The Vagina Doctor Podcast w/ Duncan Turner M.D.

 Perimenopause or “Am I Going Crazy?” Understanding Complex Symptoms and Hormone Fluctuations Duncan Turner, MD discusses how perimenopause symptoms can be complex, obscure, and easily confused with other conditions, leading some patients to be prescribed medications like Xanax or antidepressants that may not address the underlying hormonal changes. He explains that perimenopause is marked by unre...

Non-Hormonal Options for Menopausal Symptoms On the Vagina Doctor Podcast, nurse practitioner Sophie Mengele discuss non-hormonal options for managing menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, and mood irregularities. Sophie reviews several medication choices used when hormone therapy isn’t desired or isn’t an option, including SSRIs (noting Lexapro as a preferred option) and SNRIs fo...

Perimenopause, Sleep Disruption, and Hormone Therapy Options (Estrogen vs Progesterone) | The Vagina Doctor Podcast Duncan Turner MD and Sophie Mengele NP role-play a gynecologist visit with a 45-year-old patient who suspects perimenopause due to irregular heavier periods, mood changes, hot flashes, and especially disrupted sleep. The clinician explains that perimenopause is challenging because ov...

Pap Smears Don’t Screen for Ovarian Cancer—So What Does? This episode explains that Pap smears do not screen for ovarian cancer and that there is no particularly good routine screening test, which contributes to ovarian cancer often being diagnosed at an advanced stage. The ovaries are best evaluated with ultrasound, which the office performs annually to assess appearance. A blood test can sometim...

Body Composition Scans: What They Show, Who Should Get One, and Why It Matters on GLP-1s Nurse Practitioner Sophie at TMA explains how body composition scans provide more useful information than a scale by showing where weight loss is coming from, including lean muscle mass, visceral fat around the organs, and total body fat. She describes using scans to track changes over time, especially for pat...

Dr. Naz on Foot Pain Misdiagnoses, Orthotics, and Building a Concierge Podiatry Practice in Santa Barbara Nurse Sophie Mengele interviews her friend Dr. Naz, a board-certified podiatrist with surgical residency training in Kansas City and a minimally invasive surgery and limb reconstruction fellowship at Emory, now running a small concierge podiatry practice in Santa Barbara and working for a loca...

Avoiding Contaminated Hormone Lab Results: Timing, Application Sites, and Common Mistakes Nurse Sophie Mengele and Duncan Turner, MD discuss how topical hormone replacement therapy can contaminate blood test results, leading to unrealistically high lab values that don’t match other markers like FSH. Using a recent patient example, they explain that contamination can occur when hormone cream is app...

Why Your Labs Look “Normal” but You Still Feel Awful in Perimenopause & Menopause Nurse Sophie Mengele and Duncan Turner, MD discuss why patients—especially those in perimenopause or menopause—can have debilitating symptoms despite being told their lab work is “normal.” They emphasize that many “full panels” may not include hormone testing at all, and that when hormones are tested (progesteron...

Nurse Practitioner Sophie Mengele at TMA discusses Lexapro (escitalopram) for women’s health, explaining it as an SSRI that increases serotonin to help stabilize mood and reduce anxiety. She describes using Lexapro for younger patients and for premenopausal/menopausal patients, either continuously through the menstrual cycle or only during the luteal phase (after ovulation, about 12–14 days before...

Oculoplastic Surgeon Linden Doss on PDRN, Microneedling, Lasers, Exosomes, and the Future of Surgery Duncan Turner, MD interviews Santa Barbara oculoplastic surgeon Dr. Linden Doss about modern shifts from traditional cutting-and-lifting surgery toward regenerative approaches, including injectable PDRN (“salmon sperm”), placenta extract, microneedling, and selective laser resurfacing. Doss explain...

Painful Intercourse Across the Lifespan: Estrogen, Vaginal Atrophy, and Rejuvenation Options Dr. Duncan Turner and nurse practitioner Sophie Mengele discuss painful intercourse across life stages and how low estrogen affects vaginal tissues. They note symptoms can be multifaceted and occur in teens through geriatrics, including patients on oral birth control who may have suppressed estrogen peaks...

The Vagina Doctor Podcast with Duncan Turner MD Should Ovaries Be Removed During Gynecologic Surgery? Menopause, Risks, and Hormone Therapy This episode explains how the decision to remove ovaries during gynecologic surgery depends on whether a patient is premenopausal, perimenopausal, or postmenopausal. Postmenopausally, ovaries produce little measurable estrogen or progesterone, so removal durin...

