unPAUSED with Dr. Mary Claire Haver

Latest Episodes:

The Truth About Your Biological Clock: Egg Quality, AMH and Fertility with Dr. Natalie Crawford Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Natalie Crawford, a double board certified obstetrician, gynecologist, and reproductive endocrinologist, and author of the new book The Fertility Formula. Both physicians open by sharing their own fertility journeys, including pregnancy losses and dismissal from the medical system, before turning to the science that most women are never given access to.

Dr. Crawford challenges one of the most persistent myths in women's health: that the biological clock is about running out of eggs. It is not. It is about egg quality, and those are completely different problems with completely different solutions. She explains how inflammation damages the chromosomes and mitochondria inside eggs, how chronic inflammation can actually deplete the ovarian reserve by penetrating the ovarian vault, and why the standard message to women, hurry up or give up, is not supported by the science.

Guest links

Natalie Crawford, MD

Natalie Crawford, MD (Instagram)

Natalie Crawford, MD (TikTok)

Natalie Crawford, MD (Threads)

Natalie Crawford, MD (Facebook)

Natalie Crawford, MD (YouTube)

Natalie Crawford, MD (LinkedIn)

Books

“The New Perimenopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

“The New Menopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver
“The Fertility Formula,” by Dr. Natalie Crawford

GLP-1s, Hormones, and Why You Can't Calorie-Count Your Way Out of Menopause with Dr. Michelle Gordon Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Michelle Gordon, a board certified obesity medicine physician and diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, with surgical fellowships from the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons. Through her practice Thrive Span Medical, she works with midlife women across 39 states whose metabolic and hormonal symptoms have been dismissed as normal aging.

Dr. Gordon opens by dismantling the calories in, calories out framework, not as a vague wellness talking point but on a physiological level. She explains why biology determines the burn rate, why fat oxidation drops by 32% in perimenopause, why visceral fat accumulation accelerates when estrogen declines, and why insulin resistance and leptin resistance make it nearly impossible for midlife women to lose weight through willpower alone. She also covers how sleep deprivation compounds all of it, creating a cycle of cravings, brain fog, and weight gain that most women are navigating without any clinical support.

Guest links:

Michelle E. Gordon, DO (LinkedIn)

Dr. Michelle Gordon (Instagram)

Dr. Gordon, Obesity Medicine (Substack)

Dr. Michelle Gordon (Facebook)

Dr. Michelle Gordon

Dr. Michelle Gordon (TikTok)

Dr. Michelle Gordon

Dr. Michelle Gordon (YouTube)

Books:

“The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

“The New Menopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver
Weightless: A Doctor's Guide to GLP-1 Medications, Sustainable Weight Loss, and the Health You Deserve,” by Dr. Rocio Salas-Whalen

For full show notes, please click here.

Menopause Is a Portal: Reclaiming the Body, the Story, and the Second Half with Dr. Hillary McBride May 26, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Hillary McBride, a psychologist, researcher, and author whose work focuses on women's lived experience of embodiment across the lifespan, and particularly what happens during the perimenopausal and menopausal transition. She brings a feminist, biopsychosocial lens to the work, looking at the intersection of biology and culture and how the stories we are handed about aging as women can shape what we actually feel, right down to measurable health outcomes.

Dr. McBride opens by naming what the research literature has gotten wrong. Women's voices have been largely absent from the empirical conversation about perimenopause and menopause, and what women are actually saying when asked about their experience is strikingly different from what the medical literature reflects. They are describing not just difficulty but clarity, not just loss but a deepening sense of self, not just symptoms but a portal.

Guest links:

Hillary L. McBride

Hillary L. McBride (Instagram)

Hillary McBride (Facebook)

Hillary McBride (X)

Books:

Hillary L. McBride

For full show notes, please click here.

The Holistic Plastic Surgeon: Devices, Ozempic Face, and What Your Habits Do to Aging Skin May 21, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver continues her conversation with Dr. Tony Youn, board certified plastic surgeon, bestselling author of Younger for Life, and the most followed plastic surgeon on social media. In part two of this conversation, Dr. Youn moves from skincare into devices, lifestyle, and the bigger picture of how women can think about aging and anti-aging without getting swept up in the extremes.

