About The TelePause & Dr. Siân West — Board-Certified OB/GYN & Menopause Specialist
Every woman deserves to be heard. And actually treated.
The TelePause exists because too many women spend years being told their symptoms are normal, minor, or imagined, then sent away with a shrug or sold a cabinet full of supplements that did nothing.
We built something different: unhurried, physician-led care from a clinician who specializes in this stage of life, takes your symptoms seriously, and explains exactly what’s happening and what to do about it. Real medicine, real time, real answers, and a plan for the decades ahead, not just for this week.
FOUNDED BY DR. SIÂN WEST
I’m the doctor who understands why women don’t trust doctors. Because for the first 28 years of my life, I didn’t either.
I grew up in an alternative-medicine household. Skeptical of doctors. Suspicious of pharmaceuticals. Sure that the natural path was the only honest one. I planned to become a naturopath.
Then I found osteopathic medicine, a path that took science and the whole person seriously at the same time. I trained in it, completed my OB/GYN residency in Lansing, Michigan, and spent the last decade in delivery rooms, operating rooms, and increasingly in the long-undervalued conversation that is midlife women’s health.
That history is exactly why I do this work the way I do. I understand, from the inside, why so many women don’t trust the seven-minute, eyes-on-the-screen doctor who tells them they’re too young, their labs are normal, and maybe they should try an antidepressant. And I understand the pull of the wellness world that rushes in to fill that void, and how often it trades one kind of harm for another, selling fear and supplements instead of care.
I’ve sat with the woman who was failed by both. The 60-year-old who spent years being dismissed. The 44-year-old certain she was losing her mind. They didn’t need pep talks or supplement bundles. They needed someone qualified to tell them the truth, in plain language, and then actually help.
That’s what The TelePause is. Real menopause care. No being dismissed. No wellness snake oil. Just science, straight talk, and the firm belief that women in midlife deserve far better than what they’ve been handed.
The TelePause runs on a Direct Specialty Care model, which means care is built around a simple membership fee rather than insurance billing. That means less time on paperwork and more time focused on what matters: you.
The result is longer appointments, direct access to a menopause specialist, fewer barriers to care, and ongoing support from someone who already knows your story.
Time to be heard
More time with your doctor, so you can have a real conversation
Expert guidance
Care focused exclusively on perimenopause and menopause
A real plan
Clear recommendations and ongoing support
Credentials, and what they actually mean
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO)
Same medical-school length, same residencies, same board exams, and the same prescribing rights as an MD. DOs also train in a tradition that takes the body seriously as a whole system instead of a list of complaints. I picked it because it refused the false choice between rigorous and humane.
Board-certified in Obstetrics & Gynecology (American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology)
Four years of medical school. Four years of residency. Written boards, then oral boards, across a table from senior physicians asking what you would do. It’s the bar of entry to OB/GYN in this country, and the credential I had to earn before I could be trusted to practice on my own.
Fellow, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FACOG)
Fellowship in the professional college of OB/GYNs, the standard-bearer for the specialty.
Menopause Society Certified Practitioner (MSCP)
A separate certification, on top of my OB/GYN board certification, earned by passing The Menopause Society’s competency exam in menopause medicine. It says I’ve studied perimenopause and menopause as their own field, and most physicians don’t have it. I sat for the exam because the gap between what midlife women need and what their clinicians know is one of the most consequential blind spots in adult medicine.
Creator of This Meno Life podcast
A place to bring the same straight, evidence-based conversation about midlife women's health to a wider audience.
What’s an MSCP?
A Menopause Society Certified Practitioner has passed The Menopause Society’s competency exam in menopause medicine, specialized expertise held by only a small share of clinicians.
How I Practice
I practice evidence-based medicine. That means I follow the science, not the trends, and I'm honest about what we know and what we don't.
When you come to me, I take a thorough history, the kind that takes real time, because the answers are usually in the details no one ever asked you about. Then we talk through what the evidence actually says and what your real options are.
Here's how I work. I use FDA-approved, regulated hormones, so you always know exactly what you're getting and at what dose. That precision is the reason compounded hormones and pellets aren't part of my practice: compounded formulas aren't standardized or verified the same way, and pellets can't be fine-tuned or adjusted once they're placed. I'd rather use something proven and adjustable, so we can dial your plan in safely and change course the moment your body tells us to. And I recommend supplements only when the evidence genuinely supports them, never as a default and never as an upsell.
Here's what I will do. I'll help you get where you want to go. If a treatment is safe for you, then the choice is yours. Some women want hormone therapy. Some don't. Both are right answers. My role is to give you the full picture and then help you build the plan that fits your body, your life, and the goals you have, whether that's sleeping through the night again, getting your focus back, or protecting the next thirty years of your health.
That's the whole point of The TelePause. Not to manage you. To help you get your life back, and then build on it.
About
The TelePause is a physician-led online practice specializing exclusively in perimenopause and menopause care, founded by Dr. Siân West, a board-certified OB/GYN, osteopathic physician, and Menopause Society Certified Practitioner (MSCP). Practicing a direct, cash-pay model, The TelePause offers a comprehensive first consult and an ongoing membership that covers visits, menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) evaluation and management, non-hormonal options, lab ordering and interpretation, and personalized care for sleep, nutrition, and long-term health, all through secure online visits in Michigan, with California coming soon.