I think the top product that has helped me in menopause is a compounded form of estrogen, which may be shocking to some of you who think that estrogen supplementation is off limits for us as breast cancer survivors… it’s not! Vaginal estrogen is allowed for us, and I’ve found a compounding pharmacy who will make it with coco butter and almond oil so it’s super clean. Here’s a photo of the actual product that I use. I inject just an ML or two after each shower. The maker is “Community Compounding Pharmacy” and my prescriber is a Portland area naturepath (most medical doctors don’t use compounding pharmacies).

The related products that I use for sexual ease are two: a natural one from Living Libations called “Yoni Soother Serum” and a comercial product that I’ve touted in my videos called “Uberlube” that is a silicone based product. Silicones have begun to be suspect in beauty products of late, so I do recommend the Living Libations product here, which you can buy with this link: https://affiliates.livinglibations.com/products/petal-soother-yoni-serum?_pos=2&_sid=390ef27d8&_ss=r/aff_c?offer_id=1&aff_id=1028

The other most significant product for me in my menopause transition has been a phyto estrogen supplement that I’ve written about here before, called “Estrovera,” which has helped primarily with both night sweats and hot flashes. You can only buy this product whose origins are in Germany from a practitioner like me, but they do have a similar product now at Costco that I have not tried myself. It runs about $25 and it comes in a white box with pink and gold colors on it. Order Estrovera form me online here: https://us.fullscript.com/plans/kmoss-estrovera

Joint pain has been a big issue for me too, in menopause, and I use two essential supplements and one topical product that I don’t think I could function without, still. They are: Glucosamine capsules, fish oil, and topical THC/CBC serum. I also go to Physical Therapist regularly for this—to a hand specialist and a back and hip specialist. Here are my top choices for Glucosamine and Fish Oil: https://us.fullscript.com/plans/kmoss-joint-pain-remedies

Sleep a big item of discussion yesterday. While I don’t have trouble with sleep myself, my mom has in the past and I did discover a wonder drug for this issue, but I recommend using it with the assistance of an expert. The expert that I went to for both of my parents is the medical director of the George Washington University Integrative Medicine Department, Dr. Mikhail Kogan. Here’s his web site.

Here’s the product that worked wonders for my mom from the time she started struggling with sleep until she passed away at age 90. It’s an Oregon THC/CBD product, so it may not be sold in every state. I have found it at the following THC dispensary stores in Portland: Farma on East Burnside, Serra on Belmont Street, and Electric Lettuce, which has multiple locations here in Oregon, with lower prices but not as fresh inventory.

Let me know if there are other menopausal symptoms that you’d like me to address here on the stack! I know this is an ongoing bain for most of us in the breast cancer community!

Some of you know that I got a decorative floral tattoo to cover my scars on my cancer side, after mastectomy. I had some really gruesome scars and I love the way they are covered by my tattoo. Since that time I’ve learned how toxic our tattoo inks are here in the US, and I’ve decided to do any “re-inking” in the future while in Europe or Canada.

With that said, I’ve found a really neat little cheat for those who want to “try on” a 3D Nipple Tattoo for size. If you haven’t heard of “3D nipple tattoos,” they are real tattoos that are made with shadows to look as if they are three dimensional. I’ve found a really nice temporary tattoo vendor that sells two-packs of realistic looking 3D style nipple tattoos that are easy to apply and non toxic. They come in two sizes and a variety of four colors and they are only $10 a pair, plus shipping at the time of this newsletter. The web site gives plenty of photos of them, so I won’t take a photo of mine, but I encourage you to try them if you’ve lost one or both of your nipples to breast cancer, and you’re curious. I’ve had mine on my goldilocks side for about a week at this point and it’s still looking good!

Follow this link to see both their temporary tattoos and their realistic silicone nipple prosthetics! (I’m not an affiliate.)

https://zyanya-beauty.square.site/

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I was eating some granola in my yogurt and complaining of a tummy ache, and my friend said “oh I bet it’s the oats—they can be so irritating!”

