unPAUSED with Dr. Mary Claire Haver

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Sue Varma, a board certified psychiatrist, distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and author of Practical Optimism. They open by taking on a question that sits at the intersection of psychiatry and menopause medicine: why do some women thrive through the most difficult biological transition of their lives, and what can the rest of us learn from them?

Early in the conversation, Dr. Varma shares a finding that reframes everything: only 25% of people are born optimistic, and there is actually a gene for it. The other 75% have to learn it. Dr. Varma explains why optimism is not toxic positivity, what practical optimism actually means, and why both extreme optimists and extreme pessimists end up paralyzed into inaction in different ways. She also addresses what happens when depression, anxiety, and brain fog layer on top of the hormonal changes of menopause and perimenopause, and why so many women are being undertreated as a result.

Guest links:

Dr. Sue Varma (Instagram)

Dr. Sue Varma (Facebook)

Dr. Sue Varma (LinkedIn)

Dr. Sue Varma 

Books:

“Practical Optimism,” by Dr. Sue Varma

“The New Perimenopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

“The New Menopause"⁠ by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

“Joyspan,” by Dr. Kerry Burnight

“The Relaxation Response,” by Dr. Herbert Benson

For full show notes, please click here.

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In this solo episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver answers one of the most asked questions she receives: what hormones do you actually take, and why? Rather than a general overview of menopause hormone therapy, this is a fully transparent, clinically grounded walk through her personal protocol, including every formulation she uses, why she chose it, and what the FDA-approved alternatives are for women whose needs or circumstances differ.

Dr. Haver opens with systemic estrogen, explaining why she uses a transdermal patch as her primary delivery method, why she added a small dose of oral estradiol for bone protection after finding her serum levels were not reaching the threshold needed to preserve bone density, and why she believes routine estradiol level testing should become standard of care even though current guidelines do not yet reflect the latest absorption data. She walks through the key FDA-approved transdermal and oral estrogen options, including patches, gels, sprays, and oral formulations, covering the differences in delivery, cost, clotting risk, and SHBG implications.

For full show notes, please click here.

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In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver continues her conversation with Dr. Natalie Crawford, double board certified obstetrician, gynecologist, and reproductive endocrinologist, and author of The Fertility Formula. In part two of this conversation, Dr. Crawford gets specific about the forces working against our hormones every day, chronic stress, disrupted sleep, inflammatory food, and the endocrine disrupting chemicals most women have never been warned about.

She explains how cortisol triggers insulin resistance, how insulin resistance drives inflammation and ovarian dysfunction, and why resistance training and building skeletal muscle is one of the most direct interventions a woman can make at any age, including perimenopause. On sleep, she makes the case that it is the single most under addressed factor she sees clinically, explaining how FSH and LH are released in the early morning hours and why disrupted sleep directly interferes with ovulation, estrogen, and progesterone production.

The conversation also covers anti-inflammatory nutrition and gut health, the difference between unscented and fragrance-free, why forever chemicals and phthalates are disrupting the hormone system from inside most women's homes, birth control timing and uterine lining recovery, and what egg freezing actually is and is not, and who it is most likely to benefit.

Guest links

Natalie Crawford, MD

Natalie Crawford, MD (Instagram)

Natalie Crawford, MD (TikTok)

Natalie Crawford, MD (Facebook)

Natalie Crawford, MD (YouTube)

Natalie Crawford, MD (LinkedIn)

Books

“The New Perimenopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

“The New Menopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

“The Fertility Formula,” by Dr. Natalie Crawford


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In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Natalie Crawford, a double board certified obstetrician, gynecologist, and reproductive endocrinologist, and author of the new book The Fertility Formula. Both physicians open by sharing their own fertility journeys, including pregnancy losses and dismissal from the medical system, before turning to the science that most women are never given access to.

Dr. Crawford challenges one of the most persistent myths in women's health: that the biological clock is about running out of eggs. It is not. It is about egg quality, and those are completely different problems with completely different solutions. She explains how inflammation damages the chromosomes and mitochondria inside eggs, how chronic inflammation can actually deplete the ovarian reserve by penetrating the ovarian vault, and why the standard message to women, hurry up or give up, is not supported by the science.

Guest links

Natalie Crawford, MD

Natalie Crawford, MD (Instagram)

Natalie Crawford, MD (TikTok)

Natalie Crawford, MD (Threads)

Natalie Crawford, MD (Facebook)

Natalie Crawford, MD (YouTube)

Natalie Crawford, MD (LinkedIn)

Books

“The New Perimenopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

“The New Menopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver“The Fertility Formula,” by Dr. Natalie Crawford


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In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Michelle Gordon, a board certified obesity medicine physician and diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, with surgical fellowships from the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons. Through her practice Thrive Span Medical, she works with midlife women across 39 states whose metabolic and hormonal symptoms have been dismissed as normal aging.

Dr. Gordon opens by dismantling the calories in, calories out framework, not as a vague wellness talking point but on a physiological level. She explains why biology determines the burn rate, why fat oxidation drops by 32% in perimenopause, why visceral fat accumulation accelerates when estrogen declines, and why insulin resistance and leptin resistance make it nearly impossible for midlife women to lose weight through willpower alone. She also covers how sleep deprivation compounds all of it, creating a cycle of cravings, brain fog, and weight gain that most women are navigating without any clinical support.

Guest links:

Michelle E. Gordon, DO (LinkedIn)

Dr. Michelle Gordon (Instagram)

Dr. Gordon, Obesity Medicine (Substack)

Dr. Michelle Gordon (Facebook)

Dr. Michelle Gordon

Dr. Michelle Gordon (TikTok)

Dr. Michelle Gordon

Dr. Michelle Gordon (YouTube)

Books:

“The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

“The New Menopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire HaverWeightless: A Doctor's Guide to GLP-1 Medications, Sustainable Weight Loss, and the Health You Deserve,” by Dr. Rocio Salas-Whalen

For full show notes, please click here.

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