“They don’t even know that testosterone matters.”
That sentence hit me like a freight train during my conversation with Dr. Camille. And not because it was shocking—because it was familiar.
She’s a board-certified ER doctor. I’m a nurse practitioner. And we’ve both spent years inside a system that regularly ignores hormone health in women.
This week on Medical Disruptors, I had the privilege of sitting down with Dr. Camille to talk about her personal health collapse, and the silent epidemic affecting thousands—if not millions—of women. We’re calling it what it is: hormone neglect. And in this case? The hormone that changed everything wasn’t estrogen. It was testosterone.
If you’ve ever felt dismissed, exhausted, or like your body just isn’t cooperating anymore, keep reading. Because what happened to Dr. Camille doesn’t just explain one woman’s story—it explains why so many of us are suffering in silence.
When the Doctor Becomes the Patient
Dr. Camille wasn’t just a high-performing ER physician—she was also a new mom and military veteran. On paper, she had everything under control. But behind the scenes, she was unraveling.
Chronic fatigue. Daily migraines. Recurrent miscarriages. Panic attacks in the hospital where she worked. And worst of all, no one could explain why.
She saw all the right specialists. Neurologists. Fertility experts. OB/GYNs. Each one looked at a single part of her body and sent her on her way. But no one ever stopped to ask, what do all these symptoms have in common?
That’s when she started asking better questions—and eventually found her way to a functional medicine provider who ran one simple lab that no one else had thought to order.
Her testosterone level? Undetectable.
The Forgotten Hormone
If you’re a nurse practitioner reading this, you’ve probably been trained to think of testosterone as a “male hormone.” But here’s the truth: women make testosterone too—and they make three times more of it than estrogen before menopause.
The problem? We don’t talk about it. We don’t test it. And we certainly don’t treat it.
Testosterone plays a critical role in energy, motivation, mood stability, libido, metabolic function, and even fertility. Yet most women who show up in their 30s and 40s with classic signs of hormone imbalance—fatigue, weight gain, mood swings, poor focus—are told they’re just stressed, getting older, or need to manage their work-life balance better.
That’s not medicine. That’s dismissal dressed up as advice.
It’s Not Just About Menopause
One of the biggest takeaways from my conversation with Dr. Camille was this: the hormone conversation cannot start at menopause.
By the time someone reaches their 50s and officially stops menstruating, they’ve often spent a decade or more in perimenopause—dealing with fluctuating estrogen, declining progesterone, and vanishing testosterone.
As a nurse practitioner, I’ve seen so many women who come in desperate for answers. They’re not looking to turn back time. They just want to feel like themselves again. And yet the system either tells them “you’re fine” or offers them an antidepressant, a sleeping pill, or worse—nothing at all.
Testosterone Changed Everything
Dr. Camille’s turnaround wasn’t some long, complicated detox protocol. It wasn’t meditation or supplements or quitting caffeine.
It was bioidentical testosterone replacement.
Within weeks of starting, her energy came back. Her mood stabilized. Her migraines vanished. She lost weight that hadn’t budged in years. And—perhaps most powerfully—she conceived naturally and carried a healthy pregnancy to term.
It was a simple fix. But it required asking a question that almost no one is asking in conventional medicine: Do women need testosterone?
Spoiler alert: yes, they do.
The Fear Around Hormone Replacement
Let’s address the elephant in the room: hormone therapy still carries stigma, especially in women. Many patients are afraid of “messing with their hormones.” Others have heard outdated research linking HRT to cancer or stroke. And unfortunately, many clinicians are equally misinformed.
But here’s what we know now: when done correctly—using bioidentical hormones and appropriate dosing—HRT can be life-saving. It supports cardiovascular health, preserves cognitive function, strengthens bones, improves mood, and restores quality of life.
And it’s not just about estrogen. Testosterone deserves a seat at that table, too.
Why We Don’t Catch It
Here’s the biggest problem: most of us—nurse practitioners, physicians, even specialists—aren’t taught how to think about hormones in systems. We’re trained to look at them in isolation, or to assume “normal range” means “optimal health.”
But as Dr. Camille and I discussed, a lab value in range doesn’t mean a patient is thriving. A woman can have “normal” estrogen and still be miserable if her testosterone is bottomed out. She can have “fine” progesterone levels but still be up at 2am, wired and anxious, if her adrenals are shot.
Functional medicine taught both of us how to connect the dots—and frankly, it shouldn’t be considered fringe. It should be the foundation of how we care for people.
It’s Time to Reframe the Conversation
We need to stop blaming women for their symptoms.
We need to stop telling them to try harder, do less, sleep more, eat better.
We need to stop pretending that just because a lab looks fine, they must be fine.
Hormones are powerful, delicate, and essential—and testosterone is part of that equation. When we leave it out of the conversation, we leave women behind.
If you’re a nurse practitioner trying to serve your patients more holistically, I urge you: start testing testosterone. Start asking about it. Start treating it when necessary. Because you just might change someone’s life the way Dr. Camille’s was changed.