Should Every Woman Be on Hormone Therapy?
How a hormone therapy trial revealed why one size never fits all.
🧠 Inside the Playbook: September Edition
Welcome to My Health & Fitness Playbook - a private log of what I’m testing, noticing, and learning in real time. This is my space to document the shifts no one prepares you for, and the protocols I’m using to stay grounded, sharp, and fully present in midlife.
If you are reading this, you are part of the most engaged corner of this community and I’m deeply grateful to share this space with you.
Last month I promised I’d share what happened when I finally tried hormone therapy for myself.
It wasn’t the first hot flush. It was the first of a cluster that day. I was in the boardroom presenting slides I’d spent days preparing when suddenly my body turned into a furnace. In what felt like seconds, my back damp with sweat and my forehead was on fire. I sat still, counting the seconds, a sitting duck in heels.
By the next morning after losing the battle to insomnia, I’d had enough.
I had a bottle of prescribed transdermal Estrogel sitting in my bathroom cabinet. I pressed a small pump onto my fingertips, smoothed it across my outer arms, watched it dry and thought: “This will fix me.”
But within minutes, my body had other plans.
Why this post is behind the paywall
Most of my writing is free, because I believe knowledge especially about the business of women’s health should be shared widely. But this series - My Health & Fitness Playbook - is different.
It’s deeply personal. I’m sharing what I’m actually trying in my own body: the shifts I’m noticing, what I’m experimenting with, and what I’m tracking in real time. That kind of honesty requires a more intentional space.
And it’s built for trust, not scale. It’s a living record of what it means to stay sharp, grounded, and clear through a high-functioning midlife and that’s something I want to share with the most engaged part of this community.
If you’re not ready to upgrade, no pressure. The rest of my writing will always be free. But if this work resonates and helps you feel more seen in your own journey, thank you for supporting it.