Episode Details
Back to EpisodesDr. Cari Schaefer: What HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) Is Not Fixing & Why | #191
Description
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Everything you have been told about menopause symptoms being normal and inevitable is incomplete, and Dr. Cari Schaefer is here to blow that wide open. In this episode, Leah and Dr. Willow sit down with their dear friend and functional medicine and Chinese medicine practitioner to draw a hard line between natural menopause and menopausal syndrome, unpack why hormone replacement therapy alone leaves a massive gap in your care, and get honest about the adrenal health, blood sugar regulation, and liver function conversations that should have happened years before your first hot flash. They also get into andropause, testosterone conversion in men, and why the most loving thing you can do for your body right now has nothing to do with hormones at all.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Menopause and menopausal syndrome are not the same thing, and confusing the two is exactly why so many women are still suffering after starting hormone therapy.
- Your adrenal glands become the primary producers of estrogen precursors after menopause, so chronic stress is not just emotional, it is hormonal.
- Hot flashes and night sweats are most often driven by hidden immune stressors like urinary infections and digestive imbalances, not declining hormones alone.
- A liver cleanse at least once a year is one of the most direct things you can do to keep hormones balanced, because your liver has to filter and process every hormone in your body.
- Men convert testosterone into estrogen or DHT under chronic stress, which explains low libido, weight gain, emotional flatness, and erectile changes far better than low testosterone alone.
- Shame around food creates more physiological stress on the liver and gallbladder than the food itself ever could.
- Menopause is not a biological mistake; it is a designed transition into the most powerful role of a woman's life, and the body will not let you access that role while it is running on empty.
LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE CAN BE FOUND ON THE WEBSITE: https://www.sexreimagined.com/blog/menopause-symptoms-root-cause
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