Dr Jessie Short, Naturopathic Doctor

Dr Jessie Short, Naturopathic Doctor Dr. Jessie Short ND, PhD, MSCP
Evidence-informed care. Helping you navigate perimenopause for long term health. Mahone Bay and virtual across NS

09/18/2026

She had already decided HRT was the answer before she sat down.

That is a different appointment from the one where a woman is told it is too early. The missing piece is the same though. Nobody had the whole conversation with her.

HRT is a legitimate option and it deserves discussing properly. It is also not automatically right for every person, which is exactly why it has to be a conversation rather than a yes or a no.

Wherever it lands, it has to sit among all the other things you are doing. Sleep. Food. Nutrient status. Nervous system load. The things that decide whether anything you add on top works.

There are no magic bullets, whether they are pharmaceuticals or supplements. Hoping one thing fixes all of it is the same shape of thinking either way.

If HRT is for you, I am glad. I want you to have had the conversation.

Save this before your next appointment.

You cannot feel bone loss happening, but the years around menopause are an important time for bone health.Estrogen helps...
09/16/2026

You cannot feel bone loss happening, but the years around menopause are an important time for bone health.

Estrogen helps regulate the ongoing process of breaking down and rebuilding bone. As estrogen declines, bone breakdown begins to outpace bone formation, and bone density decreases more quickly.

The timing matters. Bone loss is most rapid from approximately one year before to two years after the final menstrual period. Lean mass also tends to decline across the years surrounding menopause, although it does not follow exactly the same trajectory.

This is why we should be thinking about bone and muscle health before a bone-density scan identifies a problem.

Resistance training and weight-bearing or higher-impact exercise, where appropriate, help provide the stimulus that bone and muscle need. Adequate protein, calcium and vitamin D matter too.

These strategies remain valuable at every age, but beginning earlier gives you more time to build and preserve strength.

If you are approaching menopause, consider discussing your individual bone-health risk factors with your healthcare provider.

Share this with a friend in her forties.

The word will not come. You lose your train of thought halfway through a sentence. You walk into a room and cannot remem...
09/14/2026

The word will not come. You lose your train of thought halfway through a sentence. You walk into a room and cannot remember why.

These changes can be unsettling, but difficulties with word retrieval, concentration and memory are commonly reported during perimenopause.

Estrogen receptors are found throughout the brain, including regions involved in memory and attention. As estrogen fluctuates and declines, the function of these brain networks may be affected.

But “brain fog” is not specific to perimenopause. Sleep disruption, stress, anxiety or depression, thyroid dysfunction, low iron or vitamin B12, medications and inadequate nutrition may also contribute. Often, more than one factor is involved.

Many women tell me they used to be able to keep track of everything, and suddenly it requires much more effort. That experience is real, and it deserves a thoughtful assessment rather than being dismissed as aging or assumed to be hormonal.

Save this for your next appointment.

09/11/2026

The protocol is producing the exact symptoms you started it to get rid of.

When we look at fasting in women, the same things turn up. It is generally not helpful for weight loss in the long term. It tends to leave women irritable, exhausted, anxious, and foggier than they were. And if you are not eating three meals a day, it is hard to get the things your body runs on.

There is also a data problem. Most of this research was done on men. When women are separated out, we do not respond the same way. So when your husband feels great on it, that is real for him and it is not evidence for you.

The women I see are running on empty. A protocol whose whole mechanism is taking food out of the day is pointed the wrong way for them.

If you tried it and felt worse, you were not doing it wrong.

Save this if a longer fasting window is on your list.

Whether a test is worth running comes down to what question it can answer, and a perimenopause hormone panel answers alm...
09/09/2026

Whether a test is worth running comes down to what question it can answer, and a perimenopause hormone panel answers almost none of the ones you came in with.

In perimenopause we see some of the largest hormone fluctuations of a woman's life. They change on a day-to-day basis, so a single blood draw gives us a snapshot in time that actually tells us very little. Your symptoms alone usually give us enough to understand the hormonal patterns that are driving them.

Here is the part that gets lost. Most women are under-tracking. I would rather you tracked your cycle and when your symptoms turn up, because that history is close to impossible to reconstruct afterwards.

