Why I Become a Menopause Prevention Advocate: Why It Might Matter To You

For most of my early life to my mid-30s, I believed that suffering was normal.

Painful periods, crushing mood swings, chronic migraines, and a constant sense of doom and despair were my everyday reality from puberty into my mid-30s. I assumed every woman felt this way. My symptoms were so persistent and severe that I spent nearly two decades traveling coast to coast, doctor to doctor, searching for answers.

What I found instead was dismissal, gaslighting, and misdiagnosis. Nearly every physician I saw insisted that I was mentally ill—struggling with an irreversible “chemical imbalance.” When I asked one doctor how he could be so certain, his response floored me: “Because I treat your mother and your grandmother for the same problems. You’re all on the same medications.”

That was the first time I realized the legacy of misdiagnosed hormone deficiency runs deep—and often masquerades as hereditary mental illness.

Over the years, I was prescribed a pharmacy’s worth of psychotropic drugs and mind-numbing medications. They didn’t heal me—they destroyed me. I became a shell of myself: emotionally vacant, cognitively impaired, and spiritually disconnected from my children, my husband, and the woman I once was.

By the time I turned 32, I was told that my “last chance” drug cocktail would soon fail—and that shock therapy was the next step. At that point, I had two toddlers and a marriage hanging by a thread. I remember sitting in my car outside my home and sobbing, overwhelmed by the gravity of that recommendation and how it would affect my future. It felt like the end of the road. I didn’t want to die, but I didn’t know how to keep living like this.

I knew it wasn’t really mental illness; at least not how I understood it to be, but that's what I was told. Come to find out, I wasn’t mentally ill. I was estrogen-deficient.

The Symptoms I Lived With for Over 20 Years:

• Mental and Emotional:
  Severe depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, uncontrollable mood swings, anger outbursts, irrational behavior, inability to cope, negative self-talk, low self-worth, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, no sex drive, and emotional detachment. My reactions were so out of proportion to the situation that no one took me seriously.
• Reproductive and Menstrual:
  Irregular and painful cycles, endometriosis, heavy bleeding, multiple periods per month, clots, intense cramping, pelvic inflammation, and debilitating PMDD.
• Gastrointestinal:
  Constipation, bloating, diarrhea, cravings for sugar and salt, gut dysbiosis, and chronic digestive issues.
• Cognitive:
  Brain fog, memory issues, low comprehension, inability to focus, dyslexia, and impaired executive function.
• Physical:
  Fibromyalgia, chronic pain, muscle atrophy, fatigue, weight gain, and a complete loss of motivation and drive.

Despite dozens of medication cocktails over the years, I never got better. In fact, I got worse. The side effects of my medications only compounded my suffering and robbed me of critical years in my marriage, my parenting, and my career.

The Turning Point

Everything changed when I met a hormone medicine specialist who didn’t see my symptoms as a mental illness to be managed, but as a hormonal deficiency to be corrected.

He ordered a comprehensive female hormone panel and physical assessment. For the first time, someone showed me how my estrogen levels—and overall hormone profile—were catastrophically low. He explained how restoring each hormone to optimal levels with a therapeutic-dosed HRT protocol, adjusting my diet, and making key lifestyle changes would transform my life.

He was right.

It took several months, but with plenty of estrogen and progesterone and changing my diet and lifestyle, I started to feel better. Then good. Then fully alive.

I no longer suffer from any of those debilitating conditions. I don’t take psychotropic drugs and haven’t for years. In fact, the only things I take are estrogen and progesterone—and they are what keep me stable, functional, and thriving.

At first, it was hard to believe I could feel good all the time for no reason. I woke up happy and stayed that way throughout the day, even when things were falling apart around me. I kept waiting for something bad to happen. But it never did. It took me a while to adapt to my new self. In the beginning, I felt like a safe and stable stranger. It changed me so much for the better that others were wondering what was wrong with me and why I wasn't so emotional or moody. They were not used to me being so rational and dependable. Each one of my relationships got better, and was emotionally strong enough to rid those in my life who didn’t genuinely care about me.

