A menopause specialist for San Antonio, by video

Two things bring women to us from San Antonio: a menopause specialist, and menopause testing. They often come together. You’ve had hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings or periods that no longer keep a schedule, and you want someone to confirm what’s going on and treat it.

Both happen in the same video visit. Your provider goes through your symptoms, your cycle and your history, tells you whether this looks like perimenopause or menopause, and decides whether a test would add anything. If treatment fits, it starts from that visit.

A clinician diagnoses perimenopause from your age, your cycle and your symptoms. Hormone levels swing from week to week in perimenopause, so a single FSH or estradiol result can’t confirm or rule it out, and a normal result doesn’t mean your symptoms aren’t hormonal.

Blood tests help mainly when you’re under 40, have no periods to track, or when something else could explain your symptoms. The common work-up then is estradiol and FSH, plus TSH to rule out thyroid disease. Your provider orders only what would change the plan, tells you how and where to have the blood drawn, and reviews the result with you. Lab prices depend on what is tested. Our hormone testing guide explains what each test shows.

If hormone therapy is right for you, the usual starting point is estradiol through the skin as a patch or gel, with oral micronized progesterone. The starting regimen depends on you, and a dose that’s too high or too low is changed at a follow-up rather than waiting out an implant. We prescribe patches, gels, creams, pills and vaginal forms, not pellets.

We prescribe FDA-approved bioidentical estradiol and progesterone products. Where a dose isn’t made commercially or an ingredient doesn’t suit you, your provider can write a compounded prescription, with our compounding pharmacist advisor behind the decision. Compounded hormones are not FDA-approved. The prescription goes to a pharmacy that can fill it for you in Texas.

San Antonio calls itself Military City, USA. Fort Sam Houston, Lackland and Randolph move families on a schedule they don’t set, and a menopause appointment is easy to lose in a move. A video practice fits that: the same clinician across a move within Texas, visits at a time you pick, and messaging with your care team between visits through HIPAA-compliant messaging. We don’t bill TRICARE or any other insurance. The first visit is $99 and FSA and HSA cards are accepted.

If you’re posted out of Texas, the visit can’t go ahead from there. Telehealth rules require you to be in Texas at the time of the call, because your clinician’s Texas licence is what allows them to treat you.

A physician licensed in Texas treats San Antonio patients, through Golden Leaf Health, PC. The care team is Dr. Ashley Alexis, ND, Dr. Steve Groke, MD, and Mai Tran, PharmD, our compounding pharmacist advisor. You can read about each of them on our About page. Every physician licensed in Texas appears in the Texas Medical Board’s public lookup.

The visit is the same from New Braunfels, Seguin, Boerne, Schertz, Cibolo or Floresville. Patients north of San Marcos have the Austin page, and the Dallas page covers the Metroplex. The Texas page covers eligibility and licensing anywhere in the state.