Hormone testing can be useful when there is a specific clinical question to answer. But when it comes to recognizing perimenopause, the pattern often tells us more than a single number.

Save this if a hormone panel is on your list.

Fatigue is common during perimenopause, but that does not mean hormones are always the only explanation.When a patient t...
09/07/2026

Fatigue is common during perimenopause, but that does not mean hormones are always the only explanation.

When a patient tells me she is exhausted, my goal is not simply to confirm that it is “hormonal.” It is to understand what may be contributing, because "fatigue" has many potential drivers.

Depending on the person and the rest of the clinical picture, that might mean considering:

• Changes in sleep
• Iron deficiency or low ferritin
• Vitamin B12 or vitamin D deficiency
• Thyroid dysfunction
• Changes in blood sugar regulation
• Inadequate nutrition or under-fuelling
• Stress, mood, medications and other health conditions

Hormonal changes may be part of the picture, but fatigue can also come from something unrelated, or from several factors overlapping at once.

You deserve a more thoughtful assessment than being told that exhaustion is simply "your hormones"

Save this as a reminder: “hormonal” should not be the end of the investigation.

You have never had more access to information about your hormones. And you have never felt more lost in it.Women arrive ...
08/28/2026

You have never had more access to information about your hormones. And you have never felt more lost in it.

Women arrive to me with two podcasts, a TikTok protocol, an Instagram save, and a plan from ChatGPT, and honestly, most of it is loosely in the right direction. They still do not feel better. Of course you are on the internet trying to figure this out. That is not something to be embarrassed about.

My job is the bridge. Not more information. Discernment. Where to start, and what will actually shift how you feel the most, the fastest. I read research for a living before I ever did this work, and that is the lens I bring to your pile of it.

Follow along if you want a clearer signal in the noise.

A single-complaint visit is very good at burying the symptoms that matter most.You get one problem per appointment, so y...
08/26/2026

A single-complaint visit is very good at burying the symptoms that matter most.

You get one problem per appointment, so you lead with the one that feels allowed. The low libido, the pain with s*x, the mood you do not recognize, those get left at the door, because somewhere you were taught they were not medical enough to mention.

They are exactly what I want to hear about. Here is how I usually open the door. I explain the physiology first. Hormonal changes in perimenopause change the vaginal environment, and that leads to real, physical symptoms that tend to shift over time. It is a clinical change, not something you have to just live with, and not just part of aging as a woman.

Almost every time, once a woman hears the why, she feels safe enough to tell me what is really going on. That is the whole point of leading with education.

Send this to a friend who has been too embarrassed to mention it.

Being told you are too young is not a reason to stop asking. It is a reason to come back with the right information.I ca...
08/24/2026

Being told you are too young is not a reason to stop asking. It is a reason to come back with the right information.

I cannot tell you what to do about HRT, and I would not try to over a caption. What I can do is help you notice what is actually worth putting on the table. Early in perimenopause, that is often mood and insomnia, or anxiety and insomnia. Later, it tends to be hot flashes, night sweats, brain fog, low mood, and vaginal symptoms.

These are the things worth naming out loud, so the conversation starts from what your body is actually doing.

If you are not sure whether what you are feeling is worth raising, DM me and let's chat.

For decades, women have been told that the goal is to become smaller.It's no wonder that many women try to manage body c...
07/31/2026

For decades, women have been told that the goal is to become smaller.

It's no wonder that many women try to manage body composition changes during perimenopause by trying to eat less.

But during this stage of life, I think we need to broaden the conversation.

Weight management may still be one of your goals, but how you get there matters.

As estrogen declines, women naturally lose muscle more quickly. At the same time, muscle becomes increasingly important for metabolism, blood sugar regulation, bone health, strength, balance and maintaining independence as we age.

That's why I spend so much time talking to my patients about preserving muscle.

That means:
- Eating enough to support your body
- Prioritizing protein
- Challenging your muscles through resistance training
- Thinking about the body you want to have 10 or 20 years from now

Healthy aging isn't about becoming as small as possible.

It's about building a body that's strong enough to support the life you want to live.

Address

25 Keddy Bridge Road
Mahone Bay, NS
B0J2E0

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+19025291331

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