Perimenopause doesn’t just affect a woman’s body—it can affect her mood, confidence, mental health, intimacy, and the way she connects with the people she loves.

In this episode of The Next Level NP Podcast, I’m joined by Jamie Jones, FNP, PMHNP, owner of Intentional Wellness Solutions, for a conversation about what happens when hormones begin showing up in our relationships.

As both a Family Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner—and a woman who has experienced perimenopause herself—Jamie brings a unique perspective to the connection between hormones and mental health.

We talk about irritability, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, changes in libido and intimacy, body image, weight, communication, and what can happen when a woman simply says, “I don’t feel like myself anymore.”

We also discuss Jamie’s remarkable personal health journey, including maintaining a 140-pound weight loss for more than a decade, why sustainable health is about far more than willpower, and the importance of considering hormone health earlier—not just when symptoms become unbearable.

This conversation is for women navigating perimenopause, the people who love them, and healthcare providers who want to better understand the whole woman sitting in front of them.

Connect with Jamie Jones, NP
🌐 Intentional Wellness Solutions: https://www.intentionalwellnesssolutions.com

Connect with Marcia Jones, NP
🌐 MarciaJonesNP.com
🌐 For Nurse Practitioners: NextLevelNP.com

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a woman—or a partner—who needs to hear this conversation.

The Next Level NP Podcast
Transforming Women’s Healthcare One Conversation at a Time.

Are we really practicing preventive healthcare—or are we simply screening for disease and calling it wellness?

In this episode of The Next Level NP Podcast, I’m challenging the traditional wellness exam and the way we approach women’s health.

A CBC, CMP, glucose, cholesterol and basic screenings are important. But when a woman is exhausted, gaining abdominal weight, losing muscle, struggling with sleep, experiencing brain fog or noticing significant changes during perimenopause and menopause, being told that “everything looks normal” doesn’t answer the most important question:

Why doesn’t she feel well?

Women’s health needs change across the lifespan, and our approach to prevention should change with them.

In this episode, I discuss the importance of looking beyond basic disease screening to consider hormonal changes, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, insulin and metabolic health, thyroid function, muscle mass, bone health, sleep, nutrition and cardiovascular risk.

We also talk about why counting steps isn’t the same as protecting muscle and bone, why a normal glucose doesn’t necessarily tell the entire metabolic story, and why improving a woman’s quality of life may actually give her the capacity and motivation to pursue true wellness.

This isn’t about ordering every test on every woman or treating every symptom with hormones. It’s about asking better questions, understanding female physiology, and recognizing opportunities for prevention before disease becomes the diagnosis.

It’s time to move beyond simply telling women, “Everything looks normal.”

It’s time for better women’s healthcare.

FOR WOMEN

If you’re tired of being told your labs are “normal” when you know you don’t feel like yourself, learn more about working with me. I provide virtual women’s health and hormone care. marciajonesnp.com

FOR NURSE PRACTITIONERS

If you’re an NP who wants to go beyond ordering labs and learn how to understand women’s hormonal and metabolic health, interpret the bigger clinical picture, and connect the dots, explore NextLevelNP.net

FOR ORGANIZATIONS

Women’s health isn’t just a healthcare issue. It’s a workforce strategy. I work with organizations to bring evidence-informed midlife women’s health education and strategy into the workplace. https://marciajonesnp.com

The Next Level NP Podcast
Transforming Women’s Healthcare One Conversation at a Time.

Subscribe, share this episode, and join the conversation about what women’s healthcare can become.

#WomensHealth #Menopause #Perimenopause #HormoneHealth #PreventiveHealth #NursePractitioner #NextLevelNP #MetabolicHealth #WomensWellness #MenopauseAtWork

Women’s hormones have gone from being something we rarely discussed to one of the biggest conversations happening in healthcare today.

But how did we get here?

In this episode of The Next Level NP Podcast, I’m looking at the evolution of women’s hormone care—from the introduction of birth control in 1960, to the fear that followed the Women’s Health Initiative, to the new conversations happening around menopause and hormone replacement therapy today.

For generations, women were expected to simply endure the changes of midlife. Today, women are asking more questions, research and clinical guidance continue to evolve, and providers have an opportunity to change the way we care for women.

But more conversation doesn’t automatically mean better care. We need better education, better assessment, and providers who understand the bigger picture.

• How women’s attitudes toward hormones have evolved across generations
• How the Women’s Health Initiative changed the perception of HRT—and important context surrounding those findings
• Why annual wellness care needs to better address sleep, cognition, libido, mood, metabolism, stress and hormonal changes
• Why hormones shouldn’t be evaluated in isolation—and how thyroid health, insulin, nutrition, gut health, sleep and HPA-axis/stress physiology can be part of the bigger picture
• Why Nurse Practitioners are uniquely positioned to help bridge the gap and lead the next evolution of women’s healthcare

This isn’t about abandoning traditional medicine. It’s about bridging the gap.

And if you’re an NP listening and thinking, I wasn’t taught enough of this, you’re not alone. Women’s healthcare is evolving, and our education has to evolve with it.

Schedule a Practice Assessment
If you’re ready to expand your practice, improve the way you care for women, or simply aren’t sure where to start, let’s look at your current practice and create a path forward. https://www.nextlevelnp.net/launchyournppractice

Take My Basic Women’s Hormone Panel Course
You don’t have to practice exclusively in women’s health to make a difference. Learn how a foundational women’s hormone panel can help you ask better questions, recognize patterns, and better understand the woman sitting in front of you.
https://www.nextlevelnp.net/courses

Join Me at the Women’s Health Intensive
September 17–19, 2026 | South Carolina
Go deeper with me in an intimate, hands-on learning environment focused on women’s hormones, labs, HPA-axis/stress physiology, whole-person care, real clinical application, and the bigger picture behind women’s symptoms.
https://www.nextlevelnp.net/nextlevelnpwomenshealthintensive

The conversation around hormones has changed. Now healthcare has to change with it—and I believe Nurse Practitioners can help lead the way.

Subscribe, share this episode with another NP, and join me as we continue Transforming Women’s Healthcare—One Conversation at a Time.