Sparks & Favor PC

Nearly twenty years have passed since the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) announced serious safety concerns involving hormone replacement therapy during menopause. Since then, we have come to understand that these early conclusions were misleading, based on an incomplete understanding of the study’s data. Unfortunately, the announcement caused panic among American women. Nearly half of them gave up hormone replacement within a few months. Women whose menopausal symptoms reduced their quality of life resigned themselves to suffer in silence.

With better information, women have now reached a more balanced understanding of the benefits and possible risks of hormone replacement…

 
Or–Should I Delay my COVID Vaccine Until After My Scheduled Mammogram?
These questions have arisen recently after reports that 10 to 15% of COVID vaccinated women have developed an enlarged lymph node in the area of the breast under the arm on the side where they received the shot. A SWOLLEN LYMPH NODE IS NOT A HARMFUL COMPLICATION OF YOUR SHOT. The TEMPORARY swelling and possible tenderness of lymph nodes is a common reaction to this and many other types of vaccines. A vaccine’s purpose is to activate the body’s immune system against an invading bacteria…

One of the most frequent questions we answer in the office concerns the potential side-effects of birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives (rings, implants, hormonal I.U.Ds, etc.).  The pill carries a small increased risk for certain health problems (deep-vein thrombosis, heart attack, and stroke), and no method of birth control is one hundred percent effective in preventing pregnancy. Yet, in the fifty-plus years that the pill has been prescribed in the U.S., it has proven to be a very safe and effective contraceptive method. In fact, American women find it safe, effective, and…