Women need to exercise caution when it comes to hormones of all types, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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If you’re a woman who’s experiencing a loss of libido, you may have been advised to take testosterone supplements, but Wen Shen, a menopause expert at Johns Hopkins, says wholesale embrace of hormone therapy isn’t for everyone, in spite of the FDA’s recent removal of black box warnings for some types.

Shen: Unfortunately there's a lot of misinformation. Women are getting the wrong impression. Why do you think you need testosterone, what sort of symptoms are you having? In the meantime your cholesterol is through the roof, you have high blood pressure and you want to go on testosterone. Hormone therapy is not for everybody. Taking the black box off of all hormone therapy is not the way to go because that might empower providers who don't understand menopause and menopause hormone therapy to prescribe hormone therapy inappropriately.   :32

Shen encourages women to get information from reputable sources and clinicians before making such decisions. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.