Shawn Tassone, MD, PhD - America's Holistic Gynecologist

Shawn Tassone, MD, PhD - America's Holistic Gynecologist 2X Board Cert OBGYN + Integrative Medicine | Author of The Hormone Balance Bible - AVAILABLE NOW!
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09/03/2026

Is it your hormones…or is it your life? The answer may be both.

Your estrogen can be low AND your marriage can be affecting your nervous system.
Your thyroid may need treatment AND you can be profoundly burned out.
Your testosterone can be low AND increasing testosterone may not repair emotional intimacy.
You can be experiencing real perimenopause symptoms AND have spent years carrying a mental, emotional, and logistical load your bloodwork will never show.

Hormones matter. Stress matters. Sleep matters. Mental health matters. Relationships matter. Motherhood matters. Identity matters.
They’re all happening inside the same woman.

That’s why “Is this hormonal?” isn’t always a yes or no question.

In this week’s episode of Confessions of a Male Gynecologist, I’m connecting some of the conversations we’ve had recently around Dolly Parton, Lindsay Clancy, and Death of the Pastors Wife on Netflix US — They sound unrelated. They aren’t.

Join me for a discussion on perimenopause, hormones, chronic stress, postpartum mental health, low libido, relationships, burnout, caregiving, and the invisible things women carry that medicine doesn’t always measure.

Because good women’s healthcare should never be about treating an estrogen level and forgetting the woman attached to it.

Listen to the full conversation wherever you get your podcasts + subscribe to Confessions of a Male Gynecologist so you don’t miss when the next drops! 🎧

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09/03/2026

A woman can have “normal” labs and still not be well.

She can also have perfectly optimized hormones and still be living a life her body is struggling to adapt to — that distinction matters.

I don’t treat based on just her estradiol level.
I don’t treat based on just her progesterone level.
I don’t treat based on just her testosterone level.
I treat the woman sitting in front of me.

And sometimes the most medically relevant thing she tells me isn’t on a laboratory report, it’s:
“I haven’t slept through the night in years.”
“I take care of everyone and never take care of me.”
“I don’t recognize myself.”
“I’m constantly walking on eggshells.”
“I thought something was wrong with me.”
“I’ve felt different since I had my baby.”
“I don’t even know what I want anymore.”

Those statements don’t mean we stop looking for a medical cause, but they matter.

Chronic stress can intersect with sleep, digestion, pain, mood and s*xual health. Pregnancy, postpartum, PMDD, perimenopause and menopause can add another biological layer to an already complicated picture.

This is part of why I pursued a PhD in Mind-Body Medicine — not because I believe you can meditate your way out of a medical condition, not because everything is “stored trauma,” and not because I think spirituality should replace science.

Because after beginning my career caring for women and seeing my mom struggle with ovarian cancer, I wanted to better understand the PERSON experiencing the physiology.

Sometimes my patient needs estrogen, testosterone, a different medication, more testing, another specialist, therapy, better sleep, boundaries, support, or a combination of several things — that’s what individualized medicine actually looks like.

There is a human being attached to those ovaries.

And I think women’s healthcare gets better when we honor her and her story.

Tomorrow, I’m taking this conversation much deeper on Confessions of a Male Gynecologist — subscribe now to be notified as soon as the episode drops + share it with another woman who deserves to be treated like a whole person, not a collection of symptoms 💌

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09/01/2026

If you watched Death of the Pastor’s Wife on Netflix US , there’s a women’s health conversation buried underneath this story that I don’t think we talk about enough — What happens to a woman’s body when she spends years living in survival mode?

People may use terms like narcissistic abuse, gaslighting or a toxic relationship. Clinically, I’m less interested in diagnosing someone I’ve never evaluated and much more interested in understanding the effects of coercive control, chronic fear, manipulation, isolation and hypervigilance on the person experiencing it.

Because your nervous system and your reproductive system are not operating in separate buildings.

Chronic stress activates the HPA axis — your stress - response system — and that system communicates with the HPG axis, which helps regulate ovulation and reproductive hormones.

