Advisory: we would like to apologise for the sound quality in this episode, which was due to technical issues experienced during recording.
Dr Pooja Saini is a Chartered Psychologist and Reader in suicide and self-harm prevention based at Liverpool John Moores University. Her work has a particular focus in suicide prevention in primary care and developing community-based interventions for high-risk groups.
Since connecting, Louise and Pooja have been discussing the impact of perimenopause and menopause on mood, mental health and suicide and the many research gaps and unanswered questions in this space. In this episode, Pooja explains more about what is known and unknown regarding the effect of hormones on suicidal thoughts and outlines the research plan for a PhD funded by Newson Health Research and Education.
Pooja’s tips for those with suicidal thoughts:
Early intervention is key; seek help as soon as you feel you are not yourself
Change your habits to do more of what you really enjoy
Talk to your loved ones, family and friends. Don’t try and hide or mask it.
If you need support, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 for free from any phone or email them at jo@samaritans.org
Pooja's Social Channels
Twitter
Work Website
Reference for BMJ article discussed:
McCarthy M, Saini P, Nathan R, McIntyre J. Improve coding practices for patients in suicidal crisis. BMJ. 2021 Oct 15;375:n2480. doi: 10.1136/bmj.n2480. PMID: 34654729.

166 - Researching suicide in perimenopause and menopause with Dr Pooja Saini

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 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.

252 - Bryony Gordon: mental health, hormones and witchy magic

This week, Dr Louise is once again joined by journalist and activist Kate Muir, who made the Davina McCall documentary Sex, Myths and the Menopause. In Kate’s new book, Everything You Need to Know About the Pill (but were too afraid to ask), she turns her attention to the hormones commonly used in the contraceptive pill.
 
Kate shares personal stories of how women have been negatively affected by synthetic hormones and uncovers the bad science and patriarchy that have had such an impact on women’s health. She also offers hope that women have options and can demand change.
 
Finally, Kate shares three things every women should know about hormones and the pill:
 
Progestins are not all the same. Some of them are androgenic and some of them are oestrogenic, and they have very different effects. So, women can be on the wrong pill for them.
 
You can always take a pill holiday. There's nothing wrong with taking a few months off and seeing how you feel. And you may be a different person, or there may be other reasons for why you are in that state of mental health.
 
There needs to be more research into every bit of what synthetic hormones do in our bodies, and particularly in our minds.
 
You can follow Kate on Instagram at @muirka and on @pillscandal
 
Click here to find out more about Newson Health.

251 - Kate Muir: everything you need to know about hormones but were afraid to ask

This week we mark 250 episodes of the Dr Louise Newson Podcast!
And joining Dr Louise this week is Anita Nicholson, a nurse practitioner and menopause expert at Age Management Center in the US, where she aims to help patients lead the best quality of life for as long as they can.
Here, Dr Louise and Anita compare notes on the attitudes towards testosterone in the UK and the US, share their clinical experience of the benefits it can provide women, particularly in restoring their zest for life.
Finally, Anita shares three things she thinks could make a huge difference to women's health:
Women need to educate themselves. They have to be their own advocate.
I would love for hormones to become available and affordable. In the US, we don't even have vaginal oestrogen covered by some insurance here, never mind over-the-counter access.
More education of healthcare providers. So have a fellowship in menopause. Let's start very early with med students and nurse practitioner students so they understand that menopause and sexual medicine is very important for our life span and our health span.
You can follow Anita on Instagram @menopause_agewellfnp and the Age Management Center on Facebook /AgeManagementCenter and YouTube /@agemanagementcenter.
Click here for more information about Newson Health

250 - Testosterone: the missing piece of the jigsaw?

In this week’s podcast Dr Louise is joined by Dr Mary Claire Haver, an obstetrics and gynaecology doctor and a menopause specialist in the US. Dr Louise and Dr Mary Claire discuss the challenges of ensuring all women have access to evidence-based information and treatment, and their hopes for change.
Dr Mary Claire shares her three tips to help menopausal women improve their health:
Really focus on your nutrition. Make sure you're getting adequate fibre in your diet every day. Fibre-rich goods are good for you gut microbiome, help you stay full for longer, and are good sources of vitamins, minerals and nutrients.
Limit added sugars – those that are added in cooking and processing - to less than 25g per day. Women who do that consistently have less visceral fat. Visceral fat is tied to increased risk of chronic inflammatory diseases.
Don't just focus on cardio for your movement. You really need to keep your muscles strong so at least two days a week pick up some weights. Multiple studies in menopausal women show much better outcomes for osteoporosis with resistance training.
You can follow Dr Mary Claire on Instagram at @drmaryclaire
Click here to find out more about Newson Health
Pre-order the revised and updated paperback edition of Dr Louise’s Sunday Times bestseller The Definitive Guide to the Perimenopause and Menopause here
 
References to studies discussed in this week's episode
J Gen Intern Med 2006; 21:363–6
J Gen Intern Med 2004;19:791–804
Am J Med 2009;122:1016 – 22
JAMA 2004; 291:2243 – 52
Int J Cardiol 2010;138:25 – 31
Urology 2024; Jan 29:S0090-4295(24)00006-2

249 - Dr Mary Claire Haver: on a mission to demystify menopause

The Dr Louise Newson Podcast is celebrating two huge milestones this week: not only is the podcast five years old, we’ve hit six million downloads since Dr Louise started her podcast back in March 2019!
Making a welcome return to the podcast this week is world-renowned neuroscientist Dr Lisa Mosconi, PhD. Her new book, The Menopause Brain is released on 21 March and in it Dr Lisa shares some of the fascinating changes that occur to the brain during menopause.
In this episode, Dr Lisa explains how our understanding of the importance of hormones’ role in the brain is relatively new – man was walking on the moon almost 30 years before scientists realised that the hormones that play an important part in ovarian function also have a fundamental role in the brain.
She explains that she wrote her book to empower women with the information they need to navigate the menopause – by understanding why your brain might feel foggy and the science behind it, she hopes to reassure and enlighten.
You can follow Dr Lisa Mosconi on Instagram @dr_mosconi
Click here to find out more about Newson Health

166 - Researching suicide in perimenopause and menopause with Dr Pooja Saini

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