Today I have a repeat offender, Dr. Felice Gersh. She was first on the show a few months ago when she discussed the importance of the female reproductive cycle in terms of long-term health. If you haven’t listened to Episode #7, I highly suggest you do so. 

Felice Gersh, M.D. is a multi-award-winning physician with dual board certifications in OB-GYN and Integrative Medicine. She is the founder and director of the Integrative Medical Group of Irvine, a practice that provides comprehensive health care for women by combining the best evidence-based therapies from conventional, naturopathic, and holistic medicine. She taught obstetrics and gynecology at Keck USC School of Medicine for 12 years as an Assistant Clinical Professor, where she received the highly coveted Outstanding Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award. She now serves as an Affiliate Faculty Member at the Fellowship in Integrative Medicine, through the University of Arizona School of Medicine, where she lectures and regularly grades the case presentations written by the Fellowship students for their final exams.  

Felice Gersh, M.D. is the bestselling author of PCOS SOS and the PCOS SOS Fertility Fast Track, and her newest book, Menopause: 50 Things You Need to Know, is now available on Amazon. She has also had numerous scientific articles published in peer-reviewed medical journals. She is a prolific lecturer and has been featured in several films and documentary series, including The Real Skinny on Fat with Montel Williams and Fasting with Valter Longo, Ph.D. 

In this episode we discuss the importance of hormones past the reproductive years. Dr. Gersh made some excellent points about how the use of bio identical hormones helps women age gracefully. She reminds us that this is no different than repairing the aging process when it comes to cataract surgery – as seen so commonly in aging, just as a hip replacement would be, or medications for fighting autoimmune disease or cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, and breast cancer, all which are a result of hormone loss or imbalance that comes as a result of menopause.  

So why are we looking at HRT with such a cautious lens? I think it is worth a conversation with your physician who hopefully works closely with a nearby compound pharmacy and who can educate/offer you the option of bio identical hormones.