Sleep Specialist Explains Sleep Apnea, Wearables, Ferritin, REM Behavior Disorder & Why Pills Aren’t Real Sleep A sleep-medicine and neurology specialist joins the podcast to discuss his path from art school to medicine, his own sleep apnea diagnosis, and how sleep medicine overlaps with neurology. He explains common sleep disorders he treats, why women are often underdiagnosed for sleep apnea...

GLP-1 Weight Loss, Muscle Loss & Bone Health in Menopause: What Women Need to Know Dr. Duncan Turner and nurse practitioner Sophie Mengele discuss the impact of GLP-1 weight loss medications on muscle mass and bone health, especially for women undergoing hormonal changes and menopause. They note that while weight management and exercise are proven to support longevity, weight loss commonly lea...

HPV, Stigma, and Abnormal Pap Smears: What Patients Need to Know Duncan Turner, MD discusses how stigma often becomes the lasting burden of HPV (human papillomavirus) infection, a common sexually transmitted virus linked to increased risk of cervical, vaginal, and vulvar cancers. He explains why immunization is recommended for children of both sexes and shares a patient story involving an abnormal...

The Vagina Doctor Podcast with Duncan Turner MD Estrogen & Progesterone in Menopause: Safety, Symptoms, and Treatment Options Dr. Duncan Turner and nurse practitioner Sophie Mengel discuss how estrogen drops sharply in menopause and how estrogen replacement can relieve significant symptoms, while progesterone is often added for safety to protect the uterine lining and reduce the increased risk...

Bladder Infection Symptoms vs Menopause Irritation: When to Treat and When to Test Duncan Turner MD The Vagina Doctor Podcast Bladder infection symptoms are a common urgent call, with pelvic discomfort, frequent urination, burning, and sometimes blood in the urine, and patients often want immediate treatment. Because confirming infection via urinalysis and waiting for culture and sensitivity resul...

The Vagina Doctor Podcast with Duncan Turner MD Sophie, a nurse practitioner at Turner Medical Arts, explains two main GLP-1 medications—semaglutide and tirzepatide—and how they differ. She describes semaglutide (Ozempic) as a GLP-1–only medication that slows gastric emptying to help people feel full faster, can cause constipation and nausea, and improves metabolic function by lowering blood sugar...

The Vagina Doctor Podcast with Duncan Turner MD Vaginal Rejuvenation Explained: Estrogen, Lasers, Radiofrequency, and Why You Should See a Gynecologist This episode explains that “vaginal rejuvenation” generally refers to stimulating the vaginal mucosa to improve collagen, blood supply, and sensation, which can reduce painful intercourse and urinary incontinence often linked to low estrogen during...

The Vagina Doctor Podcast with Duncan Turner MDHysterectomy Options: Open vs Vaginal vs Laparoscopic vs Robotic SurgeryThis episode discusses hysterectomy approaches and how gynecologic surgery has shifted over time. It explains that before 1990 most hysterectomies were done through a large abdominal incision (often like a C-section, and sometimes vertical to the belly button for larger uteri) or...

Duncan Turner MD/The Vagina Doctor Podcast discusses how labs being "normal" does not mean they are in fact telling the whole story. Timing on labs plays an important role in getting the right information, treatment and proper diagnosis. https://www.turnermedicalarts.com

The Vagina Doctor Podcast with Duncan Turner MD Understanding Urinary Incontinence and Vaginal Health with Vitone TherapyIn this episode, the 'Vagina Doctor' discusses urinary incontinence and vaginal laxity, addressing common concerns such as stress urinary incontinence, urgency incontinence, and overactive bladders. The conversation covers the factors contributing to these conditions lik...

The Vagina Doctor Podcast with Duncan Turner MD Understanding the OShot: Benefits, Procedure, and Patient Satisfaction In this episode, we explore the OShot, a procedure aimed at boosting sexual satisfaction, sensitivity, and climax ability in patients. Developed about a decade ago, the OShot involves injecting platelet-rich plasma or more potent growth factors into the clitoris and G-spot. Despit...

Understanding Osteoporosis: Prevention, Testing & New Innovations Duncan Turner MD and Sophie Mengele NP In this episode, we delve into the critical topic of osteoporosis and osteopenia, exploring their severe health impacts, especially for postmenopausal women and those with certain genetic predispositions. We discuss alarming statistics, preventive measures, and the various tests available t...

Duncan Turner MD: The Vagina Doctor Podcast Debunking Myths About Vaginal Estrogen: Safe and Effective Treatments Explained In this episode, we explore the topic of vaginal estrogen and dispel common myths and fears associated with its use. We discuss the two different methods of hormone replacement: systemic full-body estrogen and progesterone, and localized vaginal estrogen treatment. The focus...