health coach, Jeffrey Mort, I will guide you through the intricate landscape of HRT, offering an integrative approach to hormone balance without compromising your well-being.

Join me as we explore the full picture of HRT, from its effectiveness in alleviating menopausal symptoms to the heightened risks of breast cancer, cardiovascular issues, and blood clots. Discover why some healthcare providers may not fully disclose these risks and learn about natural alternatives that can serve as safer options for hormone balance. If you're an entrepreneur or a driven professional seeking to enhance your quality of life, this episode will arm you with the knowledge to make informed decisions about your health. Don't miss this critical conversation on managing menstrual cycles to menopause with a holistic perspective.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Breaking Boundaries for Entrepreneurs, the podcast where we explore innovative approaches to health, wellness and peak performance for today's driven professionals. I'm your personal high-performance health coach, jeffrey Mort. I'm your host and founder of Love, energy, wellness, and today we're diving into a topic that affects millions of women worldwide hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, and today we're going to explore its popularity and you're going to discover the potential dangers and how an integrative health approach can offer natural alternatives for balancing hormones. Let's get started. Hello, I'm Jeffrey Mort. If you're like most entrepreneurs, you're busy taking care of business, yet who's taking care of you? If you're ready to take your energy and performance to the next level in your life and your business, then this podcast is for you, because today you're going to start breaking boundaries of your mind, body and business with integrative health, and when you do that, your possibilities are limitless. I'm grateful you're here yes, always grateful for you joining me here today on the Breaking Boundaries podcast for entrepreneurs, and thank you for being here today.

Speaker 1: 1:20

A very helpful topic, and sometimes controversial topic, is hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, and it has been a lifeline for many, many women. Today we're talking about HRT for women. I will do another episode on HRT for men a completely different topic. But today we're focusing on women, and there have been so many women that have been challenged with symptoms of irregular menstrual cycle or when they enter perimenopause or postmenopause. Getting those hormonal imbalances, things like hot flashes and night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness those can all severely impact a woman's quality of life, and hormone replacement therapy often provides much needed relief. In fact, around 1.2 million women in the United States use HRT to manage these symptoms. But as popular as it is and as quick as doctors are to prescribe this, it's essential to understand both the benefits and the potential risk associated with HRT, which may or may not be. Well, it may be included in the fine print in the prescription, but I'm not quite sure. You know, according to some of the clients that I've worked with over at love energy, wellness, that all doctors are fully disclosing the risks that are associated with hormone replacement therapy. So why is HRT so popular? Well, for starters, it's incredibly effective. It really is, and I just want to say that I am NOT against hormone replacement therapy, but it has its time and place. So for many women, the relief from debilitating symptoms is life-changing. Imagine going from sleepless nights and constant discomfort, to feeling like yourself again. It's no wonder that so many women turn to HRT as their first line of defense against menopausal symptoms and completely disregard the long-term risks, if they were even made aware of those. However, it's crucial to look at the full picture Now.

Speaker 1: 3:34

While HRT can be a game changer, it's not without its risks. Research has shown that long-term use, especially older women so talking about women, um, that are post menopausal can increase the risk of several serious health conditions, which we're going to get into just now. However, I do want to give my disclaimer that I don't claim to provide any medical advice or treat or diagnose or cure any diseases, so let's break down some of the dangers here. First, there's breast cancer. Studies have indicated that prolonged use of HRT can elevate the risk of developing breast cancer. These are actual clinical studies. The risk varies depending on the type of HRT, the duration of use and the age at which it is started, and more and more often women even in their 30s are being prescribed HRT, which is just mind-boggling to me.

Speaker 1: 4:36

Then we have cardiovascular issues. Hrt may increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, particularly in older women or those who start HRT several years after menopause. These are serious health risks, my friends. Blood clots are another concern, so you can see how HRT can actually affect the entire cardiovascular system. So blood clots being another concern, especially with the oral forms of HRT. And then, lastly, there's evidence suggesting a heightened risk of ovarian and endometrial cancers with certain types of HRT. This is some serious, serious stuff we're talking about. Now, don't get me wrong. Hrt, like I said, it has its place and it can be incredibly beneficial, especially for women with severe menopausal symptoms. But it should be approached with caution and used under the guidance of a properly educated healthcare professional who can help weigh the benefits against the risks and Considering Each Woman's Unique Health Profile.

Speaker 1: 5:45

And as I'm going through this episode here, I think I may create a free download for you, and if I can get it out in time for the publishing of this podcast, I will do that. Otherwise, make sure that you're subscribed, not just to the podcast, but to our email list over at loving you wellness. You can go over there. You can get our free um energy smoothie guide to help you boost your energy on a daily basis. That'll put you on our list, um, and then you'll be able to get this free download for something along the lines of like you know 10 questions to ask not just your primary care physician but yourself as well before you get on hormone replacement therapy. So I'm going to create that for you and you want to subscribe so that you don't miss out on that Now.

Speaker 1: 6:32

So what's the alternative? You might be wondering what else can we do? How can women balance their hormones naturally before considering hormone replacement therapy? And this is where an integrative health approach comes into play, focusing on the whole person and utilizing things like lifestyle changes, vitamins, minerals, herbs, botanicals to support hormone health. The body needs specific building blocks to be able to create hormones, and just throwing hormones at the body can definitely wreak havoc and cause long-term effects on that. So some short-term gains but definitely long-term risks. But we can actually provide the body what it needs to be able to create the hormones on its own, and we can monitor the results. We'll talk more about that how we do that in just a minute.

