Confessions of a Male Gynecologist

"I don't feel like myself anymore." Dr. Shawn Tassone hears some version of that sentence from women all the time. But what does it actually mean? Is it perimenopause? Low estrogen or progesterone? Testosterone? Thyroid dysfunction? Chronic stress? Burnout? Postpartum changes? A struggling relationship? Loss of identity? Or is it possible that more than one of those things can be true at the same time? In this episode of Confessions of a Male Gynecologist, Dr. Tassone connects three seemingly unrelated conversations — Dolly Parton, the Lindsay Clancy case, and the recent pastor's wife documentary — to explore one much larger issue: What happens when a woman spends years carrying things no one else can see? Women's health is often divided into separate boxes. Hormones go here. Mental health goes there. Libido becomes another problem. Sleep becomes another. Your thyroid gets another doctor. Your relationship is considered completely separate. But the woman experiencing all of those things is still one person. Dr. Tassone breaks down why your hormones do not exist in a vacuum and how chronic stress, relationships, caregiving, motherhood, identity, sleep and hormonal changes can interact. He also explores why perimenopause can become the point where all of these worlds collide. Maybe menopause changed how you feel, but did it create every problem — or did changing hormones, worsening sleep and decreased stress tolerance make an already unsustainable situation harder to tolerate? In This Episode You Will Learn: Why "I don't feel like myself" deserves to be taken seriously How estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and thyroid health can affect how women feel Chronic stress, cortisol and what social media gets wrong about "hormone imbalance" Why relationship stress and emotional safety can affect physical and sexual health The invisible mental and logistical load many women carry Why low libido is not always simply a testosterone problem Motherhood, identity loss and postpartum recovery Postpartum depression, anxiety and postpartum psychiatric illness Why postpartum healthcare needs to extend beyond a single six-week visit How caregiving can gradually push a woman's own needs aside Why perimenopause can magnify problems that were already there The overlap between hormones, sleep, metabolic health, stress, mental health and relationships Why normal-looking labs do not automatically mean a woman feels well What holistic women's healthcare should actually mean The questions Dr. Tassone believes we should ask when a woman says she no longer feels like herself The answer isn't that everything is hormones, but it also isn't that your hormones have nothing to do with what you're experiencing. Good medicine should be capable of holding more than one truth at the same time. Your estrogen may be low and your relationship may be affecting your nervous system. Your thyroid may need treatment and you may be profoundly burned out. You may be experiencing postpartum hormonal changes and need specialized mental-health care. Your testosterone may be low and increasing testosterone may not repair emotional intimacy. You are not an estrogen level. You are not a testosterone level. You are not a TSH, BMI or age on a chart. There is a human being attached to those ovaries. And sometimes the better question isn't simply: "What symptoms are you having?" It's: "What have you been carrying?" If you've found yourself saying, "I haven't felt like myself in years," this conversation is for you. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to be notified when a new episode drops and share this episode with a woman who needs to hear it. Episode Resources: Work with Dr. Tassone | Tassone Advanced Gynecology Please contact the clinic directly at (512) 956- 0296 with all scheduling inquiries. Purchase Dr. Tassone's Best-Selling Book | The Hormone Balance Bible Dr. Tassone's Integrative Hormonal Archetype Quiz | Discover Your Hormonal Archetype Medical Disclaimer This podcast and website represent the opinions of Dr. Shawn Tassone and his guests. The content here should not be taken as medical advice and is for informational purposes only. Because each person is so unique, please consult your health care professional for any medical questions.

