Hormones, Health & Faith with Sharon Lemoine

Low Libido Isn't a Relationship Problem. Christian Women Need to Hear This.

📌 Book a Consultation: gigharbormedicalspa.com/book-now/ You love your husband. But when he reaches for you, nothing is there. You have prayed about it, gone to counseling, and tried harder. And every day you carry the guilt of knowing what a faithful wife is supposed to want.  The guilt is real. But the cause is not what you think. In this episode, I'm going to show you why counseling falls short for this specific problem, what is actually happening in your body when desire disappears, and the exact test to request at your next provider appointment. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 When you love your husband but desire has completely disappeared 1:09 Why your counselor, pastor, and doctor all pointed you in the wrong direction 2:29 The hormone that actually drives desire in women (and what happens when it runs out) 3:02 How testosterone levels drop through perimenopause and why it happens so fast 3:54 3 questions to tell if this is actually your problem 4:29 What it looks like when a body is running on empty (not a failing marriage) 5:31 Why low libido in women over 40 is almost always a testosterone deficiency 6:03 Why standard lab panels never test for it 6:55 What consistently happens when hormone levels get optimized 7:51 The exact test to bring to your next provider appointment ❓ QUESTIONS ANSWERED Why do women lose sexual desire in their 40s? Testosterone, the hormone that drives sexual desire in women, begins declining around age 30 and drops sharply through perimenopause. By the mid-40s, levels can be a fraction of what they were a decade earlier, which can cause desire to disappear entirely rather than simply decrease. Can low libido in a marriage be a hormonal problem rather than a relationship problem? Yes, especially for women in perimenopause. When testosterone and estrogen drop simultaneously, desire goes offline for a biochemical reason that has nothing to do with attraction, love, or the health of the relationship. What test should I ask for if I have low or absent libido? Ask your provider specifically for a free and total testosterone test, plus a full hormone panel including estrogen and progesterone. Standard lab panels for women do not include testosterone, so you must request it by name. 📱 RESOURCES Website: gigharbormedicalspa.com Book a Consultation: gigharbormedicalspa.com/book-now/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconciergenp_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GHMedicalspa 🔔 Subscribe for straight answers about hormones, perimenopause, and women's health from a nurse practitioner with 28 years in medicine and over 100,000 patients treated. New episodes every week. ABOUT SHARON LEMOINE, ARNP Sharon Lemoine is a board-certified Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP, FNP-C) with 28 years in medicine and over 100,000 patients treated. She is the founder of Gig Harbor Medical Spa and Concierge Medicine in Washington State, specializing in hormone optimization, perimenopause and menopause care, functional medicine, weight loss, and peptide therapy.  As a Type 1 diabetic, thyroid cancer survivor, and woman navigating surgical menopause herself, Sharon brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to every video. She believes your body is a gift worth honoring, and that you are in control of your health. #Perimenopause #HormoneHealth #WomensHealthOver40 #MenopauseSymptoms #FunctionalMedicine

What No One Tells Christian Women Before They Start a GLP-1

📌 Book a Consultation: gigharbormedicalspa.com/book-now/ Most women start a GLP-1 thinking the goal is to eat less and weigh less. That is exactly how these medications are marketed. But a dropping number on the scale is not the same thing as your body getting healthier. When you lose weight rapidly on a GLP-1 without a specific protective strategy in place, a significant portion of what you lose is not fat. It is muscle.  In this episode, I'm going to show you what actually determines whether a GLP-1 honors the body you were given, the one number you need before your first dose, and the five checkpoints almost no one covers before they start. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Why Most Women Walk Away From a GLP-1 Weaker Than When They Started 1:13 Point 1: The Mistake That Turns a Good Decision Into a Setback 2:05 Why the Dropping Scale Number Is Not Telling You the Whole Story 3:07 Point 2: What Actually Drives Lasting Results on a GLP-1 4:46 Point 3: How to Honestly Assess Whether You Are Ready to Start 5:10 Three Questions to Answer Before Your First Dose 7:36 Point 4: The One Number You Need Before Day One 8:28 The Patient Case That Standard Labs Completely Missed 9:42 Point 5: What to Do This Week Before You Start ❓ QUESTIONS ANSWERED What is the biggest mistake women make before starting a GLP-1? Starting without a body composition baseline. Without knowing your lean muscle mass before day one, you have no way to track whether the weight coming off is fat, muscle, or both, and most women end up lighter but metabolically weaker. How do you protect muscle while on a GLP-1? Three things: get a body composition scan before you start to establish your baseline, keep your protein intake high throughout treatment, and maintain resistance training. The medication suppresses appetite, so protein has to be intentional or muscle loss begins almost immediately. What is an InBody scan and why does it matter on a GLP-1? An InBody is a 30-second body composition scan that shows your lean muscle mass, body fat percentage, and visceral fat. It gives you the baseline number your scale will never show, so you can track whether the medication is protecting or depleting what matters most. 📱 RESOURCES Website: gigharbormedicalspa.com Book a Consultation: gigharbormedicalspa.com/book-now/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconciergenp_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GHMedicalspa 🔔 Subscribe for straight answers about hormones, perimenopause, and women's health from a nurse practitioner with 28 years in medicine and over 100,000 patients treated. New episodes every week. ABOUT SHARON LEMOINE, ARNP Sharon Lemoine is a board-certified Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP, FNP-C) with 28 years in medicine and over 100,000 patients treated. She is the founder of Gig Harbor Medical Spa and Concierge Medicine in Washington State, specializing in hormone optimization, perimenopause and menopause care, functional medicine, weight loss, and peptide therapy.  As a Type 1 diabetic, thyroid cancer survivor, and woman navigating surgical menopause herself, Sharon brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to every video. She believes your body is a gift worth honoring, and that you are in control of your health. #Perimenopause #HormoneHealth #WomensHealthOver40 #MenopauseSymptoms #FunctionalMedicine

