What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 12pm - 8pm

Dr. Kathleen Mahannah, ND

Home
Canada
North Vancouver, BC
Dr. Kathleen Mahannah, ND

Directions Website

Dr. Kathleen Mahannah is a Naturopathic Physician with a special focus in hormones and women’s health.

Integrating the best of modern and natural medicine to treat women and their families. Dr. Mahannah uses functional hormone testing to identify and treat hormone imbalances to help women overcome exhaustion, PMS, menopausal symptoms, and support fertility, naturally.

10/09/2026

🧠 Can hormone therapy help with migraines during perimenopause?

For many women, yes. And this deserves a real conversation with your prescriber rather than an assumption in either direction.

The goal of hormone therapy for migraine isn’t simply to add more hormone. It’s to smooth out the swings.

Transdermal estrogen, delivered through a patch, gel, or cream, tends to work better for migraine than oral estrogen. It maintains steadier blood levels and avoids the liver metabolism that can amplify fluctuations.

Continuous dosing, rather than a cyclic regimen with a hormone-free week built in, may also help reduce withdrawal-related attacks because there’s no scheduled monthly drop.

🌟 But what if you have migraine with aura?

Having migraine with aura doesn’t automatically rule out hormone therapy.

That particular caution applies to combined hormonal contraceptives (in other words, estrogen + progestin birth control pills), which carry a real stroke risk in women with aura.

Menopausal hormone therapy uses much lower doses and hasn’t shown that same risk profile, especially with transdermal rather than oral estrogen.

What migraine with aura does mean is that your history deserves a thorough, individualized conversation, not a reflexive yes or no, so you and your prescriber can choose the safest form and dose for you specifically.

If migraines are changing or becoming harder to manage during perimenopause, book an appointment with me to discuss whether hormone therapy may be an appropriate option for you and what approach makes the most sense for your individual history. 💚

https://drkathleenmahannah.com

10/07/2026

Welcome to my community! 👋

I’m Dr. Kathleen Mahannah, ND, MSCP, a Naturopathic Physician and Menopause Society Certified Practitioner with a practice focused primarily on perimenopause and menopause care.

I created this space to share thoughtful, evidence-informed information about your hormones and health, help make sense of what may be happening in your body, and give you a clearer understanding of the options available to you.

Here, you can expect conversations about:

🌿 Perimenopause & menopause
🌿 PMOS
🌿 Period concerns & endometriosis
🌿 PMS, PMDD & mental health
🌿 Thyroid disorders
🌿 Metabolic health
🌿 Acne & skin concerns
🌿 IBS, SIBO & digestive concerns
🌿 General gynecologic & hormone health

My approach looks at the full picture, takes your symptoms seriously, and helps you make informed decisions about your care.

If you’re not sure whether I’m the right fit for what you’re experiencing, a free 15-minute Meet & Greet is the best place to start. 💛

https://restorationhealthclinic.janeapp.com/ #/staff_member/3/treatment/637

10/06/2026

🧠 Why can migraines get worse during perimenopause?

The leading explanation is the estrogen withdrawal hypothesis.

What triggers the migraine isn’t low estrogen on its own. It’s the drop that happens right before your period, a pattern that repeats itself more erratically throughout perimenopause.

Your brain’s trigeminovascular system, the network responsible for migraine pain, appears especially sensitive to falling estrogen. Serotonin activity in that same system shifts along with your hormones, which may explain why the timing lines up so precisely.

During perimenopause, estrogen doesn’t gradually taper off. It can spike and crash, often without a clear rhythm, as the ovaries respond less predictably to brain signals.

More unpredictability can mean:

🌟 More estrogen withdrawal events
🌟 More opportunities for migraines to be triggered
🌟 Less warning before they hit

And the research supports this pattern.

A 2016 analysis of nearly 3,700 women in the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study found that women in perimenopause had a meaningfully higher risk of high-frequency headaches compared with women who were still cycling regularly.