Dr. Youn walks through the most commonly asked about in-office treatments, explaining what each one actually does and where the limitations are. He covers IPL for hyperpigmentation and sun damage, fractional CO2 lasers and how they differ from older more aggressive approaches, chemical peels and how depth determines results, and radiofrequency microneedling including what it can realistically achieve and where it falls short. He also addresses at-home devices, covering red light therapy and what the studies actually show about collagen and elastin, and what to look for in a dermal stamper.

Guest links:

Anthony Youn, MD

Tony Youn, MD (Instagram)

Doctor Youn (TikTok)

Dr. Anthony Youn (Facebook)

Doctor Youn (YouTube)

The Doctor Youn Show (Apple Podcasts)

Books

“The New Perimenopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

“The New Menopause"⁠ by Dr. Mary Claire Haver
“Younger for Life: Unlocking the Secrets of Longevity, Nutrition and Self-Care for a Youthful Life,” by Anthony Youn

⁠"Playing God"⁠ by Anthony Youn

⁠"The Age Fix" ⁠by Anthony Youn

⁠"In Stitches"⁠ by Anthony Youn

For full show notes, please click here.

What Estrogen Does to Your Skin (And What Actually Works) May 19, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Tony Youn, a board certified plastic surgeon nationally recognized as one of the top plastic surgeons in the United States, bestselling author of Younger for Life, and the most followed plastic surgeon on social media with more than five million YouTube subscribers and eight million TikTok followers. In part one of this two part conversation, they take on a question that sits at the intersection of hormones and skin health that most doctors have never connected for their patients: what estrogen is actually doing to the skin, and what women can do about it.

Dr. Youn opens with a statistic that women lose 30% of the thickness of their collagen in the first five years after menopause, and then continue losing collagen at twice the rate of men for every year that follows. He explains exactly why this happens, how estrogen interacts with the fibroblasts that produce collagen and elastin, what declining estrogen does to hyaluronic acid and skin hydration, and why women are not imagining it when their skincare suddenly stops working.

Guest links:

Anthony Youn, MD

Tony Youn, MD (Instagram)

Doctor Youn (TikTok)

Dr. Anthony Youn (Facebook)

Doctor Youn (YouTube)

The Doctor Youn Show (Apple Podcasts)

Books

“The New Perimenopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

“The New Menopause"⁠ by Dr. Mary Claire Haver
“Younger for Life: Unlocking the Secrets of Longevity, Nutrition and Self-Care for a Youthful Life,” by Anthony Youn

"Playing God" by Anthony Youn

"The Age Fix" by Anthony Youn

"In Stitches" by Anthony Youn

Menopause Masterclass: HRT Safety, Patch Absorption, Progesterone Intolerance, and Bone Density May 12, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver answers your most asked questions about hormone therapy, menopause symptoms, and how to advocate for yourself when your doctor doesn't have answers. She walks through who actually qualifies for HRT, what the real contraindications are versus conditions that simply require a different delivery method, and how to think about continuing estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone therapy after 60.

Dr. Haver explains the estrogen patch absorption problem, with research showing that up to 20 percent of women on transdermal therapy never reach physiologic estradiol levels regardless of dose. She breaks down SHBG, the protein that can bind your hormones and render them inactive even when your numbers look adequate on paper, and walks through what optimal estradiol levels look like for bone density and osteoporosis prevention specifically.

Books:

“The Complete Bone and Joint Health Plan: Help Prevent and Treat Osteoporosis and Arthritis,” by Jocelyn Wittstein
“The New Perimenopause,” by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

Resources:

Women’s Health Initiative Estradiol (University of Rochester Medical Center) Meet Dr. Heather Hirsch Alloy Health Midi Health Menopause Quiz Lab Test Checklist Blueprint to close the women's health gap

For full show notes, please click here.

Mast Cells, Histamine, and Perimenopause Explained: MCAS, Anxiety, Estrogen May 09, 2026

Show notes

In this bonus episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver is joined by Dr. Zachary Rubin, double board certified allergist and immunologist and New York Times bestselling author of All About Allergies, to dig into the connection between histamine, mast cells, and women's hormonal health.

