If you're ready to live a more youthful, energetic better life, please register below to schedule a consultation and we'll be in touch soon! It's never too late, or too early.
The impact of hormones on your physical, emotional, and psychological development is significant. In fact, hormones play a crucial role in various functions of your body, such as regulating sleep, managing stress, maintaining alertness, and promoting happiness. Having a healthy balance of hormones is important for feeling and looking great - especially for women. Unfortunately, when hormone levels fluctuate, several adverse effects can manifest that affect your health and well-being.
One day, you wake up in the morning and attack the day with a smile on your face and a goal in your mind.
The next day, it feels like your emotions are all over the place. Despite sticking to a healthy diet, your weight keeps going up. To make matters worse, hot flashes seem to pop up out of nowhere, making you irritable both at work and at home. The simple truth is that life is hard for ladies after their 50th birthday. That's especially true when it seems like your body is plotting against you every day of the week.
If you're a middle-aged woman and you notice your body going through changes, you should know this is a natural process of aging. It's called menopause - and according to the National Institutes of Health, over a million women experience this transition per year. During this time, it's common for your hormones to start depleting. When that happens, you'll probably notice symptoms that can be challenging to deal with and overcome.
Take a moment and see if any of these signs sound familiar:
Trying to deal with hormone deficiency can be a big ordeal for women and their partners. Thankfully, going through menopause and getting older doesn't mean you have to settle for an undesirable life. Hormone replacement therapy in Ballantyne addresses the hormonal imbalances in your body so you can get back to feeling normal. These clinically proven treatments are now available from Better Life Carolinas and can help women just like you reclaim the youthful vigor you're used to having.
Before we explore the many benefits of HRT for women, let's first look at two of the hormones that can fluctuate during menopause - progesterone and estrogen.
As a female, your reproductive health thrives on progesterone and estrogen. Made by your ovaries, these hormones play a major role in a range of functions, such as:
During your childbearing years, estrogen is responsible for preparing the lining of your uterus for a fertilized egg, while progesterone helps prepare and sustain the pregnancy once the egg has implanted. However, as you age, both of these hormones begin to decline, leading to a stage known as perimenopause, which occurs before menopause.
This transition period is characterized by significant changes in your body as it prepares for the next stage of life, where you can no longer bear children. Unfortunately, the years leading up to menopause can be extremely uncomfortable due to these hormonal fluctuations. That's where female HRT starts to make a lot of sense.
During menopause, many women opt for hormone replacement therapy. Menopause marks the end of the reproductive phase, and as you enter perimenopause, your estrogen and progesterone levels decline, and eventually, your body produces a fraction of the hormones it used to. This hormonal imbalance results in uncomfortable symptoms.
Hormone replacement therapy restores the depleted levels of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone in your body, helping to alleviate the common symptoms of menopause and reducing the risk of long-term diseases. At Better Life Carolinas, our goal is to provide hormone replacement therapy that ensures healthy and balanced hormone levels for your overall wellness.
Maintaining hormone stability is crucial for women to live a healthy life. This is where Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) comes into play, as it helps in balancing the hormones that would otherwise get altered due to menopause.
At Better Life Carolinas, we recognize that every woman is unique, and, by extension, every patient is different. Therefore, our team of specialists and doctors offer personalized treatment options by combining holistic treatment, nutrition, fitness plans, and more to supplement our HRT treatments for women.
Many women wonder if HRT is the solution to their exhaustion, weight gain, and mood swings. It's hard to say if you're a good candidate for treatment without a comprehensive examination by an HRT expert at our clinic. What we can say is that when a woman's hormones are better balanced, she has a much better chance of enjoying life without the debilitating symptoms that other women experience. At Better Life Carolinas, that's our primary goal - to help you live a healthy life that you love.
Unlike some women's health clinics, money isn't our main motivator. Our HRT options aren't meant to keep you coming back for years and years. They have been developed to help provide your body with the balance it deserves through a patient-focused approach.
