It's About Hormone Therapy and Heart Health with Dr. Bal Pawa

Today, I’m excited to share part one of my conversation with Dr. Bal Pawa–a true leader in women’s midlife health and integrated health. Dr. Pawa is a medical doctor, a pharmacist, a co-founder of the West Coast Women's Clinic in Vancouver, a Harvard-trained mind-body expert, a TEDx speaker, and the author of The Mind-body Cure. She is also a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner, is instrumental in changing how practitioners learn about perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause care, and she has a wealth of invaluable knowledge to share…so much so that our conversation extended over two episodes!

What we discussed:

How Dr. Pawa’s car accident was a catalyst in shifting her career focus to women’s health and hormones
Why the Canadian healthcare model is lacking when it comes to holistic, integrative, and preventative health and how led to a system where doctors are reimbursed for treating a symptom, rather than looking at the whole person
The ongoing struggle medical doctors face because time and resources are limited
Dr. Pawa shares her latest project: Creating a new preceptorship program for practitioners focused on women’s health with a subset for menopause specialists where the information is credible, consistent, standardized, and evidence-based
Why heart disease symptoms in women often go ignored, even though women’s risk for heart attacks are actually higher than men
How hot flashes, which are vascular events, should be viewed as a “check engine light” and an invitation to get to your doctor so you have the opportunity to be preventative around your heart health
The importance of treating (and not enduring) hot flashes
Dr. Pawa shares why the biggest question she gets asked is about hormone therapy and she explains both the short-term and long-term benefits of finding out if hormone therapy is right for you