That doesn’t mean every difficult relationship “causes a hormone imbalance.” It DOES mean prolonged stress can affect things like:
📋 menstrual regularity and ovulation
📋 sleep
📋 low libido
📋 energy
📋 anxiety and mood
📋 gastrointestinal symptoms
📋 pelvic pain

and how intensely someone experiences symptoms during an already hormonally turbulent time like perimenopause

And sometimes those women end up in a doctor’s office being told their labs are normal, that they need to sleep more, reduce stress or take another supplement, but nobody asks what may be one of the most important questions — “Do you feel safe in your own life?”

**continued in comments**

08/28/2026

Women shouldn’t have to fall into the gap between gynecology and psychiatry

But that’s exactly what can happen during some of the most vulnerable reproductive transitions of a woman’s life — pregnancy, postpartum, PMDD, fertility treatment, pregnancy loss, to name a few.

These aren’t just reproductive events — they can also be high-risk periods for changes in mental health, yet the way our healthcare system is structured often forces women to separate the two.

The gynecologist may not feel adequately trained to manage psychiatric medications.
The psychiatrist may not feel adequately trained in pregnancy, hormones, or reproductive health.

And the woman in the middle gets told:
“Ask your psychiatrist.”
“Ask your gynecologist.”

That gap, and how we can work to bridge it, is exactly what Kristin Yeung Lasseter, MD and I want to explore because if we really wanted to redesign women’s mental health care, we wouldn’t wait until someone was in crisis to start asking how she’s doing.

We would screen more often.
We would recognize reproductive transitions as important windows for mental health.
We would train more clinicians who understand BOTH sides of the conversation.
We would stop expecting women to somehow coordinate fragmented care while they’re already struggling.

This is also why conversations about postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum psychosis, PMDD and reproductive mental health need to happen long before someone reaches a breaking point.

Dr. Lasseter and I go much deeper into postpartum mental health, intrusive thoughts, psychosis, bipolar disorder, medication management and the gaps that still exist in women’s mental healthcare in this week’s episode of Confessions of a Male Gynecologist — listen to the full conversation wherever you get your podcasts 🎧

I encourage you to share this episode with a woman who has ever felt like she was being passed back and forth between doctors instead of actually being cared for while struggling with mental health 💌

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08/27/2026

I’m not here to debate whether Lindsay Clancy is innocent or guilty.

Postpartum mental health is a central issue in this case and there’s part of this I believe needs to be examined very seriously.

One of the psych experts stated he didn’t consider postpartum conditions citing the DSM, which limits the postpartum period to 4 weeks after delivery.

At 4 weeks many women haven’t been cleared to have s*x.
Some are still bleeding.
Some are healing from vaginal tearing.
Some are recovering from major abdominal surgery after a C-section.
Some still have restrictions around soaking or bathing.

Their hormones are shifting dramatically.
Their sleep is unpredictable + inconsistent.
They may be breastfeeding or pumping around the clock.

Their bodies hurt.
Their relationships are changing.
Their identities are changing.

Some have support.
Some are doing it alone.

And we’re supposed to believe there’s a distinct line between postpartum and not postpartum?

The 4 week language exists within psych diagnostic classification, but that’s very different from saying the effects of childbirth end 4 weeks after delivery.

They don’t.

ACOG describes postpartum care as an ongoing process with comprehensive care through at least 12 weeks and the perinatal mental health guidance includes conditions that first appear or worsen during the first year.

Maternal mental health organizations report women taking a year or longer to begin feeling like themselves.

That matters.

I don’t deliver babies anymore, but I spent most of my career guiding women through pregnancy, labor, delivery, the months that followed, and I feel strongly that —

Caring for the mother after delivery is just as important as caring for her during pregnancy, and in some cases, even more important.

That doesn’t mean postpartum mental health explains tragedy and it doesn’t diminish the lives of those innocent children.

**continued in comments**

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08/25/2026

The world is remembering Dolly Parton for the music, the humor, the rhinestones, the philanthropy and the unmistakable way she refused to be anyone other than herself.

As a gynecologist, there’s another part of her story I hope women hear.

Just a few days ago Dolly spoke openly about putting her own health concerns aside while caring for her husband and I can’t tell you how many versions of that story I’ve heard from women sitting across from me.

