Dr. Tabatha Barber describes a woman given hormone pellets, creams, and pills after giving birth in her 30s, still unwell over a decade later. Postpartum hormone dips mimic menopause symptoms, but unnecessary long-term hormone therapy can suppress a woman's own ovarian function. Doctors need to check ovarian status before prescribing hormones.
They come to us like our provider this morning was talking about how this woman had a baby in her 30s and immediately got put on pellets and then creams and then pills. And she's now like early 40s and she just has never felt well since the delivery. I'm like, that poor woman was in a postpartum state. So your hormones are low, it can mimic and look like menopause. That doesn't mean you're going into menopause. That means you are postpartum. And if you don't have a provider who understands that space, that season, you're going to get all this unnecessary treatment. And then she comes to us, she's like, okay, you have to help me. And it's such a mess because she's been getting all of this intervention for 2 or 3 years now, and you don't even know what her ovarian status is. Like, do your ovaries work? Can they work? We haven't even given them the opportunity to work because when you take hormones, you shut down your own hormone production.