Are vaccines safe? How should patients interpret reports of vaccine injuries and adverse effects? Is natural immunity better than vaccine-induced immunity? And why did trust in vaccines and public health decline so dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic? In this episode of Confessions of a Male Gynecologist, Dr. Shawn Tassone sits down with Harvard-trained physician and author, Dr. Michael T. Myers, Jr., MD, MBA, for an in-depth discussion about vaccines, vaccine safety, medical misinformation, public health, and the growing distrust surrounding vaccination. Dr. Myers explains how vaccines are evaluated for safety and effectiveness, why correlation does not necessarily prove that a vaccine caused a reported health problem, and how systems such as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) are actually intended to be used. They also discuss the reality of vaccine injuries, why adverse events deserve careful investigation, and why self-reported vaccine reactions must be interpreted within the larger scientific and clinical context. The conversation examines how communication during the COVID-19 pandemic affected vaccine confidence and contributed to increased vaccine hesitancy. Dr. Tassone and Dr. Myers discuss what public health officials and physicians could have communicated differently, the tension between vaccine mandates and individual autonomy, and why rebuilding trust between patients and healthcare professionals is essential. They also explore the childhood vaccination schedule, herd immunity, natural immunity versus vaccine-induced immunity, and the resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. Dr. Myers explains why the timing of childhood vaccines matters, how widespread vaccination protects both individuals and communities, and what can happen when vaccination rates fall. Rather than dismissing questions about vaccines, this conversation emphasizes the importance of informed discussion, transparent communication, scientific evidence, and allowing patients to ask difficult questions without immediately labeling them as anti-vaccine. For anyone trying to understand vaccine safety, vaccine adverse effects, VAERS, childhood vaccines, vaccine mandates, natural immunity, measles outbreaks, or the lasting impact of COVID-19 on trust in medicine, this episode provides a physician-led discussion of one of the most divisive public health topics of the last several years. In this episode, you will learn: How vaccines have played a major role in reducing serious illness, disability, and death from infectious diseases. Why vaccine misinformation and distrust increased substantially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. How communication from physicians and public health leaders can have a significant impact on vaccine confidence and patient trust. Why vaccine safety concerns should be taken seriously, but a medical event occurring after vaccination does not automatically mean the vaccine caused that event. VAERS is an important surveillance system designed to identify potential safety signals, but reports submitted to VAERS do not by themselves establish causation. Vaccine injuries and adverse reactions can occur, and those cases deserve careful evaluation within the context of the overall risks and benefits of vaccination. How the childhood vaccination schedule is designed around disease risk, immune response, vaccine effectiveness, and the ages when children are most vulnerable to specific infections. Reasons natural immunity is not automatically safer, stronger, or preferable to vaccine-induced immunity because acquiring natural immunity generally requires experiencing the infection itself. Examples of how vaccinations have dramatically reduced diseases such as measles, but declining vaccination rates can allow previously controlled diseases to return. How herd immunity helps protect individuals who cannot receive certain vaccines or who may not develop a strong immune response. Breaking down vaccine mandates that raise difficult questions involving public health, personal autonomy, individual rights, and responsibility to the broader community. How physicians can address vaccine hesitancy more effectively by listening to patients' concerns rather than immediately dismissing or criticizing them. Why trust between patients and healthcare professionals is essential when discussing vaccination and other controversial medical topics. Reasons clear communication about both the benefits and potential risks of vaccination is critical for informed medical decision-making. Why continued vaccine surveillance and research are necessary because scientific understanding evolves as additional data becomes available. Questions Dr. Mike Myers Answered in This Episode: Are vaccines safe? Dr. Myers discusses how vaccine safety is evaluated, how adverse events are monitored, and why risk must be considered alongside the risks associated with the diseases vaccines are designed to prevent. What does a VAERS report actually mean? VAERS allows healthcare professionals, vaccine manufacturers, patients, and others to