Women’s health has been neglected and filled with myths and ignorance since the beginning of endocrinology. Why is progesterone one of the most underestimated and misunderstood hormones, and what are its uses? How has birth control destroyed the health of both men and women? How can we help chemically castrated women get access to lifesaving healthcare? On this episode, I talk with health practitioner, consultant, author, and educator, Victoria Felkar about what’s getting in the way of the help women need and what can be done about it.
The more you screw with hormones earlier in life, the more you’re setting yourself up for difficulty later on— but the salvation is in lifestyle. -Victoria Felkar
Three Takeaways
Progesterone is a wonder drug for perimenopausal women but it’s heavily maligned for no reason.
An athlete’s body in performance mode is under immense stress, and harm reduction needs to be prioritized so they can recover. Hormones are a huge part of that.
Many people, even doctors, conflate progesterone (which has so many benefits) with progestin (which has done a lot of harm) and this is what is making so many women suffer.
Women’s periods are getting heavier, and a lot more of them are suffering from pain and conditions like endometriosis. Medication and birth control don’t solve the problems, and that’s why we need to get to root causes.
At the start of the show, we talked about why women’s endocrinology is handled so badly, and the double standards that causes this. Next we talked about the connection between hormones and sport, and how the stigma was born. We discussed how hormones are used at the elite levels of sport and how birth control is destroying us. We also talked about the alarming warning signs about menstrual cycles that we shouldn't ignore.
We also discussed:
So many women are suffering because hormones like progesterone have been so maligned. At the same time, birth control pills have been misused and abused. The truth is, the more you screw with hormones earlier on in life through birth control, fertility drugs, and other substances, the more intense the issues will be later on in life. Lifestyle is actually a very important part of women’s reproductive health, not the manipulation of menstrual cycles we are seeing today.
If you have lower rates of stress, you’re going to improve your reproductive health. The woman’s body has its own built in clock, and it’s like a symphony that requires all the instruments. If we start manipulating or removing some parts, there’s no telling how bad the impact will be, and we’re definitely starting to see the negative downstream effects now.
Guest Bio-
Victoria is a practitioner, consultant, author, and educator within the world of strength and fitness. She is an interdisciplinary researcher and instructor who works across the fields of kinesiology, medicine, critical studies and the humanities. She studies health, hormones, and the body, and she is currently pursuing a doctorate. Go to www.victoriafelkar.com/ and to read her blogs or listen to her podcast, go to https://www.victoriafelkar.com/resources-1/. Follow her on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/victoriafelkar/?hl=en.