Arcadia Women’s Wellness

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.

04/10/2026

Please save your money and skip the DUTCH hormone test. Results from these tests do not help menopause specialists determine whether hormones will help your symptoms, what doses to use, or whether to change doses. IF we needed hormone levels (most of the time we don’t) you would get blood/serum levels, not urine.
Save the $600 and do something fun or eat something great.

03/28/2026

02/07/2026

As of today at least, TrumpRX is not a place to go to get your estrogen & progesterone for menopause symptoms. Why is there no information on testosterone, you might ask? Simple,they don’t have any. No estradiol patches, no bioidentical progesterone, no vaginal estradiol creams or tabs. So no, Mr Trump, you have NOT “ensured every American gets the lowest prices on prescription medications in the developed world” as the website says. And you have not helped the 75million women in perimenopause/menopause get the care they need at an affordable price.

12/18/2025

As a I am learning all the time to help women in menopause.

Right around the corner, after the many women will vow to just like they did last year and the year before. In this goal can become more difficult to achieve, not due to lack of willpower, but due largely to impact of changes. There is no one-size-fits-all solution: not a specific diet, restricted eating, complicated exercise regimens, or even or . For most, & alone are not enough. These are not new ideas: Most of my patients have been doing these things for years.

Do not believe the hype and savvy marketing of so-called that say they have the secret pill because there is none.

Focusing on improving health and decreasing risk of chronic disease may be a better focus and for those who are struggling with are overweight and have risk factors + in combination with all the nutrition and lifestyle things you have already been doing for years may be the answer. Especially for women with history of

There are many ways to access safe & effective treatments without resorting to and these options will become more affordable in 2026

12/16/2025

My new post demonstrates the huge differences in price in menopausal hormone therapy and how you can get your hormones without spending $1000s a year.

12/16/2025

Clearly, I am not a reels or video maven, but I wanted to share the facts on pricing for symptoms.

I spend a lot of time sharing patient experiences of being overcharged for compounded hormones & as well as FDA- approved from online companies like on stories, but I wanted this information to live somewhere accessible and easily shared.

I am also not a SM guru with skills to make fancy graphics, but I did manage to make a chart comparing cash pay prices between savings programs like & vs those from the above online companies and for

I posted screen shots from the respective companies as evidence of the prices shown on the chart.

All hormones shared are
I started with pills even though we know they may not be the safest option for women with various cardiovascular risks, they are the most affordable and are fine for many.

The most common option is patches are twice weekly options and while one weekly options are less expensive, they may not work for everyone. Patches do not have risks of pills

pills are a must for anyone with a uterus using systemic estrogen, but not necessary after hysterectomy

Final word on compounded hormones and pellets. These options vary widely in effectiveness & price: compounded hormones can be as much as $100-300/90d and pellets anywhere from $350-600 every 3-4m
Progesterone creams and troches have not been found effective for uterine protection

COMPOUNDED HORMONES & PELLETS DO NOT HAVE THE SAFETY OR EFFICACY DATA OF FDA-APPROVED HORMONES AND ALL PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES RECOMMEND AGAINST THEM:

12/12/2025

When your sister moves to and you inherit her “kids” (i.e. plants)



# 🌿

11/08/2025

I don’t see the difference

08/30/2025

This guy. There is so much bad news out there, I’d like to share a bit of good news.

graduated from a class of 12 in Butte Falls, OR. Valedictorian

Entered the Air Force stationed in Crete, Greece in the cryptography security services to pay for college. Graduated with BS in Chemistry with top honors from .

Graduated medical school, internship year in Boston, and returned for residency in with fellowship in

Worked tirelessly in head & neck trauma in Portland, settling in private practice as a general surgeon taking all patients: no pay, sliding scale, seeing all 3 kids in one family at once, calling patients with biopsy results on Friday nights and over the weekend. He really cared, empathized for his patients.

I know. I was there. This is old school medicine.

“Retired” in 2016 upon our relocation to Az (IYKYK) only to accept a position at the Phoenix VA where he cared for ALL vets, including those from WW2, Korea, Vietnam, all subsequent wars, all military positions. He soon taking over as Chief of ENT and not long after, Chief of Surgery.

Today, he retired for good after nearly 35 years of medical practice. I am happy for him. But I am sad for the vets in Phoenix and medicine in general. Sadly, he represents what is going away in medical care. Sure, I am his wife, but there are decades of patients he helped feel more comfortable, even saved many, many lives. Always with a smile.

08/29/2025

Apropos my earlier post, this from

Do you live in one of the states impacted by this? I do.

Arizona
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
New York
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
Utah
Virginia
West Virginia
District of Columbia

While it might not seem like a big deal to need a prescription, for those with high-deductibles or co-pays it can be the difference in getting vaccinated or not.

& AZ Department of Health Services head Sheila Sjolander please step in to protect Arizona’s citizens’ right to evidence based medicine

For those is other affected states, contact your governor & head of HHS