I vividly remember it was 2014. I was 44 and experiencing so many different symptoms. I was exhausted beyond belief. I would be mid-sentence and forget what I was saying. My hair was shedding and I had a skin rash, which was strange because I had never had skin issues before. At the time I was on an eating clean binge, one of the many fads I tried, and I’ve probably tried all of them!

I had blood labs done only to have my doctor tell me everything looked normal. I was so disappointed and remember thinking how strange it was that I almost hoped the labs showed something was wrong, just so I would have an explanation for what I was feeling.

I didn’t really have the words to explain my experience. The only thing I said to my doctor was, “Well, the one thing I know is that I don’t feel like myself.”

She said my hormones were “normal” and that I was still too young to be going through the change. Thankfully, we now know that every woman experiences changes at all different ages! Her recommendation was to get on antidepressants because this is what had helped so many other women like me feel better.

Probably out of desperation, I had the prescription filled. But I never took them because intuitively I knew I was not depressed.

I’ve heard so many stories from women who have had a similar experience, and I’m so grateful that now there is so much more awareness about the changes women go through in midlife.

Unfortunately and fortunately, it wasn’t until ten years later that I finally got the information I needed to get real relief.

Breast cancer runs in my family, so I was afraid to go on HRT. My mom, my older sister, and my friends weren’t on HRT, or they didn’t talk about it, so I had no examples to go by.

So I went into the rabbit hole researching any information I could get and finally found a nurse practitioner who was knowledgeable and helped me start my HRT journey.

At first, I was a little disappointed because I wasn’t the woman who had the “OMG HRT changed my life” experience. There was a lot of testing and trying different forms of HRT, whether it was topical, pellets, or compounded formulas, which took quite a bit of time and lots of patience.

I finally understood that HRT wasn’t the end all be all. It’s part of a holistic approach to feeling better.

As someone who has always exercised and tried to eat “right,” I’ve experimented with plenty of fads and workouts because that’s what made me function and feel better. Until it didn’t.

So, in true late-night scrolling fashion, I began another deep dive into what I could do to optimize my wellbeing. This time I found testing that took the guessing out of everything.

The testing showed me how I’m genetically wired to support my nutrition and gut health, how to best support my detox pathways, which became especially important on my HRT journey, how my metabolism and blood sugar respond, and even how my nervous system is wired to handle stress.

For the first time, I wasn’t guessing.

I had a blueprint.

With that blueprint came freedom. No more time or money wasted throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it would stick.

What I didn’t understand at 44 was that nothing was wrong with my body, and it wasn’t failing me. It needed personalized support specific to my body.

That blueprint gave me relief, not because it fixed everything overnight, but because it helped me finally understand how my body is genetically wired to function at its best.

It’s also the foundation of how I support midlife women today.

This is why I say hair loss is often the signal and that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution.

It’s not just about the hair. It’s about finally listening to what our bodies need.

And if you’re in that place right now, feeling off but not quite knowing why, maybe the question isn’t what should I try next.

Maybe it’s what is my body actually asking for?

Hair loss is the signal.