Perimenopause · Menopause · Bioidentical HRT
Hormones change. You deserve a specialist who reads them.
Hot flashes, sleepless nights, brain fog, a mood you don't recognize, weight that won't move — the menopause transition touches everything. Treating it well means understanding the hormones behind it. That is the entire field of endocrinology.
Why an endocrinologist — not an app, not a med spa
Menopause care has become a crowded marketplace. National websites and local med spas can mail you hormones within days. What they rarely do is ask the harder question first: are hormones actually the cause of how you feel — and is treating them safe for you?
The symptoms of perimenopause overlap almost perfectly with thyroid disease, insulin resistance, anemia, depression, and other conditions an endocrinologist evaluates every day. A prescription that skips that step can leave a real problem untreated, or place a woman on therapy she shouldn't have. Dr. Hasan establishes the cause, confirms that hormone therapy is appropriate and safe for your history, and then follows it over time.
Chia Endocrinology
A board-certified endocrinologist — a physician whose specialty is hormones — evaluates you directly, orders the right labs, and builds a plan around your full health picture. Unhurried visits, direct access, ongoing adjustment.
Online platforms & med spas
Typically a brief virtual intake with a rotating clinician, a protocol selected largely from a questionnaire, and limited follow-up. Convenient — but rarely a diagnosis, and rarely the same physician each time.
Perimenopause and menopause are not the same
Understanding where you are in the transition shapes the entire approach.
Perimenopause
The years leading up to menopause — often beginning in the 40s, sometimes the late 30s — when estrogen and progesterone swing unpredictably. Periods become irregular, and symptoms can arrive long before they stop. Because hormone levels fluctuate day to day, a single blood test rarely tells the story; the diagnosis is clinical, made by a specialist who knows the pattern.
Menopause
Confirmed after twelve consecutive months without a period, on average around age 51. Estrogen settles at a low level, which is what drives hot flashes, sleep disruption, vaginal and urinary changes, and the longer-term effects on bone and cardiovascular health that deserve attention well beyond symptom relief.
Symptoms we evaluate and treat
If several of these sound familiar, they are worth a specialist's assessment — together, not one prescription at a time.
- Hot flashes and night sweats
- Sleep disturbance and fatigue
- Brain fog, memory lapses, difficulty concentrating
- Mood changes, irritability, anxiety
- Irregular or changing menstrual cycles
- Weight gain and difficulty losing weight
- Vaginal dryness, discomfort, and low libido
- Hair thinning and skin changes
- Bone-density loss and long-term cardiovascular risk
Why the weight won't move — menopause and metabolism
One of the most frustrating experiences of this stage is doing everything you used to do and watching the scale refuse to respond. This is real, and it is physiological. As estrogen declines, fat redistributes toward the abdomen, muscle mass falls, and the body becomes more insulin resistant — so the same meals and the same workouts produce different results.
This is exactly where an endocrinologist's training matters. Weight at midlife sits at the intersection of reproductive hormones, thyroid function, insulin and metabolism, and sleep — and Dr. Hasan treats all of them. Rather than hand you a generic plan, he looks for the metabolic drivers behind the resistance and addresses them directly, alongside hormone therapy where it's appropriate.
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, done responsibly
Bioidentical hormones — estradiol, progesterone, and where indicated testosterone — are molecularly identical to the hormones your body makes. Used appropriately, hormone therapy remains the most effective treatment available for the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause, and it supports bone and cardiovascular health when started within the right window.
There is an important distinction many clinics gloss over. FDA-approved bioidentical hormones are tested for purity, dose, and consistency. Compounded preparations and pellet protocols are not held to that standard. Dr. Hasan favors FDA-approved bioidentical therapy whenever possible — patches, gels, and oral formulations — so that what you take is predictable and safe, with the dose adjusted to you over time rather than fixed by a pellet you can't reverse.
Ready to feel like yourself again?
Start with an unhurried evaluation by a board-certified endocrinologist who treats the cause, not just the symptoms.
Book an Appointment →The Chia Difference
Care built around you, not around insurance volume
Unhurried, in-depth visits
Time to take a full history, review your labs together, and explain the why behind every recommendation — not a fifteen-minute slot.
One physician who knows you
You see Dr. Hasan — the same board-certified endocrinologist — at every visit, with direct access between them. No rotating clinicians, no handoffs.
Transparent direct-pay pricing
A direct-care practice with no insurance middlemen and no surprises. Pricing is clear and shared up front. See pricing.
The physician
Farhad Hasan, MD, MPH — board certified in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism and in Internal Medicine, with a Harvard MPH and many years of clinical experience in hormone health. He treats the menopause transition the way it should be treated: as a whole-body, hormonal event in a real person's life, evaluated carefully and managed for the long term. Care is offered in person in Wexford or by telehealth across Pennsylvania.
