Is what you're feeling actually perimenopause? A surgeon weighs in.

Nobody Told You It Would Feel Like This

If you're somewhere between 35 and 52 and you've spent the last several months — or years — feeling like a stranger in your own body, I want you to know something first: you are not imagining it.

The 3am wake-ups with no explanation. The anxiety that arrived out of nowhere. The brain fog that makes you question your sharpest self. The belly weight that appeared despite nothing changing in your diet. The periods that are suddenly unpredictable, heavier, or simply different in ways you can't quite describe.

You may have brought these things up at your annual visit and been handed a referral, a prescription, or worse — a reassuring smile and a "your labs look fine." You may have Googled your symptoms at midnight and come away more confused than when you started. You may have quietly wondered if this is just what getting older feels like, and whether you're supposed to simply accept it.

You're not. And it's not.

What you may be experiencing is perimenopause — the hormonal transition that can begin as early as your late 30s and last for up to a decade before menopause is ever officially diagnosed. It is one of the most significant physiological shifts a woman's body will undergo, and it is also one of the most poorly understood, undertreated, and casually dismissed transitions in all of medicine.

I know this firsthand. As a board-certified general surgeon, I spent years watching patients — smart, capable, high-functioning women — cycle through the healthcare system with symptoms that were real, valid, and entirely addressable. They were told to manage their stress. To sleep more. To lose weight. To come back in six months.

They deserved better. So do you.

That's why I created the "Is This Perimenopause?" Mini Consult — a focused 30-minute virtual visit designed specifically for women who need clarity, not another referral.

In 30 minutes together, we'll review your specific symptom pattern, talk through what's actually happening hormonally, identify the two or three biggest contributors to how you're feeling right now, and map out a clear, personalized next step. You'll leave the call knowing — not guessing — what's going on, and exactly what to do about it.

This is not a generic wellness check. This is a surgeon applying clinical precision to a conversation most physicians aren't trained to have.

The "Is This Perimenopause?" Mini Consult is $97 and available to book now. Virtual, 30 minutes, and open to women nationwide. If this sounds like the conversation you've been waiting to have, I'd be honored to be the one to have it with you.

👉 Book your consultation here--www.calendly.com/wellness-at-brooks

And one more thing — later this month I'm hosting a live virtual event diving deep into perimenopause, peptides, and the anti-aging tools that are actually backed by science. If you want to be the first to know when registration opens, hit reply and just say "add me to the list." I'll make sure you hear about it first.

You've waited long enough for someone to take this seriously.

I'm here.

— Dr. Maria A. Palafox, MD Wellness at Brooks