11/11/2025
Breaking: FDA’s axing those scary black box warnings on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopause! Announced today by HHS, this flips the script on decades of fear-mongering that kept too many women suffering in silence.
Quick context: Back in 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative study raised alarms about heart risks and breast cancer from combined estrogen-progestin HRT, leading to that intense warning label. But here’s the deal—later research showed those risks were overstated for most women, especially under 60 or within 10 years of menopause. Benefits like slashing osteoporosis fractures by up to 40%, easing brutal symptoms, and boosting quality of life far outweigh risks for the right candidates.
From a functional medicine lens, HRT isn’t one-size-fits-all. I dig into my telehealth patient labs—hormone levels, inflammation markers, gut health, metabolic health, genetics, and lifestyle—to craft personalized protocols using bioidentical hormones, proper dosing, and delivery methods that minimize side effects as well as precursors, adaptogens, peptides and other herbal support . It’s about restoring balance, not just masking symptoms.