“I knew something wasn’t right, but my kids needed me.”
“My husband was sick.”
“My mom needed help.”
“Work was crazy.”
“I didn’t have time.”

So they keep going, normalize the exhaustion, and convince themselves the pain, sleep changes, brain fog, bleeding, libido changes or other symptoms can wait.

And eventually, taking care of themselves becomes the thing that gets pushed to the bottom of the list.

Dolly also had her own women’s health history and discussed undergoing a partial hysterectomy at 36 after battling endometriosis and how difficult that period of her life was.

Yet what I find remarkable is she never let it stop her.

At 80 years old, she was still creating, still planning, still working, still imagining what could come next.

Women are often taught that getting older means accepting less — energy, s*xuality, ambition, visibility, and less expectation that they should actually feel good.

Aging is inevitable, but being dismissed because you’re aging isn’t acceptable.

And being the woman everyone depends on does not mean your own health should become optional.

So maybe one of the ways we honor a woman who spent her life unapologetically being herself is by remembering
✨ You are allowed to take up space
✨ You are allowed to feel well
✨ You are allowed to ask questions
✨ You are allowed to take care of yourself

Because everyone else may need the strong woman, but the strong woman needs someone looking after her too.

And sometimes that someone has to be herself.

If there’s a woman who came to mind while reading this, send it to her — she may need the reminder today.

Rest in peace to the legend, Dolly Parton 🦋

—

08/25/2026

What happens when people stop trusting the people giving them medical advice?

That may be the bigger vaccine conversation we need to have.

Because somewhere between COVID, mandates, changing recommendations, social media, VAERS screenshots, personal stories, public health messaging, and outright misinformation… the conversation around vaccines became almost impossible to have without someone choosing a side.

But medicine shouldn’t require blind trust.

And asking questions shouldn’t automatically make someone “anti-vaccine.”

On this week’s episode of Confessions of a Male Gynecologist, I sit down with Harvard-trained physician and author Dr. Michael Myers to have the conversation that often gets reduced to sound bites.

This isn’t a conversation about picking a team.

It’s about being able to ask hard questions, look at the evidence, acknowledge risk where it exists, and communicate honestly enough that patients can make informed decisions.

Because if medicine wants people’s trust, we have to be willing to talk about why some of that trust disappeared in the first place.

Listen to the full episode of Confessions of a Male Gynecologist wherever you get your podcasts.

Then come back and tell me — what is ONE vaccine question you wish physicians could discuss? 💬

Save this episode for later + share it with someone who believes we should still be able to have difficult conversations about medicine.

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08/18/2026

Women are already accustomed to having very real symptoms given overly simplistic explanations online which is why I wanted to talk about this “30 pounds of poop” claim.

Bloating? “Parasite detox.”
Constipation? “Cleanse your colon.”
Hormonal symptoms? “This supplement will balance your hormones.”

The problem? Women’s bodies are considerably more complex than that.

The claim that most people have as much as 30 pounds of f***l matter trapped inside the folds of the colon, where it supposedly remains FOREVER, is not how a normally functioning colon behaves.

The colon is a dynamic organ. Its muscles contract to move contents forward, water is absorbed, stool is formed and eventually eliminated.

Can someone develop significant constipation or f***l impaction? Yes, but that’s not evidence that the average woman has decades of f***l matter permanently stuck inside her colon.

For some women, it may be gastrointestinal.
For others, pelvic floor dysfunction may be contributing.

Thyroid function matters.
Certain medications and supplements matter.
Diet, hydration and activity matter.
Hormonal changes may matter.
And as a gynecologist, I’m also thinking about the pelvis.

Does she have pelvic pressure? Pain? Heavy periods? Fibroids? Endometriosis symptoms? Has something changed with her menstrual cycle? Is she entering perimenopause?

Those details tell me far more than assuming her colon simply needs to be “cleaned.”

One of the most useful things you can do for your health is notice when your body changes.

New symptoms deserve curiosity — not a one-size-fits-all explanation.

Save this as your reminder, send it to another woman who needs to know that digestive symptoms can overlap with women’s health + follow along for more honest conversations about women’s health and hormones 💌

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