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February 17, 2026
Remember when your energy felt steady and your mind felt clear?
You could move through a full day, handle responsibilities, stay up late if needed, and still function with energy and enthusiasm the next morning.
Now something feels different, and you may not feel you are old enough to be feeling this way. As a matter of fact, even if you are in your more adult years, I’m here to say you should NOT be feeling this way at any age!
Do you find yourself walking into a room and forgetting why you entered? Do you wake at 2 a.m. and stare at the ceiling, wide awake for no clear reason? Does your scale continue to creep up even though your diet has not changed? Maybe small frustrations feel bigger than they used to? Do you run out of patience faster than you have in the past? Does your drive and sexual desire feel muted?
And is the most frustrating part that everyone around you, even your conventional doctor, is saying, “This is normal” or “Your bloodwork is normal”?
Are you hearing?
“It’s just aging.”
“It’s stress.”
“Your labs look fine.”
But deep down, YOU KNOW something has shifted. You know this is anything but normal!
If you are in your late thirties, forties, or fifties, what you are likely experiencing is hormone imbalance in midlife. It affects both women and men. It often starts subtly, then one day you realize you are not feeling quite right anymore. You have low energy, and frankly, low everything.
This is the guide you wish someone handed to you years ago.
Between roughly ages 35 and 60, reproductive and metabolic hormones begin to fluctuate or decline.
For women, this stage includes perimenopause and menopause.
For men, it includes andropause, or gradual testosterone decline.
Hormones influence nearly everything. They regulate mood, cognition, focus, sleep cycles, muscle mass, fat distribution, libido (sexual desire), and resilience to stress. ² ⁹
When they shift, daily life can feel heavier. You still function but simply do not feel optimal.
Perimenopause often begins in the late thirties or early forties, sometimes years before menstrual cycles stop. ¹
Progesterone frequently declines first. Estrogen may fluctuate widely before eventually decreasing. ² This fluctuation explains why symptoms feel inconsistent.
One week, you feel steady. The next wee,k you are anxious, bloated, exhausted, and snapping at everyone.
Common symptoms include:
Fluctuating estrogen influences serotonin and dopamine pathways, which helps explain mood shifts and hot flashes. ³ As progesterone declines, the nervous system becomes more reactive, which can make both sleep and emotional steadiness feel harder to maintain.⁴
Perimenopause is not a personality change. It is a biological transition that deserves to be understood rather than dismissed. In most cases, these symptoms are unnecessary. When there is a hormonal imbalance, which is the majority of cases, the answer is not to mask symptoms with pharmaceutical drugs; the answer is to replenish the hormones.
Menopause is diagnosed after twelve consecutive months without a period.
At this stage, estrogen declines more steadily. Estrogen receptors exist in the brain, cardiovascular system, bone, skin, and adipose tissue.¹ Its influence extends far beyond reproduction.
As estrogen decreases, you may experience:
Many women describe this stage as if their bodies rewrote the rules overnight. Metabolism shifts. Sleep patterns change. Emotional resilience feels different.
Menopause is not weakness. It is a full-body recalibration that can be evaluated and supported. Again, unnecessary symptoms and, most often, hormone balancing through replenishment are life-changing to say the least.
This is where many women begin to feel confused and dismissed.
A woman walks into her doctor’s office and describes fatigue, irritability, anxiety, brain fog, loss of motivation, and poor sleep.
Instead of evaluating her hormones, she is often prescribed an antidepressant, which often comes with a host of negative side effects. I should note that this is often not intentional by conventional doctors. In all my years of medical school, I can attest to the fact that balancing hormones is not even discussed. Most conventional doctors would never go there because they are unaware. What they do teach is masking symptoms with pharmaceutical drugs, which is why I decided, early on, to move from conventional medicine to alternative, integrative medicine, where I can get to the root cause of symptoms rather than masking them.
What most conventional doctors do not evaluate is that estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone directly influence neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. When those hormones fluctuate or decline during perimenopause and menopause, moods can change dramatically.
In some cases, what appears to be depression may actually be hormonal depletion.
When progesterone drops, sleep fragments. When estrogen fluctuates, emotional stability becomes unpredictable. When testosterone declines, drive and motivation fade.
Those changes can mirror depression.
If hormones are not evaluated, the underlying imbalance can go untreated while the surface symptoms are addressed. In many cases, what she truly needs is thoughtful hormone replenishment to restore her body to its natural balance.
The goal is not to silence symptoms, but to understand why they are happening.
Before assuming depression is the root cause, it is worth asking whether midlife hormone imbalance is the real driver. If you do not feel you are getting the right answers, get a second opinion and seek out an experienced team of medical professionals well-versed in alternative approaches to health.
