Perimenopause & Menopause Care
For the Woman Who Doesn't Recognize Herself
Perimenopause and menopause do not just change your body. They change your mood, your sleep, your focus, and your sense of who you are. If HRT helped but did not fix it, the missing piece is often psychiatric, and it is treatable.
— CLINICAL CARE · PERIMENOPAUSE & MENOPAUSE
Understanding perimenopause and menopause
If you feel like you no longer recognize your mood, your sleep, or your mind, you are not imagining it.
Perimenopause is the transition before menopause, and it can last years. Estrogen and progesterone rise and fall unpredictably, and your brain feels it.
For many women, mood and thinking changes come first, often before periods change. These symptoms are real and they are treatable.
What it can look like
It Can Feel Like You Are Becoming Someone Else.
Many women are told it is stress or aging, and they are sent home without answers.
Mood Swings and Irritability
Feeling short fused or tearful, with moods that shift faster than you can explain.
New or Worse Anxiety
Worry, dread, or panic that feels unfamiliar and hard to settle.
Low Mood
Heaviness or loss of interest that comes with the transition, sometimes for the first time.
Sleep Disruption
Waking at night, trouble falling back asleep, or sleep that does not restore you.
Brain Fog
Trouble finding words, remembering things, or concentrating like you used to.
Feeling Like Yourself Less
A loss of confidence, motivation, or a sense of who you are.
Why it happens in women
We Look at the Whole Picture, Not Just Hormones
Estrogen helps regulate mood, sleep, and thinking. When it fluctuates, anxiety, low mood, and brain fog can follow. Life stress, sleep loss, and past history of mood changes can all add to it, so each piece matters.
Hormones are part of the picture, not an afterthought.
Your History
Your cycle, past mood changes, and when symptoms began.
Sleep and Energy
Night waking, fatigue, and how your days feel.
Hormones and Cycle
Where you are in the transition and what else may be involved.
Mood, Anxiety, Focus
What is happening in your mind, named clearly and without judgment.
How I treat it
Your Plan Starts With You
I build a plan that looks at your mood, sleep, and thinking together. That can include therapy, sleep and lifestyle support, and treatment for anxiety or low mood.
I can prescribe hormone therapy myself when it is right for you, so you do not need a separate visit with your OB or primary care clinician to get it. I can also manage other medication when it helps.
When to reach out
You Do Not Have to Wait for It to Get Worse
Your mood or anxiety has changed and does not feel like you.
Sleep or brain fog is affecting your work or relationships.
You have been told it is just stress or aging, and you are not convinced.
You want a plan that looks at hormones and mental health together.
If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 in the U.S., or go to the nearest emergency room.
Meet your psychiatric provider
Christine Archer, MSN, PMHNP-BC
Psychiatric nurse practitioner for women
I have spent over 20 years working with women. I treat perimenopause and menopause where hormones and the mind meet, and I can prescribe hormone therapy myself.
Our visits are by telehealth in Maryland, Washington State, and New York. You see the same provider each time, one who remembers your story.
- PMHNP-BCBoard-Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
- Integrative Health and NutritionPost-Master's Certificate
- EMDR TrainedEye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
- PSI TrainedAdvanced Perinatal Mental Health Psychopharmacology (2025)
- Menopause SocietyCertification candidate
- Former competitive bodybuilderWomen's health advocate
Getting started
Three Steps to a Plan That Fits
You decide each step, at your own pace.
Book a free consultation
A 15-minute conversation about what is happening and whether we are a fit.
Complete your evaluation
We look at your history, your body, your hormones, and what you want help with, together.
Build your plan
A plan shaped around your life and your pace, never rushed and never one size fits all.
Questions about perimenopause and menopause
Before You Book
How do I know if this is perimenopause?
Mood, anxiety, sleep, and focus changes can come before periods change. We look at your whole picture and coordinate with your other clinicians as needed.
Is this depression, anxiety, or hormones?
It can be any of these, or a mix. Sorting that out is part of your evaluation.
Do you prescribe hormone therapy?
Yes. When hormone therapy is right for you, I can prescribe it and manage it myself, so you do not need to go through your OB or primary care clinician.
How do visits work?
Visits are by secure video. I see patients in Maryland, Washington, and New York.
You don't have to white-knuckle this transition.
A free 15-minute consultation, and a real conversation about what is happening. Telehealth across Maryland, Washington, and New York.