report health events occurring after vaccination. These reports can help identify potential safety signals, but a VAERS report alone does not prove that a vaccine caused the reported event. Are vaccine injuries real? Yes. Adverse reactions can occur following vaccination. The challenge is determining whether a specific medical event was actually caused by the vaccine or simply occurred within the same time period. Is natural immunity better than vaccine immunity? Natural infection can produce immunity, but obtaining that immunity requires becoming infected and accepting the potential complications of the disease. Vaccine-induced immunity attempts to create immune protection without requiring someone to experience the full disease. Why do children receive vaccines according to a specific schedule? The childhood vaccination schedule is designed around when children are most vulnerable to certain diseases and when vaccines can provide effective protection. Why is measles returning in some communities? Measles is extremely contagious. When vaccination rates fall below levels needed to maintain community protection, outbreaks become more likely. Did COVID-19 change how people view vaccines? The pandemic significantly altered public trust in healthcare institutions, government agencies, physicians, and vaccines. Dr. Tassone and Dr. Myers discuss how inconsistent messaging and rapidly evolving recommendations contributed to that distrust. Should vaccines be mandated? Vaccine mandates involve a difficult balance between individual autonomy and protecting community health, making them one of the more complicated ethical questions surrounding vaccination policy. About Dr. Mike Myers Dr. Michael T. Myers, Jr., MD, MBA was the Chief of Primary Care, Pediatrics, and Practice Transformation for Summit Health New Jersey, one of the state's largest medical groups, before he retired in 2025. A physician leader with more than 35 years of experience in medical group practice management, public health initiatives, and health care consulting, Dr. Myers has held leadership positions at Partners HealthCare in Boston (now Mass General Brigham), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as COVID-19 scientific consultant to Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, and was appointed Adjunct Lecturer. His first book, COVID-ology: A Field Guide [CRC Press | 2022], an academic title for college health and science majors, was released in December 2022. Dr. Myers completed his primary care residency at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received his MD from Harvard, BA from Johns Hopkins, and MBA from Northeastern University. Connect with Dr. Mike Myers Visit Dr. Myers Website | Dr.MikeMyers.com Purchase Dr. Mike Myers Latest Book, The Vaccine Bible, on Amazon Purchase Dr. Mike Myers Latest Book, The Vaccine Bible, on Bookshop.org Purchase Dr. Mike Myers Latest Book, The Vaccine Bible, on Audiobook Episode Resources: Work with Dr. Tassone | Tassone Advanced Gynecology Please contact the clinic directly at (512) 956- 0296 with all scheduling inquiries. Purchase Dr. Tassone's Best-Selling Book | The Hormone Balance Bible Dr. Tassone's Integrative Hormonal Archetype Quiz | Discover Your Hormonal Archetype Medical Disclaimer This podcast and website represent the opinions of Dr. Shawn Tassone and his guests. The content here should not be taken as medical advice and is for informational purposes only. Because each person is so unique, please consult your health care professional for any medical questions.

Can you use HRT after breast cancer? Is vaginal estrogen safe for breast cancer survivors? Are mammograms dangerous? And is ultrasound a better option? In this episode of Confessions of a Male Gynecologist, Dr. Shawn Tassone sits down with Dr. Liz O'Riordan, former breast surgeon, breast cancer patient, author, and advocate, for a candid conversation about breast cancer, estrogen, hormone therapy, screening, survivorship, and the realities of becoming the patient after years of being the doctor. Dr. O'Riordan thought she understood breast cancer. Then she was diagnosed herself. Her experience revealed a side of cancer care that medical training often doesn't teach: the fear of diagnosis, the physical and emotional effects of treatment, the impact of medically induced menopause, sexual health concerns, and the difficult decisions patients face when balancing recurrence risk with quality of life. Dr. Tassone and Dr. O'Riordan explore one of the most controversial conversations in women's health today: estrogen and hormone replacement therapy after breast cancer. Together, they discuss why conversations about estrogen and breast cancer are often far more complicated than "estrogen causes cancer" or "HRT is safe," how age, tumor biology, treatment history, individual risk, symptoms, and personal priorities can all influence the conversation, and why informed consent matters when women are making decisions about their health. They also discuss the important distinction between systemic hormone therapy and local vaginal estrogen, particularly for