At my monthly Ask Me Anything Webinars,  I always get questions about hormone therapy- when to start, when to stop, if the dose should be changed as women get older, and what to do if someone continues to have symptoms or continues to bleed… 

In this episode, Dr. Risa Kagan and I answer submitted questions. 

We start by briefly running through the established indications for starting menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), and then Dr. Kagan and I discuss the “what ifs” of hormone therapy.  

Dr. Risa Kagan is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, and a consulting gynecologist with Sutter Health. 

Other episodes with Dr. Kagan

Episode 114- Is Duovee the Ideal Hormone Therapy?

Episode 175 Your Bones On and Off Estrogen

When an IUD is Your Post Menopause Plan

In case you missed it, last week was quite the week in the menopause world. The FDA made a landmark decision to remove all black box warnings from estrogen products and to update the labels of individual products. I was in the room where it all happened and in this episode, I’m going to break it all down for you. But here’s the headline- this label change is overall, a good thing, a very good thing.

A transcript of this podcast, along with photos and graphics, can be found on DrStreicher.Substack.com

In this episode: 

Related Substack Articles

Monthly News Flash Reports on recent research 

 

 Information on Dr. Streicher's COME AGAIN Podcast- Sexuality and Orgasm

 

 

Lauren Streicher MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, and a Senior Research Fellow of The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. She is a certified menopause practitioner of The Menopause Society. S

 

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. 

 

Books by Lauren Streicher, MD

 

                                  

 

  Dr. Streicher’s Inside Information podcast is for education and information and is not intended to replace medical advice from your personal healthcare clinician. Dr. Streicher disclaims liability for any medical outcomes that may occur because of applying methods suggested or discussed in this podcast.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

                                     Vivien Brown MDCM,*CCFP, MSCP

Monthly News Flash Reports on recent research 

 

 Information on Dr. Streicher's COME AGAIN Podcast- Sexuality and Orgasm

 

Lauren Streicher MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, and a Senior Research Fellow of The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. She is a certified menopause practitioner of The Menopause Society. 

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. 

 

 

  Dr. Streicher’s Inside Information podcast is for education and information and is not intended to replace medical advice from your personal healthcare clinician. Dr. Streicher disclaims liability for any medical outcomes that may occur because of applying methods suggested or discussed in this podcast.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

Selene Yeager is not a doctor; she is a health reporter with an enormous following of women who count on her to provide evidence-based medical information.  

Recently, we sat down to discuss challenges in prescribing hormone therapy for her podcast, "Hit Play, Not Pause." We had such a good conversation that I asked her if I could share her episode with my audience.  

👉Hormone therapy research

👉The cardiovascular implications of hot flashes

👉Why formulations matter 

👉Why the route of delivery (transdermal vs oral) matters

👉Why bio-identical is not always best (link to my article below) 

 👉Perimenopause versus postmenopausal therapy

👉Why hormone therapy needs to be personalized

👉How every woman should approach her own care. 

Podcast: Hit Play Not Pause 

 Facebook: FitChick - Selene Yeager

 Twitter: @FitChick3

Subscribe to my Substack Newsletter

Lauren Streicher MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, and a Senior Research Fellow of The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. She is a certified menopause practitioner of The Menopause Society. 

 

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. 

 

Books by Lauren Streicher, MD

 

   Dr. Streicher’s Inside Information podcast is for education and information and is not intended to replace medical advice from your personal healthcare clinician. Dr. Streicher disclaims liability for any medical outcomes that may occur because of applying methods suggested or discussed in this podcast.

                                                                                             Robyn Pashby PhD

This episode is a must-listen for anyone struggling with obesity, or who knows someone with obesity, or a healthcare clinician who has patients with obesity. 

The complex biology of why some folks have excess weight is just beginning to be fully understood. Having obesity is a complex interplay of biology and psychology, and it is time to stop framing obesity as a personal failure. The solution is not as simple as “Eat less, move more”. 

Dr. Robyn Pashby is a health psychologist with expertise in the impact of obesity on mental health and the impact of mental health on obesity. Today, she is joining me for a discussion on why we need to reframe the obesity conversation and how to do it.  

Robyn Pashby, Ph.D.

www.healthpsychologypartners.com

Atlantic Panel Weight, What? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzGaetHGnSY

What We Carry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jP9puLTXNM

BOOK: The New Food Fight 

https://a.co/d/fpoanrC

Obesity Action Coalition (OAC)

https://www.obesityaction.org/

Your Weight Matters free regional conventions

https://www.yourweightmatters.com/

Lauren Streicher MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, and a Senior Research Fellow of The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. She is a certified menopause practitioner of The Menopause Society. 

 

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. 

 

 

 

Books by Lauren Streicher, MD

 

 

   Dr. Streicher’s Inside Information podcast is for education and information and is not intended to replace medical advice from your personal healthcare clinician. Dr. Streicher disclaims liability for any medical outcomes that may occur because of applying methods suggested or discussed in this podcast.

 

 

 

 

 

Emotional lability, anxiety, crying jags. Welcome to perimenopause.