The Better Life program by Dr. Barber empowers patients with information about their health and wellness and, most importantly, puts in place a plan for the future. Most of us have a financial plan, but very few have a health plan. Our greatest asset is our health, and setting goals to manage our health plan is vital.
Better Life wants to partner with you to make the right choices for optimal health. For women going through menopause, hormone replacement therapy is often the best choice to reclaim your quality of life. Most of us know we need to lose weight, exercise, eat better, and quit smoking. Unfortunately, very few of us understand how to get out of the rut we tend to fall into. Our experienced team will design custom programs to empower you to make this life change for years to come.
One of the first and most frequently asked questions that our women's health doctors get usually focuses on the benefits of hormone replacement therapy. If you're trying to ease your way into menopause, chances are you're wondering about that too. When combined with healthy life choices like diet and exercise, we're happy to say that the benefits of HRT are both numerous and significant.
By now, this benefit probably sounds like a no-brainer, but it's one of the major advantages of HRT, so it's worth mentioning again. Menopause can often lead to uncomfortable symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, and difficulty sleeping. These symptoms can vary in intensity and can significantly impact your daily routine. Hormone replacement therapy is a treatment option that can help regulate estrogen and progesterone levels, thereby alleviating many of these symptoms.
While the most obvious benefit of HRT for women is relief from menopause symptoms, there's good evidence that suggests this treatment helps improve bone health, too. One study conducted on over 25,000 women aged 50-79 found that HRT reduced the risk of fractures. This benefit is especially important for women who had their uterus and ovaries removed before the age of 45 and experienced "surgical menopause." Such women are at a higher risk of bone loss and osteoporosis.
Your brain's ability to get energy from glucose, your body's primary fuel source, decreases during menopause due to a drop in estrogen levels. As a result, your brain switches to using fats (lipids) for fuel, which unfortunately leads to the harvesting of fat from the brain's white matter. This process produces ketones - chemicals created in the liver - to provide energy. However, starting hormone replacement therapy (HRT) before reaching menopause can reduce the risk of this fuel switch and cut a woman's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in half.
As people age, their libido tends to decline, which is true for both men and women. For women, menopause can also cause vaginal dryness, which can make sexual intercourse less appealing. Hormone replacement therapy in Ballantyne can help boost your libido by restoring the levels of reproductive hormones in your body. When your reproductive hormones are balanced, you can get a boost in sex drive and alleviate problems like vaginal dryness.
As you approach menopause, you may notice that your weight tends to fluctuate more frequently. While this is a common occurrence as you age, it can make it difficult to shed extra pounds. Hormone replacement therapy isn't a magic solution for weight loss, but it can address the hormonal aspect of weight gain. Hormones can make it harder to maintain or lose weight, and hormone replacement therapy can help with that. By combining hormone replacement therapy with a healthy diet and regular exercise, you may be able to manage your weight more effectively and improve your overall health.
The benefits listed above are only a snapshot of what HRT can help you deal with and overcome. Contact Better Life Carolinas to learn about other advantages of hormone replacement treatment. But our women's health services don't end with HRT. Our doctors also provide several pain-free, non-surgical solutions for female intimacy problems.
We're talking about Femiwave Therapy, O Shot, and the Emsella Kegel Chair.
Are you ready to enjoy a normal sex life without having to rely on strange pills or invasive procedures? Femiwave therapy uses pulse waves to improve blood flow to the vaginal area without ever needing to go under the knife. This procedure enhances sensitivity, lubrication, tightens, strengthens, and improves the physical appearance of your vagina and the surrounding area. It has been shown to boost sexual satisfaction and function with no downtime, drugs, or lasers, and the results are long-lasting. The procedure is based on established shockwave therapy and has been backed by clinical studies for years to increase blood flow and restore healthy tissue.