If You're a Christian Woman Struggling With Anxiety, Watch This Before You Try Anything Else

📌 Book a Consultation: gigharbormedicalspa.com/book-now/ You have prayed about it. Journaled about it. Gone to therapy and tried medication. And the anxiety is still there, underneath everything, every single day. Part of you has started to wonder if this is just who you are now. It is not.  For so many women, the anxiety is not a mental health problem at all. It is something physical that nobody has bothered to look at. And until that piece is found, nothing else fully works. In this episode, I'm going to walk you through the five warning signs that your anxiety may not be a mental health problem, and exactly what to bring to your next appointment. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 When the anxiety is real but the diagnosis is wrong 0:52 The pattern 28 years in medicine revealed 1:22 Sign 1: Anxiety that appeared without a psychological trigger 3:44 Sign 2: When the anxiety starts in your body, not your mind 6:48 Sign 3: The 3-question pattern test you can answer right now 8:56 Sign 4: Why partial treatment response means the root has not been found 11:00 Sign 5: The hormonal root cause almost nobody checks 12:32 What to write down before your next appointment ❓ QUESTIONS ANSWERED Q: Can hormonal changes cause anxiety in women over 40? A: Yes. Progesterone is the body's primary calming hormone. It works on the same receptors in the brain that anti-anxiety medications target. When progesterone drops in your late 30s and 40s, your nervous system loses its ability to settle. This creates a physical anxiety signal that mental health tools alone cannot fully resolve because the root is biological, not psychological. Q: Why does anxiety medication only partially work for some women? A: Partial improvement is one of the most telling clinical patterns. It almost always means one layer of the problem was addressed while something else kept running underneath it, untested. When anxiety has a hormonal driver, standard treatments reduce symptoms but cannot eliminate the root cause. A comprehensive hormone panel is the step most providers never take. Q: What is the difference between anxiety that starts in the mind versus anxiety that starts in the body? A: Anxiety rooted in the mind has a traceable cause: sustained stress, a trauma, or a longstanding pattern of worry. Anxiety rooted in the body starts as a physical signal. The racing thoughts come after, as the brain tries to explain a nervous system that will not calm down. They look identical but respond to completely different treatments. 📱 RESOURCES Website: gigharbormedicalspa.com Book a Consultation: gigharbormedicalspa.com/book-now/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconciergenp_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GHMedicalspa YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SharonLemoine-ARNP 🔔 Subscribe for straight answers about hormones, perimenopause, and women's health from a nurse practitioner with 28 years in medicine and over 100,000 patients treated. New episodes every week. 💬 Which of these 5 signs connected with something you have been carrying for a while? Share your experience in the comments. You are not alone and you deserve real answers. ABOUT SHARON LEMOINE, ARNP Sharon Lemoine is a board-certified Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP, FNP-C) with 28 years in medicine and over 100,000 patients treated. She is the founder of Gig Harbor Medical Spa and Concierge Medicine in Washington State, specializing in hormone optimization, perimenopause and menopause care, functional medicine, weight loss, and peptide therapy. As a Type 1 diabetic, thyroid cancer survivor, and woman navigating surgical menopause herself, Sharon brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to every episode. She believes your body is a gift worth honoring, and that you are in control of your health. #Perimenopause #HormoneHealth #WomensHealthOver40 #MenopauseSymptoms #FunctionalMedicine

Everything Christian Women Have Been Told About HRT Is Wrong. Here's What the Research Actually Shows

