Endocrinology

Understanding Your Hormones & Health

Endocrinology looks at how hormones influence the way your body works every day, including how you store fat, regulate blood sugar, experience hunger, and more.

At Inclusa Health & Wellness, we use medical evaluations and targeted testing to better understand hormone-related factors that can affect weight, energy, and overall health. This approach allows us to look deeper when weight loss progress feels stalled or when symptoms lack a clear explanation.

Our goal is to understand what’s happening in your body and use that insight to support realistic, sustainable health changes. We focus on creating a clear, individualized plan that addresses hormonal changes while supporting your health goals and long-term weight loss progress.

What Is Endocrinology?

Hormones are chemical messengers that help different parts of your body communicate and work together. Key hormones that influence metabolism and appetite include:

Insulin: Helps regulate blood sugar and energy storage
Thyroid Hormones: Influence metabolic rate and how your body uses energy
Cortisol: Affects how the body responds to stress
Sex Hormones (Estrogen & Testosterone): Influence reproductive health, body composition, bone density, muscle mass, and mood

The endocrine system is the network of glands responsible for producing and regulating these hormones. Endocrinology is the area of medicine focused on understanding how hormones function and how changes in hormone levels can affect the body as a whole.

When hormone signaling is disrupted, the effects are often gradual, affecting multiple areas of health. Endocrinology focuses on identifying and addressing the underlying factors contributing to hormonal imbalance.

Why Hormones Matter for Weight Management

Weight regulation is one area where hormonal balance plays a particularly important role. When hormone signaling is out of sync, the usual levers for weight control and energy may not work the way you expect.

You may experience stalled progress or inconsistent results despite doing the “right” things: eating better, moving more, staying consistent.

In these cases, hormonal or metabolic factors often influence how the body responds to those efforts. Hormones can affect:

How efficiently your body burns energy
How strongly you feel hunger or fullness
How your body stores fat
How stress impacts weight and metabolism
How blood sugar is regulated

When these systems aren’t working together smoothly, weight loss can feel slow, unpredictable, or impossible to achieve.

Meet Your Endocrinologist

Dr. Elizabeth Hsu is a board-certified endocrinologist specializing in the care of hormonal conditions that impact weight, energy, and long-term health. She focuses on understanding how hormones, metabolism, and lifestyle interact and how addressing those root causes can support lasting results.

With Dr. Hsu, you receive:

Specialized care for obesity, thyroid disease, and metabolic conditions
Evidence-based strategies to support sustainable weight and long-term health
Care that looks into hormonal and metabolic drivers

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How We Approach Hormonal Health

At Inclusa Health & Wellness, your care is guided by Dr. Elizabeth Hsu, a triple board-certified endocrinologist with specialized expertise in obesity.

Dr. Hsu views your hormonal health through the lens of your whole body and daily life. Her approach is grounded in evidence and structured around your unique physiology, lifestyle, and goals.

We focus on care that is:

Personalized: Tailored to your history, symptoms, and overall health picture
Medically Guided: Rooted in clinical evidence and best practices
Integrated: Linked with nutrition, lifestyle, and metabolic considerations
Accessible: Offered through both in-person and virtual appointments

We start by understanding your unique physiology and using that insight to guide change in a realistic, sustainable way.

Evidence-Based Evaluation

We begin with a detailed, medically grounded evaluation designed to uncover the underlying hormonal drivers of your symptoms. This may include:

A complete review of your medical history, symptoms, and long-term health goals
Targeted laboratory testing based on your health issues
Discussion of how your symptoms and test results are connected

A thorough assessment helps us understand how any hormonal imbalances may be impacting multiple aspects of your health.

Interpreting Results in Context

Dr. Hsu interprets results in the context of your lifestyle, experiences, and broader health story.

Rather than looking at numbers alone, she focuses on understanding how hormonal changes, metabolism, and daily life factors affect your overall health. This helps clarify what may be driving symptoms and what interventions may be most helpful.

Individualized Treatment Planning

Based on your evaluation, we create a treatment plan tailored to your physiology, symptoms, and long-term health goals. Your plan may include:

Medications: Prescription medications to address conditions such as thyroid dysfunction, diabetes, or other endocrine disorders.
Hormone Replacement Therapies: For patients with clinically indicated hormone deficiencies or imbalances, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) may be incorporated.
Coordinated Supportive Care: Integration of services such as medical weight management, health coaching, and nutrition support.
Movement & Functional Support: Physical activity tailored to your body’s needs, through our InclusaFit classes.

Ongoing Monitoring & Adjustment

Hormonal health can evolve over time. That’s why ongoing monitoring matters. We provide regular follow-up to:

Monitor your response to treatment
Reassess symptoms and labs as needed
Adjust strategies as your needs or goals change

Whether care is delivered in person or virtually, we prioritize clear communication so you recognize progress and feel confident in the decisions being made about your health.

Hormone-Related Conditions We Treat

At Inclusa Health & Wellness, we evaluate and support a wide range of hormonal and endocrine-related conditions that can affect your overall wellness.

Here are some common conditions we address.

Diabetes & Pre-Diabetes: When the body has difficulty regulating blood sugar due to reduced insulin production or insulin resistance, it can affect energy, appetite, and long-term health.
Hypothyroidism: When the thyroid produces too little thyroid hormone, leading to fatigue, slower metabolism, or mood changes.
Hyperthyroidism: When the thyroid overproduces thyroid hormones, it can cause weight changes, anxiety, or heart palpitations.
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS): A hormonal condition that can contribute to irregular menstrual cycles, fertility challenges, and metabolic issues.
Menopausal & Perimenopausal Changes: Natural life stages marked by changes in estrogen and progesterone levels. These hormone shifts often affect mood, sleep, temperature regulation, bone health, and overall quality of life.
Low Testosterone: Hormone changes affecting libido, energy, muscle mass, and metabolic health in men and women.
Osteoporosis & Bone Health Changes: Bone loss linked to hormonal shifts that occur with menopause can weaken bones and increase fracture risk.

Expert Endocrinological Care in Liberty Lake, WA

If you’re wondering whether endocrinology could support your weight or metabolic health goals, our team is here to help you explore that question.

Schedule a consultation to discuss your concerns with our team and explore your treatment options. To schedule your consultation, please call us at (509) 367-4209 or book your appointment online.