Dr. Judee Gaeta of Vitality Clinic

Dr. Judee Gaeta is a physician, and she's also somewhat of a lifestyle consultant.

On the staff of Vitality Clinic, Gaeta counsels patients on how to live healthier lives based on her understanding of the body's hormones and how their balance or disproportion might affect the way they feel.

It's not the position Gaeta anticipated when, as a child, she imagined herself as a future physician.

"Since I was a young girl, I wanted to go to medical school. From the time of junior high on, my goal was always medical school," she says.

Gaeta did her undergraduate work and attended medical school at the University of Missouri and then four years in residencies in internal medicine and pediatrics. She then held various medical positions at SoutheastHEALTH before taking a few years off to tend to her four children.

She joined Vitality Clinic in April, and she is impressed by the positive outcomes patients have experienced as a result of using the balancing techniques of bio-identical hormone therapy. According to Gaeta, bio-identical hormone therapy is a more natural approach to traditional synthetic hormone replacement therapy, and it is customized to the individual patient. Treatments may be in the form of a cream, gel, pill or tablet.

Bio-identical hormones, derived from a plant chemical found in yams and soybeans, can be used to treat a range of disorders, although their use most frequently is associated with treatment for side effects of menopause.

"The majority of our patients, maybe 80 percent, come to us because of symptoms, like stress and anxiety, related to menopause. But when we go over the whole approach to the topic, it's not just a menopause problem. It may have to with sleep, the adrenal system, the thyroid, etc.," Gaeta says.

The Vitality website says both men and women may benefit from bio-identical hormone treatments for symptoms ranging from headaches and migraines, low energy and chronic fatigue, foggy memory and adult acne and more.

The doctor-patient partnership starts with the patient completing a questionnaire regarding general health and symptoms, followed by an in-person consultation and collection of a saliva sample, which is laboratory analyzed to determine hormone levels. Later, doctor and patient formulate a customized plan based on what sorts of nutritional and hormonal supplements might be called for. The patient maintains an online diary to track progress, and subsequent consultations may result in a change of the program.

"The patient takes an active role in their treatment. If we work on it together, it becomes more of a lifestyle change, and they're going to take responsibility," says Gaeta.