I paused and said to her “oh, no oats are the gentlest of all grains. They have few lectins and they’re an amazing gentle source of soluable fiber, which helps keep me regular.”

When I got home, it occurred to me the reason that she might see oats as irritating to the gut though—most oats nowadays are sprayed with glyphosate, an herbicide that has been used in agriculture as a drying agent to prevent mold after harvest. I am so used to buying only organic oats (and organic granola) for this reason, that I sometimes forget that others don’t always know about the importance of buying grains like oats and wheat organic.

So both my friend and I were right—if you don’t buy your oats organic (I like the brand Purely Elizabeth) then they most certainly can be irritating to your gut!

Just popping in with this quick tip for you today. I hope you’re weathering the storms of life after breast cancer well this May!

Kathleen

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• 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil (solid)

• 1/8 Cup Arrowroot Powder

• 1/8 Cup Baking…

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This mini-course has a part two, which you can find here.

The Environmental Working Group is my source for the latest info on the dirtiest foods. Their list is on their website here. An article about harms done by the herbicide called Glyphosate is here.

One note about wine—I didn’t say it in this video, but nowadays I only buy biodynamic wine, and I buy it for my guests and not for myself. I stopped drinking all alcohol in 2023 when I read about it being newly confirmed as a human carcinogen. I suspect that biodynamic wine is less carcinogenic than other alcohol, but until that’s proven, I’m not partaking.

Hey, if you are an early subscriber to my membership, I’m giving you access to all my nutrition education videos as they come out, once a day this next month. If you get tired of seeing them in your inbox, I will understand. I’m building the resources here on my members-only subscription site and thought I’d let you tag along as it grows. I’m hoping that you’ll give me some feedback on the videos in return! I’ll put them behind the paywall in a few days.

Yay! You’re here! I’m so glad.

This is the guide for beginners, because Substack isn’t always super easy to navigate. So here’s what you need to know:

1. I have compiled many educational videos on nutrition and detox for you to watch while you’re waiting for my next email to come out, and if you’re joining later in the year, you’ll also be able to look at past email newsletters as well, each of which should have a gem or two for you. To make it easy to find all of these things, you’ll want to bookmark my home page where they live, which is here: https://cleanupafterbreastcancer.substack.com

2. Weekly-to-bimonthly email newsletters will sometimes be made of text and sometimes be made of videos, but they’ll always be brimming with helpful tips and tools. They will also have some attached cheat sheets for shopping and meal prep and the occasional recipe, as well as announcements about new offerings and “community challenges” that I have lined up (see below). All the cheat sheets and recipes will be available only tucked inside the newsletters, so be sure to peruse the archives! The following offerings will all be announced and linked to in the e-newsletters, except for #5, which requires an app on your phone:

3. We will have at least three kinds of community challenges each year here, and each will repeat on a quarterly basis. These are the topics for this year’s challenges: sugar-fasting, alcohol-forsaking and daily brisk walking. Each will have rules, of course. Each also has the option of being repeated, if you feel like continuing to fast, walk or forsake for another quarter. I will send prized out to folks who repeat the challenge with a record number of months, starting at six months.

4. I’m seeking your input for my next mini-course to be offered in our community. What do you want to hear from me on that hasn’t been covered in my educational videos? Please let me know by replying to this email or commenting in the chat.

5. Speaking of the chat, did you know that Substack has a nifty social media platform available only on smart phones? It’s an app that you only have to sign into once, and it has discussion threads that are unique to this membership community. If you don’t want to download the app to your phone, that’s ok. Just reply to an e-newsletter with your thoughts.

6. Lastly, I will do Live Q&A videos via Substack as often as I have a good list of questions that you’ve sent me to answer, so get sending! (The community site will send you a 15-minute heads up when I’m about to go live if you have the app on your phone. Otherwise you’ll need to remind yourself based on the announcement in my e-newsletter!)

Ok, that’s it! If you have questions, just ask. I’m here, and my email is here: kathleenmoss@pm.me

—Kathleen

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