S2 Ep116: Your HEART on Hormones-Update!

Estrogen is not only good for your brain, your bladder, and your bones, estrogen is also good for your blood vessels. And a lack of estrogen is one of the reasons, that heart disease spikes in women post menopause. Hormone therapy, if started within ten years of the menopause transition, appears to be heart protective. Today I am joined by Dr. Marla Mendelson, a cardiologist and associate professor of Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University.   She is also the former co-director of the Women’s Health research Institute. Dr. Mendelsohn has devoted her career to the evaluation and treatment of women’s cardiovascular health throughout the lifespan. 

• A new study on the impact of INSOMNIA on heart health
• Why ESTROGEN is important for heart health and vascular health
• RISK FACTORS for cardiovascular disease
   
  • Family history- what’s significant, what’s not
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  • Smoking
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  • Diabetes
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  • Hypertension
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  • High cholesterol
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  • Age of Menopause
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  • Obesity
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  • Hypertension during pregnancy
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• Why Black women have high rates of cardiovascular disease
•  The relationship of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) on heart disease risk. 
• How to SCREEN women for heart disease with and without a family history
• When a STRESS TEST is appropriate
• If a CORONRY CALCIUM test should be done routinely
• The impact of cardiotoxic CHEMOTHERAPY and chest RADIATION
• PREVENTION of cardiovascular disease
• WARNING SIGNS of heart disease in women
• What happens during a HEART ATTACK 
• The relationship of HOT FLASHES and heart disease
• Why it is generally safe and beneficial to take HORMONE THERAPY if there is heart disease
• Why most cardiologists and internists are not comfortable recommending hormone therapy even though estrogen decreases cholesterol and triglycerides
• Why most medications given to women have only been tested in men

• 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. 

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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. 

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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