Ideal candidates are women experiencing low libido, urinary incontinence, menopause symptoms such as painful intercourse and vaginal dryness, or women looking to improve their sex life. This procedure is quick and comfortable with no downtime, meaning you can swing by our office when it's best for your schedule and get treatment without disrupting your day.
Women in South Carolina use Femiwave therapy alongside hormone replacement therapy in Ballantyne because it is:
While our male patients have enjoyed many benefits from our P-Shot (or Priapus Shot), we know that women deserve to enjoy some fun, too. Better Life Carolinas now provides a powerful treatment called the O-Shot (Orgasm shot) that can deliver incredible results for women. This simple procedure utilizes platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to stimulate new tissue growth, and as a woman's own PRP is used, the O-Shot is completely safe and free of side effects. The health benefits of the O-Shot are numerous, and a revitalized sex life is just one of them.
The O-Shot earned its name by increasing a woman's intensity during orgasm, but it is also a natural approach to treating the following:
The Emsella Chair is a breakthrough innovation for women experiencing urinary incontinence. This common issue affects over 15 million women in the US and can cause embarrassing leakages, loss of sleep, and poor work performance. The Emsella Chair offers a non-invasive solution to this problem without the need for surgery or medication.
The Emsella Chair is an FDA-approved device designed for patients who want to improve their quality of life by addressing the symptoms of urinary incontinence. Sometimes referred to as the "Kegel Throne," this comfortable chair is an excellent option for those who have tried other solutions like medication and surgery but found that they negatively impact their daily lives.
The Emsella Chair uses high-intensity focused electromagnetic technology (HIFEM) to stimulate contractions in your pelvic floor muscles. These contractions can help you regain control of your bladder and improve the strength of your pelvic floor muscles, much like kegel exercises but with greater efficiency. The Emsella Chair is unique in that it targets the entire pelvic floor with thousands of contractions per session, making it a highly effective treatment option for women.
While using the Emsella Chair, you may feel your pelvic floor muscles contracting. This is a normal reaction and indicates that the machine is functioning correctly. You might also experience a mild tingling sensation during the treatment, but it is not painful. After your session, you're free to resume regular daily activities without any downtime required. The best part is that, unlike surgery, there is no need for any medications to manage the pain or grogginess that usually comes after an invasive procedure.
The Emsella Chair is an excellent solution for women of all ages, but it is more commonly used by older women who tend to experience urinary incontinence. There are various symptoms related to urinary incontinence which can be effectively treated with the Emsella Chair.
Some of those symptoms include the following:
As thousands of women across the United States have said, our doctors can help you say "NO!" to urinary incontinence with Emsella Chair treatments.
At Better Life Carolinas, we're proud to be a partner on your path toward better wellness and healthy aging. Our team of women's health specialists and doctors provides constant encouragement, status checks, and recommendations to ensure that you receive personalized and ongoing medical management. We believe that receiving plenty of face-time and individual care from your personal physician is crucial to making a profound difference in your life - both now and in the future.
Whether you're approaching middle age or have already started menopause, our hormone replacement treatments could be an answer to your age management challenges. Contact our office today to learn more about the Better Life Carolinas difference and how our team provides the guidance you need to achieve a healthy life.
Wegmans Food Markets is making strides to open its first Charlotte store with construction expected to begin within a couple of months.Around Jan. 1, the Rochester, N.Y.-based grocer plans to start demolition of four office buildings and extensive land preparation at the Ballantyne property on North Community House Road, Wegmans’ vice president ...
Wegmans Food Markets is making strides to open its first Charlotte store with construction expected to begin within a couple of months.
Around Jan. 1, the Rochester, N.Y.-based grocer plans to start demolition of four office buildings and extensive land preparation at the Ballantyne property on North Community House Road, Wegmans’ vice president of real estate Dan Aken told The Charlotte Observer on Friday.
Wegmans received its land disturbance permit last month from the city of Charlotte.
