Women's Hormone Care, Virtual Across Ontario

A 45 minute virtual consultation with Jess. We go through your symptoms, your health history and what you have already tried. Every woman leaves with a plan, and often that plan includes hormone therapy. Where it is appropriate, your prescription goes to your pharmacy that day, and if hormone therapy is not the right call for you we will tell you that too. Your first prescription covers up to six weeks and we see you before then, because we start low and build from there, so adjustments are normal and expected. Bloodwork is ordered for every patient and what we order depends on your health history. You leave with your requisition and we book your follow-up before you go. Most of the panel is covered by OHIP. Medications and supplements are not included in the fee. It works the same way as an antibiotic from your family doctor, you fill it at the pharmacy, and many benefit plans cover it. The consultation is $225.

Your first follow-up is two to six weeks after your initial consultation, once your bloodwork is back and you have had time on your starting dose. We review your labs, talk through what has shifted, and adjust. After that, follow-ups are scheduled around you. Some women come every three months while we find the right dose, others once a year. Menopause does not move on a set timeline. Prescriptions and renewals go to your pharmacy at the time of your visit, all virtual, anywhere in Ontario. Follow-ups are $175 for a 30 minute session.

In Ontario you do not need a doctor for this. Nurse Practitioners have full prescribing authority and hormone therapy sits squarely inside that scope. At Bonita, Jessica Caceres is the NP who assesses you, orders the bloodwork, writes the prescription and manages your doses over time, and she holds membership with both the Canadian Menopause Society and The Menopause Society. Family doctors, gynaecologists and NPs can all prescribe it. What matters more than the letters is whether the person in front of you has trained in menopause.

Yes. Nurse Practitioners in Ontario are regulated by the College of Nurses of Ontario and have an extended scope that includes diagnosing, ordering labs and prescribing, and that covers estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. You do not need a referral and you do not need your family doctor's permission to come and talk to us.

You can, and plenty of women do and get turned down. Sometimes that is appropriate, because there are real contraindications and they need ruling out. Often it is because menopause training has been thin in medical education for decades, and the 2002 Women's Health Initiative study left a generation of clinicians cautious in a way the current evidence no longer supports. If you have asked and been dismissed, that is worth a second opinion from someone who does this every day.

At Bonita the initial virtual consultation is $225 for 45 minutes and follow-up visits are $175. Your prescription is filled at your own pharmacy and billed there, so the medication cost sits with your plan rather than with us. Bloodwork is ordered at your appointment and most of the panel is covered by OHIP.

The consultation is private and paid out of pocket. Most of the bloodwork panel is covered by OHIP. The hormones themselves are prescription medications filled at your own pharmacy, and whether they are covered depends on your extended health plan, though many plans do cover them. We provide receipts you can submit.

Hot flashes and night sweats are the ones everybody knows. The ones that get missed are sleep that breaks at three in the morning, brain fog, joint aches, anxiety that arrived out of nowhere, a much shorter fuse, weight settling around the middle, vaginal dryness and a libido that dropped off a cliff. You do not need all of them and you do not need to have stopped your period. If your quality of life has changed and you are in your late thirties or beyond, it is worth being assessed.

The general guidance is that starting within ten years of your last period, or before sixty, is where the balance of benefit to risk is most favourable. That is a guideline rather than a cutoff, and starting later is a conversation about your individual risk rather than an automatic no. Vaginal estrogen is a separate matter and can be started at any age.

You are not alone in hearing this. Perimenopause can begin in the late thirties and right through the forties, well before the average age of menopause, which is fifty-one in Canada. Many women are symptomatic for years before anyone offers them support. We assess you on your symptoms and your biology, not your age alone.

This is the most common concern we hear and it is completely understandable. For most healthy women under sixty, or within ten years of menopause, the benefits of hormone therapy outweigh the risks. The 2002 Women's Health Initiative study created confusion that has since been re-examined by the leading menopause researchers, and current guidance from the Canadian Menopause Society and The Menopause Society reflects that. We go through your personal risk at the consultation rather than applying a blanket rule.

Bioidentical hormones are chemically identical in structure to the hormones your body produces. Conventional hormone therapy uses hormones with a similar but not identical molecular structure. Both are clinically validated. We prescribe based on your labs, your history and your symptoms rather than a trend or a blanket preference.

No referral is needed and you can book directly. We encourage you not to wait if you have symptoms that are affecting your quality of life.

Most women notice changes within four to twelve weeks, though it varies by symptom. Sleep and mood often respond earliest. Vaginal and urogenital symptoms can take a few months. Your first follow-up is two to six weeks in, once your bloodwork is back and you have had time on a starting dose, and we adjust from there.

Yes. PCOS was renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, PMOS, in May 2026 following a global consensus published in The Lancet. It affects one in eight women and is one of the most underdiagnosed hormonal conditions in Canada. Jess assesses and treats PMOS as part of the hormonal health program, including in women who are also navigating perimenopause.

No. Hormone consultations run virtually through Jane App, a secure medical platform, so you can be anywhere in Ontario. Your requisition goes to a lab near you and your prescription goes to your own pharmacy. If you are local and would rather come in, you are welcome to.