Menopause: How your body changes and what you can do

There's a condition that leads to an increased risk of heart disease, dementia, and early death that's been affecting people for as long as they've existed. The many symptoms can severely impact quality of life - ranging from headaches and memory problems to anxiety and weight gain.

This condition affects more than half of the world's population, but unbelievably its rarely discussed and the scientific research that exists on it is limited.

Its called menopause, and it affects 1.2 billion women worldwide. It's not a disease, but the effects can be just as serious for some women.

Jonathan talks to the British doctor who's working to educate us about menopause and bring the discussion on the topic into the mainstream.

Dr Louise Newson is a GP, menopause specialist and founder of the Newson Health Menopause & Wellbeing Center. Director of the Balance Menopause App and the non-profit Newson Health Research and Education. Founder of The Menopause Charity.

Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
00:09 - Jonathan Intro
01:10 - Episode start
01:23 - What is menopause and why is it important for Dr Louise
04:29 - Being hormone-deficient is bleak
07:45 - The overall scale of menopause
13:27 - What is HRT?
18:23 - How little menopause is talked about
20:51 - Dr Louise’s push for menopause understanding & education
24:40 -What’s the accurate test for perimenopause?
30:04 - Understanding hormone deficiency symptoms
34:19 - What else can you do besides HRT: Nutrition considerations
43:57 - Does your body shape change while menopausal?
44:46 - Summary
47:18 - Goodbyes
47:47 - Outro

Books:

[hedymills]

I started trying to get help just before I went into menopause. I was told no. I went back just after menopause. I was told no. I have suffered for eight years. My life might as well be over, it feels that way.

[jllhmqb]

You listen? I was beginning to think that was archaic. Can't find anyone that listens, has empathy, and follows through.
Thank you for your time here on YouTube. Thank you for caring.

[dianashipp]

Dr Louise Newson is brilliant. She has such an in-depth grasp of the subject of Female Hormone Deficiency aka Menopause combined with an approachable and common-sense approach. I think every female person in the UK will be wishing she was their GP. She needs support and recognition from everyone - not only women. Jonathan did a great job in this interview too.

[helenay]

This lady deserves a medal👏Thanks for explaining what hell we go through in menopause. Specially ladies like me with a hysterectomy due to ovarian cancer at 50 years old. No help whatsover and dealing with all that shit.

[fionamcvey]

This video has been amazing!!! I had been battling for 5 years to get HRT. I have now been on it for nearly 2 years and it changed my life. It is an issue that should be taken seriously… not just because of the horrific symptoms women have to suffer, but also because the diseases the menopause triggers can cost the NHS so much money.

[ingababy]

I’m 52 and I’m going through it right now. I can’t stand how it makes me feel 😌😌

[lilianbastos]

I found this podcast very interesting. I am 38 years old and starting to have many of the symptoms addressed by the doctor. My main concern touches my emotions, mood fluctuations and depression. I do sports, never had alcohol or smoke, and avoid processed food. After watching the podcast I feel encouraged to talk openly with my doctor and seek hormone treatment if it helps. I am suffering from sleeping problems, emotional sugar cravings and extreme fatigue. Many thanks for sharing knowledge and promoting education about menopause it is so important that people understand it and raise work policies that guarantee we won't be judged or discriminated against for something that we have no control over.

[taineedmunds]

I’ve suffered since I was 44, one dr called me lazy ! I had 2 jobs and couldn’t function 😢 at the age of 48 was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, I knew I didn’t have this went on hrt and started to live again, thought I was through it came off hrt at 51, I should never have, back to the same feelings, back on hrt and feel much better… thank you for this podcast, it makes me feel I’m not going crazy! Ps it’s me sons account 😂 Elly edmunds 😊

[Gonergrat]

I wish I had a doctor who took the time to listen.

[fleurcraven]

Thank god for Louise, I’ve been on topical HRT for 14 months now and it has really helped my symptoms, however I still had no energy to exercise. Since adding testosterone to my prescription I have started to spontaneously exercise, demonstrating lack of exercise for me was not behavioural! I highly recommend anyone still struggling to think about this missing hormone. 💕

[vivianibeh]

True about Low Testosterone on brain fog and muscle wasting. I’m a practicing Community Pharmacist in Lagos, Nigeria, and I enjoyed today’s podcast

[rosehunter]

Menopause was huge for me. On medication for anxiety and sleep issues. Weight gain. I weighed the same my whole life until I began to enter that part of my life.

