The Not Drinking Alcohol Today Podcast
Meg and Bella discuss the ups and downs of navigating an alcohol free life in Australia's alcohol centric culture. This highly rated podcast, featuring in Australia's top 100 self improvement podcasts, is a must for those that are trying to drink less alcohol but need some motivation, are curious about sober life or who are sober but are looking for some extra reinforcement. The Not Drinking Alcohol Today pod provides an invaluable resource to keep you motivated and on track today and beyond. Meg and Bella's guests include neuroscientists, quit-lit authors, journalists, health experts, alcohol coaches and everyday people who have struggled with alcohol but have triumphed over it. Our aim is to support and inspire you to reach your goals to drink less or none at all! Meg and Bella are This Naked Mind Certified Coaches (plus nutritionists and counsellors respectively) who live in Sydney.
The Not Drinking Alcohol Today Podcast
Navigating the Menopause Maze with Dr. Rebecca Lewis
Ladies, have you ever wondered why menopause isn't a subject of everyday conversation, despite its life-altering implications? This episode aims to shift the paradigm, bringing menopause out of the shadows with our special guest, Dr. Rebecca Lewis, a GP and menopause specialist. Together, we untangle the intricate web of hormonal changes that underpin menopause, bringing to light its potential health risks like cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and even dementia. We discuss in-depth how estrogen deficiency can lead to a host of symptoms including anxiety, mood swings, and irritability. And we look at the different symptoms and how women often use alcohol to numb them.
We don't stop there. As we delve into the impacts of menopause on physical and mental health, we also shed light on the potential benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Dr. Lewis provides valuable insights into the body-identical type of estrogen in HRT, a mirror copy of the estrogen produced in women's ovaries. She also uncovers the alarming connection between menopause and excessive alcohol consumption. We explore the significant benefits of modern HRT treatments, from reducing leg pain to improving sleep and even mitigating the risks of certain diseases.
Lastly, we highlight the importance of making informed decisions about HRT, considering both its potential risks and benefits. We also introduce the free Balance app (by Dr Newson), a resource providing evidence-based information on menopause and its symptoms. Emphasising the need for open conversations about menopause, we wrap up our discussion with ways to support those navigating this stage of life. So, prepare your tea and get comfortable as we journey together with Dr. Rebecca Lewis through this enlightening exploration of menopause.
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Hello and welcome to Not Drinking Today podcast. Today I've got with me Dr Rebecca Lewis. Rebecca is a GP and menopause specialist. She's a director at News Health. Dr Lewis works solely in the menopause specialty and dedicates her time to seeing patients and lecturing and writing articles with the aim to empower women with evidence-based knowledge so that they can make informed decisions about managing their menopause. Welcome, rebecca.
Speaker 2:Thank you, glad to be here. Thanks for asking me along, megan, it's a pleasure.
Speaker 1:Now I just wanted to start with something that's been my experience. Whenever menopause is mentioned, a lot of the time people kind of bow their head, and you know don't want to be involved in that conversation. But I have noticed that it's becoming more of a hot topic and it's something that's no longer being spilt under the carpet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're absolutely right. It's been a taboo subject for so long, hasn't it? Almost to the point of ridicule. Sometimes People just make jokes about hot flushes and fans.
Speaker 2:And really in the UK it has thanks to Dr Louise Newsom, who really has raised awareness like nobody else over the last seven, eight years and actually made us all sit up and become aware of how varied the symptoms of menopause can be and how serious some people can suffer. Seriously, some people can suffer with symptoms of menopause which before had been brushed away under the carpet and not realized that many symptoms people were suffering with were due to their hormones. We can see many women that have been misdiagnosed with symptoms that actually were due to hormonal problems and end up on many medications which don't really help For example, antidepressants, painkillers for muscle aches and pains when in fact all along it was due to hormonal problems from the menopause. And I think it's also she's raised awareness about the health risks of menopause. When women lose their hormones which is perfectly natural and normal and go through menopause, the hormones are going to come back. The ovary, the organ that produces our hormones, doesn't recover and there's some health risks Increase risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, type 2, diabetes, dementia, etc. And women need to be aware of this so that they can become informed about how they might like to manage their own menopause. So it's been a taboo for centuries. Women's health in general has been a taboo, and it's absolutely about time that this completely stops and we raise awareness about what's happening for women at this time of life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've really found that between my friends and I, we don't really know what we're talking about, we don't know what symptoms are. We don't have a clear idea.
