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Michele Adams, FNP | Menopause Expert(@thefunctionalredhead)'s profile avatar HD Profile

Michele Adams, FNP | Menopause Expert

@thefunctionalredhead

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The Midlife Optimization Method™
FNP-BC, MSCP
Hormones • Metabolism • Lifestyle Medicine
For Women 40+ Who Refuse to Decline
⬇️ Work with me
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Women don’t need hormone therapy sales They need menopause specialists🫶🏼 goal isn’t getting every woman on HRT or providers to make a sale The goal should be on helping every single woman between the ages of 35-65… understand her options and make an informed decision about her health❣️ If you’re my patient you hear me saying all the time “there’s many tools in the tool box we can use”🫶🏼 & psssst there’s many BHRT products that your insurance will cover😉 #menopause #menopausecare #perimenopause taken in Buffalo, New York by @thefunctionalredhead
17
4 months ago
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New here?! Allow me to introduce myself quick! 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍 Offering telehealth in NYS and in-person in Buffalo/Niagara region: functional medicine - womens health. Specialize in perimenopause & menopause care Let’s age WELL… Also can find me at Suburban Women’s Healthcare in Amherst if in search of new gyn care! Link in bio #functionalwellness #nursepractitioner #nutritionist #perimenopause #menopause #functionalmedicine #womenshealth #lifestyle #hrt #bhrt #diet #hormonereplacementtherapy #guthealth #lifestylemedicine taken in New York by @thefunctionalredhead
36
a year ago
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Get the old you back! Have the conversation with your provider! They won’t listen? Or help? Make a consult with me🤗! #menopause #perimenopause #womensupportingwomen #womenswellness #hormones #agewell #antiaging #agegracefully #wellness #holisticwellness #diet #lifestyle #hrt #bhrt #exercise #stressmanagement #wholefood #realfood taken in Buffalo, New York by @thefunctionalredhead
31
2 years ago
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Let’s face it- we spend a lot of our time as midlife women trying to “get her back”. The body we had, the energy… The version of ourselves we remember. But what if we stopped looking backward? WHAT IF this next chapter isn’t about getting back to who you were… and instead deciding who you want to be now?!? Stronger. Louder. More confident. Less apologetic. More protective of your time. More willing to say no. And way less interested in making yourself smaller to make everyone else comfortable. You’re not done becoming YOU you get to decide who comes next. 🖤 (Also if you grew up with Alanis blasting…you already know)😉 #midlife #genx #menopause #newyork #montana taken in Buffalo, New York by @thefunctionalredhead
5
19 hours ago
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Fall - Halloween I’ll miss summer, but never as much as I look forward to This 😍 taken in Buffalo, New York by @thefunctionalredhead
3
3 days ago
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I see this all the time: “My A1c is normal, my blood sugar is fine…no worries about pre-diabetes or insulin resistance… right?” Maybe. But it’s likely not the whole metabolic picture. A1c tells us an average glucose exposure over the past 2–3 months. It doesn’t directly tell us *how much* insulin your body may be producing to maintain that glucose.🤔 Early in development of insulin resistance, the pancreas can compensate by producing more insulin, and sometimes glucose can stay in normal range. This is why I don’t evaluate metabolic health from one lab number. Depending on the patient, I’m looking at fasting glucose, A1c, lipid panel, blood pressure, waist/body composition, family and pregnancy history(? any GDM), medications, diet, lifestyle… sometimes fasting insulin and HOMA-IR. And yes, midlife matters🫶🏼 The menopause transition is associated with changes in body composition, fat distribution and visceral adiposity. all of which deserve our attention when we’re talking about long-term cardiometabolic health. One important message: fasting insulin and HOMA-IR can provide additional information, but they are not standardized diagnostic tests for prediabetes or diabetes, and there is no single universally accepted HOMA-IR cutoff. So no, we’re not disregarding A1c We’re just remembering that one “normal” lab value doesn’t tell us everything about a woman’s metabolic health. This conversation is one I want more women and more clinicians having. Save this one for your next lab review. Educational content only. Not individualized medical advice. taken in Buffalo, New York by @thefunctionalredhead
8
3 days ago
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Pellets are often marketed as the “easy” or “premium” way to do hormone therapy. But more expensive does not mean better—or safer. Pellets can cost hundreds of dollars every few months, and once they’re inserted, you lose something incredibly important: the ability to easily adjust the dose. If your levels are too high or you develop acne, hair loss, mood changes, abnormal bleeding, unwanted hair growth—or androgenic effects such as voice deepening—you can’t simply stop taking tomorrow’s dose. Meanwhile, FDA-approved bioidentical hormone therapy already exists. An estradiol patch can cost around $34/month and micronized progesterone around $32/month with the GoodRx examples shown here—and insurance may cover them for even less. They’re regulated, well studied, and most importantly: we can titrate them. And I’ll say this clearly: if pellets are the first thing a clinician offers you when you walk in asking for help with perimenopause or menopause, that is a major red flag to me. Ask why you aren’t first being offered FDA-approved options that can be safely adjusted. Women deserve evidence-based hormone care—not the treatment that generates the biggest cash payment. You have options. Ask questions. Prices vary by pharmacy, location and insurance. Educational content only; not individual medical advice. #Menopause #Perimenopause #HormoneTherapy #HRT #MenopauseCare WomensHealth taken in Thousand Oaks, California by @thefunctionalredhead
21
4 days ago
