Dr Sharon Malone is an eminent American physician who has worked as an obstetrician and gynaecologist for over 30 years in Washington DC. After 15 years of working mostly as an obstetrician, Sharon changed to specialise in menopause care around the time of her own perimenopause. She is passionate about educating women to understand their own hormone journey and empower them with evidence based information about hormone treatments.
The experts discuss the challenges of influencing and persuading medical colleagues on the benefits of hormone replacement, the importance of patient choice and agency, and the lack of menopause research and need for government funding.
Dr Malone’s advice to women:
Find your community of women who will support you and understand what you’re going through
Be active, keep exercising regularly
Maintain a healthy diet and eating habits; processed foods negatively affect so many aspects of your health
To read or listen to Dr Malone’s Washington Post op ed, visit https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/28/menopause-hormone-therapy-nih-went-wrong/
Dr Malone is the Chief Medical Officer at US based menopause company Alloy, to find out more visit www.myalloy.com

156 - Educating women, improving access to treatment and influencing those in power with Dr Sharon Malone

Have a menopause question? You’ll find the answers here.
Join me, GP and Menopause Specialist Dr Louise Newson, for the definitive perimenopause and menopause podcast. Each week I’m joined by a special guest for the lowdown on the latest research and treatments, bust myths and share inspirational stories. 
This podcast is brought to you by the Newson Health Group, which has clinics across the UK dedicated to providing personalised perimenopause and menopause care for all women. It funds cutting-edge menopause research and creates clinical-led education programmes for healthcare professionals. It also funds the award-winning balance menopause support app, which provides free menopause resources and support to millions of people worldwide, empowering and enabling women to have choice and control over their perimenopause and menopause treatment.

Medicine

Science & Medicine

Health & Fitness

Mental Health

This week Dr Louise is joined by Aoife O’Sullivan, a family medicine doctor who trained in Dublin before completing a second family medicine residency at the University of Maryland.
 
After taking some time out to complete extra training in perimenopausal and menopausal care, including Newson Health’s Confidence in the Menopause course, Dr Aoife is passionate about providing more comprehensive and holistic care to women during midlife.
 
Dr Aoife share the ways clinicians, and all people, can educate themselves in order to improve the health of women in the US, and across the world:
Take every opportunity to learn and educate. So join any local healthcare Facebook groups and pass on links to the Confidence in the Menopause website, the balance app, etc. Even if you reach one or two people like that, it will make a difference and they might reach another one or two people.
Share small bites of information because it can be a little overwhelming. So when you're trying to reach somebody, give them small amounts of information at a time.
Harness the power of friends. If everyone informs their friends and they all go to their doctors, obstetricians, gynaecologists and urologists, and ask questions, it will fuel discussion and increase knowledge.
You can follow Dr Aoife on Instagram @portlandmenopausedoc
Find out more about the Confidence in the Menopause course and click here for more about Newson Health.

256 - Spreading the word about menopause care in the US, and beyond

This week on the podcast Dr Louise is joined by a new colleague, Dr Louisa James, a psychiatrist who has recently joined the team at Newson Health.
Dr Louisa’s personal experience of the menopause prompted her to learn more about the impact of hormones, and incorporate her knowledge in her role as an NHS consultant psychiatrist in a home treatment service. Here she discusses the importance, and power, of asking patients about their hormones during a psychiatric appointment.
Finally, Dr Louisa shares her tips for thinking about your hormones alongside your mental health:
1.Consider whether this feels different to any previous episodes of depression you may have experienced or if your symptoms are fluctuating. Some women have suicidal thoughts or are depressed at certain times of the month. Track your symptoms and look at the fluctuations.
Your history can affect your menopause. If you’ve had an episode of postnatal depression or PMDD, then you're more likely to experience mental health difficulties in the perimenopause.
How do you feel about your life? Lack of joy rather than a sadness, the emotional lability, is often greater with a hormonal mental health problem whereas irritability, rage and impulsiveness can be greater with mental health problems.
Dr Louisa James is now offering consultations to existing Newson Health patients. Click here for details.

255 - Mental health issues and hormones: introducing Newson Health’s psychiatrist Dr Louisa James

This week is a celebration of Dr Louise Newson’s new paperback book, a revised and updated version of the bestselling The Definitive Guide to the Perimenopause & Menopause. Dr Louise is joined by Kat Keogh, who worked on the book with her and is the head of editorial at Newson Health and across the balance website and app.
Here Kat turns the tables and asks Dr Louise the questions, discovering why the subject of HRT doses warranted more attention in the book, the importance of hearing directly from women experiencing the menopause as well as experts in their fields, plus how Louise felt sharing her personal experiences.
Finally, Dr Louise shares three reasons she thinks people should buy the book:
The bright yellow cover is uplifting, and when you’re happier you’re healthier.
It’s packed with information so you’ll learn something that will either help you or a loved one.
Increasing awareness of hormones, perimenopause, menopause, plus PMS and PMDD will help women feel less lonely, more included and more listened to.
Pre-order the paperback book here
Click here to find out more about Newson Health.

254 - Dr Louise’s new paperback book: what’s new and who’s it for?

This week on the podcast, Dr Louise is joined by Tova Gillespie, a working single parent to two daughters, one of whom has severe disabilities and complex medical needs. Here she talks about the challenges of being perimenopausal while being a carer and how it’s easy to not recognise or understand your symptoms.
 
Louise and Tova discuss how it’s easy for your own needs to end up at the bottom of the to-do list when you’re a carer or have a busy family life, and Tova shares three tips for anyone who may not be looking after themselves: 
 Learn to ask for and accept help. People want to help, but very often they don't know how to offer it and our usual response can be ‘no, I don't need anything’. Instead, say straight out: ‘Please do my washing up. Or I have five loads of clean laundry that needs sorting. Or can you bring over some food?’ Anything really.
 If your health isn't what it should be, go to your GP. When you ring your GP, ask for an appointment to talk about perimenopause and hormones. They’ll know from the get go what it is you're after and if they have anyone in the clinic with an interest in that area, they’ll put you in with that person.
 Try to see the good every day. I do gratitude journalling, where I write down a minimum of three positive things that have happened that day, and they're not big. It could be the sun is shining. It could be the taste of that first sip of coffee in the morning. I train myself to look for the positive because it's so easy to get overwhelmed in the bad stuff.
Learn more about Tova on her YouTube channel. Or follow her on Instagram @parentXP
Click here to find out more about Newson Health.

253 - Coping with the perimenopause when you’re a carer

This week on the podcast, journalist Bryony Gordon, bestselling author of several books including her latest, Mad Woman, explains how the perimenopause caused her to reconsider her mental health. Was her experience of OCD affected by her hormones and what would society look like if women’s health was taken more seriously?
 
Bryony shares her belief that there’s a 'witchy magic' to menopause and that the issues it brings are the ones that you need to deal with and there is power in doing so.
 
Finally, Bryony shares three bits of advice to any woman being dismissed with 'it’s just your hormones':
 
Don’t dismiss yourself. Don’t discount your point of view or feelings just because they are yours. Maybe sometimes you're right, maybe sometimes you're wrong - that's OK.
 
It's OK sometimes to be bad. We all are. It’s just society wants us to live as women in a way that isn't very human.
 
Confidence is a trick. No one has confidence. I don't have confidence. I just have a will and a desperation not to spend the rest of my life hating on myself because it's such a waste of energy.
 
Follow Bryony on Instagram @bryonygordon her community organisation @Mental Health Mates
 
Click here to find out more about Newson Health.

156 - Educating women, improving access to treatment and influencing those in power with Dr Sharon Malone

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