Dr. Shilpa Sayana describes a 41-year-old patient prescribed antidepressants for fatigue who bought hormones online instead, returning with dangerously high levels and worsening symptoms. Without lab monitoring and personalization, accessible hormone therapy becomes a source of harm rather than help.
It's disappointing to me that so many women are suffering unnecessarily just because nobody's checking their labs to see what those optimal hormone ranges are. Recently I had a patient, a young woman, like 41, and had severe fatigue, couldn't get up, couldn't take the kids to school, and they prescribed her antidepressants. She went online, got a whole bunch of hormones, started self-taking, and came to us with super therapeutic levels and felt miserable. I mean, I love the fact that it's becoming so accessible, but it really disappoints me that it's not monitored and not personalized.