A New Mission

My transformation led to a new calling: to help other women get their lives back with estrogen and other deficient hormones.

With a background in medical and dental practice consulting, I partnered with the hormone specialist who changed my life. I built and operated a wellness center with him and accompanied him to every training, conference, and CME course on hormone medicine available across the U.S. for over a decade and a half.

We amassed thousands of hours of training in advanced female HRT, but the real education came from the clinic—where I served as both COO and clinical hormone coach.

Over the years, I tracked clinical outcomes, reviewed labs, monitored protocols, and coached thousands of women through their hormone restoration journeys. I learned which therapies worked, which failed, and why. And I began to see patterns—especially in how estrogen affects the female brain and body. I learned there is a Hormone Sweet Spot for most women and helped them achieve was I was able to do for myself with the right hormone therapy dosed the right way.

The Estrogen Question No One Is Asking

Despite the fear-mongering around estrogen and cancer, we didn’t see cancer cases increase in our large practice. We saw the opposite: a reduction of cancer cases, mental health restored, physical vitality reclaimed, and diseases went away.

That made me curious. If estrogen really caused cancer, where is the data? I went digging through the National Library of Medicine expecting to find strong, clear research—but instead found vague correlations, flawed conclusions, and a conspicuous lack of research on therapeutic HRT dosing. And no real studies that estrogen causes cancer. I saw that high-dose estrogen therapy was used to treat and prevent cancer, but no one talks about it.

I believe the fear of estrogen has been manufactured—to control prescribing patterns, suppress access, and profit off women’s suffering.

Because what I witnessed in the clinic—and lived in my own body—was not cancer. It was healing.

Menstrual Cycle Restoration and Preservation (Menopause Prevention)

One thing I have learned that was life-changing for me and the majority of women I worked with is that you can restore and maintain a healthy menstrual cycle for as long as you want if you are on the right HRT protocol. When I realized that when estrogen and progesterone are fully restored to reproductive levels, it reestablishes and maintains a regular cycle without incident.

After experiencing this phenomenon myself and watching other women do the same, I realized that women never have to experience perimenopause or menopause in their lifetime. I also learned that PMS, perimenopause, and menopause do not have symptoms; they ARE symptoms; symptoms of estrogen deficiency.

But it’s not so much about the menstrual cycle as the mental and physical benefits that plenty of female hormones (estrogen and progesterone) have on the mind and body of women.

I remember standing in the hall of the hormone clinic the day I realized that I was never going to experience perimenopause again and would most likely never experience menopause as long as I maintain my cycle.

I flagged a passing doctor to confirm my suspicion and asked, “Is it true that women can prevent menopause if they maintain a menstrual cycle with HRT?” He replied, “It appears that way.” Here I am 21 years later at 60 and still maintain an incident-free cycle; better yet, mental illness-free.

Why I Do This Work

I’ve taken nearly every form of HRT available. I’ve learned what works, what doesn’t, and how to personalize protocols that fully restore a woman’s hormonal health to the sweet spot.

I am not a physician or a scientist. I’m a woman who survived—and now thrives—because someone finally listened to me, tested my hormones, treated the root cause, and educated me.

And now, it’s my life’s mission to advocate for perimenopause and menopause prevention with advanced HRT protocols. It’s not for everyone, but it’s life-changing for most.

It’s also my mission to educate women. To empower doctors. To train hormone coaches. To dismantle the myths about estrogen and menopause. And to expose the Medical Establishment’s failure to recognize that what we’re calling “mental illness” in women is often simply estrogen deficiency in disguise.

You don’t need to live with mood swings, irrational thoughts, emotional volatility, or any of the side effects many say are related to perimenopause and menopause. You need your main sex hormones fully restored.

And I’m here to help you.