Menopause
Menopause care that takes you seriously
Expert menopause doctors in Eltham
Are menopause symptoms disrupting your work, sleep, relationships, or sense of self? Losing yourself can mean forgetting words in meetings, losing patience with your children, struggling to concentrate on a favourite book, or just not feeling like yourself.
If that sounds like you, you’re not overreacting, you’re not imagining things, and you don’t need to wait until you’re desperate. These are all reasons to seek proper medical care from GPs who understand menopause medicine and who know your whole health story, not just your hormones.
When you come to us for menopause care, we’ll build a comprehensive foundation over three months following evidence-based clinical protocols.* Then, your ongoing care will be shaped around your specific needs because every woman’s menopause is different.
* Following the updated Practitioner’s Toolkit for Managing Menopause (developed by Monash University and endorsed by the International Menopause Society, Australasian Menopause Society, British Menopause Society, Endocrine Society of Australia and Jean Hailes for Women’s Health
What you should know about menopause care
Your symptoms are real. Brain fog that makes you forget words mid-sentence, night sweats that soak through sheets, mood swings that don’t feel like you, joint pain you can’t explain — these aren’t “just stress” or “part of getting older”. They’re perimenopause and menopause, and they warrant proper medical attention.
For many women, menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) provides the most effective relief. MHT typically includes transdermal oestradiol (absorbed through the skin via patches or gel) and micronised progesterone (for women who still have a uterus). These are different from older synthetic versions and have better safety profiles.
However, MHT isn’t the only option. We also work with lifestyle modifications and non-hormonal medications when appropriate for your situation, and we’ll be honest about which complementary approaches have evidence behind them and which don’t.
We follow the updated Practitioner’s Toolkit for Managing Menopause, which is developed by Monash University’s Women’s Health Research Program and endorsed nationally and internationally. This means we assess your whole picture using evidence-based algorithms, discuss all treatment options, and work with your preferences to find what works best for you.
We assess, treat, and optimise over three months. Your first appointment is a 30-minute comprehensive assessment where we take the time to really understand you — your symptoms, your health history, your concerns, and any research you’ve done. In this appointment, we will order appropriate tests and investigations.
In a second 30-minute appointment, we review and talk through everything we have. Together, we build your treatment plan, which we fine-tune in a third appointment after you have had time to assess progress.
After laying that foundation, we work together to shape your routine care around your needs. This might be monthly check-ins if you’re still adjusting, quarterly once you’re stable, or as needed.
The GPs providing this care are members of the Australasian Menopause Society, which means they are committed to staying current with menopause medicine — the research, the guidelines, the evidence. Your GP takes this area of medicine seriously because we know how much it matters to you.
Your care pathway: how we help
Appointment 1: Comprehensive in-person assessment (30 minutes)
Your first appointment is a long appointment (30 minutes) because this isn’t a rushed checklist. It’s time to really understand you — your symptoms, your whole health picture, your concerns about treatment, your questions about risks and benefits, and what you’ve already tried.
We need to hear about the brain fog that makes you forget your colleague’s name mid-conversation, the night sweats that are destroying your sleep, and the mood changes that don’t feel like you. All of it.
Your first appointment covers twelve specific clinical areas:
We aren’t checking boxes, but we do have a clinical framework to ensure you are able to tell us everything we need to know to work with you. This framework covers:
- Symptom severity and pattern assessment (using validated tools where appropriate)
- Menstrual cycle changes and timeline
- Cardiovascular risk factors and family history
- Bone health assessment and fracture risk
- Current medications and supplement review
- Previous menopause treatment attempts and your responses
- Your health priorities and treatment preferences
- Mental health screening (if indicated)
- Sexual health and genitourinary symptoms
- Sleep quality assessment
- Metabolic health markers
- Contraindications and individualised risk stratification
Once we have all this information, we can order appropriate investigations following evidence-based protocols. (And make sure we’re not duplicating anything you already have.)
Standard pathology typically includes: TSH and FT4 (thyroid function), lipid profile, HbA1c (blood glucose), and vitamin D.
Not every woman requires specific hormone testing e.g. FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone), oestradiol, testosterone, or SHBG (sex hormone-binding globulin). These tests, and any additional tests are ordered based on your specific clinical picture and risk profile.
You’ll leave this appointment with a pathology form in hand, your follow-up appointment pre-scheduled for 7–10 days later (once results are typically ready).
