’Tis the Season to Be…Sad and Irritated?
Can antidepressants coexist with naturopathic medicine? The answer may surprise you! This is the story of how I, a trained Naturopathic Doctor, found myself faced with my greatest fear, antidepressants and found a way to have antidepressants coexist with naturopathic...
“Waah, Blah, Boo Hoo”: Perimenopause’s Effect on Mood
One of the most difficult aspects of this stage of life has been perimenopause's effect on my mood. I am comforted knowing that many women struggle along with me. I talk to women every day who are having a harder time during this transition period. Hormones play such...
Gimme some zzz’s: Perimenopause and Sleep
One of the most common changes in perimenopause is in how women sleep (or don’t, rather). I regularly hear from patients that they struggle and the struggles vary from difficulty getting to sleep, to sleeping lighter in general to waking at 3 am every night unable to...
PMSing through Perimenopause
It feels unfair to be PMSing through perimenopause, it must be one or the other, right? I wrote before about what’s happening with the two major hormones in a normal monthly menstrual cycle. Estrogen is the Queen of the first two weeks (when the period starts to...
Finding Motivation
Finding motivation can feel as difficult as finding your car keys on a busy morning, but you're not going to get far without it! As a physician, I am so interested in the WHY of things. I think it’s important and useful to understand what is happening in your body in...
Biology of a Cycle, the short-short version
There are major hormone changes happening in perimenopause. Let me back up. There are major hormone changes happening constantly in a woman’s body from puberty through menopause. Our bodies get into a nice rhythm once periods are regular, sometime in our teens to our...
Silver Linings?
I write this at 5am, in our temporarily quiet home while everyone is asleep. I used to get frustrated when I woke up early like this. Now, I relish in the peace and quiet. Before I had kids, I remember talking with a mom-friend who said she recently started getting up...
Could this be the “P” word?
I have a medical clinic in Seattle where I practice naturopathic medicine . I am a naturopathic physician focusing on women's health issues for women mostly in the 25-65 year old range. This is a little story about one of those women, who is so like many of the 35 to...
The PeriMenopause Path
This is the post excerpt.