breast cancer survivors struggling with vaginal dryness, painful sex, urinary symptoms, and other consequences of estrogen deprivation. The conversation expands beyond hormones into another growing problem: breast cancer misinformation online. Do mammograms cause breast cancer? Can you replace a mammogram with an ultrasound? Can a biopsy cause cancer to spread? Dr. O'Riordan addresses common fears surrounding breast cancer screening and explains why misinformation can become dangerous when it prevents women from receiving appropriate evaluation or screening. They also discuss the concerning rise of breast cancer diagnoses among younger women, what women should understand about risk and screening, and why breast health cannot be reduced to a single test or universal recommendation. Finally, they examine something that often receives far too little attention during cancer treatment: quality of life. Exercise, nutrition, sexual health, menopause symptoms, mental health, relationships, patient support, and personal autonomy all matter during survivorship. Treating cancer is important, but so is treating the woman living through it. This is a conversation about what breast cancer care looks like from both sides of the exam room and what medicine could do better when physicians truly understand the patient experience. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Can women take HRT after breast cancer? Estrogen and estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer Why "estrogen causes breast cancer" is an oversimplification Systemic HRT versus vaginal estrogen after breast cancer Menopause symptoms caused by breast cancer treatment Vaginal dryness, painful sex, and sexual health after cancer Quality of life versus recurrence-risk conversations What doctors may misunderstand about the patient experience Dr. Liz O'Riordan's transition from breast surgeon to breast cancer patient Rising breast cancer diagnoses among younger women Mammograms versus breast ultrasounds Whether mammogram radiation causes breast cancer Misinformation surrounding breast biopsies Exercise and breast cancer survivorship Nutrition and lifestyle after breast cancer Mental health and isolation during cancer treatment Patient autonomy and informed consent How breast cancer care could better support the whole patient About Dr. Liz O'Riordan Dr Liz O'Riordan blends surgical precision with human insight to deliver powerful messages, communication that holds, and resilience through change. A consultant breast surgeon who has faced cancer three times, Liz brings a rare dual perspective on what it means to lead, support others, and stay composed in a world of constant change, burnout risk, and fragile workplace cultures. Drawing on surgical training and her own experience of losing and regaining control, she gives repeatable methods to help people stay calm under pressure, communicate clearly when it counts, and adapt to disruption without falling apart. Liz speaks globally about how to improve the quality of patient care. Her experience as a cancer surgeon and patient, combined with the voice of over 200k people in her community, enables her to show healthcare professionals what patients really need when they leave the clinic. Alongside her keynotes, Liz delivers interactive workshops where teams practise the core habits behind sustained high performance: structured communication, adaptive leadership, decision-making under pressure, and the ability to stay calm and connected when everything around them is shifting. Her sessions are known for being honest, human, and transformative, not motivational peaks, but lasting changes in how people think and behave when the pressure is real. Dr Liz is also the best-selling author of four books, including The Cancer Roadmap. She hosts her own podcast and dedicates her spare time to creating educational content for her 200k online community. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2025 for her contribution to public education and received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from Future Dreams in 2024 for her advocacy, communication, and leadership. Liz is also a regular voice in international broadcast and print media, known for explaining complex ideas with clarity, warmth, and candour. Connect with Dr. Liz O'Reardon: Follow Dr. Liz O'Reardon on Instagram | Instagram Subscribe to Dr. Liz O'Reardon on YouTube | YouTube Channel Complete Guide to Breast Cancer by Liz O'Reardon The Cancer Roadmap by Liz O'Reardon Episode Resources: Work with Dr. Tassone | Tassone Advanced Gynecology Please contact the clinic directly at (512) 956- 0296 with all scheduling inquiries. Purchase Dr. Tassone's Best-Selling Book | The Hormone Balance Bible Dr. Tassone's Integrative Hormonal Archetype Quiz | Discover Your Hormonal Archetype Medical Disclaimer This podcast and website represent the opinions of Dr. Shawn Tassone and his guests. The content here should not be taken as medical advice and is for informational purposes only. Because each person is so unique, please consult your health care professional for any medical questions.

