@soggybones
My mother and sister both had breast cancer in early 50's. Mother passed from BC due to lack of treatments available at that time. Sister is doing okay.
I am 59. I have dense breast, I was tested for BRACA 1 & 2 and was negative.
I have osteoporosis in my spine diagnosed in 2023. I am opposed to the osteo meds. I had hot flashes, poor sleep due to getting up through out the night, as well as vaginal atrophy.
I researched, reviews these forums as well as a few others and decide Bioidentical HRT was the route to try first. I started last March 2025. Found a integrative DR that listened to my concerns, that did an abundance of testing prior to starting any HRT.
I am using compound creams containing estradiol, estriol and progesterone. And am using the smallest amouts that have had a positive effect.
Am monitoring via bloodwork every 3 months along with regular mammograms etc. I know compounded creams are not FDA approved and some may state concerns, but I trust the pharmacy that does it, they've been around many years. They also did a compounded cream for a rare skin cancer for my husband many years ago, that resolved his skin issue. Compounding exists for a reason.
Compounded creams are so customizedable, which I needed because too much estradiol gave me a reaction.
Currently I've had no hot flashes since starting, I sleep through the night and vaginal atrophy has resolved. My recent blood test for my bone markers show stabilization of bone loss, my scans show BMD is improving along with my Trabecular Bone Score which has increased as well.
It was a hard decision to go this route given the risks, but i felt this was the least risky path.
I also read somewhere that if breast cancer were to occur it might be that was what was destined to occur and might not have anything to do with the HRT. That statement along with plenty of other info helped me think differently about it.