By the end of the year, Wegmans expects to receive its building permit approval and finalize the purchase of the 14 acres on Ballantyne’s east side from Northwood Investors. Wegmans is part of Northwood Investors’ over $1 billion Ballantyne Reimagined project.
Construction on the building will begin by late summer 2025, Aken said, for a fall 2026 debut.
“It takes about 12 months from the time we put a shovel in the ground to get our doors open,” he said.
Wegmans would not disclose how much its investing in the Charlotte store, but Aken said it is significant at “10s of millions of dollars.”
Wegmans confirmed plans for Charlotte’s first store in April after years of speculation and anticipation by many who relocated from the Northeast and others around town. Aken said then that Wegmans had received hundreds of requests for a store in the Charlotte area.
The 110,000-square-foot supermarket will be one of Wegmans’ larger stores, Aken said. It will be about 5,000-square-feet larger than any of North Carolina’s four Raleigh-Durham stores with a similar layout. Wegmans opened its first store in North Carolina four years ago in the Raleigh area.
One notable difference, Aken said, is there will be outdoor patio seating for the Wegman’s market cafe. The building’s size also will give Wegmans flexibility to offer expanded sections, for example produce or the restaurant.
The Charlotte Wegmans will have similar offerings to other stores, which is a mix of Upstate New York and local products.
The store will hire up to 500 full- and part-time employees. Typically, Aken said, the majority of hiring begins about six months from opening.
Wegmans already is looking to expand in the Charlotte market with three to five stores, Aken said. Wegmans is considering at a couple dozen locations and is “intrigued” by SouthPark and Huntersville and Cornelius, he said.
“We’re typically trying not to put those closer than 10 miles from one another,” Aken said.
Wegmans will face heated competition from over 760 grocery stores including expansions by Publix and Lowes Foods. It’s a lucrative market that saw record sales of $10.2 billion last year, according to industry sales tracking firm Chain Store Guide. Discount giant Walmart has dominated the field for five years, followed by Matthews-based grocer Harris Teeter and Salisbury-based Food Lion.
Charlotte has “significant food enthusiasm,” Aken said, “and typically in those types of markets, we do pretty well.”
The 108-year-old, family-owned supermarket chain has about 5,400 employees and 110 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Delaware, and Washington, D.C.
The Charlotte Observer
Catherine Muccigrosso is a business reporter for The Charlotte Observer. An award-winning journalist, she has worked for multiple newspapers and McClatchy for more than a decade.
If you’re not having a holiday meal at home, you still have the chance to get a festive feast on Christmas Day.While many local restaurants will be closed for the holiday, several spots around town will be open and serving specials for breakfast, lunch and dinner.So if you want to didn’t pre-order a meal for takeout or delivery, here’s where you can eat, drink and be merry on Christ...
If you’re not having a holiday meal at home, you still have the chance to get a festive feast on Christmas Day.
While many local restaurants will be closed for the holiday, several spots around town will be open and serving specials for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
So if you want to didn’t pre-order a meal for takeout or delivery, here’s where you can eat, drink and be merry on Christmas in Charlotte:
Location: 204 N Tryon St, Charlotte, NC 28202
204 North Kitchen & Cocktails will have a special holiday menu with starters, entrees and desserts for those dining in on Christmas Day, including cranberry apple quinoa salad, honey baked ham, basil pesto pasta, chicken fried chicken, pecan pie and gingerbread brownies.
Reservations can be made online at 204north.com.
Location: 303 S Church St, Charlotte, NC 28202
In addition to being open on Christmas Eve, Angeline’s will also be serving special holiday meals on Christmas Day. The Italian-inspired restaurant in uptown will offer a special holiday breakfast from 8-11 a.m. and a dinner from 2-8 p.m.
Reservations can be made online at opentable.com.
Location: Dunhill Hotel, 235 North Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28202
The Asbury, located in The Dunhill Hotel, will be serving a special three-course dinner on Christmas Day for $55 per adult and $25 for children under 12. The holiday menu includes deviled eggs, tomato and mozzarella caprese skewers, spinach artichoke dip stuffed shells, brown sugar and honey-glazed ham, slow-braised short rib, pan seared cod, strawberry glazed cheesecake, red velvet cake and apple cobbler.