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We talk a lot about estrogen for hot flashes, sleep, and other menopause symptoms. But let’s not forget about bone health. About 1 in 5 people die within one year after a hip fracture. Osteoporosis is not benign. When estrogen declines during menopause, bone breakdown accelerates. Over time, that loss of bone density can increase the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. Estrogen helps slow bone loss, preserve bone density, and reduce fracture risk. In fact, prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis is an FDA-approved indication for systemic estrogen therapy. This matters because hormone therapy isn’t only about treating the symptoms you feel today. For an appropriate patient, it can also be about preventing disease and protecting health decades from now. We talk a lot about the risks of taking hormones. We also need to talk about the risks of not preventing osteoporosis. Bone health matters. 🦴 @drmondona @cyrawellness For education only. Individual risks and benefits of hormone therapy should be discussed with your clinician. taken in Thousand Oaks, California by @thefunctionalredhead
2
4 days ago
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Okayyyyy… but did anyone check your FERRITIN? Because your hemoglobin can look perfectly within range, meanwhile your iron reserves are fizzled. Ferritin = stored iron. And iron deficiency can absolutely exist without anemia. 📉 Ferritin <30 ng/mL? Evidence strongly supports this as consistent with low/depleted iron stores in the appropriate clinical setting. Some guidelines use thresholds at 45 ng/mL when evaluating iron deficiency. But here’s where we need a little nuance… There’s a difference between “you don’t meet criteria for anemia” and “you have adequate iron stores and feel fabulous.” With my patients-especially with symptomatic perimenopausal (or menopausal) women, I like goal to see ferritin above ~70 ng/mL (at least >50). Especially if we’re chasing things like: ✨ Fatigue ✨ Hair shedding ✨ Brain fog ✨ Restless legs ✨ Poor exercise tolerance ✨ Weakness / that why am I exhausted?! feeling Now — before the Ferritin 🚔 come at me…70 is NOT a universally established diagnostic cutoff or magical “optimal” number. It’s a clinical target I may use based on symptoms, history and the entire iron picture. ferritin has another little quirk: 🔥 Inflammation can raise it. So a “normal” ferritin doesn’t always tell the whole story either. That’s why we look at the whole picture — CBC, ferritin, iron, TIBC/transferrin, transferrin saturation, symptoms, menstrual history and clinical context. And PLEASE… If your ferritin is low, don’t just toss some iron gummies at it and call it a day Ask WHY?!? Heavy periods? GI blood loss? Low dietary iron? Malabsorption? Frequent blood donation? Celiac disease? GI issues? Because sometimes the most important lab result isn’t just the number. It’s figuring out why the number is low in the first place. 🔍🩸 Save this one and the next time someone tells you “everything looks normal,” you’ll know one more question to ask. 😉 Educational purposes only. Not individualized medical advice. taken in Buffalo, New York by @thefunctionalredhead
25
4 days ago
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The estradiol gel my patient needs is unavailable. Insurance wants her to switch to a patch… which is also in shortage. And I still have to do a prior authorization. 🙃 Getting patients basic menopause care should not be this hard. by @thefunctionalredhead
37
5 days ago
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Calling all gals- guess what, testosterone is OUR hormone too. Before we start chatting about testosterone therapy we need understanding of what the science supports today As women we naturally produce testosterone, too. It plays a role in female sexual physiology, and its potential therapeutic benefits have been studied for decades. Go figure. evidence actually supports: ✔️ Testosterone is a naturally occurring hormone in women. ✔️ The strongest evidence for testosterone therapy in women is for the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) (low libido) in appropriately evaluated postmenopausal women. ✔️ When prescribed appropriately, testosterone therapy can improve sexual desire, arousal, orgasmic function, and sexually related distress in women with HSDD. What hasn’t been established? We don’t yet have sufficient evidence to *prove* testosterone therapy specifically helps with brain fog, fatigue, mood, muscle strength, recovery… We do however have clinician individualized observations -seeing women on therapy report these benefits… ! placebo or not. We see it. while short-term safety data are reassuring for appropriately dosed therapy… we need this done. We need the FDA to step up and get an approved product for women. Australia has, New Zealand has….! We are seeing so much benefit in our “off label” use. It’s time to step it up, long overdue. After attending the FDA’s public meeting on testosterone use in menopausal women, I wanted to bring this conversation directly to YOU. the FDA has comment section open for couple more weeks! Add your comment regarding testosterone for women! We need you all chiming in. No extra hype. No fear. Simple evidence-based menopause education coming your way. 💬 What questions do YOU have about testosterone? Drop them below! ~Michele Adams, FNP-BC, MSCP Educational content only. Not a substitute for personalized medical advice. #menopause #perimenopause #testosterone taken in New York by @thefunctionalredhead
4
7 days ago
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🚨 Heart disease does NOT automatically mean no hormone therapy. New joint guidance from the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) and World Heart Federation (WHF) addresses an important question: Can menopausal women with cardiovascular risk factors—or even established ischemic heart disease—use hormone therapy? The answer is more nuanced than an automatic “no.” The position paper states that women with established ischemic heart disease are not necessarily excluded from systemic menopause hormone therapy when treatment is needed for menopausal symptoms. Instead, treatment should involve individualized cardiovascular risk assessment and shared decision-making. When MHT is considered, the guidance favors: → Low-dose transdermal estrogen → If endometrial protection is needed, micronized progesterone or dydrogesterone → Careful consideration of cardiovascular and thromboembolic risk, route, dose and formulation And an important distinction: ❤️ MHT should not be prescribed for the purpose of preventing cardiovascular disease. But having cardiovascular risk factors—or even established heart disease—doesn’t necessarily mean a woman with significant menopausal symptoms should automatically be denied hormone therapy. This is where individualized medicine matters. Risk is not binary. Route matters. Dose matters. Formulation matters. And the individual patient matters. Source: FIGO & World Heart Federation joint position paper, September 2026. Educational purposes only. Not medical advice. #menopause #perimenopause #hormonetherapy #HRT #estradiol taken in Thousand Oaks, California by @thefunctionalredhead
4
8 days ago
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