Hormone Therapy Real Talk: Testing, Trial and Error & Finding Your Way with Dr. Heather Hirsch (Episode 273)

Hit Play Not Pause

Fitness, Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 769 Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2026

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We have questions–lots and lots of questions–on hormone therapy during the menopause transition, and this week Dr. Heather Hirsch — menopause specialist and author of The Perimenopause Survival Guide — brings her signature blend of clinical wisdom and data-informed, personalized care to help answer them. Perimenopause is the most complex phase of the menopause transition, and this conversation goes deep on the pros and cons of hormone testing, the nuances of hormone therapy dosing, progesterone intolerance, breakthrough bleeding, receptor sensitivity, why it may never be too late to start hormone therapy, and much more.

Dr. Heather Hirsch, MD, MS, MSCP is a board-certified internist, entrepreneur, and one of today's most trusted voices in women's midlife health. She is the Founder and CEO of The Collaborative, a concierge telemedicine practice for women navigating perimenopause and menopause, and Academy for Advanced Women's Health Medicine, where she trains clinicians worldwide in midlife women’s care. A Menopause Society Certified Practitioner with over a decade of experience in menopausal medicine, she is the author of the bestselling book Unlock Your Menopause Type and, The Perimenopause Survival Guide. A featured expert on Oprah Winfrey’s 2023 “The Life You Want” Series, Dr. Hirsch has also appeared in The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post, The Drew Barrymore Show, Live with Kelly and Mark, Access Hollywood, and numerous other major media outlets. You can learn more about her and her work at heatherhirschmd.com.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to Hit Play Not Pause, a feisty menopause podcast for active performance-minded women.
0:12.2	I am your host, Celine Yeager. Each week, I bring you advice from athletes, scientists, researchers, and other experts to help you feel and perform your best no matter what your hormones are doing.
0:23.2	This show is a production of feisty media.
0:27.4	Hello, strong feisty women. I hope you all are well.
0:32.2	So, this week, we've got Dr. Heather Hirsch back on for I think what is her third appearance here.
0:40.1	And if you don't know Heather, she is a force.
0:43.5	After completing advanced women's health fellowship training at Cleveland Clinic,
0:47.8	Dr. Hirsch founded the menopause and midlife clinic at Brigham and Women's Hospital
0:51.9	and served as faculty at Harvard Medical School.
0:55.9	She is the founder and CEO of the Collaborative, which is a concierge telemedicine medicine practice
1:00.7	for women navigating perimenopause and menopause, and of the Academy for Advanced Women's Health
1:06.2	Medicine, where she trains clinicians worldwide in midlife women's care.
1:13.5	She is also the author of two best-selling books,
1:17.9	Unlock Your Menopause Type and the Perimenopause Survival Guide,
1:20.1	which we talk about here.
1:21.5	Very good book.
1:25.2	I really like the way she breaks down perimenopause symptoms across the stages.
1:26.8	We'll talk about that. And she has been
1:28.8	featured in all the big media, Oprah, New York Times, Drew Barrymore, et cetera. I have seen her
1:33.9	present at many, many conferences and annual meetings, including that of the Menopause Society.
1:40.0	And what I love about Heather, through all of this this is that she remains extremely down to earth
1:45.9	and honest. And I'm going to warn you that honesty part is what you might find frustrating in this
	...

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