Should You Get HRT Without Lab Work? Why I Always Test First

Welcome to the podcast with Dr. Brendan McCarthy!

 

Can you start hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or bioidentical hormones without lab testing? Technically—yes. But should you? In this episode, Dr. Brendan McCarthy, Chief Medical Officer of Protea Medical Center, shares his medical perspective on why skipping labs could put your health at risk.

Responding to viral videos that suggest lab work is unnecessary, Dr. McCarthy walks you through:

✅ Why objective data matters—especially for hormone care ✅ The dangers of prescribing hormones without testing ✅ How HRT can be safely and affordably customized ✅ Real-life clinical scenarios that show the power of lab-guided treatment

Whether you're navigating perimenopause, menopause, or curious about functional medicine, this episode aims to inform—not attack—and to elevate the standard of care all patients deserve.

 

Dr. Brendan McCarthy founded Protea Medical Center in 2002. While he’s been the chief medical officer, Protea has grown and evolved into a dynamic medical center serving the Valley and Central Arizona. A nationally recognized as an expert in hormone replacement therapy, Dr McCarthy s the only instructor in the nation who teaches BioHRT on live patients. Physicians travel to Arizona to take his course and integrate it into their own practices. Besides hormone replacement therapy, Dr. McCarthy has spoken nationally and locally before physicians on topics such as weight loss, infertility, nutritional therapy and more.

 

Citations:

- O'Connell, Mary Beth. "Pharmacokinetic and pharmacologic variation between different estrogen products." The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 35.9S (1995): 18S-24S..

- Qureshi, Rehana, et al. "The major pre-and postmenopausal estrogens play opposing roles in obesity-driven mammary inflammation and breast cancer development." Cell metabolism 31.6 (2020): 1154-1172..

- Bagot CN, Marsh MS, Whitehead M, Sherwood R, Roberts L, Patel RK, Arya R. The effect of estrone on thrombin generation may explain the different thrombotic risk between oral and transdermal hormone replacement therapy. J Thromb Haemost. 2010 Aug;8(8):1736-44. doi: 10.1111/j.1538-7836.2010.03953.x. Epub 2010 Jun 14. PMID:

 

Thank you for tuning in and don't forget to hit that SUBSCRIBE button! Let us know in the COMMENTS if you have any questions or what you may want Dr. McCarthy to talk about next!

 

Check out Dr. Brendan McCarthy's Book! https://www.amazon.com/Jump-Off-Mood-...

 

-More Links-

Instagram: www.instagram.com/drbrendanmccarthy

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/drbrendanmccarthy

Clinic Website: www.protealife.com