Dr. Rubin breaks down what mast cells are, how histamine works across multiple organ systems, and why women are disproportionately affected by mast cell related conditions including mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS). The two dig into the estrogen and histamine connection, why perimenopause can trigger or worsen symptoms like anxiety, brain fog, and histamine intolerance, and what MCAS actually is and how it is diagnosed. Dr. Rubin also addresses the viral H1 and H2 blocker combination that has been circulating online, explaining the real science behind why it may be helping some women with PMDD, endometriosis, and perimenopausal symptoms, while being honest about what we still do not know.

They also cover quercetin, DAO supplements, low histamine diets, and how to think about self experimentation safely. If you have been wondering whether histamine could be a piece of your hormonal health puzzle, this conversation is a great place to start.

Estrogen, Progesterone, and Testosterone: The Science of Hormones, Sexual Function, and Menopause May 05, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Tami Rowen, an obstetrician, gynecologist, and leading gynecologic surgeon at the University of California San Francisco, and an internationally recognized expert in sexual health and sexual medicine. Together they get precise about some of the most misunderstood terrain in women's health: estrogen, progesterone, progestins, and testosterone for women, what they actually do in the body, how the confusion around them began, and what becomes possible for women when care is evidence-based and not fear-based.

Dr. Rowen opens with something most women have never been told: that contraceptive estrogen and menopausal estrogen are fundamentally different molecules with different goals, different mechanisms, and different effects on the body. She walks through why ethinyl estradiol, the synthetic estrogen in most birth control pills, binds to the estrogen receptor 300 times more strongly than natural estradiol, why that matters for everything from blood clotting to testosterone levels to bone density, and why modern contraception is still valuable and worth defending even as we get more precise about how it works.

Guest links:

Dr. Tami Rowen (UCSF Health)

Dr. Tami Rowen (ISSWSH)
Dr. Tami Rowen (Instagram)

The Holderness Family Gets Real About Perimenopause Apr 28, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Kim and Penn Holderness, the husband and wife content creators behind the widely popular Holderness Family, bestselling authors, and winners of The Amazing Race Season 33. Together they built an audience of millions by finding the humor in real life, and in this conversation they turn that same lens on perimenopause, ADHD, marriage, and the particular chaos of midlife.

Kim opens up about the perimenopausal symptoms that arrived before she had any name for them: the anxiety that made everything feel like being chased by a bear, the panic attacks triggered by nothing she could identify, and the growing sense that something was fundamentally wrong with her. She describes walking out of her doctor's office with no treatment after being told her symptoms were normal, the financial reality of having to seek out a functional medicine doctor to finally get the estrogen and progesterone support she needed, and the combination of hormonal and psychiatric care that eventually helped her feel like herself again. She also speaks with real honesty about her postpartum anxiety, perimenopause and depression, and her OCD diagnosis, and how all of it left her desperate for a voice that would simply say: this is hard.

Guest links:

The Holderness Family

The Holderness Family (Instagram)

The Holderness Family - Music (YouTube)

The Holderness Family - Comedy (YouTube)

The Holderness Family (Facebook)

The Holderness Family (Substack)

The Holderness Family (TikTok)

Laugh Lines with Kim & Penn Holderness (Apple Podcasts)

PC’s Playbook Podcast (YouTube)

Books:

“ADHD Is Awesome,” by Penn and Kim Holderness

“Everybody Fights,” by Penn and Kim Holderness

The Testosterone Conversation with Dr. Kelly Casperson: Beyond Libido Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver continues her conversation with Dr. Kelly Casperson, urologist, author, and host of the podcast "You Are Not Broken." Part 2 goes deep on testosterone therapy for women, the most misunderstood hormone in women's health, and covers the full range of what it actually does in the female body, why every woman will experience declining levels over time, and why there are still zero FDA approved testosterone products for women while men have more than a dozen.

Dr. Casperson opens with the basics: ovaries make testosterone, the hormone pathway runs one way from cholesterol through progesterone to testosterone to estradiol, and women in normal cycling years carry four times more testosterone than estrogen in their bodies. She explains where testosterone receptors are found, which is everywhere from the brain to bone to muscle to the clitoris to the tear ducts, and why reducing testosterone in women to a libido drug misses the full picture entirely.

Guest links:

Kelly Casperson, MD

Kelly Casperson (Instagram)

Kelly Casperson (YouTube)

You Are Not Broken (Apple Podcasts)

Books: