Menopause Masterclass: My Menopause Toolkit – HRT and more
6/16/20261 hr 5 min
In this solo episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver answers one of the most asked questions she receives: what hormones do you actually take, and why? Rather than a general overview of menopause hormone therapy, this is a fully transparent, clinically grounded walk through her personal protocol, including every formulation she uses, why she chose it, and what the FDA-approved alternatives are for women whose needs or circumstances differ.
Dr. Haver opens with systemic estrogen, explaining why she uses a transdermal patch as her primary delivery method, why she added a small dose of oral estradiol for bone protection after finding her serum levels were not reaching the threshold needed to preserve bone density, and why she believes routine estradiol level testing should become standard of care even though current guidelines do not yet reflect the latest absorption data. She walks through the key FDA-approved transdermal and oral estrogen options, including patches, gels, sprays, and oral formulations, covering the differences in delivery, cost, clotting risk, and SHBG implications.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
[upbeat music] One of the questions I get more than almost anything else is, "What hormones do you actually take? What is your menopause routine? What supplements are you on?" And I get it. When you're drowning in conflicting information, when one doctor says hormones are dangerous and another says they're essential, when the supplement aisle has four hundred options and none of them come with context, you want to know what someone who actually understands the science does for herself. So today, I'm gonna walk you through everything, my hormone therapy regimen, why I choose each formulation, what it does, what the FDA-approved alternatives are, and if my specific choice is not right for you. Then I'm gonna cover every supplement I take and why, specifically for my body and my risk profile. I'm gonna talk about oral minoxidil for hair because that question comes up constantly, and I wanna give you real information. Before I start, I want to be clear about something. This is my routine. It is based on my symptoms, my lab work, my risk factors, my family history, and my goals. It is not a prescription. What is right for me may not be right for you. The point of sharing this is not so that you can copy it. The point is to show you what a thoughtful, individualized, evidence-based menopause plan