Dr.Somi (@somijavaid)

Katie is right, and it's worse than she says. November: after twenty years of gatekeeping hormones from women, the black box warning finally came off. Women said yes. They showed up with their prescriptions. And the shelves were bare. Women, placed on back order. If your pharmacy says no more: you do not go without. There are gels, sprays, rings. Ask your prescriber for a bridge. Switching is safe with a clinician. And the reason this happened is the reason I raised forty million dollars to scale menopause and sexual healthcare. Nobody funds us. Half the population, running on back order. Thank you @katiecouric for the attention. Now we need the research dollars. Comment MYTH and I'll send you the HRT myth guide. #menopause #hormonetherapy #estrogen

What do we get wrong? We don't believe women. We still charge them a credibility tax.It still takes us 10 years to diagnose endometriosis. Women see 11 doctors when they have menopause, and they are still told in 2026 that it is all in their head. Nine out of ten female cancer survivors struggle with sexual health symptoms. One in ten is addressed. The statistics for men are the exact opposite. That, my friend, is what we are getting wrong.How many doctors did it take you? Put the number below.

A hormone that we make. That we are actually pleading for. To get dosing that is appropriate for us.I am done borrowing authority.I'm asking you: are you ready? Tell me in one word below. Then send this to the woman who taught you to speak up.

You have to find a partner in your healthcare. But the take-home I want you to remember is this: you are the CEO of your own body and your own healthcare. Nobody, including me, with twenty years of experience, knows your body better than you do.Go in with that attitude and I promise you, you will come out with the outcome you want. Comment CHECKLIST and I'll send you the questions to bring to your next appointment.

Fourteen years. That's how long the old hormone guidance sat there after a flawed study scared a generation of doctors out of prescribing. I trained under it. I practiced under it. I built a company because of the gap it left. Last week ACOG finally rewrote it. Hormone therapy is now a strong recommendation for most women with symptoms. Start before 60 or within 10 years of menopause. No hard cap on how long. What it still doesn't cover: sex. Testosterone. Your vagina gets its own guideline next year. If your doctor says no, show them the date. If they say hormones are only for hot flashes, show them this. Comment HRT and I'll send you the Hormones 101 guide. #menopause #hormonetherapy #perimenopause

A hormone that we make. That we are actually pleading for. To get dosing that is appropriate for us.I am done borrowing authority.I'm asking you: are you ready? Tell me in one word below. Then send this to the woman who taught you to speak up.

Testosterone for all of us drops with age. And we all, in this country, have no FDA-approved testosterone-only product.That should make you furious. We are told to use a compounded version, or a tenth of a man's dose, and accept it. Women in Australia and the UK have a version.For everyone who says there's no data: nine authors, fifty-one studies. That is my answer. If you have ever been told "there's no data" about your own body, share this with the woman who told you the same thing happened to her.

Part 3. The stage. I was asked to pick. Mom or doctor. Home or the stage. I flew to Chicago anyway, and this is what I said when I got there. How long have we existed on borrowed authority? We don't believe women. We still charge them a credibility tax. Eleven doctors for menopause. Told in 2026 that it is all in their head. No FDA-approved testosterone for women. That should make you furious. I am done borrowing authority. I'm asking you: are you ready? You are the CEO of your own body. Nobody, including me, knows your body better than you do. Comment CHECKLIST and I'll send you my Doctor Visit Checklist. Was it worth leaving her for the weekend? This is my answer.

There are only two federal laws that make period products more accessible. Both were passed by a Republican-led Senate and signed by Donald Trump. The First Step Act requires federal prisons to provide tampons and pads. The CARES Act reclassified period products so FSA and HSA funds can cover them. Progress doesn't always come from where you'd expect it to. Sometimes it comes from the most unlikely gateway in the room. Comments open: did either of these laws surprise you? #𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 #𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 #𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱𝗽𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆 #𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 #𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆

In 2017, a Republican-led Illinois House listened to their constituents about periods — and it became the most surprising place for progress in the country. Illinois became the first state to legislatively kill the tampon tax and one of the first to mandate period products in schools. One Republican lawmaker said he never would have touched broader gender-equity work without that conversation first. It led to an expanded Equal Pay Act and the state ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment in 2018. A pro-choice New Yorker and a conservative Illinois lawmaker ended up co-authoring an op-ed together. That's what listening on one issue can unlock. Comments open: what's a time common ground showed up where you didn't expect it? #𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 #𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 #𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 #𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 #𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗻

Why I hung up the white coat and picked up the mic. I left the exam room so I could make a difference for more than one woman at a time. Season one, with your help, DisruptHER reached thousands of women with every episode and won a Webby. Now we are up for a Signal Award, and I need your help again. I want to disrupt the systems that have been silencing women and slowly killing them. I am asking, humbly, for 30 seconds of your time so I can keep doing this work and more women can get access to the health information they deserve. Vote at the link in bio. It takes 30 seconds. Thank you for being part of this. #DisruptHER #SignalAwards #DrSomi #womenshealth #menopause #sexualhealth #podcast

I am so sick of hearing "it won't kill her." Painful sex won't kill her. Brain fog won't kill her. No libido won't kill her. So we tell women it's normal and send them home. That is why I hung up the white coat and picked up the mic. One exam room was never going to fix a system built to silence women and slowly kill them. Season one, with your help, DisruptHER reached thousands of women every episode and won a Webby. Now we are up for a Signal Award. I am asking, humbly, for 30 seconds of your time. Vote at the link in bio so I can keep doing this work and more women can get the health information they deserve.

I am the gyno that goes there. The questions you are too embarrassed to ask your doctor? I answer them. On DisruptHER, no topic is off limits. This is what an episode with my dear friend and fierce advocate @stacylondonreal looks like. We talked libido, menopause, aging, and yes, the best sex of her life. Season one, with your help, DisruptHER reached thousands of women every episode and won a Webby. Now we are up for a Signal Award. I am asking, humbly, for 30 seconds of your time. Vote at the link in bio so I can keep going there, and more women can get the honest answers they deserve. #DisruptHER #SignalAwards #DrSomi #StacyLondon #sexualhealth #menopause #libido #womenshealth #podcast

I talked about menopause in the Middle East. Never thought that would happen. The best moment in Saudi Arabia was when a woman came up to me after and said, "We don't talk about these things here. Thank you so much." I told her, sadly, we just started talking about it in the USA. This platform has helped me reach women in 78 countries. Season one, with your help, DisruptHER reached thousands of women every episode and won a Webby. Now we are up for a Signal Award. I am asking, humbly, for 30 seconds of your time. Vote at the link in bio so I can keep going, and more women, in more places, can get the health information they deserve. #SignalAwards #DrSomi #menopause #womenshealth #sexualhealth

I kept a secret from you for six months. Last week it came out. And that was just Monday. One week. A documentary with Naomi Watts. A national holiday for hot flashes, and I spent it on a panel. A product headed to Ulta. Filming new sexual health education for you. And Madison Square Garden, because joy is part of the protocol. This is what it looks like when you love the life you are building. Save this for the day you need proof it's possible. Share it with a woman building her own. And tell me below: what are you building right now? #disruptHER #drsomi #WomensHealth #FounderLife #MenopauseAwareness #SexualHealthAwarenessMonth #WomenInMedicine

High-achieving women are told to outperform every man in the room, while still being a good woman, a good mother, a good everything. Jennifer Reid came on the DisruptHER podcast to name what that actually costs. Four things quietly drive burnout in women who look like they have it together: constant caregiving, hyperaccountability, perfectionism, and the myth of having it all. Guilt isn't a personality flaw. It's the predictable result of carrying all four. We also got into what women are conditioned to just endure, and what the postpartum brain actually does to you, not just forgetfulness, real vulnerability. New episode out on Sept 22, 2026, everywhere you listen. Which of the four hits closest to home? Comment below. #burnout #womeninmedicine #postpartum #perimenopause #womenshealth #disruptHER

Pleasure is part of your health. Medicine filed it under luxury, and women learned to agree. Session 7 of Sex in Menopause is called Hope, Next Steps & Reclaiming Agency, and it's the one I most want women to sit with. Because after the anatomy, the diagnoses, and the treatments, one question is left: do you believe you're allowed to want this? You are. Desire, comfort, orgasm, these belong on your problem list the same as blood pressure. Asking for them back is medicine, and it works. I've watched it work for 20 years. Nine days. September 9, the whole masterclass streams free for one week. Me, Dr. Cindy Meston, Naomi Watts. Join the waitlist now so it lands in your inbox the morning it opens. #sexinmenopause #sexualwellness #menopausesupport #midlifewomenshealth #womenshealthmatters #naomiwatts #womenshealth