A separate review in Climacteric found a similar pattern: migraine frequency and severity increase during the menopausal transition, tracking the instability of estrogen rather than its overall decline.

The reassuring part? Research also suggests that migraines tend to ease again once you’re through menopause and hormones settle into a stable, low baseline (and there are treatments available to help manage them until then). ✨

If migraines have become more frequent or harder to manage as your cycle has started to change, there are evidence-based treatment options that can help. Book an appointment with me to discuss what may be contributing to your migraines and which treatment options make sense for you. 💚

https://drkathleenmahannah.com

10/05/2026

🧠 If your migraines have gotten worse since your cycle started shifting, you’re not imagining it.

😩 Menstrual migraines are notorious for intensifying, not easing, during perimenopause. Estrogen doesn’t decline in a straight line during this transition. It swings widely and unpredictably, and it’s the fall after the peak, not low estrogen itself, that seems to set off a migraine attack.

As your cycle becomes less predictable, those drops become more frequent and harder to see coming.

🌟 There’s real, evidence-based help for this: hormone therapy, targeted medications, and a handful of supplements with genuine research behind them. Stay tuned to find out what’s actually happening in your body and what the evidence says about treating it.

09/14/2026

🦴 Osteoporosis is more common than many women realize, but the good news is that there are ways to help protect your bone health.

Osteoporosis occurs when bone mineral density and bone mass decrease, weakening bones and increasing fracture risk.

Because bone loss accelerates after menopause due to the rapid decline in estrogen, it’s important to understand your individual risk factors and take a proactive approach to prevention.

I work with women to assess their risk and create personalized plans to support bone health through nutrition, lifestyle, supplements, and, when appropriate, hormone therapy.

💫 If you’re in perimenopause or menopause and want to better understand your osteoporosis risk, book an appointment with me. Together, we can develop a personalized plan to help keep your bones strong for years to come.

https://drkathleenmahannah.com

09/10/2026

🦴 Are you at risk for osteoporosis?

Many factors can increase your risk of developing low bone mineral density and osteoporosis. Some are within your control, while others are not.

Understanding your personal risk factors is one of the best ways to protect your bone health. I encourage you to review your health, medical, and family history with your healthcare provider to determine whether you may be at a higher risk of osteoporosis later in life.

Here are five important risk factors to be aware of:

1️⃣ Advanced age
Our bone density naturally declines with age, particularly after age 65.

2️⃣ Being too thin
Bone density is strongly correlated with body weight in healthy women. A body weight of less than approximately 127lbs (57.7kg) in women over age 65 is a risk factor for low BMD. In Body Mass Index (BMI) terms, this is a BMI of 21 or less.

3️⃣ Genetics
50-85% of BMD is influenced by genetics, so having a parent with osteoporosis (especially with hip fracture) is a risk factor.

4️⃣ Smoking
Smokers are at higher risk of low BMD. Smokers are generally thinner, reach menopause earlier, and have lower estrogen levels.

5️⃣ Early menopause
Reaching menopause early, before age 45.

👀 Stay tuned as I cover additional risk factors that may affect your bone health this week.

If you’re concerned about your risk of osteoporosis or want to take a proactive approach to protecting your bones, book an appointment with me. Together we can create a personalized plan to support your long-term bone health.

https://drkathleenmahannah.com

09/08/2026

🤔 What is osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a condition in which bone mineral density and bone mass decrease, making bones weaker and more likely to fracture.

It is diagnosed with a Bone Mineral Density (BMD) test, also known as a DEXA scan. If your BMD score (called a T-score) falls below a certain threshold, you meet the criteria for osteoporosis, meaning your risk of a fracture is significantly higher.

There are two main types of osteoporosis:
🦴 Primary osteoporosis – Bone loss that occurs naturally with aging and after menopause.
🦴 Secondary osteoporosis – Bone loss caused by another medical condition or as a side effect of certain medications.

So why does this matter?

Fractures, especially of the hip and spine, can profoundly affect health and independence. In fact:�• Approximately 20% of people die within the first year after a hip fracture.�• About 20% require long-term nursing care.�• Nearly 60% never fully regain their independence.