Speaker 2:No, no, you're not alone.
Speaker 2:You're not alone and because it hasn't been talked about in society and in medicine. We weren't really trained very much about menopause when I was at medical school, albeit some time ago. I was at medical school but it hasn't changed, it hasn't been acknowledged. Women's health has been neglected and underfunded and underresourced for so long. It just hasn't been on the medics radars, on society's radar. But actually, what happens in the menopause?
Speaker 2:The ovary, obviously, is the organ that produces eggs and hormones estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. That is associated, obviously, with our fertility. But with the menopause that is defined as when the ovary stops working and we stop having periods and it's officially defined as a year after your last natural period. And the average age in the UK here is 51. So women all over the world usually about that age. However, we must remember that one in 100, and it's probably more than that, it's probably something like two or three in 100, women will go through a very early menopause or premature menopause under the age of 40. So it affects all ranges, age ranges again. So we have this picture of a grey-haired woman in midlife becoming menopausal. We're neglecting a lot of our society if we just think that's the age group, the targeted age group. There are younger women that also go through the menopause early and the problem is the ovary stops working and it stops producing the hormones estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.
Speaker 2:And these hormones are really vital because estrogen almost every cell in the body has an estrogen receptor, which means it's sensitive to the hormone estrogen all over the body. So the effects of our hormones are all over. It affects every organ in our body. It underpins the function of every organ in our body. In the brain particularly, estrogen is very important in an area called the limbic system, which is to do with our mood, anxiety, memory, concentration, fatigue, libido. All this is estrogen. The receptors are very, very well, very dense in this area and when we lose estrogen we can get symptoms of increased anxiety, low flat mood, poor sleep, low libido, irritability, can't concentrate, to the point where I see women in my clinic who are really worried that they're getting early onset dementia.
Speaker 2:Very common symptom is that people can't get the right word out, they can't remember names, they're forever making lists, they go into the supermarket for the shopping, can't remember what they're coming for, all these sort of classical things and it happens quite quickly and dramatically and it can be a very worrying time having these symptoms. People don't know what's going on with their brain. It's very frightening. Other symptoms around the body in the muscles and joints. They can become very stiff and painful In the heart, palpitations are very common and bladder problems and vaginal problems.
Speaker 2:And the problem is, if no one thinks of hormones then people can end up on antidepressants for low mood, end up on painkillers for their muscle and joint problems which doesn't really help, because the underlying cause is the lack of estrogen Estrogen from the ovaries called 17-beater estradiol, and it's a natural anti inflammatory and it's actually very good for our bodies to have estrogen. We know that when we lose estrogen, our risk on the heart disease goes up fivefold. Women just need to be aware of that and how they might want to manage that. And that's the menopause. And, of course, the perimenopause is the time proceeding, and this is often the worst time for many women.
Speaker 2:This is when the ovary is starting to fail, but not failing completely, so it's when a woman is still having her periods, but the ovary isn't functioning perfectly, so those periods may have gotten a little closer together by a day or two, or a little further apart, it may be just a matter of days. The periods may have got heavier or lighter and also associated with symptoms of estrogen deficiency. So some flushes and sweats may have occurred just before the period. Low mood, increased anxiety, muscle aches and pains, poor sleep, a feeling of overwhelm, a feeling of not being able to cope, Whereas before the woman had been perfectly able to cope with multitars. Perhaps she has a young family, a job, elderly relatives and she's managed to cope all so well.
Speaker 2:But suddenly things start to crumble and crack from many women and this can be very difficult time because a woman, as we said, the perimenopause can proceed, the woman's final period by 10 years. So if the average age of the final period is 51, then women in their 40s will be most likely perimenopausal. But because they're having their periods, they're not really thinking hormones and they think they're too young for menopause, which are hormone problems. It's not right. And so they go to their doctors and they're perhaps given antidepressants, muscle pain killers, sleeping tablets, anti-anxiety pills. And the other thing is that it's really important to say our symptoms vary from person to person. We know that 75% of women have symptoms. 25% of everyone may have very mild symptoms. To be there very mild.
