The Dr Louise Newson Podcast

123 - The Menopause Revolution with Carolyn Harris MP

Carolyn Harris MP left school at 16, had two children at a young age and worked as a barmaid. Her young son, Martin, was tragically killed in a road accident in 1989 and this changed her life forever. She sank into a black hole for the next few years but turned things around when at 34 she became the first person in her family to go to university. Carolyn never dreamt that 20 years later she would be the MP for her community, Swansea East, and although she continues to experience imposter syndrome regularly, once she has decided to fight for change, she does not give up.

Carolyn has campaigned on topics such as child funerals and gambling. She did not realise her collection of health problems were related to the menopause at first, but when she joined the dots and learnt more about the effects of the menopause, especially in the workplace, she set up an All Party Parliamentary Group on menopause and was successful in changing the law in Wales in removing the prescription fee for HRT.

 

Carolyn’s advice to women:

1. Be part of the menopause revolution. Find us on social media, there’s a template letter on the APPG website so you can write to your local MP, and contact my office or on Twitter if you’d like to get involved. Join us in London in Parliament Square for the Menopause Support Bill on the 29^th
2. Dreams can come true. Don’t think you can’t achieve something. You are brilliant and strong. You can be what you want to be, you just need to be brave.
3. We are using our platforms to call for change, but you can go into your place of work, talk about your own experience, ask others about theirs, say ‘do you think this could be the menopause?’

 

Carolyn Harris MP details:

Website: www.carolynharris.org.uk

Twitter  @carolynharris24 and @AppgMenopause

Email: carolyn.harris.mp@parliament.uk

122 - Myth-busting clots with Maggie Honey

Maggie Honey was diagnosed with antiphospholipid syndrome, which can be described as having ‘sticky’ blood that is prone to clotting. When she was 46 and a busy mum of triplets, Maggie began having insomnia, recurrent UTIs and dry eyes, skin and mouth. It wasn’t until her periods had stopped for a year and she felt dreadful all the time that she realised many of her symptoms might be related to menopause. When she sought help, she was given more diagnoses related to her blood condition but no help for her symptoms. Her blood disorder consultant at the time told her, ‘whatever you do, don’t go on HRT’. This was due to the inaccurate belief that all HRT holds a risk of clot.

In this episode, Dr Louise Newson talks through all the issues that Maggie’s story illustrates, including explaining why HRT is usually safe for people at risk of clot, when estrogen is given through the skin via a patch, gel or spray. They discuss how beneficial HRT can be for your quality of life, and what lifestyle factors do actually raise your risk of getting a clot.

Maggie’s 3 menopause tips for people at risk of clot:

1. Listen to your own body, keep a symptom diary like the one on balance app. Trust your own instincts and don’t be fobbed off.
2. Find a menopause specialist as well as a sympathetic blood specialist doctor (haematologist). Encourage communication between your different doctors, including your GP.
3. Share information with friends, family and colleagues. The more we talk about it, the more help we can give to one another.

Read more about Maggie’s story here and for more information, read our booklet on Menopause and Clots.

Thrombosis UK is the charity mentioned in this episode for people at risk of, or living with, thrombosis (clots) and the website is www.thrombosisuk.org

121 - Celebrating World Menopause Day: supporting one another

In this special episode, released on World Menopause Day 2021, Dr Louise Newson talks to two women about their own experiences of menopause. Melanie is a midwife from Birmingham who talks about her ongoing challenges of coping with menopausal symptoms, getting the right support at work, and finding a treatment that works for her. Grace is in her 50s and went through an early menopause in her late 30s. She struggled over the years to be listened to by healthcare professionals and have her needs understood as a gay woman. After watching the documentary with Davina McCall, Grace felt empowered to push for the help she knew she needed.

Melanie and Grace’s conversation with Louise aptly illustrates what World Menopause Day is all about – raising awareness about the effects of menopause on women’s health and wellbeing globally, and elevating voices of those going through the menopause from all cultural backgrounds and sexual orientation. As Louise says, we cannot fully celebrate World Menopause Day until all women, all over the world are able to get the help and support they need.

Grace and Melanie’s top reasons for speaking out for WMD:

1. Educating others about the effects of the menopause is so important.
2. Women need support and to know they are not alone – it’s not that something’s wrong with them.
3. Get ready for the menopause, it’s inevitable, embrace it, and be empowered to deal with it when the time comes.
4. Regardless of your colour, religion, or sexual orientation, come together and support one another.

120 - You are what you eat, with the Healthy Eating Doctor

Healthy Eating Doctor, Dr Harriet Holme, joins Dr Louise Newson on the podcast couch this week to discuss the importance of nutrition for reducing long term risk of disease and improving your future health.

