Arcadia Women’s Wellness

08/15/2026

Back at pilates after 6w hiatus due to illness.

05/29/2026

05/06/2026

🌸 May is Mental Health Awareness Month — and if you’re in perimenopause, this one’s for you.
Mood swings, anxiety, low days & crying for now reason. You’re not imagining it — and you’re not alone.
Perimenopause is a hormonal transition that can deeply affect your mental health. Fluctuating estrogen and progesterone don’t just affect your cycle — they affect your brain chemistry, your sleep, your stress response, and your sense of self.
Common mental health changes during perimenopause include:
✔️ Increased anxiety or irritability
✔️ Low mood or depression
✔️ Brain fog and forgetfulness
✔️ Difficulty sleeping (which worsens everything else)
✔️ Irritability and anger
This isn’t “just stress.” This isn’t “just getting older.” This is biology — and it’s treatable.
If you’ve been struggling emotionally and wondering whether hormones might be playing a role, please reach out. You deserve support that looks at the whole picture.
💚 Talk to your provider. Ask questions. Advocate for yourself.

04/25/2026

04/22/2026

How much did you pay for your initial menopause consult? DM me, I’m collecting data.

There are a variety of options out there and if you can obtain your MHT RX through an insurance- covered provider, that is the best case scenario.

But for those who would like or need more time for complicated issues or require more time, you may be searching for a menopause specialist outside of insurance.

Many menopause specialists with websites are not transparent about fees, especially if they require a membership or provide “concierge” services.

Others are transparent, but their fees are ridiculously high. For example, let’s look at 2 well known physician influencers:
1) Dr. A - initial consult $2000, does not offer med management appts, but you can see her colleague for $650 thereafter.
2) Dr. B - membership plan starts at $2000

I cannot think of any other specialty where this happens and wonder why this is acceptable. Yes, providers need to be paid for their knowledge, experience, and time, but at a certain point one must wonder why some think their services are so much more valuable than others who are doing the same thing. And with such exorbitant pricing, many seeking care are priced out right from the get go. Talk about a pink tax.

04/17/2026

Part 2 of yesterday’s post with tips on how to deal with the estradiol patch shortage:

As I shared yesterday, I too am having issues getting my patches consistently so I investigated another option: the estradiol vaginal ring.

Femring is inserted vaginally and provides local and systemic estradiol for 3 months! Don’t confuse this with the Estring which provides local vaginal estradiol only (like the vaginal cream or tablet) for 3 months. Unlike the Femring, Estring does nothing for systemic symptoms like hot flashes, mood issues, fatigue.

The Femring typically costs $1000, yep, you read that right. Through my insurance, the price dropped to $440…not great. BUT I was able to find a manufacturer coupon on the Femring website which dropped the price to a $25 co-pay!

So for $25 I have my estradiol covered for the next 90d and I don’t even have to think about it.

Let me know if you have questions about Femring or the co-pay coupon.

04/15/2026

MORE estrogen tips here 👇🏻

Hi! Today I am officially menopausal!

And I too am having difficulty getting my estrogen patches.

Here are some tips:
1) try mail order pharmacies through your insurance, or Amazon.
2) ask if your pharmacy has other doses available like the 0.025mg. 0.05mg is very popular so you may be able to double up on the lower dose.
3) the estradiol daily gel divigel is now generic and covered by insurance and
4) ask the pharmacy if your insurance will allow substitutes like minivelle, dotti or lyllana in same dose. These are exactly the same estradiol.
5) while transdermal estradiol is safer for the cardiovascular system, many who are low risk can still use oral estradiol as a stopgap measure during shortages. There’s also the combipatch estradiol + synthetic progestin which though rarely used works great!

If none of these work DM me and I’ll try to help you out

04/11/2026

This is 56. In 5 days if I don’t have any spotting, I will be in menopause! One full year after my last period. My final period. If I make it 5 more days.
My perimenopause transition wasn’t necessarily easy or fast.
💜In 2018 had my Mirena pulled too soon at 48, followed by a uterine ablation.
💜Took tens of Covid tests and walked around with a thermometer in my pocket in 2020 suffering from hot flashes.
💜Started MHT in 2023 when I finally saw the preponderance of evidence showed I could use transdermal estrogen with migraines with aura.
And now 5 days from one year since my hopefully last period never have I ever taken a hormone test.
Not to diagnose perimenopause.
Not to confirm my symptoms were related to hormone fluctuations.
Not to start hormones or determine dose needed.
No. Nope. Never.
Zero dollars spent of hormone testing.
Zero dollars spent on compounded hormones or pellets.
I have been a menopause provider since 2003 and an certified specialist since 2011 and I have never done any of those things in my menopause transition.
Menopause care doesn’t need to be expensive.