70% of women experience depressive symptoms and alterations in mood when estrogen levels plunge or start to fluctuate.  While many factors increase the risk, there is no denying that changes in hormone levels have something to do with anxiety, mood, and depression, even in people who never had issues before perimenopause.   

 Dr. Pauline Maki is a world-renowned expert in menopause, mood, cognition, and the impact of menopause on the brain. She has authored hundreds of scientific articles and leads a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research program on women, cognition, mood, and dementia.  In this episode, we take a deep dive into the science of why women have mood alterations and depression when estrogen levels start to fluctuate. 

 In this episode: 

·      What it was like to participate in Dr. Jill Biden’s  White House Initiative on Women's Health Research

·      The difference between depressive symptoms, mood alteration and depression

·      The risk of recurrence if there is a history of depression during perimenopause

·      The risk of developing depression if there is no history of depression

·      The risk of developing mood alterations if there is no history of depression

·      Windows of vulnerability (pregnancy, post-partum, perimenopause) 

·      What is occurring hormonally in the brain at the level of progesterone and estrogen receptors 

·      The Science Behind Risk Factors for developing depressive symptoms or depression during perimenopause

o   Early menopause

o   BRCA mutations

o   History of major depressive disorder

o   Hormone sensitivity in the brain

o   Severe menopause symptoms 

o   Childhood experiences

o   Current life stressors

·      Treatment Options for Perimenopausal Depressive Symptoms

o   No treatment- when will it go away?

o   Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

o   SSRIs

o   Hormone Therapy

o   NK3 Agonists 

o   Progesterone?

In this episode:

·      Ep 98 Live from the Menopause Society Meeting 

·      Episode 123 Hormone Therapy After Age 60 with Dr. James Simon

·      Episode 124 All Hormones Are Not Created Equal with Dr. James Simon

Lauren Streicher MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, and a Senior Research Fellow of The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. She is a certified menopause practitioner of The Menopause Society. 

 

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. 

 

Books by Lauren Streicher, MD

 

   Dr. Streicher’s Inside Information podcast is for education and information and is not intended to replace medical advice from your personal healthcare clinician. Dr. Streicher disclaims liability for any medical outcomes that may occur because of applying methods suggested or discussed in this podcast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

  

  

 

 If you are a menopausal woman and spend any time on social media, you are familiar with Dr. Corinne Menn. She is a trustworthy voice of science and evidence-based medicine in a sea of influencers who don’t always stick to the data. 

 Dr. Menn is one of the authors of a recent study titled Women’s Insights on Sexual Health after a Breast Cancer Diagnosis. This study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, asked 1,463 women with a breast cancer diagnosis about their sexual experience, including how the health care system either helped or, in most cases, failed them by giving misinformation, conflicting information, or no information

We discuss study results, including

COME AGAIN, Episode 29 Cancer and Sex,  is all about sexuality, not just after breast cancer, but for women living with any cancer diagnosis. (Release Sept 8, 2025) 

 

Lauren Streicher MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, and a Senior Research Fellow of The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. She is a certified menopause practitioner of The Menopause Society. 

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. 

 

Books by Lauren Streicher, MD

 

  Dr. Streicher’s Inside Information podcast is for education and information and is not intended to replace medical advice from your personal healthcare clinician. Dr. Streicher disclaims liability for any medical outcomes that may occur because of applying methods suggested or discussed in this podcast.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

I have written many times about how in the 1800s, vibrators were not sexual items that women bought for themselves, but medical devices used by doctors to treat a medical condition then known as hysteria. 

The problem is- that’s not true.

And be sure to check out my photo gallery of devices discussed in this episode!

Link to my Substack article with pictures  of the devices 

https://drstreicher.substack.com/p/good-vibrations

Link to my Guide to Buying a Vibrator

https://drstreicher.substack.com/p/toy-story

Link to my podcast episode on the current medical use of vibrators and why they work when nothing else does

https://drstreicher.substack.com/p/episode-23-why-vibration-works-so?r=740mq

Lauren Streicher MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, and a Senior Research Fellow of The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. She is a certified menopause practitioner of The Menopause Society. 

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. 

 

Books by Lauren Streicher, MD

 

 

  Dr. Streicher’s Inside Information podcast is for education and information and is not intended to replace medical advice from your personal healthcare clinician. Dr. Streicher disclaims liability for any medical outcomes that may occur because of applying methods suggested or discussed in this podcast.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Monthly News Flash Reports on recent research 

 

 Information on Dr. Streicher's COME AGAIN Podcast- Sexuality and Orgasm

 

 

Lauren Streicher MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, and a Senior Research Fellow of The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. She is a certified menopause practitioner of The Menopause Society. She is the Medical Director of Community Education and Outreach for Midi Health.

 

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. 

 

Books by Lauren Streicher, MD

 

                                  

  Dr. Streicher’s Inside Information podcast is for education and information and is not intended to replace medical advice from your personal healthcare clinician. Dr. Streicher disclaims liability for any medical outcomes that may occur because of applying methods suggested or discussed in this podcast.