Before becoming a registered nutritionist, Harriet worked for ten years as a doctor before her interest grew in the link between what we eat and our health. She is passionate about sharing evidence-based knowledge to help people understand more about their own diets and health, and offers nutritional consultancy as well as lecturing on culinary science and nutrition.

 

Harriet’s four key ingredients for eating in the peri/menopause:

1. Calcium is key, try and get it from your diet as much as possible.
2. Balance your diet with a wide variety of wholegrains (brown bread and brown pasta, for example) fermented food (such as kimchi or kefir), lots of fruit and vegetables, and avoid sweeteners and fizzy drinks.
3. Top up your omega 3 by eating 2 portions of oily fish a week.
4. And last but not least, vitamin D. Take this one as a supplement especially in autumn and winter in the UK. If you’re vegan, also take a B12 supplement, but otherwise it’s always best to get nutrients from your diet rather than relying on supplements.

 

Listen to Harriet on her own podcast, ‘Eating for Health’ or visit her website: healthyeatingdr.com

 

Find Harriet on social media at:

Facebook = @healthyeatingdrcom

Twitter = @healthyeatingdr

Instagram = @healtheatingdr

119 - Testosterone: why can’t we have our own hormone back? With Dr Zoe Hodson

Dr Zoe Hodson returns to the podcast this week to talk to Dr Louise Newson about the hormone testosterone. Zoe is a GP and senior doctor at Newson Health, and together they discuss the impact of low testosterone on your daily life, why it can be difficult to get hold of, and gender inequalities in healthcare provision when it comes to this particular hormone.

Zoe is on a personal mission to ask every local health commissioning group if their clinicians can prescribe testosterone and, if not, why not? Change is happening slowly within primary care and Zoe and Louise are committed to continue to push for testosterone to be regarded as an integral part of menopause care at a free, local level for all.

Zoe’s 3 asks for change:

1. We need to normalise testosterone in women, so please keep talking about it. If you take it already, tell people, and tell your healthcare professionals about the difference it makes to you.
2. Keep alerting your GP practice to the ‘Confidence in Menopause’ course on fourteenfish.com. It is now free for all healthcare professionals across the globe.
3. If you’re going to a menopause clinic and they haven’t mentioned testosterone, ask them about it.

Zoe would like to thank all her followers on social media for their wonderful support and encouragement to keep speaking up for women and trying to bring about change for good. You can follow Zoe on Instagram @manchestermenopausehive

118 - Testosterone: not just icing on the cake with Rachel Dawber

Rachel was a very active 45-year-old, who loved the outdoors and her job as a specialist teacher when her fit and healthy body began suffering with one problem after another. Joint problems and crushing fatigue curtailed her hobbies of hiking, climbing and cycling. The following months saw her list of unexplained symptoms grow and grow from being in constant pain, migraines, and gum problems, to palpitations, dry mouth and eyes, anxiety and electric shock sensations. Within 2 years, she describes herself as ‘just a shell who couldn’t leave the house’, she had given up her job, and living with this version of Rachel had a huge impact on her husband and son. After multiple trips to the GP and blood tests, she was given a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome.

In this episode, Rachel tells her story to Dr Louise Newson and takes listeners through her journey, including self-diagnosis and battles to get the help she knew she needed. After beginning on estrogen replacement and seeing some mild improvements but still experiencing severe fatigue, she learnt about testosterone and its importance for energy and stamina. Now, 6 months after starting on testosterone, Rachel describes the improvement as ‘life-changing’. She feels a fully functioning human again, is able to work part time, and even manage a 5 mile walk.

Dr Newson explains what testosterone does, why we need it, and why it can be so hard to get hold of the hormone at your local GP practice. Louise reassures listeners that she is working hard with NHS England on this very matter and is hopeful that change will come.

Both Louise and Rachel agree that testosterone should not be described as the ‘icing’ on the HRT cake but a crucial ingredient of the cake itself.

Rachel’s top 3 tips:

1. Remember GPs aren’t trained in peri/menopause, so go armed with useful information and the NICE guidelines to help you have a factual conversation.
2. Don’t give up trying to get the help you need.
3. Be kind to yourself and listen to your body.

Note: Rachel had to see a menopause specialist to get her initial prescriptions for testosterone. After lots of persevering on her part, it has now been agreed to be prescribed via her usual NHS GP.

117 - Transforming the lives of men and women with Paul Anderson

In this unique episode, Dr Louise Newson talks to her husband, who is a consultant urologist, about the lack of menopause training among medical professionals, the importance of urologists understanding the consequences of the menopause on urinary function and the benefits of HRT and vaginal estrogen.  

