Women's Hormones

It's 108 degrees in Phoenix, and the woman on my screen has just told me she wakes up three times a night drenched, that her patience with her family is gone by 4 p.m., and that the last provider she saw spent about seven minutes with her before reaching for a prescription pad. She's exhausted. She's also read enough of the internet to be scared — of her symptoms, and of the hormones everyone keeps telling her to "just get on." I see some version of this woman almost every we

In my last two articles, we considered how menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) can be helpful for some, but not for everyone, and why understanding your genetics can give insights into whether MHT is right for you. In this article, we'll cover alternatives for MHT as it relates to hot flashes, weight management, brain fog, joint pain, migraines, and low libido. For myself, refusing MHT (specifically, estrogen therapy) is a no-brainer. First of all, I watched two grandmothers,

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed out of undergrad, my first job was as a Health Promotion Specialist for a large hospital. My job was to help hospital employees stay healthy through education, outreach, and community engagement. I loved my work, and because of its nature, I was more motivated than ever to care for my own health. I made an appointment with a highly regarded OBGYN within the hospital system to discuss my very heavy and painful periods. She confidently wrote me a pr

While browsing Facebook a few weeks ago, a post about Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT) (which is the same thing as Hormone Replacement Therapy - HRT) in a mom thread got my attention. A woman in her mid-30s who thought she was undergoing perimenopause because she had low libido, joint pain, brain fog, and migraines was crying out for help to find a doctor who would prescribe MHT. She lamented that her doctor wanted to work on lifestyle factors while prescribing a few natural