Doctor of Pharmacy, BCPS, CIC
Author, Perimenopause
Founder, Dr. Anna Garrett
Healthful Elements Inc. referral partner / women’s health advisor
Practice areas: Hormone balance in perimenopause and menopause, weight loss, epigenetic coaching, adrenal dysfunction, gut health
Dr. Anna and I have known each other since 2012, when we started Dr. Sara Gottfried’s year-long Hormone Mastermind program. She’s the first person I called when my pre-menopausal symptoms started in 2014—she was my rock steady health coach. She’s funny, sometimes irreverent, and a straight shooter. Like me!
I’m honored to have Dr. Anna as Healthful Elements’ referral partner, as I’m no longer focusing on peri/menopause as a primary area of practice, although I can certainly support women in this phase of life in the context of their Hashimoto’s and/or alopecia (my primary areas of practice).
She’s the author of Perimenopause: The Savvy Sister’s Guide to Hormone Harmony.
Dr. Anna and I have no financial relationship—we don’t receive compensation for referring clients to each other.
From Dr. Anna:
When I was 45, I started to experience some vague signs that something was “off.” I couldn’t sleep, had painful breast tenderness, and was retaining water before my period. A few years later, when mood swings and night sweats arrived, it felt like my body was at full-on war with itself!
As a Doctor of Pharmacy, I knew it was likely that this chaos was hormonal and I began looking for solutions. I tested myself and using those results began to do some research. What I discovered was all kinds of non-hormonal options to help manage imbalances (in my case, low progesterone and adrenal fatigue). This was REALLY exciting for me because I have a terrible history of breast cancer in my family and knew that estrogen replacement was not going to be a good option for me. I found that up to 85% of women can be helped without hormone replacement.
Armed with this knowledge, I asked my trainer to be my first client. She was sleeping about 3 hours a night, was gaining weight, and was miserable in spite of a super-clean lifestyle. She’d had a hysterectomy a few years previously and suspected that her issues were hormonal. We tested her hormones and discovered she was very low in progesterone. I recommended progesterone cream and within 2 weeks she was sleeping 9 hours a night. Success!! And I’ve never looked back.
I’ve been a clinical pharmacist for over 20 years and have worked in a variety of practice settings. While traveling my career path, I discovered that working with women in midlife is my true passion. I believe that suffering in perimenopause or menopause is unnecessary. I offer a variety of services that I use to create a precision plan for you. These include hormone balancing, weight loss, epigenetic coaching, and health coaching with a goal of helping women in perimenopause and menopause escape from hormone hell and feel amazing in their bodies so they can rock their mojo through midlife and beyond.
Trainings, learnings, and certifications:
- Currently enrolled in the School of Applied Functional Medicine
- Member, Institute of Functional Medicine
- Member, Functional Medicine Pharmacists Association
- Level 1 Certified Epigenetic Coach through Apeiron Academy
- Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist
- Trained in Dr. Sara Gottfried’s Hormone Cure program
- Certified BARE Coach
- Certified Intrinsic Coach
- PharmD degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill