Felice Gersh, MD: The Critical Role of Estrogen in Immunity

Felice Gersh, MD is an award winning physician with dual board certifications in OB-GYN and Integrative Medicine.  She is the founder and director of the Integrative Medical Group of Irvine, providing comprehensive health care for women by combining the best evidence-based therapies from conventional, naturopathic, and holistic medicine.  Dr. Felice is a prolific writer and lecturer who speaks globally on women's health and is the best selling author of the PCOS SOS series and Menopause:  50 Things You Need to Know.

Dr. Gersh was an early entrepreneur, starting her own medical practice from scratch early on.  She added additional practitioners to best support her patients with services such as Chinese Medicine.

After deciding to stop seeing patients full time, she went back to school to learn more ways to help her patients.  She did a fellowship in Integrative Medicine and has continued to be a leader in her field.

Expanding beyond pharmaceuticals and surgery is essential!

It wasn't until 2015 that the FDA required that women be included in studies.

The female body evolved for optimal success.

Women have very different immune systems than men.  We need to be able to keep a body alive.
XX chromosomes help to program the immune system of females to be stronger.

There are estrogen receptors on every cell in the body.

Innate immune systemCreates a life saving inflammatory response

Estrogen is an immune modulator

When you are pregnant you make Estriol, which binds to beta receptors which quiets the immune system to sustain the foreign invader...the baby.
The immune response is down regulated during pregnancy.

Estradiol is an immune modulator, ramping up and down regulating the immune system.

Estrogen is amazing!Micronutrients are essential and nutritional deficiencies can lead to issues with the ovaries.

The menstrual cycle is a reflection of women's health.  If there are issues with the cycle, the underlying cause needs to be addressed.

When we hit menopause, reproduction ends, but life does not.  We are one of few animals that survives after reproduction has ended.

All of our hormones interact.  So when we go through menopause, that balance is shifted.

Integrative vs. alternative...using the best of both worlds

Not sex hormones but "life hormones"

Hormones are neuro-protective - essential for brain function

Molecular mimicry - our cells look similar to infection or other protein which can lead to autoimmunity
Women have higher immune response - 80% of autoimmunity

Osteoporosis - hormone deficiency

Metabolic homeostasis

One Step:1-define the problem (choices you control that you could do better with)

Pick the one that you can actually do tomorrow - make a commitment- and keep it!

If someone loses their thyroid, they never say...that's ok, you don't need it anyway.
But when ovaries stop working, that is what women are told.