Supporting bone health isn’t just about maintaining bone density-it’s also about reducing your risk of falls and fractures so you can stay healthy, active, and independent as you age.

✨ In my next few posts, I’ll be sharing practical ways to support your bones, reduce your risk of osteoporosis, and lower your risk of fractures through nutrition, lifestyle, exercise, and medical therapies when appropriate. Stay tuned!

09/04/2026

You might be wondering…How can I prevent osteoporosis during menopause? 💭

One of the biggest changes that occurs during menopause is accelerated bone loss, driven by the rapid decline in estrogen.

Starting about 1–3 years after menopause, women lose an average of 2% of their bone mass each year for the next 5–10 years. This can result in a 10–15% loss of bone density in the spine and hips.

While the rate of bone loss slows after that, it doesn’t stop. By age 80, women have lost an average of 30% of their peak bone mass.

✨ The good news is that there are many things you can do to support your bone health before this accelerated bone loss begins. That’s why I encourage women to start thinking about bone health during perimenopause, not just after menopause.

Over the next few posts, I’ll be discussing:
�🦴 How to understand your risk of osteoporosis
🥗 Natural ways to support bone health through nutrition, supplements, and lifestyle
💊 The role hormone therapy may play in osteoporosis prevention

👀 Stay tuned to learn how you can protect your bones and reduce your risk of osteoporosis through every stage of menopause.

09/02/2026

A fresh, nourishing recipe for those cooler Vancouver days. 🌧️

🥬 This delicious quinoa kale salad is made in just 30 minutes with 10 ingredients. It’s sweet and tangy, lemony, crunchy, and packed with wholesome ingredients! 🍋

Ingredients:

🌟 Salad 🌟
* 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (or kalamata olives)
* 1 ½ cups cooked quinoa
* 4 cups loosely packed chopped kale (1 small bundle yields ~4 cups or 100 g)
* 1/4 cup sunflower seeds (we like roasted unsalted)
* 1/4 cup goat cheese crumbles (optional// vegan/dairy-free as needed)

🌟 Crispy Chickpeas 🌟
* 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
* 1 ½ Tbsp olive oil (or avocado oil)
* 1/4 tsp each sea salt and black pepper

🌟 Croutons - Optional 🌟
* 2 cups day old sturdy bread, torn into ~1-inch pieces (such as sourdough // if gluten-free, use gluten-free bread or omit)
* 1 tsp avocado oil (or olive oil)
* 1 healthy pinch each sea salt and black pepper

🌟 Dressing 🌟
* 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
* 2 Tbsp olive oil
* 1-1 ½ Tbsp maple syrup
* 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
* 1 pinch each sea salt and black pep

Recipe and Images courtesy of Minimalist Baker

https://minimalistbaker.com/lemony-quinoa-kale-salad-with-chickpeas/

08/31/2026

Hi! I’m Dr. Kathleen, ND 👋

I know exactly how bewildering and frustrating it is to feel like you are at the mercy of your hormones. 🙇🏻‍♀️

After years of navigating my own hormone issues and 15 years of studying exercise science, naturopathic medicine and women’s health, I have developed a deep understanding of the tests, treatments and strategies that women need to truly address their hormone concerns.

Now, I use the very best of both modern and natural medicine to help women feel energized, radiant and confident in their bodies.

It’s time to feel connected to and empowered by your hormones, rather than at their mercy.

If you’re ready to begin discussing your health, book a Virtual Meet and Greet with me via the link below! This virtual visit offer lets us meet, briefly discuss your symptoms and health care goals, and learn more about how my approach to naturopathic medicine can support you. 🌿

https://drkathleenmahannah.com

Address

#319/1277 Lynn Valley Road
North Vancouver, BC
V7J2A1

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	12pm - 8pm

Website

http://www.drkathleenmahannah.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dr. Kathleen Mahannah, ND posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Mind Strength Balance

Want your practice to be the top-listed clinic in North Vancouver?