📌 Book a Consultation: gigharbormedicalspa.com/book-now/ There is a study from 25 years ago that changed how doctors talk to women about hormones. It scared a generation of women away from getting help. And it was wrong.  Women are still paying for that mistake with their health, their energy, and their quality of life. In this episode, I'm going to walk you through what that study actually found, why your doctor may still be operating on outdated information, and what the real science says about hormone therapy today. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - The Study That Got It Wrong and Why Women Are Still Paying for It 1:37 - What the Women's Health Initiative Actually Measured 2:37 - Why the WHI Results Were Never About Women Like You 4:08 - When Researchers Reanalyzed the Data, Everything Changed 5:12 - Bioidentical vs. Synthetic Hormones: Why the Difference Matters 6:53 - How Hormones Are Delivered Changes Everything 8:19 - The Myth That Hormones Cause Breast Cancer 12:02 - The Risks of NOT Treating Your Hormones 14:13 - Honoring Your Body Is Not Vanity, It Is Stewardship ❓ QUESTIONS ANSWERED Q: Is hormone replacement therapy actually safe for women in perimenopause? A: The study most doctors cite used the wrong hormones on the wrong women at the wrong time. When women start bioidentical hormone therapy within ten years of menopause, research shows cardiovascular risk goes down and breast cancer risk does not increase. Q: Do bioidentical hormones cause breast cancer? A: The breast cancer risk found in the original WHI study was tied to a specific combination of oral synthetic estrogen and synthetic progestin taken for more than five years. Estrogen-only therapy showed no increased risk. When bioidentical progesterone is used instead of synthetic progestin, the data looks very different. 📱 RESOURCES Website: gigharbormedicalspa.com Book a Consultation: gigharbormedicalspa.com/book-now/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconciergenp_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GHMedicalspa 🔔 Subscribe for straight answers about hormones, perimenopause, and women's health from a nurse practitioner with 28 years in medicine and over 100,000 patients treated. New videos every week. ABOUT SHARON LEMOINE, ARNP Sharon Lemoine is a board-certified Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP, FNP-C) with 28 years in medicine and over 100,000 patients treated. She is the founder of Gig Harbor Medical Spa and Concierge Medicine in Washington State, specializing in hormone optimization, perimenopause and menopause care, functional medicine, weight loss, and peptide therapy.  As a Type 1 diabetic, thyroid cancer survivor, and woman navigating surgical menopause herself, Sharon brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to every video. She believes your body is a gift worth honoring, and that you are in control of your health. #Perimenopause #HormoneHealth #WomensHealthOver40 #MenopauseSymptoms #FunctionalMedicine

5 Things I Wish Every Woman Over 40 Knew About Her Hormones (And Her Purpose)

📌 Book a Consultation: gigharbormedicalspa.com/book-now/ Your doctor looked you in the eye and said your labs were normal. You were told to manage your stress, push through the fatigue, and accept this is just getting older.  What got dismissed in that room was years of real symptoms with a real cause. In this episode, I'm going to break down the 5 most important things I wish every woman over 40 knew about her hormones before years of silent suffering passed her by. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - What Your Doctor Got Wrong About "Normal" 1:11 - #1: Your Hormones Started Declining in Your 30s 3:13 - #2: Why "Normal" Lab Results Are Keeping You Sick 6:07 - #3: Rage, Anxiety, and Brain Fog Are Often Hormone Symptoms 8:33 - #4: "You're Just Getting Older" Is Not a Diagnosis 9:06 - Why Most Providers Aren't Trained in Hormone Optimization 11:09 - #5: You Are in Control of Your Health 13:38 - What to Do Tonight: Write This Down 14:54 - You're Not Broken: Closing Thoughts ❓ QUESTIONS ANSWERED Q: What are the first signs of perimenopause? A: Fatigue that sleep won't fix, mood changes, low libido, and brain fog often begin in the mid-30s, well before menopause. Most providers aren't testing for it that early, which is why so many women get dismissed. Q: Why do my labs come back normal if I feel terrible? A: Reference ranges reflect population averages, not what is optimal for your body to actually feel well. A hormone level that technically passes the test can still be too low to function at your best. Q: Can hormone imbalance cause anxiety and depression? A: Yes. When estrogen drops, serotonin production drops with it, and low progesterone disrupts your nervous system's ability to calm down. These are biochemical causes of mood symptoms, not personal failures. 📱 RESOURCES Website: gigharbormedicalspa.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/theconciergenp_/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/GHMedicalspa 🔔 Subscribe for straight answers about hormones, perimenopause, and women's health from a nurse practitioner with 28 years in medicine and over 100,000 patients treated. New videos every week. ABOUT SHARON LEMOINE, ARNP Sharon Lemoine is a board-certified Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP, FNP-C) with 28 years in medicine and over 100,000 patients treated. She is the founder of Gig Harbor Medical Spa and Concierge Medicine in Washington State, specializing in hormone optimization, perimenopause and menopause care, functional medicine, weight loss, and peptide therapy.  As a Type 1 diabetic, thyroid cancer survivor, and woman navigating surgical menopause herself, Sharon brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to every video. She believes your body is a gift worth honoring, and that you are in control of your health. #Perimenopause #HormoneHealth #WomensHealthOver40 #MenopauseSymptoms #FunctionalMedicine