Content advisory: this podcast contains themes of mental health and suicide Joining Dr Louise on the podcast this week is Linda Gask, retired psychiatrist and author of new book Out of Her Mind: How We Are Failing Women's Mental Health and What Must Change. In her book, Linda draws on the lived experiences of women, alongside expert commentators, recent history, current events, and her own personal and professional experience to look at women’s mental healthcare today. Dr Louise and Linda discuss the challenges women face in accessing mental health treatment, the importance of understanding th ..read more

On this week’s podcast, Dr Louise is joined by Dr Mohit Khera, a US-based leading urology specialist treating urinary tract disorders, male infertility, and male and female sexual dysfunction. They discuss the role of testosterone, the most biologically active hormone in the female body, why he believes testosterone is the best barometer of health of all hormones, and testosterone replacement. For more information about Dr Mohit, click here, and you can follow him on Instagram @ drmohitkhera. For more information on Newson Health, click here. Dr Louise Newson’s first-ever live theatre tou ..read more

Joining Dr Louise on this week’s podcast are US-based Kristin Johnson and Maria Claps, authors of new book The Great Menopause Myth: The Truth on Mastering Midlife Hormonal Mayhem, Beating Uncomfortable Symptoms, and Aging to Thrive. Kristin and Maria share their own menopause stories, why they wanted to write a book to help others and why menopause can be the best time of your life. The pair also share the four things, besides hormones, that can help women during this time: Education Exercise Nourishing your body with the right foods Managing stress For more information on The Great Menopau ..read more

Joining Dr Louise on this week’s podcast is Melanie Verwoerd, political analyst, former member of parliament for the South African ANC party under Nelson Mandela, and former South African ambassador to Ireland. In this episode, Melanie shares her experience of radical hysterectomy, and her shock at just how little information is available to women before their operation. She tells Dr Louise how she is on a mission to close the information gap by chronicling her experiences in a book, Never Waste a Good Hysterectomy, followed by a podcast series of the same name. Dr Louise also shares her own e ..read more

In this week’s episode Dr Louise is joined by one of her patients, Lesley Henry, a nurse who lives in Northern Ireland. Lesley shares her experience of menopause, which started before she received a diagnosis of endometrial cancer. Her treatment for cancer led to a surgical menopause, which she found debilitating. Lesley explains she feared her brain fog and fatigue would prevent her from returning to work and from caring for her mother. A firm believer in the importance of quality of life, Lesley decided to resume taking HRT. She hopes to help other women who are going through similar experie ..read more

Menopausal women are the fastest-growing demographic in the UK workforce, yet a 2022 survey by the Fawcett Society found one in ten women leave work due to their menopause symptoms. This week, Dr Louise is joined by Oonagh Ferson, who researched the experiences of perimenopausal and menopausal women in the workplace as part of her MSc in HR management at Queens University Belfast. Oonagh shares her research findings and some of the stories of women she interviewed, and with Dr Louise discusses the impact of perimenopause, menopause and other conditions such as PMS and PMDD in the workplace. Oo ..read more

This week on the podcast, Dr Louise is once again joined by her friend, retired consultant urologist Steve Payne. Together they look at the similarities and differences in women and men’s experiences of menopause and andropause, and the effect of low testosterone levels, including loss of libido and lust for life, lethargy, mood changes, depression and muscular weakness. They address the issues surrounding testosterone replacement and Steve questions if medical professionals can learn from the treatment of men with prostrate cancer with testosterone supplementations when treating women with br ..read more

This week, Dr Louise is joined by Dr Claudia DeGiovanni, a consultant dermatologist with a keen interest in the menopause. Dr Claudia has published a four-part review on the effect of menopause on skin and hair and has carried out research into the effect of menopausal skin issues on quality of life. Here she talks about the prevalence of skin issues in menopause and their causes, the significance of oestrogen and what to look out for in products and what to avoid. Finally, she shares three tips for menopausal skin: If you have got significant skin problems, if it's affecting your quality of ..read more

This week on the podcast, Dr Louise is joined by Dr Ceri Cashell, a GP in Australia who specialises in female hormonal health. After completing Newson Health’s Confidence in Menopause course, Dr Ceri became passionate about educating both patients and fellow healthcare professionals about the importance of hormones, and busting myths around HRT. Here she talks about the advantages of longer consultations with patients and shares the things she thinks it’s important for healthcare professionals to know so they can improve their care of perimenopausal and menopausal women:  Understand that ..read more

This week Dr Louise is joined by sprinter Desirèe Henry who is representing Team GB at the Paris Olympics this year. Desirèe is no stranger to the Olympics – she was one of seven young athletes who lit the Olympic caldron at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Games, plus she took home a bronze medal in the 4 X 100m relay at the 2016 Rio Games. And she’ll be heading to Paris on a high after being part of Team GB’s gold medal-winning women’s 4x100m relay team at the European Athletics Championships in Rome in June. Desirèe talks about the challenges of competing throughout the menstrual cyc ..read more