Speaker 2:But 25% have severe symptoms and by which I mean they're on their knees with their symptoms, not sleeping perhaps two hours every night, repeated waking through the night, crippling anxiety so that they can't leave the house. They've had to give up work. They feel very detached and low, and many women in my clinic express this as a form of a loss of joy, no natural excitement or you know that thrill one can get in life when something nice happens. Everything's very gray, humdrum get on, get up, put your clothes on, go to work, come back, go to bed, did a grand hog day, this sort of awful feeling of flatness and loss of interest and things, and some are worse, some are very, very low and, sadly, even thoughts of harming themselves, which is very sad and worrying. And so you can see there's a massive range of how it affects the individual. To be fair, I've never really met an individual going through the perimenopause or menopause who hasn't had a degree of an increase in anxiety. That's such a common, common symptom, but it may be mild or it can be catastrophic, and I think this is another thing to get over that a lot of women said I don't know what the fuss is all about. You know my mother went through it no problems and I'm going through it no problems.
Speaker 2:Now, number one that might be true. We do know that some people don't have very many symptoms and that's good. That's good. But we also know that a lot of people say I have no problems with menopause. Yet they are on, they've given up their work, they've normalized their symptoms. It's age. I'm achy and stiff, I can't do my running anymore. I can't do my exercise. Yeah, I'm on an antidepressants because I'm low and flat and I'm an anxious nurse. I've stopped driving going on the motorways. I don't like flying anymore. So this is an insidious onset of how perhaps hormones have affected their lives, but they've normalized it, so they don't appreciate that. Perhaps this could be different if their hormones were balanced.
Speaker 1:Wow, that just blows my mind because I relate to so much of it. But it's so true that we look for every other reason and I want a very low dose of an anti-anxiety medication. Five years ago I got depression and I've never had depression and literally it was like you said. It was ground up day. I looked around and I think how can people smile? I couldn't. I was that bad and I've net and it makes sense because I hit menopause at 46, so quite early compared to your average and I don't know. So I'm nearly 50, and I think I drank through a lot of that. Sure.
Speaker 2:Because I stopped drinking.
Speaker 1:You know I drank on and off but I've been stopped for about 20 months. So perimenopause I would have been drinking. I think I did skip a lot of symptoms and then suddenly my period never came back and I put it down to depression and I lost a lot of weight. But totally it makes sense that that was probably my home, like a Vestrogen and things, because I had hit menopause and my goodness, I can't get words out right and again I think I was thinking dementia, all sorts of things. But when I stopped drinking I ended up.
Speaker 1:The reason I'm really interested in menopause is because one of the first things I noticed and I was drinking quite a lot, not for my whole life, just for the last few years a bottle of wine a night, so a lot, yeah, to the point where I'd kind of pass out. So I didn't notice things. But when I stopped drinking I had the most horrendous leg agony and it was one leg, two legs. It kept changing and so I did a lot of research and it kind of came across as restless leg syndrome or osteoarthritis. I couldn't really. And then eventually I think I read something about menopause and joints and everything. Yeah, oh, my gosh, I think this is it when I tell people I had really bad leg pain as a menopause. No, I wouldn't.
Speaker 2:But I think now I'm not surprised to hear that at all. We see a lot of people with very bad back pain and nerve pain. Just as you said, restless legs is a common symptom of the menopause because it's the nerves. It's a jangly feeling, isn't it? It's absolutely torture if you'd have to keep your legs still and it's the nerves firing off inappropriately. And often women get pins and needles, actually because the estrogen isn't there and a sufficient sustained level for the nerve conduction to be perfect. So we get that. We see that a lot in tinnitus ringing in the ears. It's also quite a common symptom of menopause. There are other causes for this as well, so one of us should always go to the GP to look at it. We're experts as GPs because we consider lots of different causes. But certainly hormones should be one of what we call the differential diagnoses of these symptoms, and I see it a lot. And when we correct the hormones back with HRT, these symptoms do often melt away because the reason, the correct reason, was because of the hormones and we give back exactly the same hormone that was lost. It's perfect physiology. One symptoms go away. Yeah, amazing. So it's an amazing treatment. It's one of the most rewarding, which is why I'm so passionate about it. It's the most rewarding medicine I have ever done and by treating women properly with HRT, usually restoring hormone levels, can really turn people's lives around, and you can see why I mean why.
