Perimenopause Hormone Therapy: What Women Need to Know About HRT, Progesterone & Estrogen

Perimenopause hormones can make you feel like your body changed overnight—even when your labs look “normal,” and in this AMA Dr. Jolene Brighten answers your biggest questions about estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, HRT, birth control, Mirena, ovulation, POI, and postmenopause.

View the complete show notes, references, and resources at

https://drbrighten.com/podcasts/perimenopause-hormones/

📖 PREORDER ADHD AND WOMEN: https://drbrighten.com/adhdandwomen

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

🧪 Why “normal” hormone labs don’t necessarily explain how you feel during perimenopause

😤 What symptoms like rage, anxiety, poor sleep, and irritability may tell you about progesterone

🥚 How to tell whether you’re still ovulating in perimenopause using cycle patterns, cervical mucus, temperature, LH, and progesterone

🩸 Why a shortening luteal phase may be an early clue that progesterone production is changing

🔬 Which hormone tests Dr. Brighten finds useful—and why testosterone, thyroid, insulin, and other markers deserve attention too

🧠 What we know—and still don’t know—about progestins, progesterone, GABA, BDNF, and women’s brain health

🌀 Where the Mirena IUD may fit during perimenopause, heavy bleeding, adenomyosis, and hormone therapy