Pre-order ADHD and Women by Dr. Jolene Brighten and discover how hormones shape focus, motivation, executive function, and emotional regulation. If you’ve ever felt like your brain suddenly changed operating systems before your period, postpartum, or in perimenopause, this episode on estrogen and dopamine is going to help you understand why your focus, motivation, and emotional regulation can feel completely …
I recorded this episode because I keep seeing the same thing in my clinic: women who’ve been told they have PMDD, but something about the diagnosis doesn’t quite fit. Their symptoms don’t actually go away when their period starts — they just get a little easier. That’s not PMDD. That’s PME, premenstrual exacerbation, and it changes everything about how we …
Autoimmune disease management is often reduced to one question: which medication comes next? This episode pushes back on that narrow frame. For listeners living with fatigue, brain fog, pain, or gradual loss of function, that frustration is real. The conversation with Dr. Terry Wahls centers on a different idea: autoimmune disease is not only about immune signaling, but also about …
PCOS has a new name, and a lot of people are asking the right question: does this actually change anything? In this episode, I break down the shift from PCOS to PMOS—polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome—and why I see it as directionally positive, but nowhere near sufficient on its own. The old name was misleading. It made “cysts” the focus, even …
Have you ever started perimenopause hormone therapy and expected relief, only to feel more bloated, more irritable, more tired, or more in the grip of insomnia instead? If that sounds familiar, you are not imagining it. In this episode, I talk with Dr. Pamela Langenderfer about why hormones can be an important tool, but not the whole story. A prescription …
If you have PMDD and feel like you’ve tried everything—SSRIs, birth control, progesterone, gut protocols, antihistamines, supplements, cycle tracking—and you’re still crashing every luteal phase, this episode is for you. In this episode of The Dr. Brighten Show, Dr. Jolene Brighten breaks down why PMDD treatment is not one-size-fits-all, why some women feel better on standard care while others feel …
It seems like everywhere women turn lately, someone is talking about using Allegra or Pepcid to get through the worst days of their cycle. The stories are consistent: a few pills, and the dark cloud lifts. The question is — is it real? The short answer is: histamine can be involved in PMDD. But the longer, more important answer is …
Many women are told that lab work is normal while symptoms keep getting louder. Weight-loss resistance can worsen even with a normal A1C. Mood can crash before a period even when routine testing shows nothing unusual. Anxiety can intensify after birth and still be brushed aside as part of new motherhood. Digestive symptoms can flare every luteal phase and still …
Can a GLP-1 medication change the way progesterone works in endometriosis? That is the central question Dr. Brighten explores in this episode, and it is not a throwaway idea. It sits at the intersection of inflammation, hormone receptor signaling, and the reality that many women are told to manage endometriosis with options that reduce symptoms without stopping the disease process. …