Speaker 2:If you're feeling vulnerable, feeling low, poor sleep, anxious, numb, almost women may start drinking for the first time to help sleep. Obviously, we know that in the end it doesn't help sleep, it does the opposite. But to start with it can get people off sleep. It can relieve this awful blankness of no highs or lows. It might make them start to feel something. It can perhaps numb symptoms, seek oblivion from symptoms. It's a trigger time. It's a real trigger time.
Speaker 2:We know that in the UK 20% of women from the age of 45 to 64 are drinking more than they should be more than 14 units a week. It's really alcohol and females are really. It's really going up with women intake and this is a really vulnerable time for women, perhaps to seek out alcohol to excess for the first time or if they've had a problem in the past, it can recur again. It's the psychological crutch that perhaps they have lent on.
Speaker 2:There are multiple reasons, of course, for alcohol and taking alcohol to excess. One of the reasons to consider in this age group really is, if we balance the hormones, that can help. It can restore joy, it can restore normal personality to them because people don't recognize themselves, the anxiety can reduce, the sleep improves and then it's easy to tackle. Hey, hang on. I think I need to be looking at my alcohol intake and I think it's very important. Estrogen, we said, affects the brain and dopamine the neurotransmitters in the brain. As we know, dopamine is sort of a reward hormone and it's very important with addiction. We do see recurrence suddenly of alcohol problems when perhaps there have been problems before. In the perimenopause we see other addictive behaviors come back which have been nicely controlled before, perhaps eating disorders, gambling, et cetera. It's a vulnerable time for women's brains, and so we need to be aware of this and make in advance so.
Speaker 1:Women can be aware. Really, yeah, amazing when you were talking about what HRT can help with. That's exactly why a lot of people drink for those exact reasons.
Speaker 2:For the symptoms to settle to numbness symptoms, exactly. Sleep anxiety gives you confidence short term, doesn't it? Because women's confidence goes right down. Well, it would do, wouldn't it? If you feel you don't know what you're going to say, you can't get the word, you're anxious about everything, you're self-conscious, what if I talk? And I have a hot sweat and embarrassing, all these sort of things.
Speaker 2:Weight gain is another common thing with the menopause. Most women will say that they have their darts, are saying their exercise levels are the same, but they notice they gain weight around the middle area. And that is very common because when the eastern levels are low, the brains are texid is low eastern levels and it changes our metabolic system to lay down more fat cells around the middle because these fat cells secrete a very weak estrogen called the estrogen, which is not a good estrogen, it's not a helpful estrogen, but it's the way the brains try to compensate and build up one of the types of estrogen, although we don't want it. And, as we know, gaining weight around the middle is also a risk factor for heart disease and cardiac stroke and a risk factor for obesity is a risk factor for many, many things, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes.
Speaker 1:Absolutely as is drinking alcohol, as is drinking alcohol and like so. I've got a lot of friends where you know around 50 and I we. One of my friends has told me HRT has changed everything for her. I've got other friends trying natural therapy, so I actually don't know a lot about any of this. When I did discover my severe leg problems, I had all the tests done. I was basically diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Try to get that out when you're going through a minute. Yeah, that meant unexplained pain, so they couldn't. There was nothing.
Speaker 2:There was no diagnosis, really so description isn't it more than?
Speaker 1:Which is how I came to the conclusion. I think it was menopause and obviously you know, some doctors don't know about it and this particular one had would never have that as an option.
Speaker 1:So he basically said painkillers, and I wasn't willing to do that, but it hasn't been that long I haven't looked at HRT. I'm pretty lucky at this point that because I have been working on that and partly what's helped is exercise, cutting out alcohol, different supplements, but I do get. Sometimes I get the pain. So I'm very interested in talking about HRT, but also as opposed to the natural, because some people don't HRT, I'm not really sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hrt. Let's talk about HRT for a minute. We need to dispel a few myths there. Hrt is literally replacing the hormones that have been lost. Okay, so, similar to when you have low thyroid, we replace the lost thyroxin, the low thyroxin, with thyroxin and back to the normal physiological levels. And that is the principle of HRT. It is to replace the hormones that were at a good level when one was menstruating regularly before the menopause. It is to replace it back to that level.