[jodounias]

Thank you Dr Neeson and Zoe
Amazing!! For 8 years now I’ve been battling with my GP to prescribe HRT- but she keeps pushing back and refuses due to ‘cancer and other side effect scares’. I reached menopause at aged 52- I’m now 59. For the past 8 years I have felt that my memory is going, I get bouts of depressed for no reason - I never had this before, and I have started getting terrible IBS which has prevented me from taking up certain jobs. I used to be a healthy happy strong athletic woman but now I’m battling because of all these awful menopausal symptoms. Zoes video has made me determined to seek HRT, and won’t give up trying. I won’t put up with this any longer. Thank you Zoe for clarifying the misinformation on this subject. I’ll report back in 6 months with any progress.

[edgeland-]

This is the best information I have EVER heard about the menopause. What an inspiration Doctor Louise is and what a tough job she has.

[daisysmithson]

I wish Dr Newson was my GP, she is lovely and very reassuring. I am so grateful for channels like this.

[niktwentytwo]

This was so helpful and so closely spoke to my experience. I'm 50, in the US and am in menopause; I recently had my IUD removed and my female ob/gyn of nearly 20 years gave me hug and said take care. There was no conversation of this next stage in my life and I was so disappointed with her because we are the same age and I'm sure she is experiencing symptoms but I'm also sure that she is taking what she needs to feel better. Thankfully I've been researching this on my own for quite a few years and I pretty much realized that I would be advocating for myself. This is so incredibly disappointing that definitive plans of care are not part of preventative care for peri and menopausal women.

[lisasunshine]

This discussion was much needed. Thank you for your dedication to women’s health. I have had a hormone firestorm early on. I grew up on a farm that utilized Paraquat on the fields when I was about 15. I suffered severe endo. and fibroids along with sx that would never fit in a medical text book definition. I have been blessed with practitioners who thought outside the mainstream and helped me detox and find health. Thank you again!!! We need you and what you’re doing!!

[donnarutkowski]

Perimenopause began with loss of flexibility when I was 40. It was sudden and startling but not as terrifying as the non-stop palpitations that followed. Fast forward to me at 57 and I am almost at the 12 month mark. I went through joint pain, weight gain, lack of sleep, lack of energy, and just recently a very high A1C. Each time I went to my GP with any of these issues related to menopause the response was “Yeah, that happens”. End of conversation.

I figured there must be help somewhere for women going through the same thing and in my search discovered that the only menopause clinic in this part of the country (Canada) was closed due to lack of funding a few years ago. I have nowhere to go.

I am grateful for the women who came before me and give me a safe space to discuss these changes. At first it was more like a cautionary tale, listening to all of the horrible things I can look forward to but now I’m receiving advice, sympathy, and compassion. All the things lacking in my GP.

[rchlletters]

Thank you for having Dr Newsom on the Zoe podcast. She helped me through a real nightmare along with a handful of other people fighting for the well-being of mature women. I know menopause and lack of treatment is why we see so few women represented in positions of power and leadership. As we get older without hormones most of us “evaporate”. We lose our will and our voice and our agency. It is a terrible loss for not only these women but for younger generations of women and girls and society as a whole. Doctors still insist on a year without periods to even begin helping us even when all the most recent and meaningful data indicates early therapy is crucial. I went 2 months without my period, had dysphoria and suicidal ideation among a host of 50 horrible symptoms and knew well enough to lie that it had been a year. Thank god I got quick treatment and am now doing EST, PR and T. Still, my generation (I’m 53) is a battering ram for my younger sisters who will hopefully have some good forms of testing and hormonal supplements as they begin lower hormonal levels in their 40s. My silly GP says it’s a short term treatment and I said “no, it’s for a lifetime to prevent a host of issues”. I have been to four doctors now and have a specialist who is working with me knowing I am well informed. We have got to do more for women! This is outrageous!

[HeatherJRedhead]

I’m 63 and I’m taking HRT. I’ve recently increased my dose due to worsened symptoms. I’m already feeling better.