A Specialty GP clinic for women in Australia, with a focus on Hormones, Perimenopause & Menopause.
Based in North Brisbane, Dr Em provides up-to-date, evidence-based lifestyle & pharmacological management to preserve quality of life, and long-term health for women.​
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Medicare-rebatable In-person & Telehealth consultations available.
What are Perimenopause & Menopause?
Perimenopause is the period of time prior to Menopause, during which menstrual irregularity occurs. This is the traditional definition, though we know that many women will experience physical and psychological symptoms of Perimenopause prior to cycle irregularity. Perimenopause is characterised by a change in the relationship between the brain and ovaries, where the ovaries start to become resistant to the brain signals for ovulation. This leads to more chaotic hormone fluctuations that drive many symptoms - in all areas of the body and brain. Perimenopause can last anywhere from a few months, to over a decade.
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Menopause is a 24-hour period, prior to which there has been no ovulation, and therefore no menstruation, for 12 months. This can be a tricky definition for women who don't menstruate for medical reasons - such as those who have had an ovary-conserving hysterectomy, an endometrial ablation, or a Mirena.
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After this day, you are post-menopausal, and produce essentially no estrogen, and very little progesterone. ​​
Common symptoms of the Pauses include:
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Joint or muscle aches & pains
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Insomnia & other sleep disorders
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Changes to the menstrual cycle or character of menstruation
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Hot flushes, night sweats
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Lowered libido
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Painful sex
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Urinary frequency, recurrent UTIs or vaginal infections
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New or worsening PMS, PMDD
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New or worsening depressive or anxious symptoms
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Irritability
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Women may experience symptoms for a few months up to decades
What does Pause Lumiere do?
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​​​At Pause Lumiere, Dr Em takes a holistic and individual approach to every woman’s Pause journey. Appropriate, individualised medical care through a woman's Pause journey can significantly reduce her risk of chronic disease, and Estrogen deficiency lasts forever - so it's never too late to visit!
There has been extensive misinformation about Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in the media and online over the past 20 years. Dr Em is able to provide up-to-date, unbiased and evidence-based recommendations around systemic and local HRT. The HRT currently available in Australia is considered safe, and can be used for as long as the benefits outweigh the risks - for many women, this will be the rest of their life! HRT remains one component of management, and significant importance is placed on preventative health - sleep, nutrition, exercise, stress and alcohol.
At Pause Lumiere, Dr Em will take the time to get to know you as a person and a patient, before working with you to build an individualised treatment plan that will restore quality of life and reduce the burden of chronic disease now and in the future. Every woman’s Pause journey is unique, and so should be her medical care.
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The ovaries produce the vast majority of the body's estrogen through the ovulatory process, so the 12 months prior to Menopause, and life after Menopause are characterised by a significant Estrogen-deficit that is life-long.
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Living without Estrogen for decades has profound outcomes for a woman’s physical health - after Menopause, risks of heart disease, osteoporosis, dementia and diabetes (to name a few) start to climb. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women worldwide, and 1 in 2 Australian women will have an osteoporotic fracture in their lifetime, a disease which contributes to death in 1 in 4 people who have a hip fracture over the age of 45. A woman's mental health may also deteriorate, as Estrogen (and probably Progesterone and Testosterone) are incredibly important in the brain - in Australia, the highest rates of recurrent depression in women are in those aged 45-55.
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Not only are there significant health conditions that arise directly as a consequence of Estrogen deficiency, a woman's quality of life can also suffer. ​
Why does this matter?
