S1 Ep65: The Dilemma of Dealing with Menopause AND Breast Cancer with Dr. Corinne Menn
Essentially all women eventually enter menopause, and while most end up not taking hormones to treat their symptoms, they at least have the option to do so. Women with a breast cancer diagnosis, on the other hand, generally don’t have the same choices at their disposal and are told, or assume, they are not candidates for estrogen therapy. Millions of women are expected to just put up with hot flashes, brain fog, insomnia, and bone loss, not to mention all the changes below the belly button. In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Corinne Menn, a board-certified gynecologist, with expertise in menopause and sexual medicine who was diagnosed with estrogen-positive breast cancer in her 20s. We will have a radical discussion about options, INCLUDING ESTROGEN to manage hot flashes and insomnia. In this episode, we discuss: The impact of PREGNANCY on women with breast cancer Non-estrogen prescription options to treat HOT FLASHES SSRI, SNRI Gabapentin Oxybutynin Fezolinetant ESTROGEN THERAPY as an option for women with breast cancer The lack of studies that show estrogen increases the risk of breast cancer recurrence or mortality The 25 scientific studies that support the safety of taking menopausal estrogen therapy in women with breast cancer Why physicians continue to tell women to avoid estrogen If it is worth taking herbal or other over-the-counter hot flash remedies Article Dr. Menn references: Bluming AZ. Introduction: Estrogen Reconsidered: Exploring the Evidence for Estrogen's Benefits and Risks. Cancer J. 2022 May-Jun 01;28(3):157-162. MORE INFORMATION Episode 2:Think Your Hot Flashes Can't Kill You? Think Again! Episode 3: What's Up Down There? Genital Dryness & Misbehaving Bladders Episode 11: Vaginal Estrogen is Not Poison Episode 31 The TRUTH About Hormone Therapy: Does it CAUSE or Does it PREVENT Breast Cancer? Slip Sliding Away: Turning Back the Clock on Your Vagina-A gynecologist’s guide to eliminating post-menopause dryness and pain Hot Flash Hell: A Gynecologist's Guide to Turning Down the Heat Lauren Streicher, MD is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause. She is a certified menopause practitioner of the North American Menopause Society. Sign up to receive DR. STREICHER’S FREE NEWSLETTER Dr. Streicher is the medical correspondent for Chicago’s top-rated news program, the WGN Morning News, and has been seen on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, NPR, Dr. Radio, Nightline, Fox and Friends, The Steve Harvey Show, CBS This Morning, ABC News Now, NBCNightlyNews,20/20, and World News Tonight. She is an expert source for many magazines and serves on the medical advisory board of The Kinsey Institute, Self Magazine, and Prevention Magazine. She writes a regular column for The Ethel by AARP and Prevention Magazine. Subscribe and Follow Dr. Streicher on DrStreicher.com Instagram @DrStreich Twitter @DrStreicher Facebook @DrStreicher YouTube DrStreicherTV Books by Lauren Streicher, MD Slip Sliding Away: Turning Back the Clock on Your Vagina-A gynecologist’s guide to eliminating post-menopause dryness and pain Hot Flash Hell: A Gynecologist's Guide to Turning Down the Heat Sex Rx- Hormones, Health, and Your Best Sex Ever The Essential Guide to Hysterectomy