Reservations can be made online at theasbury.com.
Location: 10000 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy, Charlotte, NC 28277
The Ballantyne will have a special Christmas Day buffet from 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. with seasonal dishes and desserts followed by a four-course holiday dinner that evening at Gallery Restaurant. The Ballantyne Ballroom Buffet is $99 per adult and $49 for children 12 and under. The Christmas dinner is $99 per person.
Reservations can be made online at opentable.com.
Location: 139 S Tryon St, Charlotte, NC 28202
Chima Steakhouse will be open for the holiday to offer its full rodizio and gourmet salad in a “festive ambiance.” You can enjoy a meal at the uptown restaurant between 12-8 p.m.
Reservations can be made online at chimasteakhouse.com or by calling 704-601-4141.
Location: JW Marriott Charlotte, 600 S College St, Charlotte, NC 28202
Along with its traditional menu, Dean’s Italian Steakhouse at JW Marriott in uptown will be open on Christmas with a special chef-curated dinner menu and select wine specials.
Reservations can be made online at deanssteakhousecharlotte.com.
Location: 601 S Tryon St #135, Charlotte, NC 28202
If you want to treat yourself to authentic and upscale Mexican cuisine on Christmas, you may want to check out Dos Caminos. The New York-based restaurant will be open from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. with tacos, small bites, drinks and more.
Reservations can be made online at doscaminos.com.
Location: Embassy Suites by Hilton Charlotte Uptown, 401 E M.L.K. Jr Blvd #306, Charlotte, NC 28202
Estampa Gaucha, located in Embassy Suites, will be open for dinner on Christmas Day from 2-8 p.m. You’ll be able to enjoy the “all you can eat” experience of Southern Brazilian cuisine for $66.95.
Reservations can be made online at estampagaucha.com.
Location: 200 S Tryon St, Charlotte, NC 28202
In addition to its regular dinner offerings, McCormick & Schmick’s will be offering a special Christmas menu for $50 per person. The uptown restaurant will have seafood cioppino fettuccine, cider glazed pork chop, sugar-and-spice cedar plank salmon and more.
Reservations can be made online at mccormickandschmicks.com.
Location: 227 W Trade St Suite 150, Charlotte, NC 28202
Morton’s will be open all day long on Christmas Day from 12-9 p.m. The uptown steakhouse’s Charlotte location will have its regular offerings of quality prime-aged steaks, fresh seafood, a wide selection of wines and more.
Reservations can be made online at mortons.com.
Location: 6705-B, Phillips Pl Ct, Charlotte, NC 28210
The Palm Restaurant, located in Phillips Place Shopping Center, will be open on Christmas Day. The Palm will serve its regular dinner menu and along with two offerings only available through the holiday season: a 16 oz. Queen-Cut Prime Rib and a 22 oz. King-Cut Prime Rib.
Reservations can be made online at thepalm.com.
Location: 201 S College St, Charlotte, NC 28202
STK Charlotte, the upscale steakhouse’s location only in North Carolina, will be open on Christmas Day. The special menu, which will be a “warmth of tradition with the bold, contemporary flavors that STK is known for” will include seasonal Wagyu, holiday cocktails, prime rib and more.
Reservations can be made online at stksteakhouse.com.
Location: 1928 South Blvd #200, Charlotte, NC 28203
Sullivan’s Steakhouse will be open on Christmas Day for those who want to enjoy a specially-curated steakhouse dinner. The holiday menu, which will be available through Jan. 6, includes filet mignon duo, pan-seared miso-glazed black cod and lobster risotto and more.
Reservations can be made online at sullivanssteakhouse.com.
Copyright 2025 by Dr. Mickey Barber's Better Life
Notice of Privacy Practices