Speaker 1: 7:21

So let's talk about lifestyle adjustments first. Of course, I'm always going to go to a balanced, rich diet in whole foods, healthy fats, phytoestrogens these can all support hormone balance. These are things that I help my clients to make adjustments in their daily dietary intake over at Levitogy Wellness daily dietary intake over at Love Energy Wellness, our private wellness practice, where we have private yeah, private clients over there, and so foods like flax, seeds, soy and legumes are fantastic for this. Now, regular exercise is also crucial, and I'm not talking about going to crush it at a CrossFit or a boot camp or something like that. Just basic physical activities help regulate hormones and reduce stress. Now, of course, if you over exercise that isn't causing a stress on the body, and if you do that too often, then that stress is going to affect your hormones, and so reducing that is vital for hormone health as well. And speaking of stress, managing it through techniques like qigong, tai chi, yoga, meditation, deep breathing exercises these can all significantly impact your hormonal balance by reducing cortisol levels. Cortisol is your stress hormone, and we'll talk more about how we know where your cortisol cortisol levels are in just a minute.

Speaker 1: 8:46

So next up, vitamins and minerals. Certain nutrients play a vital role in hormone production and hormone regulation. Things like vitamin D is essential for overall health, including hormone balance. Magnesium helps regulate cortisol and supports adrenal health, and so much more like magnesium is just such an all-star supplement, while B vitamins, specifically methylated B vitamins, like an activated B complex, are crucial for energy production and hormone synthesis. Now, how can we see where your vitamins are, where your minerals? Where's your your sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone and testosterone? Where your minerals? Where's your, uh, your sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone and testosterone, and DHEA? Where are your cortisol levels throughout the entire day?

Speaker 1: 9:30

We can look at all of these through our at-home functional lab testing that we offer over at Love Energy Wellness, and we can run what's called the Vita tox uh, vitamin tox test. So it's we're looking at vitamins, we're're looking at minerals, we're looking at toxicities that can also affect hormones. Uh, you know how do we do that. It's a simple hair sample, maybe about a teaspoon of hair, and it's also a urine sample to look at the vitamins, and then something that we call the stress mood metabolism lab. One lab will look at all of your sex hormones, your adrenal hormones, throughout the course of the day. It's going to look at cardio metabolic markers. It's going to look at thyroid markers. It's going to look at vitamin D three levels. It's absolutely amazing test kit. The stress mood metabolism lab test was created specifically for our partnership with equal life, so it's an absolutely amazing test. So these three lab tests You're going to do a hair sample, you're going to do a urine sample, you're going to do a saliva sample and then a simple blood spot just a finger poke and a couple of drops of blood on a card. All of these get mailed out very next day with prepaid postage in the lab kit and then, a couple of weeks later, I get the results.

Speaker 1: 10:41

I create a personalized wellness plan for you and we know exactly what direction to go in for targeted supplementation, for stress reduction, for balancing hormones, and there's no guesswork. There's no guesswork if we need to bring estrogen up or bring estrogen down using natural botanicals. There's no question if we need to bring progesterone up or progesterone down. Same thing with testosterone, same thing with DHEA. There's no guesswork when it comes to the lab testing, and that's why I absolutely love what I do. So the herbs and botanicals these are natural remedies. They have been used for centuries to support hormonal health. And then science stepped in and said hey, this stuff actually works. According to the data, things like maca root is known for its ability to balance hormone hormones and boost energy. Black cohosh is another one that's often used to alleviate menopausal symptoms like hot flashes. Chestberry supports, progesterone project production can also help with PMS systems and we have science-backed all-natural hormone balancing protocols that we provide in our individual wellness plans after the hormone testing.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Over at LovatG Wellness, do you have questions about at-home health tests or natural health protocols? You can go to the show notes and click on the send us a message. These are private messages. You can ask a question and I will keep you anonymous. If you want to be anonymous and read your question over one of our upcoming podcasts, or if, when you send me a message, you include either a phone number or a email address, I can respond directly to you and, as always, we can hop on a call. When you go over to loveenergywellnesscom, click on the get started button that goes to my schedule and we can pick a time and day that works best for you to hop on a one-to-one Zoom call to answer your questions and understand your health concerns, your health goals and explain how we can help. So start by sending us a private message. I'd love to hear from you.

Speaker 1: 12:45

And if natural methods aren't enough, what happens when natural methods aren't enough? Then we take the next step. We take the next step into bio-identical hormones, which can be a great next step. These hormones are chemically identical to those the body actually produces and can offer a more natural approach to HRT with potentially fewer risks. So step one, the natural approach. We do some testing, we understand where we are, we give the body the building blocks that it needs. If that's not working, then we can go to bioidentical hormones and then you know.

Speaker 1: 13:20

To sum it up, hormone replacement therapy. It can actually be a powerful tool for managing premenopausal, perimenopausal and postmenopausal symptoms, short term or as a third step effort. But it's essential to weigh the benefits against those really, really potential risks. By exploring integrative health approaches first, women can often find natural, effective ways to balance their hormones, improve their overall well-being and for those who do need additional support, you know bioidentical hormones offer a safer alternative before considering conventional hormone replacement therapy. If you're interested in personalized guidance on balancing your hormones, naturally consider booking your free consultation with us over at love energy, and together we can create a tailored plan to support your health and vitality at every stage of life. I appreciate you tuning in to Breaking Boundaries for Entrepreneurs. If you found this episode helpful, please share it with others who might benefit and don't forget to subscribe so that you never miss an episode. Until next time, stay healthy and keep breaking those boundaries. Bye-bye everybody.