When Astghik Nersesyan became pregnant with her second child at the age of 38, she expected her pregnancy and postpartum journey to mirror her first experience.

It did not.

“I gained a ton of weight, 60 pounds,” said Astghik, a software engineer who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. “I had uncontrolled gestational diabetes that had me on insulin. I did everything doctors told me to do, but they couldn’t control it.

Her postpartum experience was no easier. No matter what she did, she couldn’t lose the weight, and she felt like her body just “got older really fast,” she said.

“I tried eating less but I was starving, and then I tried eating more and I would just gain more weight. My body was really disconnected,” she explained.

Mentally, she was disconnected, as well.

“I couldn’t find a good balance. I didn’t know what was happening. Handling everything was just harder,” Astghik said.

When she began experiencing hot flashes and experiencing excessively sweaty armpits and realized she had developed an allergy to cosmetics, she asked her doctor about it.

To her disappointment, her doctor brushed off her concerns and told her she was fine.

She wasn’t fine.

Searching for Answers

With no support or advice from her healthcare providers, Astghik took matters into her own hands.

She began listening to podcasts about menopause and hormone health, eventually discovering Dr. Stacy Sims.

At first, she wasn’t sure about Dr. Sims, Astghik admit