Your consent form warned you about blood clots. It said nothing about your sex life. I've done thousands of pre-op conversations, hysterectomies, mastectomies, pelvic repairs. The paperwork covers infection, anesthesia, recovery time. What surgery can change about desire, sensation, or pain almost never comes up. So when the change shows up, a woman concludes it's the price of being fixed, and she pays it quietly for years. She was owed that conversation before the OR. The full version includes treatment, hormones where they fit, tissue work, pelvic floor therapy, because post-procedure sexual changes respond to real medicine. We filmed that conversation. Me, Naomi Watts, and no time limit. It streams free September 9–15. #hysterectomy #pelvichealth #sexualmedicine #patientadvocacy #surgicalmenopause #womenshealthmatters #sexinmenopause #womenshealth

Grown women apologize to me in the exam room for not knowing their own anatomy. Twenty years as an OB-Gyn, and it still happens weekly, a patient starts her question with "this is probably stupid." About her own body. The one she's lived in for five decades. It was never stupid. Health class covered fallopian tubes, periods, and pregnancy scares. The organ half the world owns never made the syllabus. So Session 1 of Sex in Menopause is the class that should have existed: anatomy, pleasure, and pain, taught straight, zero euphemisms. Naomi Watts asks what everyone is thinking. I answer the way I would for a friend. All seven sessions stream free September 9–15. Waitlist link in bio, or go straight to onecommune.com/sexinmenopause. #sexinmenopause #womensanatomy #sexualmedicine #menopausesupport #midlifewomenshealth #womenshealthmatters #womenshealth

There's an entire session in the masterclass called Kicking Cancer Out of the Bedroom, and it exists because of a pattern I couldn't unsee. A woman finishes treatment. Her team celebrates, rightly. Scans, bloodwork, follow-ups are meticulous about recurrence and silent about the fact that she was thrown into menopause in six weeks, sex is now impossible, and she's grieving a part of herself no one will name. She interprets the silence as a verdict. It isn't a verdict. Post-cancer sexual medicine is a real discipline with real options, including for women after hormone-sensitive cancers. The conversation just has to happen with someone trained to have it. Session 5, free Sept 9–15. Waitlist at onecommune.com/sexinmenopause (link in bio) and send this to a survivor.

When was the last time you gave your health three uninterrupted days? Join board-certified OB/GYN and women's health advocate Dr. Somi Javaid at M/Power, an immersive retreat designed to help you better understand your hormones, metabolism, sleep, sexual wellness, and longevity. Alongside Canyon Ranch experts, you'll gain personalized insights, advanced health assessments, and practical strategies to help you feel stronger, more energized, and more confident in every stage of midlife. Because thriving begins with understanding your body. When: Sept. 21–24 Where: Canyon Ranch Lenox Learn more at the link in bio.

She didn't set out to stay in anesthesiology forever. What drew her in first was the structure. The case ends, the patient transfers, and you go home. That kind of boundary made a huge difference early in her career while raising two young kids. Over time, she found herself pulled toward a different kind of work. She wanted more variety, more complexity, and the chance to solve problems in real time. What surprised her most was how much responsibility can shape your life. Some specialties let you hand off at the end of the day. Others ask you to carry your patients with you long after the procedure is over. Every path in medicine comes with tradeoffs. The question is which ones fit the life you want to build. New episode of DisruptHER. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. If you had the choice, would you choose clear boundaries or deeper ownership in your work? Tell me why in the comments. P.S. The Sex in Menopause masterclass streams free Sept. 9 to 15. Join the waitlist through the link in bio or at onecommune.com/sexinmenopause. #doctorlife #anesthesiology #womeninmedicine #worklifebalance

I asked a room of physicians once how many routinely ask patients about sexual health. The hands stayed down there too. It gets skipped because it's uncomfortable, unbilled, and untaught, three fixable problems that became one permanent silence. And every woman in that silence concludes she's the only one struggling. Raise your hand in the comments. Has any doctor, ever, asked you first? I'm counting. The masterclass exists because the answer is usually no. Free Sept 9–15. Waitlist link in bio, or onecommune.com/sexinmenopause. #strengthafter50 #perimenopause #hormonehealth #menopausesupport #womenshealth

The reason "have you tried relaxing" makes me feral: painful sex is one of the most solvable problems I treat. GSM alone affects most menopausal women eventually, and local vaginal estrogen, a treatment with decades of safety data, resolves the majority of cases. Vaginismus responds to pelvic floor physical therapy at rates most of medicine would kill for. Even complex dyspareunia gives way once someone actually runs the workup: exam, history, hormones, tissue. The bottleneck was never the science. It's that women get one raised eyebrow instead of one diagnosis, and go home believing pain is the price of aging. It isn't. It never was. Session 3 of the masterclass covers all three, free Sept 9–15. Waitlist link in bio, or go straight to onecommune.com/sexinmenopause. #strengthafter50 #perimenopause #hormonehealth #menopausesupport #womenshealth