Speaker 2:And the joy of it now is that we now have a modern type of HRT which is called body identical week. And it's called is described as body identical because it says what it what it is. It is exactly the same molecular structure as the estrogen we produce from our ovaries, so much more effective than other synthetic types of estrogen. In the old fashioned more oral tablets of estrogen, you know they're synthetic but not exactly the mirror copy of our own estrogen and they some sometimes. They work for people, but they're not as effective as this body identical. Each should be fine and it can be given through the skin, which is a really nice way to deliver the estrogen, because it bypasses the liver.
Speaker 2:it's derived from a natural source, derived from the, the jam root vegetable not pregnant horses urine which was what they used to use years ago, and you can change the dose because it's through the skin and as it bypasses the liver it doesn't get metabolized to other types of estrogens which are very helpful. It stays the same, it's not changed by the body because it goes straight into the bloodstream. And you know, physiologically it's perfect. It's matching the estrogen and topping up the estrogen, but not replacing it with a different hormone is almost topping up really back to the normal female physiological range. And when we do that, we you know we can. We can settle symptoms down because the symptoms are due to low estrogen all over the body, as we've just discussed, and that resolves it. So people's leg pains go away, the fibromyalgia diagnosis melts away for some people. We get the right dose and the right type of course and pins and needles settle the nerve conduction problem, settle sleep improves. People just say Thank you, I feel back to me again and they're so pleased. So it is a very effective treatment and there's no doubt about that is the best treatment. Of course it is, because it's a hormone loss deficiency and it's replacing those deficient hormones for the body all over. People will work HRT because of a study 20 years ago saying with all fashioned HRT or HRT is released to the press with great fanfare saying this HRT increases breast cancer and stroke and blood clot. And the absolutely, absolutely scandalous thing about that was it was released to the press before it was peer reviewed and, and they realize, actually the wrong statistics were applied to this enormous big study WHI study in America and actually the opposite has been found. They found, when they put the right, looked at the data properly and applied the right statistics to the data, that estrogen only HRT does not increase the risk of breast cancer and so they followed these people up for 18 years. So there's no increased risk of breast cancer If people just have the estrogen only HRT.
Speaker 2:And that is given to women who've had a hysterectomy or don't have a womb. Women who have a womb need to have a estrogen and progesterone. The progesterone is given to keep the womb lining thin because the Eastern can thicken the lining. So Eastern and progesterone. The increased risk of breast cancer was less than drinking two units of alcohol every night and large glass of wine every night and very, very low.
Speaker 2:And the modern type of HRT. We use the progesterone body, identical progesterone. We call it utrogestin. In the UK We've had a five year studying so there's been no increased risk of breast cancer using that type of progesterone. So it depends what type of progesterone you're using. We do always advocate the gold standard. Is the body identical HRT each and through the skin body identical progesterone or a marina coil for the progesterone component of the HRT?
Speaker 2:And this is has given a much better risk profile and we also know that when we lose our hormones we're increased risk of future health problems. We mentioned earlier that women after the menopause there they have a very low risk of heart disease. But after the age of 50, the average age when we go through menopause our heart disease, a heart attack rate, goes up by five fold. We have an increased risk of osteoporosis, thinning bones. We won't know. We've got that because it doesn't hurt us, it's just thin bones. And we know that 75% of hip fractures over the age of 70 are in women because they've got thin bones and there's a mortality risk to having a hip fracture in your 80s a large mortality risk. And if one does survive, there's also then a risk of becoming dependent upon people or needing nursing care permanently.
Speaker 2:So it's a really important thing to think about not only your symptoms but actually your future health. We need to protect our hearts. We want to have the menopause. You know. Thank goodness we're living now till 83 84 is the average age for women Now for death and we've got a good 30 to 40% of our life postmenopause or without hormones and we need to see what the health effects of that are and be aware that we're increased risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, dementia, especially if menopause has gone through earlier, and and ways around compensate for that. So exercise is really important cardio vascular exercise, weight bearing exercise To build our bones up. A diet rich in calcium and vitamin D especially in the UK don't get much sunlight there so it's, you know. It awaits management, alcohol intake, all these sort of things to try and have a long and healthy life.
