Barbra, a 52-year-old schoolteacher, came to my office scared and exhausted. Her hot flashes were so sudden and intense that she had stopped driving altogether, afraid she might lose control behind the wheel. At night, she slept with the windows wide open—even in winter—yet still lay awake for hours, heart racing, mind unsettled.
Like many women in midlife, Barbra had been told that menopause was simply a matter of declining estrogen. What she wasn’t told was why her body could no longer regulate heat, sleep, or emotional calm.
