Stop Accepting
This as Normal.
Your body knows how to heal. 
The fog, the fatigue, the mood swings, the broken sleep, the hot flushes, the weight — none of it is inevitable. It's addressable. And you deserve answers that actually work.
Start the 3-Minute Assessment →
You Still Feel Like You Should Be Fine.
So Why Don't You Feel Like Yourself?
You wake up tired. You get through the day on willpower. By evening you're irritable for no reason you can name, and by the time your head hits the pillow, your mind won't stop. This isn't burnout. This isn't aging. This is a pattern — and patterns have a source. For many women it begins in the early 40s, years before menopause, while cycles are still regular and blood tests still come back normal.
"I'm tired in a way I can't explain to anyone."
The exhaustion, the short fuse, the brain that won't cooperate — they didn't arrive all at once. They crept in slowly, which is partly why they're so easy to dismiss. Dismissed doesn't mean gone — it means unaddressed.
"Every doctor says something different. Nothing connects."
Broken sleep, low mood, weight that won't shift, energy that's gone — those aren't four separate problems. They're one pattern pointing to the same source. Treat them separately and none of them resolve.
"I've been told my tests are normal. Or that it's stress. Or just aging."
You leave the appointment with no answers. Everything came back normal — but you don't feel normal. You go home and try to believe them. But the feeling doesn't go away. The cause was never found.
"I'm managing. But I'm not well."
Managing isn't healing. If you've restructured your life around symptoms you were told to accept, the problem hasn't gone away. You've gotten better at carrying it — not at healing from it.
There's a reason you haven't gotten better. It's not your body failing.
Your health was never looked at as a whole.
If this is what your days have felt like, it's worth finding out why.
Start the 3-Minute Assessment →The Real Reason You Are Not Getting Better
Most women with hormonal imbalances have been given the wrong answer — often because they were asked the wrong question.
Exposure to xenoestrogens in plastics (BPA), pesticides, and personal care products can mimic natural hormones. Many women are estrogen‑saturated long before their symptoms begin.
From your 40s, your body handles blood sugar less forgivingly, even when your habits haven't changed. The resulting insulin resistance is a primary driver of conditions like PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), and if it isn't addressed, hormonal treatments often fail.
Most growth hormone production and hormonal resetting happens during deep sleep. Missing just one hour can lower insulin sensitivity and disrupt the balance of hunger and stress hormones.
Your hormones shift hourly to daily across a 28‑day cycle. Tested on the wrong day, your results come back “normal” and the real problem goes untreated.
For women, body changes at 40 originate from fluctuating hormone levels, and may include weight gain, muscle loss, dry skin, thinning hair, sleep issues, and brain fog — as well as decreased libido, mood swings, hot flashes, and irregular periods.
You may have been told it's "just stress" and sent home. The physiology is real: elevated cortisol measurably lowers the estrogen and progesterone your ovaries produce. No supplement can fix this if the underlying stress load isn't addressed.
Now that you know what's actually going on — the next step is doing something about it.
This Is What I Want →This Is What's Possible
Not a suppression of symptoms. A restoration of you.
Progesterone (the relaxing hormone) is one of the body's primary sleep regulators. When it's balanced, sleep returns on its own.
Hormonal balance supports neurotransmitter function. The fog lifts. You think clearly again.
These aren't personality traits. They're symptoms. And symptoms with a hormonal root can be resolved.
Not managing the heat. Addressing what's causing it.
When your hormones, thyroid, and adrenals work together as designed, energy stops being something you ration.
Hormonal imbalance is a primary driver of stubborn weight gain. When the root cause is corrected, the body's metabolism begins to respond.
A Diagnosis Built Around
Your Whole Cycle
Before any remedy is prescribed, we take the time to understand what you're actually dealing with. Not just a symptom list — the full picture of what's been happening in your body and your life.
Understanding What's Actually Happening
Before anything is prescribed, we'll want to understand what you've actually been experiencing — the fatigue, the sleep, the mood, the body, and when it all started.
Targeted Herbal Support
Herbs work with your body's own intelligence, restoring its feedback mechanisms so it can regulate itself from within. Your plan also includes diet and lifestyle changes built around what's happening in your body, because what works for one woman may interfere with another's healing.
