You’re not alone if at some point near your 50th birthday you encounter that moment while trying on pants in the fitting room that you say to yourself: “Either they are making waistlines much smaller, or somehow mine is bigger.” And then you reluctantly accept […]
Author: Sandra Rice MD
Why do we go through menopause?
Unlike the perennial question posed by your grandkid – “Why is the sky blue?” (which you know has some answer principled in physics and light theory that you simply just can’t regurgitate) – the answer to “Why do we go through menopause?” is very simple. […]
How do estrogens work?
If you have an inquiring mind you may wonder how it is that estrogens, or any other hormone or drug for that matter, actually do the things they do in the body. I find this aspect of medicine fascinating and admire the dedicated researchers who […]
Does estrogen cause heart problems?
Has your doctor told you that taking estrogen could cause a heart attack? This is one of the reasons hormone treatment fell out of favor back in 2002 when a landmark study, called the WHI (Women’s Health Initiative), published its findings. Newspapers across the world […]
What is causing my vaginal discomfort?
Statistics show that less than half of menopausal women discuss problems with vaginal dryness and discomfort with their doctors. For fairly obvious reasons this is a difficult conversation to initiate. Since we were little girls we didn’t talk openly about our “private parts” and when […]
What is progesterone and how safe is it?
When we talk about female hormones, we immediately think of estrogen and frequently don’t give much attention to the other major hormone involved in the female reproductive system – progesterone. Progesterone is like the little sister of estrogen. It compliments and does a lot of […]
Does estrogen cause breast cancer?
Many people believe that estrogen causes breast cancer. They’ve heard this from their friends, or have read it in women’s magazines, or their doctors may even have told them that taking estrogen will increase their risk of breast cancer. And, if a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, the first thing […]
Does estrogen help my bones?
You may think of your bones as the solid, dried-out sticks that your dog loves to chew on. But bones are actually a living, breathing organ just like all of our other body parts. Within the external shell of each bone are millions of tiny […]
What is menopause (and the other phases before and after)?
Technically, the term menopause refers to the point in time when a woman is no longer fertile and when the last viable egg has been released. It’s pretty amazing that we’re born with over 3 million eggs nestled in our ovaries and by the time […]
Do I have to stop my estrogen?
Has your long time physician, who seemed more like a friend than a doctor, retired and you’ve had to find a new one? And had your old doctor encouraged you to take hormones, but now your new doctor, younger but no doubt very smart, is telling you […]