Burnout rarely happens all at once. It builds quietly over time, which is why so many people don't recognize it until they're already deep in it. It isn't just about work. It's the combination of career demands, life responsibilities, and the pressure to keep everything moving. It can happen at any stage of your career, even when you're just getting started. For many people, the first sign isn't complete exhaustion. It's realizing you've stopped enjoying the things that once brought you purpose, whether at work or at home. That change is easy to dismiss, but it's often the warning sign we shouldn't ignore. Listen to the latest episode of DisruptHER wherever you get your podcasts. What was the first thing you noticed you'd stopped enjoying? Share your experience in the comments. P.S. The Sex in Menopause masterclass streams free Sept. 9 to 15. Join the waitlist through the link in bio or at onecommune.com/sexinmenopause. #strengthafter50 #perimenopause #hormonehealth #menopausesupport #womenshealth

The FDA has approved more than two dozen treatments for male sexual dysfunction. For women: two. Testosterone alone comes in gels, patches, injections, and pellets for men. For women, despite decades of clinical need, and doctors like me prescribing it off-label every week, there is no FDA-approved testosterone product. Zero. The gap tells you whose problems get a research budget. Women's desire got labeled complicated and quietly defunded; men's got a category at the pharmacy. Dr. Cindy Meston has spent her career doing the research anyway, she's one of the top desire scientists alive, and her masterclass session shows what medicine looks like when it takes women seriously. Free September 9–15. Waitlist link in bio, or onecommune.com/sexinmenopause. #genderbias #womenshealthresearch #sexualmedicine #healthequity #sexinmenopause #womenshealthmatters #womenshealth

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for women, yet too many women don't realize their risk until it's much later. Women can experience different symptoms than men, which often leads to delayed diagnosis and treatment. One of the most valuable tools for prevention is a detailed lipid panel. It isn't complicated, and it's often covered by insurance. Sometimes the biggest challenge is simply knowing to ask for it. Bone health deserves the same attention. A DEXA scan is relatively affordable, easy to interpret, and can help identify problems before they become fractures and long-term complications. The good news is that more health systems are investing in preventive cardiology. We have better tools than ever. Now we need more awareness and more women advocating for their health. Listen to the latest episode of DisruptHER wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever had a full lipid panel instead of just a basic cholesterol test? Let me know in the comments. P.S. The Sex in Menopause masterclass streams free Sept. 9 to 15. Join the waitlist through the link in bio or at onecommune.com/sexinmenopause. #hearthealth #womenshealth #preventivecare #cardiology

Wine has been prescribed to my patients for pain, for zero desire, for anxiety about both. Wine. The medical system's most consistent contribution to women's sexual health is a beverage recommendation. What actually works is dull by comparison: someone takes a full history, does a careful exam, names the diagnosis, and builds a plan. It works so often that the field's biggest problem isn't the medicine. It's access to anyone willing to start. So I'll ask directly, what's the most useless advice a doctor ever handed you? Comments are open. I've heard worse than wine, and I suspect you have too. Session 7 of the masterclass is about demanding better. Free Sept 9–15, link in bio, or onecommune.com/sexinmenopause.

Eat less, move more" has a 30-year record of failing menopausal women. This episode is the actual plan. Jen Wagner trained at Stanford and builds performance programs for a living, for bodies under real stress. Menopause qualifies. You were told decline is the price of turning 50. Decline is what untreated looks like. Hormone therapy where it fits, progressive strength work, sleep treated as medicine, that's a protocol, and protocols are demandable. The full hour is on the DisruptHER podcast, everywhere you listen. Comment STRONG and I'll DM you the episode link plus the strength- after-50 segment. DisruptHER x Dr. Jen Wagner #hormonereplacementtherapy #perimenopausehealth #strongafter50 #menopausesupport #hormonehealth #menopause #strengthtraining

There's an entire session in the masterclass called Kicking Cancer Out of the Bedroom, and it exists because of a pattern I couldn't unsee. A woman finishes treatment. Her team celebrates, rightly. Scans, bloodwork, follow-ups are meticulous about recurrence and silent about the fact that she was thrown into menopause in six weeks, sex is now impossible, and she's grieving a part of herself no one will name. She interprets the silence as a verdict. It isn't a verdict. Post-cancer sexual medicine is a real discipline with real options, including for women after hormone-sensitive cancers. The conversation just has to happen with someone trained to have it. Session 5, free Sept 9–15. Waitlist at onecommune.com/sexinmenopause (link in bio) and send this to a survivor.