Today I want to zoom out even further.

Because here's the truth I keep coming back to in my work. Cancer cells don't just go rogue. They don't drop out of the sky. A cancer cell is a cell that finally couldn't keep up. It couldn't repair itself, couldn't make enough energy, couldn't keep its signaling clean. And it lived in a body that, for many reasons, had stopped being a healthy place to live.

That's what I want to talk about. The neighborhood. The terrain.

Every week, I hear from women who have been told some version of the same sentence:

"Your cancer was ER-positive, so estrogen caused it."

"You can never go near estrogen again."

"Stay on this anti-estrogen drug for the next five, ten, or fifteen years, or your cancer will come back."

I understand the fear behind those statements. I really do. But the more I read the science, the more I see that this story is incomplete. And women deserve the full story.

Our last webinar sparked incredible discussion, and more questions than we could possibly answer in one session.

Join us for this special follow-up Q&A where Dr. Phyllis Bronson, Carol Petersen, RPh, and Jill Chmielewski, RN, tackled your top questions about progesterone. Whether you attended the first session or are joining us for the first time, this webinar will provide even deeper insight into the hormone that’s often misunderstood but is essential to women’s health.

Confused about which type of estrogen replacement therapy is best? You are not alone. It's a hot topic in the world of menopause medicine.

If you were to survey menopause practitioners from around the globe and ask them their preferred type of estrogen replacement therapy, you'd get many different answers.  That’s because practitioners who prescribe hormone replacement therapy (HRT) come from various training backgrounds and have vastly different experiences treating patients with HRT. 

No one knows for sure what causes breast cancer to develop, although cancer stem cells (a kind of cell that has nothing to do with estrogen) are thought to play a role. Cancer causes are complex and related to many issues including inflammation, stress, exposure to radiation, viruses, chemicals, and other factors. 

If you’ve ever thought about hormone therapy but immediately felt a wave of fear—because you were told it causes cancer—you’re not alone. One of the most common things I hear from women is: “I was told I can’t do hormones because of breast cancer,” Or, “My doctor said hormones are dangerous—especially with my family history.”

Methylation is basically your body adding a small chemical group (one carbon + three hydrogens = a “methyl group”) to another molecule. Sounds tiny. But that little shift can completely change how your body functions.

You’ve probably heard people talk about estrogen like it’s either the hero or the villain when it comes to women’s health, especially breast cancer. The truth is, this area of women’s health is full of complexity, outdated research, and evolving science. But it’s also important. Because the way your body breaks down estrogen—your estrogen metabolism—can influence everything from mood and energy to long-term risks like breast cancer.

PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome) refers to a group of physical and emotional symptoms that a woman may experience in the week or so leading up to the beginning of her menstrual cycle (when she starts menstrual bleeding) and subsides within a few days of menstruation.  

There are two types of estrogen therapy, local estrogen therapy and systemic estrogen therapy.