Confession: Just because your doctor ignored you doesn't mean the wellness industry automatically deserves your credit card. Women are finally talking about hormones, perimenopause, menopause, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, libido, fatigue, weight gain, brain fog, and hormone replacement therapy, and that is a good thing. But now that women's hormones are trending, everyone seems to have something to sell: a test, a pellet, a peptide, a supplement stack, a detox, or a one-size-fits-all "optimization" protocol. In this episode, America's Holistic Gynecologist breaks down one of the biggest questions women are asking right now: Are Your Hormones Actually Broken… or Are You Being Sold a Problem? Dr. Tassone discusses the difference between real hormone dysfunction, normal hormonal transition, medical dismissal, non-hormonal health issues, and wellness marketing disguised as personalized care. He explains why "normal labs" do not always mean everything is fine, why symptoms matter but are not a diagnosis by themselves, and why more testing, more hormones, or more supplements do not always equal better medicine. This episode also dives into some of the most common hormone and wellness traps women are falling into, including testosterone hype, hormone pellets, "bioidentical" marketing, advanced hormone testing, peptides, NAD, supplement stacking, and fear-based wellness messaging. If you have ever been told your labs are normal but still knew something felt off, or if you have felt overwhelmed by conflicting hormone advice online, this episode will help you ask better questions, spot red flags, understand what thoughtful hormone care should actually look like, and separate real hormone care from hormone marketing. In This Episode, Dr. Tassone Covers: Why women are being caught between medical dismissal and wellness marketing The 4 reasons women may feel "hormonal" Why symptoms matter, but symptoms alone are not always a diagnosis Why normal labs should not automatically end the conversation The difference between real hormone care and a product-based protocol Common red flags in hormone clinics, wellness programs, and online hormone advice Why testosterone can be helpful for some women, but is not a magic fix The problem with overselling hormone pellets as "natural" or universally safer Why a $700 hormone test is not the same thing as a treatment plan How peptides, NAD, longevity trends, and supplement stacks can be overmarketed What informed consent should look like in hormone care How women can tell if they are being educated, dismissed, or sold to What personalized hormone care should actually include Red Flags Dr. Tassone Wants Women to Watch For: Every woman receives the same protocol The answer is always the product, hormone, test, or supplement being sold Fear is used before physiology is explained Risks, side effects, contraindications, and alternatives are not discussed Hormone testing is used to confuse instead of clarify Symptoms are blamed on one single hormone or pathway The provider promises one thing will fix everything There is no thoughtful follow-up or dose adjustment You leave feeling broken, scared, or pressured instead of informed What Dr. Tassone Believes Good Hormone Care Should Include: A detailed medical history A clear symptom timeline Review of medications, supplements, and lifestyle factors Menstrual, perimenopause, menopause, or postmenopause status Thyroid, metabolic, inflammatory, adrenal, and nutritional context Thoughtful lab testing when clinically appropriate A risk-benefit conversation Discussion of alternatives Individualized dosing Ongoing follow-up Adjustments based on symptoms, labs, and response to treatment If this episode helped you understand the difference between real hormone care and wellness marketing, share it with a woman who has been told her labs are normal but still knows something feels off. For more honest conversations about women's health, hormones, perimenopause, menopause, and medical misinformation, subscribe to the podcast and follow Dr. Tassone on social for daily updates! Episode Resources: Work with Dr. Tassone | Tassone Advanced Gynecology Please contact the clinic directly at (512) 956- 0296 with all scheduling inquiries. Purchase Dr. Tassone's Best-Selling Book | The Hormone Balance Bible Dr. Tassone's Integrative Hormonal Archetype Quiz | Discover Your Hormonal Archetype Medical Disclaimer This podcast and website represent the opinions of Dr. Shawn Tassone and his guests. The content here should not be taken as medical advice and is for informational purposes only. Because each person is so unique, please consult your health care professional for any medical questions.