Hormones Without the Hype: Birth Control, Perimenopause, and Asking Better Questions About Women’s Health

Women often learn to push through pain, normalize exhaustion, and accept quick fixes that never quite fit. This conversation with Air Force veteran and educator Tara Duncan challenges that script by unpacking what we’re rarely taught about hormones, birth control, and life transitions like perimenopause. Tara shares how a decade of service, motherhood, and coaching led her to interrogate the advice women hear most: that discomfort is expected and symptoms are inevitable. She argues for informed consent, plain-language education, and practical questions that help listeners navigate care without shame or confusion. The result is a framework that respects lived experience and pairs it with accessible science.

A core theme is the gap between symptom and story. Many of us describe fatigue, mood shifts, hot flashes, low libido, or unpredictable cycles and get a brisk “that’s normal.” Tara reframes those signals as data. She explains how estrogen and progesterone shape energy, sleep, and mood, and why ovulation—not just bleeding—matters for long-term health. We explore birth control’s role: powerful, sometimes necessary, but often prescribed as a catch‑all. The pill doesn’t “regulate” a cycle; it suppresses it and replaces hormones with synthetic versions. That distinction helps women decide whether the method suits their goals, whether they’re preventing pregnancy, easing cramps, or addressing acne—and what trade-offs may follow.

Endometriosis surfaces as a case study in complexity. Tara and our host compare timelines marked by severe pain, missed links, and years on contraception without a bigger plan. Endometriosis is a full-body disease influenced by inflammation and pain pathways like prostaglandins; severity doesn’t always match imaging. Because experiences vary so widely, Tara cautions against one-size-fits-all advice and points to specialists and current research. She offers a steady path forward: document symptoms, learn the basics of cycle physiology, and align medical visits around clear questions about testing, options, and goals—especially during perimenopause, when signs often scatter across sleep, mood, thermoregulation, and cognition.

Practicality anchors the guidance. Before chasing supplements or trendy protocols, Tara asks about foundations: sleep hygiene, light exposure, protein and fiber intake, resistance training, stress load, and social support. Labs can be useful when interpreted in context, especially if considering hormone therapy. She distinguishes bioidentical hormones from synthetic contraceptives, noting that clarity about form, dose, and delivery matters as much as the decision to start. The mindset shift is key: you deserve to feel good—vibrant, sexual, focused—at every stage. That starts with listening to your body’s signals and being relentless about answers.

Tara’s hope extends to the next generation. Cultural pressures once pushed low-fat dogma and fear of food; today, more women lift, honor recovery, and view carbs and fats as allies. Conversations about miscarriage, postpartum changes, menopause, and HRT are becoming mainstream—and that openness shortens the time from suffering to support. The takeaway is not anti-medicine or anti-pill; it’s pro-education. Get curious, ask better questions, and build a care team that communicates in plain English. When you understand the mechanics—what ovulation does, what a withdrawal bleed is, how sleep stages restore hormones—you gain options that fit your life, not someone else’s template.

By the end, the mission is simple: replace guesswork with knowledge and urgency with agency. If your body feels off, that’s not a personal failure—it’s a prompt. Track what you feel, when you feel it, and what helps. Bring that map into the room and demand a guide who respects it. Perimenopause doesn’t have to be chaos; birth control doesn’t have to be mysterious; endometriosis doesn’t have to define you. Education turns “that’s just how it is” into “here’s what I’m choosing next.”

www.tierraduncan.com

@tierraduncanauthor

Listen to the podcast HERE