Asking whether midlife hormone imbalance is contributing to mood changes can redirect the entire course of care.
Men do not experience one dramatic hormonal event. Instead, testosterone declines gradually over time, often beginning in their 30s.⁵
Stress, poor sleep, excess body fat, and insulin resistance can accelerate decline in testosterone.
When testosterone falls, the changes can feel subtle at first.
Over time, men may notice:
Some men describe feeling flat or less decisive. Others say they feel like they are pushing harder for smaller returns.
Testosterone influences muscle, metabolism, mood, cognition, and sexual function. ⁶ ⁷ When it declines, the impact is not just physical. It affects how a man shows up at work, at home, and within himself.
Andropause is often subtle, but its impact on vitality and enthusiasm for life can be significant. Remember, men have hormones other than testosterone. I often hear men going to their local “Low T” clinic, and they feel great at the beginning, but as time goes on, they are not optimal. This is because it is not just about testosterone. At the Hotze Health & Wellness Center, we treat the entire body. We listen to your clinical symptoms and evaluate your bloodwork. Our goal is to get to the root cause and resolve energy and optimal health all of the time, not some of the time.
Hormones function as a network.
If progesterone declines, sleep suffers. If sleep suffers, cortisol rises.⁹ Elevated cortisol affects insulin regulation, which can increase fat storage and metabolic strain.⁸ Fat tissue then influences estrogen and testosterone metabolism.
This interconnected loop explains why fatigue, weight gain, mood changes, and sleep disruption often appear together.
It is not random. It is systemic.
Often, that conclusion is based on a single lab marker or a narrow hormone panel. If the number falls within a broad laboratory reference range, symptoms may be dismissed.
But numbers alone do not tell the full story.
At our practice, we listen carefully to our guests’ clinical symptoms. They matter just as much as your lab results.
Hormones are dynamic. Two people can have the same lab value and feel completely different.
That is why we use both:
We look at patterns over time. We assess how you are sleeping, how you are thinking, how your body composition has changed, and how you feel day to day.
Thyroid dysfunction, adrenal stress patterns, insulin resistance, and reproductive hormone shifts often overlap. If testing is incomplete or symptoms are ignored, the root cause can be missed.
Your story matters. Your symptoms matter. And your labs matter.
All three together provide clarity.
If you are experiencing symptoms of hormone imbalance and are in midlife, evaluation should be comprehensive. Checking one hormone rarely tells the full story.
Hormones function in networks. Understanding the pattern provides clarity.
A comprehensive female hormone panel may include:
Estradiol and progesterone help define where a woman is in the perimenopause or menopause transition. Testosterone and free testosterone influence motivation, muscle mass, and libido. DHEA-sulfate provides insight into adrenal contribution. SHBG helps determine how much hormone is actually bioavailable.
Without SHBG, total hormone numbers can be misleading.
A comprehensive male hormone panel may include:
Total and free testosterone define androgen status. Estradiol helps assess balance. SHBG affects hormone availability. FSH and LH clarify whether dysfunction is primary or secondary. PSA supports appropriate prostate monitoring.
Looking at this full pattern allows for more informed decision-making.
Once we understand your unique pattern, we create a personalized plan.
When clinically appropriate, that may include Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy.
Bioidentical hormones are structurally identical to those your body naturally produces. The goal is not to override your physiology. The goal is to restore balance carefully and thoughtfully.
Comprehensive blood testing is included and repeated, particularly during the first year, to ensure your hormone levels remain aligned with how you feel.
We do not treat lab numbers alone, and we do not ignore symptoms. We combine objective testing with your lived experience.
That combination often provides the clarity people have been searching for.
If you are wondering whether your symptoms are connected, start with our online Symptom Checker. It can help you identify patterns commonly associated with perimenopause, menopause, and andropause.
If you’re ready to explore a new path to wellness, call 281-698-8698 or click HERE to schedule your complimentary phone consultation with one of our Wellness Consultants. This initial discussion is always free. It’s a pressure-free conversation where you can ask questions, share your concerns, and discover whether our natural, root-cause approach is the right fit for you. It would be our privilege to serve you.
Midlife is not the end of vitality. For many men and women, it becomes the season where they finally understand their biology and restore balance.
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Holistic, functional medicine doctors in Houston, Texas specializing in bioidentical hormones, hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue, menopause, perimenopause, low testosterone, allergies and LDI treatment, candida, detoxification, nutritional deficiencies, longevity and aesthetics.
© Braidwood Management, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information on this website is provided for educational purposes only, and does not constitute any medical advice. By using this website you fully waive all legal claims based on any information contained herein, and fully agree to this disclaimer.
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