The Pause Life

09/09/2026

Could low ferritin be contributing to your fatigue? Fatigue, hair thinning, brain fog, restless legs, and difficulty exercising can have many causes. One that often gets overlooked is low ferritin, your body's stored iron. ✨Listen to the full unPAUSED Menopause Masterclass episode on labs at the link in bio. In this episode, I share my own experience with low ferritin and explain why checking ferritin, not just your iron level, can be so important. Your iron level may appear normal while your iron stores are steadily declining, which is why ferritin can provide valuable information that a standard iron test may miss. We also discuss why heavy menstrual bleeding can increase the risk of low ferritin, how iron deficiency symptoms can overlap with menopause symptoms, and why identifying a nutritional deficiency is an important part of understanding what's contributing to the way you feel.

09/08/2026

"Your labs are normal" is not the same as "you are healthy," and the difference is costing women years. A reference range is a statistical band, not a health target. You can sit inside it and still feel awful, because the markers that actually explain midlife symptoms often never get ordered in the first place. Fatigue, brain fog, the weight that won't shift: the answers are frequently in the bloodwork no one ran. This is not you being dramatic. It's a system that was never built to look closely at women at midlife. In the new Menopause Masterclass I walk you through how to read your own labs, line by line, so you can stop being dismissed and start asking for exactly what you need. Full episode on unPAUSED, link in bio. What's a lab result you were told was "fine" when you knew something was off? Tell me below.

09/07/2026

Bloating is not a personal failure.

09/05/2026

09/04/2026

Why does cholesterol often increase in midlife?

Many women are surprised to learn that LDL cholesterol increases by an average of 18% across the menopause transition, even when their diet and exercise habits haven't changed.

✨Listen to the full unPAUSED episode about the most important lab tests for women in midlife.

In this episode, I explain why declining estrogen changes the way your liver handles cholesterol, why elevated cholesterol isn't just an aging event but also a hormonal one, and which additional tests, including ApoB and Lp(a), may provide a more complete picture of your cardiovascular risk.

Understanding these changes can help you have more informed conversations with your healthcare team and take a more proactive approach to protecting your heart health.

09/03/2026

Just so we are all on the same page.

09/02/2026

Five habits. Nutrition, movement, stress. I’m doing all of them with you, starting now. Not a demo, not a before and after. My actual daily practice, at my actual age, menopause flag flying, with the same hard days you’re going to have. Free. Link in bio and we’ll email you the guide.

09/01/2026

Why do so many midlife women wake up at 3 AM? Dr. Kristen Holmes explains the role circadian rhythm and amplitude may play, and why the answer isn’t that you did something wrong or somehow sabotaged your sleep. There’s biology behind what’s happening. Listen to the full unPAUSED episode at the link in bio.

08/29/2026

What a week.

08/28/2026

There's a routine blood test that tracks with your waist, your triglycerides, and your insulin after menopause. It rarely gets ordered. A rare 2026 study done specifically in 351 postmenopausal women found the lowest vitamin D group (under 21 ng/mL) had over twice the risk of metabolic syndrome versus women above 31, along with higher waist circumference, triglycerides, and insulin, and lower HDL. This was a cross-sectional snapshot, so it can't prove low vitamin D causes metabolic syndrome. More body fat can also lower circulating vitamin D. And supplement users were excluded, so it doesn't tell us a pill fixes anything. What I tell my patients: ask for the 25-hydroxy vitamin D test by name. Food sources worth knowing: salmon, sardines, mackerel, egg yolks, UV-grown mushrooms, cod liver oil, and fortified milk or plant milk. If you supplement, use D3, take it with a fat-containing meal, dose to your blood level, and retest. Source: Cota e Souza et al., Arch Endocrinol Metab. 2026;70(5):e260085. Educational, not medical advice. Talk to your clinician about testing and dosing.