WTF to think about hormone therapy

Photo by Lucie Hošová on Unsplash

I recently interviewed a well-known academic, doctor, and expert on hormone therapy. Off-camera, she shared her candid thoughts with me.

“When hormone therapy first came out, everyone wanted to put it in the water. Then people got scared off by the Women’s Health Initiative in 2002. Now, someone has spotted a gap, and they want to put it in the water again.”

This expert has practiced for decades through these pendulum swings. Her point is that the truth is far more nuanced. You may have heard that hormone therapy is essential, that it can bring women back to life, or even help people live longer.

On the other hand, you may have heard that hormone therapy causes cancer, and that things need to be really bad before you should consider it. Add to that our personal views — whatever they may be, like “I’m way too young to need this!” —and what the women in your family might have told you about it, and it all gets very confusing.

No matter how you think about…