Appointment 2: Treatment planning partnership (30 minutes in person)
We follow a four-step collaborative process:
- Review results together — We explain what your test results mean and what they tell us about your hormonal status, overall health, and any risk factors we need to consider.
- Discuss treatment options — If MHT is appropriate for you, we’ll discuss specific formulations (typically transdermal oestradiol patches or gel, plus micronised progesterone if you have a uterus), dosing, what to expect, and how to manage any adjustment period.
We’ll also discuss non-hormonal options, including lifestyle modifications and non-hormonal medications. We’ll be honest about what works and what doesn’t — including complementary products that have been studied and found to be ineffective despite marketing claims.
- Explore your preferences — We talk about what matters most to you and build a plan around your priorities.
- If you’ve been trying natural approaches: We’ll review what you’ve tried and be straightforward about what the evidence shows. Some lifestyle modifications have strong evidence — exercise for mood and metabolic health, stress management for sleep quality. But most complementary supplements (black cohosh, evening primrose oil, red clover, ginseng) have been studied and found to be ineffective for menopausal symptoms. Some, like black cohosh, carry safety risks including liver dysfunction. We’d rather you knew that than kept spending money on products that aren’t helping you. Some might even be harming you.
- We’ll discuss which lifestyle strategies are worth continuing and which products you can stop taking. Not taking products that aren’t helping will save money and potentially improve your health.
- If your symptoms are significantly affecting your quality of life, we’ll discuss effective treatment options, including MHT. Evidence-based treatment doesn’t have to replace healthy lifestyle choices — it works alongside them.
- If you want MHT and it’s suitable: We’ll prescribe it and explain what to monitor during the adjustment period.
- If you’ve done research and have specific questions: Bring them for us to discuss. Our role is to provide medical expertise, clinical experience and context. You’re the decision-maker and we are here to support your choices.
- Build your collaborative plan — We document your treatment plan, explain monitoring requirements, and discuss what the best results look like from your perspective. We’ll also explain our adjustment approach if first-line treatment doesn’t provide adequate relief. Not all women respond to initial treatment, and that’s normal.
Leave with a clear plan, prescriptions if needed, and your next review scheduled — book your first appointment now to get started.
Appointment 3: Progress review and adjustment (15 minutes in person or telehealth)
We check in on how you’re responding to treatment — what’s improved, what hasn’t, and any side effects or concerns. We adjust dosing, timing, or formulation based on your response. Everyone metabolises treatment differently and textbook predictions don’t always match individual experience.
If hot flushes have improved but sleep is still disrupted, that tells us something. If you’re having breast tenderness, we might need to adjust your progesterone formulation or delivery method. If brain fog is lifting but you’re noticing mood changes, we need to address that. If natural approaches haven’t provided adequate relief after your agreed trial period, we’ll discuss next steps.
If your first-line treatment isn’t working well enough, we always have options. That might mean adjusting MHT doses, changing delivery methods, adding testosterone for persistent low energy or libido, trying different progestogen formulations, or exploring non-hormonal medications.
The goal is to find what works for you. There is no template.
You’ll leave with an adjusted plan if needed, clear monitoring instructions, and a routine care schedule that makes sense for your situation.
Then: Individualised routine care
After your foundation is established, your care is shaped around your needs.
For some women, that means monthly appointments while they’re still adjusting to treatment or managing complex symptoms. For others, it’s quarterly reviews once they’re stable on MHT and need periodic monitoring. For some, it’s annual check-ins once everything’s optimised. For the rest, it’s coming back when something changes — symptoms returning, new concerns, wanting to discuss stopping treatment, or anything else that needs attention.
If you’re making lifestyle changes as part of your treatment: We typically schedule monthly monitoring appointments during the adjustment period (usually 3 months) to assess symptom response, check safety parameters, and discuss whether your current approach is providing adequate relief.
That’s usually the right period to ensure we catch any health concerns early and that you have proper medical oversight while exploring non-pharmaceutical options.
Standard appointment fees apply for routine ongoing care. Just book as you need us.
Because we’re your GP, we’re here for your whole health journey
When you see us for menopause care, we’re also thinking about your cardiovascular health, bone density, mental wellbeing, cancer screening, and everything else that matters to your long-term health. We integrate menopause care into your overall health management because they’re not separate.
Your hormones affect your heart, your bones, and your brain. We understand that because we understand your complete medical story, not just this one issue. We know your family history, risk factors, other medications, and health priorities.
That continuity matters because menopause isn’t a six-month problem you fix and forget. It’s a transition that can last years, followed by post-menopausal health management that needs someone who knows your whole story.
