Coming Soon
Menopause & Hormones at Ladies First
Menopause is a medical event. Let’s treat it like one.
Hot flashes, night sweats, broken sleep, mood swings, brain fog, cycle changes, vaginal dryness — these aren’t things you’re supposed to quietly endure. They’re the measurable effects of a hormonal transition, and there are real prescription treatments for them.
We’re opening menopause & hormone care soon. The education below is ready today — because you shouldn’t have to wait to understand what’s happening in your body.
What’s actually happening in your body
Perimenopause is the stretch of years when hormone levels start to fluctuate before your final period — and it’s when symptoms usually begin, often while your cycles are still coming. Menopause itself is a single point in time: twelve months after your last period. Everything after that is postmenopause.
Why does that matter? Because hormone levels swing during perimenopause, a single blood test can come back “normal” on a day your estrogen happens to be up — which is how so many women get told their labs are fine while feeling anything but. Diagnosis starts with your symptoms and your history, not just a lab value.
The symptoms worth naming
Hot flashes and night sweats have a clinical name — vasomotor symptoms — and they can significantly disrupt sleep, mood, focus, and quality of life. “Just hot flashes” is bad framing for something that can wake you four times a night for years.
Vaginal dryness, irritation, discomfort with sex, and recurring urinary symptoms also have a clinical name — genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). It’s common, it’s treatable, and unlike hot flashes it tends not to improve on its own.
Sleep disruption, mood changes, joint aches, and changes in where your body carries weight round out the picture. None of this is imagined, and none of it is untreatable.
What we’ll offer
When we open, your provider will be able to consider systemic hormone therapy, local vaginal estrogen for GSM, and non-hormonal prescription options — each explained honestly, with transparent per-28-day pricing, before you ever pay.
Systemic hormone therapy
For hot flashes, night sweats, and other whole-body symptoms, providers often consider estradiol — the same form of estrogen your ovaries produce. The route matters, and if you have a uterus, systemic estrogen is paired with progesterone to protect the uterine lining.
Vaginal (local) estrogen
Vaginal dryness, irritation, discomfort with sex, and recurring urinary symptoms respond to low-dose estrogen delivered exactly where the symptoms are — with minimal systemic absorption.
Non-hormonal options
Hormone therapy isn’t right for everyone. Prescription non-hormonal medications have clinical evidence behind them for reducing hot flashes and night sweats — because a history that rules out hormones shouldn’t mean living with the symptoms.
The warnings on the label — in plain language
Estrogen therapy carries FDA boxed warnings — the strongest caution the FDA puts on a medication label. Some companies bury that. We’d rather you read it here, plainly, before you ever talk to a provider:
- Estrogen taken without progesterone increases the risk of endometrial cancer in women who have a uterus. That’s exactly why progesterone is co-prescribed.
- In the large Women’s Health Initiative studies, estrogen combined with a progestin was associated with increased risk of stroke, blood clots, and invasive breast cancer; estrogen alone was associated with increased risk of stroke and blood clots.
- Hormone therapy is not approved to prevent heart disease or dementia, and no one should sell it to you that way.
What that means in practice: risk is not one-size-fits-all. It depends on which hormones, at what dose, by which route, for how long, and on your personal and family history. Current menopause-medicine guidance treats hormone therapy as an individualized decision — not a blanket yes and not a blanket no. A provider screens for the things that change the answer: any history of breast or uterine cancer, blood clots, stroke or heart attack, unexplained vaginal bleeding, and liver disease, among others.
Questions women actually ask
Do I need lab work before starting?Not always. Menopause and perimenopause are diagnosed primarily from your symptoms and history; a provider orders labs when your specific picture calls for them.
I’m still getting periods — is it too early to be treated?Symptoms often start while cycles are still coming. Whether treatment fits is a provider’s call based on your symptoms and history, not a calendar rule.
What if I can’t take hormones?There are prescription non-hormonal options with real evidence behind them for hot flashes, and providers screen carefully for anything that rules hormone therapy out.
You don’t have to white-knuckle your way through this.
Menopause & hormone care is coming soon. Our weight program is open now — and weight and hormones are deeply connected, which is exactly why we’re building both under one roof.
Explore Weight CareThis page will open for care soon. Check back, or start with weight care today.
Important information: Ladies First is a women’s telehealth platform and does not provide medical services; medical care is provided by our medical provider partner, an independent network of US-licensed medical providers. Prescription medications, including hormone therapy, require medical evaluation and are prescribed only when a medical provider licensed in your state determines they are appropriate. Estrogen-containing medications carry FDA boxed warnings, including risks of endometrial cancer, cardiovascular events, blood clots, breast cancer, and probable dementia in certain populations; review the full prescribing information with your provider. Hormone therapy is not approved for the prevention of cardiovascular disease or dementia. Individual results vary. Treatment availability varies by state. This page is general information, not medical advice. Menopause & hormone care is not yet available through Ladies First; nothing on this page is an offer of treatment.