Continuous Care as You Heal
Hormonal healing is a process — and a meaningful one. As your body relearns how to regulate itself, your treatment is adjusted at every step. Most patients notice meaningful improvement within 2 weeks, with significant change within 3–6 months.
You've been asking the right questions. Let's find the answers.
Book My Consultation →
Remedies Made With Intention,
Crafted for Your Healing
Unlike generic health supplements, many of the formulations Dr. Lurie prescribes are manufactured in his own clinical facility — ensuring precise potency, exceptional purity, and the therapeutic quality your body deserves. Each remedy is chosen and prepared specifically for you, not mass-produced for the shelf.
Women Who Found Their Way Back
Thank you to Dr Lurie for helping me through the journey called menopause. I was determined to not use HRT and Dr validated my opinion. What he prescribed has been incredible. No hot flushes. No mood swings. No sweet cravings. I am calm as a cucumber.
He also diagnosed me with low salt levels, which contributed to my incontinence. It was a worrying and very embarrassing challenge I faced. Since taking in more salt, that issue is behind me. I can recommend Dr and Jo-Anne to absolutely everybody. Their expert advice is always just a WhatsApp away.
I'd been to a gynaecologist who suggested a full hysterectomy. She felt I was heading into menopause and that, at 54, removal was the best option. She also told me my uterus was still growing, and that further down the line I'd be begging her to take it out. I'd gone to her because of regular vaginal discomfort and infections. I left her office traumatised and in tears.
I wanted a second opinion, so I contacted Jo-anne at Herbernie. It's been two weeks since I started the herbal supplements she prescribed, and I feel like myself again. The discomfort is gone, and I haven't had a recurring bladder infection. For the first time in weeks, I can be intimate with my husband without dryness or pain. My mood has lifted, my constipation has cleared, and the bloated stomach I've carried for years is gone. I'm so grateful for this new lease on life.
The People Behind
Your Healing
Herbernie International is built on over four decades of clinical experience and a shared conviction: the body's capacity to heal is extraordinary — it simply needs the right support. Dr. Lurie and Joanne work together to ensure every patient receives care that is genuinely individual, thorough, and grounded in natural medicine.
Joanne is a registered natural health practitioner specialising in herbal medicine and clinical nutrition. Over seven years working alongside Dr. Lurie, she has developed deep expertise in hormonal assessment, treatment planning, and long-term health optimisation. Her approach is patient-centred and practical — rooted in the same philosophy that drives the practice: understand the full picture first, then build a plan that actually works. She is also the co-founder of Soul Essentials, a natural beauty and wellness range for women.
Bernard Lurie has spent more than four decades working at the frontier of natural medicine. As founder of Herbernie International in Port Elizabeth, he has treated thousands of patients across South Africa — integrating herbal medicine, naturopathy, iridology, and osteopathy into a model of care that addresses root causes, not symptoms. His work is guided by a conviction held for over forty years: the body knows how to heal. The practitioner's role is to give it what healing requires.
Before your consultation,
tell us what's been going on.
This takes about 3 minutes. Your answers go directly to Dr. Lurie and Joanne before your session — so they already understand your situation when you meet.
Your information is kept private and secure.
First — how old are you?
Hormonal patterns shift with each stage of life. This helps Dr. Lurie and Joanne understand yours.
To book your consultation,
we need a few details first.
We'll also send your personalised assessment to this address once you complete the questionnaire.
By continuing, you consent to Herbernie International collecting and using your personal information to process your consultation request and send your assessment results, in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). Your details will not be shared with third parties.
Which of these sound familiar?
Select everything that applies to you.
For the ones you've selected —
how much are they getting in the way?
This is where we start to understand the real impact.
There are no wrong answers here. The more honestly you respond, the more useful your consultation will be.
Take your time. There's no rush here.
What would feeling like yourself again
actually give you?
If your energy and balance were restored — what's the first thing you'd do differently?
Assessment complete
Held online from wherever you are. Choose a WhatsApp voice call or video call. You pick when you book.
Consultation fee only. Prescribed medication and supplements are billed separately.
Secure online payment.