We’re here for all of it, not just the immediate symptom relief.
Your investment
Foundation package: $480 ($266.30 after Medicare rebate)
Your package includes three appointments — two 30-minute comprehensive consultations and one 15-minute review. Investigations are ordered as needed, following AMS protocols. These are not included in your package, but many are covered by Medicare.
After we have set the foundation of your menopause care over three appointments, routine care is billed per appointment at standard rates with Medicare rebates. Because care frequency is individualised, your ongoing cost depends on what you need. We work with you to set the frequency that is clinically appropriate for your situation.
When to seek menopause care from your GP
Expert menopause care from a doctor is for you if you’re experiencing:
Brain fog that’s affecting your daily life — forgetting words mid-sentence, losing track of conversations, missing details you’d normally catch, or feeling like your cognitive sharpness has disappeared. If it’s affecting your quality of life, that’s reason enough to seek help. It might be causing anxiety about work, making it harder to focus on people who need your attention, robbing you of the pleasures of sport or other hobbies, or simply making you feel like you’re not yourself.
Sleep disruption that’s leaving you exhausted — night sweats that wake you repeatedly and soak through sheets and pyjamas, or insomnia that has you awake at 3 am even when you’re bone-tired. Sleep deprivation affects everything else, and you deserve to sleep properly.
Mood changes that don’t feel like you — irritability that seems disproportionate, anxiety that’s appeared without a clear cause, low mood that’s persisted despite everything being “objectively fine”, or emotional volatility that’s confusing to you and everyone around you.
Physical symptoms that are overwhelming your usual strategies — hot flushes that are disrupting your day, joint pain you can’t explain, palpitations that are concerning, or any other symptoms that lifestyle modifications and natural approaches aren’t managing effectively.
You’ve tried natural approaches and want medical oversight — you’ve tried supplements, dietary changes, exercise modifications, and stress management, and they’re not working as well as you’d hoped. You want honest answers about what actually works and a doctor who’ll respect what you’ve tried while being straight with you about the evidence.
You’ve been told your symptoms are “just stress”, “normal ageing”, or “too early for menopause” — and you’re looking for GPs who take your concerns seriously and have the menopause knowledge to properly assess them.
Our approach to menopause care
We follow the updated Practitioner’s Toolkit for Managing Menopause — evidence-based clinical algorithms developed by Monash University’s Women’s Health Research Program and endorsed nationally and internationally. That means our recommendations are grounded in current research, not outdated beliefs or wellness industry marketing.
When we discuss treatment risks and benefits, we explain both absolute risk (your actual numerical chance) and relative risk (how much treatment changes that chance), and we stratify risk based on your individual health picture. This includes your age, time since menopause, cardiovascular risk factors, family history, and other personal factors. We don’t use population averages to make decisions about your individual care.
We’re honest about what works and what doesn’t. For vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes and night sweats), MHT is the most effective treatment — significantly more effective than any non-hormonal option.
For women who can’t or don’t want to take MHT, some SSRIs, SNRIs, and gabapentin can help, though less effectively.
Most complementary supplements marketed for menopause — including black cohosh, evening primrose oil, red clover, and ginseng — have been studied and found to be ineffective. Some carry safety risks. We’ll be honest about this because we’d rather you spend your money on treatments that work for you, not against you.
Part of supporting your choices and ensuring you feel your best is making sure you’re spending money only on treatments supported by evidence — natural or otherwise.
We work with your preferences, not against them. If you’ve been trying natural approaches and they’re not providing adequate relief, we’ll explain what the evidence shows and discuss effective treatment options. We respect patients who try complementary approaches and we support complementary approaches proven to work. All we ask is that we can have honest conversations with you.
If you want MHT and it’s appropriate for you, we’ll prescribe it.
If you want to understand every mechanism and every study before deciding, we’ll discuss the research. This is collaborative medicine — you’re the decision-maker, and our role is ensuring you have accurate information and proper medical oversight for whatever path you choose.
We take menopause seriously because we know how much it matters. There is nothing trivial about brain fog that’s threatening a reputation you’ve built over decades, night sweats that destroy sleep and leave you too exhausted to function or mood changes damaging relationships you value.
These symptoms are not “just part of ageing”. They are genuine medical issues that deserve proper attention from GPs who understand menopause medicine. This is why we’re AMS members, why we allocate proper appointment time, and why we approach this work with the clinical rigour it deserves.
We’d love to work together through your menopause
Book your comprehensive assessment to start your care pathway.