Paul Anderson explains some of his fascinating work as a highly specialist reconstructive surgeon, and together they discuss the rewarding aspects of each of their careers in transforming the quality of lives of men and women through surgery and menopause care respectively.

If you’ve ever wondered about what kind of man is married to Dr Louise Newson, this is the episode for you!

Paul’s 3 reasons why urologists should know about the menopause and HRT:

1. Simply because it will affect 50% of the population
2. Urologists need to know about conditions associated with Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause so they can adequately treat the urinary tract infections that they will encounter frequently in postmenopausal women.
3. We need to start recommending HRT to women as part of general health advice, just like you would suggest someone lose weight if it was impacting on their health. We should explain that the health risks of HRT have been overstated, and the benefits greatly outweigh the risks for the vast majority.

116 - Testosterone: the forgotten hormone with Professor Isaac Manyonda

Professor Isaac Manyonda, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at St George's Hospital in London, makes a welcome return to the podcast to discuss the important hormone, testosterone, with Dr Louise Newson. 

The experts discuss why awareness of testosterone in women is usually overshadowed by estrogen and they describe what type of symptoms can be greatly improved by replacing testosterone, as well as the different preparations available, licensing issues and challenges of accessing the medication on the NHS.  

Isaac’s top 3 tips if you’re considering testosterone: 

1. Understand that testosterone isn’t just a male hormone, it is a key female hormone, and tell your doctor this if they are unaware! 
2. Be clear (with your doctor) about what symptoms testosterone can help specifically that estrogen alone may not fully alleviate, such as brain fog, sleep disturbances, lack of energy, and low libido. 
3. If your usual doctor will not prescribe testosterone for you, look into what other NHS clinics in your region will, it can take a bit of finding out how to receive it. It should be something you can access via the NHS, but change is slow.

115 - Migraine and hormones, with specialist Dr Katy Munro

Dr Katy Munro was a GP partner in a Hertfordshire practice for many years and developed migraine in her 40s, around the time of her own perimenopause. This led to an interest in migraine and her involvement with the National Migraine Centre, first as a patient and then as a doctor. 

Katy now works as a GP Headache Specialist at the National Migraine Centre, a charity that raises awareness on migraine, shares information and advises how to manage it. In this podcast episode, she chats to Louise about what migraine is, dispels myths, and explains why migraine is not just simply a ‘bad headache’. The experts discuss the role of estrogen in migraine, other possible triggers, and ways to help minimise the onset, severity and frequency of migraine. This hugely useful conversation is a must-listen if you or a loved one experiences migraine. 

Katy has recently written a book on migraine, ‘Managing Your Migraine’, and it is available to buy now. 

Katy's 3 reasons to buy her book: 

1. Educate yourself on migraine and take control of it. 
2. There is hope, no matter what you’ve already tried there will be something else – you’re not at the end of the line. 
3. Migraine is genetic. Think about not just who you got it from, but who you’ll pass it on to. We need to learn more about how to help children who go on to develop migraine and there’s a chapter on this in my book. 
   
   National Migraine Centre - www.nationalmigrainecentre.org.uk 
   
   ‘Managing Your Migraine’, by Dr Katy Munro, is published by Penguin Life Experts and is out now.  

114 - Writing ‘Preparing for the Perimenopause and Menopause’ with journalist, Kat Keogh

Dr Louise Newson’s new book, ‘Preparing for the Perimenopause and Menopause’ is now released by Penguin Life as part of the Penguin Life Experts series. Health journalist, Kat Keogh, worked with Dr Newson to write the book, and in this podcast episode they discuss the importance of creating factual and engaging information about the menopause, not just for women but their partners, children, friends and colleagues. 

Kat Keogh has worked as a health journalist for 15 years and currently writes for a nursing journal. She collaborated with Dr Newson on her first book in 2019, the Haynes Manual on the menopause, and Kat is passionate about writing to not only educate but empower women in their perimenopause and menopause journey. Now that she has all this knowledge from working with Dr Newson, she is better prepared for menopause than her grandmother was, whose only means of coping was to go and shout down a well at the bottom of her garden! 

Kat's 3 reasons to buy Dr Louise Newson’s new book: 

1. For women, it's all about empowerment. Have the knowledge to get the best treatment for you. 
2. For men, it’s a great window into understanding what’s happening in a woman’s life at this stage, whether that is your partner, friend or colleague. 
3. For a teenager, it will be an eye-opener. Teenage hormones and menopausal hormones can be an explosive combination. This book is very easy to read and can be digested in small chunks. 

 

'Preparing for the Perimenopause and Menopause' published by Penguin Life, is out now and has reached Amazon's Number 1 Best Seller on its launch day, 26th August.