Looking for a holistic approach to treating menopause?
“Three or four years ago, I was having trouble sleeping, I suffered from night sweats and my hair was falling out,” recalls Nancy, age 54. “My skin itched and my joints ached. I thought I was probably going through menopause, but I didn’t know for sure.
“My gynecologist confirmed that I was menopausal and wanted to prescribe a quick fix, treating my symptoms with prescription sleep aids like Ambien®, plus conventional hormone replacement therapy,” Nancy recalls.
“But I decided not to go that route,” she says. “My mother had had breast cancer, and I didn’t want to be taking synthetic hormones. That’s when I heard about Deborah Hartman’s menopause practice at SUBTLchanges.”
Deborah, one of only a handful of NAMS-Certified Menopause Practitioners in Houston, recalls when Nancy first came to see her. “Nancy’s doctors wanted to put her on a prescription for every symptom,” she says. “But no one asked, ‘What’s going on at the cellular level?’”
Menopause affects the whole body
“Menopause is not just a gynecological event; it affects every part of a woman’s body,” Deborah explains. “That’s why I ask about every aspect of a patient’s life.“ Next comes lab work including:
- A hormone evaluation
- An assessment of thyroid and adrenal function
- An intracellular vitamin analysis that measures the functional nutrient status of selected vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other essential micronutrients in a patient’s white blood cells
- A comprehensive cardiovascular risk assessment
‘Deborah spent more than 3 hours with me’
“I took the initial step to do the blood work, and it really changed my life,” Nancy recalls. “Deborah gave me the best physical I’ve ever had. And the detailed questionnaire I filled out beforehand covered every aspect of my life, because it’s all tied together. She also recommended several books to read about bio-identical hormones.”
“After Nancy’s exam and lab work, I compiled the information from her 20-page history into a comprehensive, customized plan,” says Deborah. “It’s like being a sleuth and finding the problems and the risk factors, and then dealing with them in a natural way.
“I prescribe drugs only when clearly indicated,” Deborah explains. “I prefer to identify a patient’s deficiencies and then replete them. Often, as in Nancy’s case, this is as simple as making nutritional recommendations and prescribing compounded bio-identical hormone therapy.
“I’m a consultant, not a replacement for a woman’s regular doctors,” she says. My patients still have their gynecologist and their primary care physician.”
