21/11/2025
Susan’s book on menopause is fantastic. Love her fresh and honest take on women’s health 💕
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Menopause Hormone Therapies
When I first wrote "Menopausal Years, the Wise Woman Way,"
In 1992,
Everyone — I mean everyone (except me) — promoted the idea
That menopausal problems are only for those too stupid to take hormones.
Menopausal hormones were pushed from all directions.
Estrogen
Progesterone
Alone
Together
Prescribed
Natural
Bio-identical
Every women aged 50 and above
Required hormones.
So they claimed.
They would:
> Keep you young
> Protect your bones
> Reduce risk of heart attack
> End vaginal dryness
> Eliminate hot flashes
> Make you sleep better
Not necessarily all lies.
But not the whole truth.
Ten years later, in 2002, I revised that book,
Adding 30% more material,
Including new studies that had proved,
What I suspected,
That hormones taken during menopause could hurt your health.
> Side effects of hormonal treatment of menopause:
"Side effects of HRT can be similar to menopause symptoms, so it might not be your HRT that's causing it." (That's the best alibi ever.)
Hair loss
Headaches
Acne, dryer skin
Erratic spotting, vaginal bleeding
(Which makes it difficult to spot endometrial or uterine cancer)
Sore, tender, lumpy breasts
(And an increase in breast cancer)
Heart disease, stroke
Depression, mood swings
Leg cramps
Nausea
I thought the fight was done.
I won.
Menopausal hormones are bad for your health.
Proven.
But now, nearly 25 years later, in 2025
The hormone pushers are at it again
With increased fervor.
So much so,
That the warning has now been removed from these drugs.
Removing the warning does not reduce the risks of supplemental hormones.
Removing the warning does not make these hormones safer.
Removing the warning does not alert you to the problems to come.
Sigh.
I understand.
I need to revise New Menopausal Years.
New New Menopausal Years.
I have a growing list of topics to include.
But mostly, I need to reaffirm that
> Menopause is not the total loss of estrogen
> Hormone supplementation is not necessary for vigor, ease, or health
> Hormones are not good for you unless your body makes them.
Hormones are complicated.
Their levels fluctuate
They change hourly,
Weekly, monthly, yearly.
Never the same.
Supplements are always the same.
As though you were a robot,
Not a living, changing woman.
Hormones are complicated.
They influence each other.
Like waves merging and surging.
Supplements are static,
Unresponsive to your environment or situation.
No supplement can do what your body does.
More than a million women have bought
"New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way,"
And most of them have successfully gone through menopause
(And beyond)
Healthy, happy, and juicy
Without supplemental hormones.
I'm 80 in two months.
The surgeons removed my uterus
and the endometrial cancer therein
in 2020,
but, as I insisted, left my ovaries.
I have never taken any supplemental hormones.
(I did take birth control pills in 1965, for a five months. Then again, after the failure of my IUD, from 1970 until 1977; until I discovered the healthiest, most dependable, and least-expensive birth control: Lesbianism.)
Today, at 80,
Without hormone supplementation,
I am:
Or****ic.
Energetic.
Strong-boned.
Flexible.
Free of headaches, leg cramps, acne, breast pain.
Smooth-skinned with vibrant hair.
Clear-thinking.
Engaged.
It's actually easier than going to a doctor for hormones.
You can do it too.
To be continued.
In beauty.
As a giveaway.
Breathing with the plants.
Hearts beating as one with the earth's heartbeat.
Surrounded by green blessings.
Filled with gratitude.
Sparkling with joy.