Speaker 2:And consider HRT we know that if woman takes HRT within 10 years of her last period she will have her risk of heart disease yeah, her risk. So very important long term health effects. It will decrease the risk of osteoporosis is the only prevention treatment for osteoporosis that we have. We have shown clearly. So it can help prevent all that. That's what it decreases the risk of fractures and the spine and hip as well. It also reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and dementia. Especially is all over the younger women. I'm going on undergoing menopause on the age of 45. It has many beneficial effects because we have these receptors all over our body and there's a lot of people saying what I have to do natural or I have to do HRT, but the HRT is pretty natural and so that's another thing to get out there. And also, why can't you do both? You know, I see, you know HRT will help women, but it will you help more if you have HRT plus lifestyle changes as well you know so.
Speaker 2:HRT has a little more limited effect if the woman still drinking. So reducing alcohol intake will help people feel better anyway. Adding in HRT, doing some exercise regularly, all these things looking at the woman in a holistic way and individualizing approach for each woman. Really the beauty of having eastern through the skin doesn't increase risk of blood clots. So people who have had migraines are often told you can't have HRT because of the risk of blood clot. Because that was the. You have high blood pressure can have the HRT. Really that it is very inclusive for most people is safe and nice guidance. In the UK say that the majority of women the benefits are at any risk.
Speaker 1:Wow, you've just reminded me of my migraines have changed.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I get them very easily, but they're not like they used to be either, so they go straight to my stomach and make me sick. But I get from them. I can look at one life. An ambulance flashing gave me one the other day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's a common symptom. Along with a poor sleep, the increased anxiety, the leg pains, is increased migraines, and A lot of women have always had a migraine, so they may have always had them, just before that period perhaps, and they cope with them through life. But they suddenly get worse in the perimenopause and having two or three a week to put them to bed, you know when, how on earth can you cope with your work running, you know, maybe got family, you know just code with migraines. If that severity three times a week again, they put on many medications and the reason is in the perimenopause especially, the hormones are really fluctuating, as the ovary hasn't failed completely but it's stuttering to a stop and it produces one moment really high levels of Eastern and literally that night very low Eastern low level. So it could go up and down, up and down on a daily basis or a monthly basis and with this fluctuation is not, it's not the actual level of Eastern, it's more the fluctuation high, low, high, low, high, low of Eastern. Very, very bad for migraines, increasing frequency and severity and bad for mood as well.
Speaker 2:You know, people feel at the whim of their hormones. They feel up and down. They don't know how they're jackal and high. They don't know how they're going to be irritable, angry one moment, crying, the next karma. You know it's, it's. It's this sort of fluctuation very hard and delivering estrogen through the skin and a nice steady state stops these fluctuations and levels it out. So the body receives a sustained, constant, regular supply of estrogen and functions better. We migraines will get better and takes time to build up slowly to the right dose for the individual. But migraines get better with HRT and stop quite often.
Speaker 1:Wow, I feel like I had a mind blowing experience listening to all this. I feel also like I did have a, an idea of HRT that's obviously come from that early you know article or whatever, even though I know nothing about it, but it's changed so much to the point where it's yeah, it's yeah like.
Speaker 2:Yeah you have to, that's right almost you have to be empowered to understand about HRT to do, okay, what are the risks of not taking it to my bones, to my heart? You've got to stand back and look and it's not right for everybody. Perhaps that you know there are other things women can do. We've touched upon them exercise, mindfulness, healthy diet I think the processed foods we certainly have in the UK is horrendous and adopting a, you know, clean diet, plant based, more, you know we try to have 30 plants a week really has been recommended by many, many experts.
Speaker 2:Mindfulness, relaxation techniques all very important as well. That, being mindful of what, the potential, you know, I think, concentrating that exercise, thinking about our joints, keeping the supple and Aware of osteoporosis. So, weight-bearing exercises really important as well. Cardiovascular exercise for our hearts, which are increased risk. Yeah, our cholesterol goes up in the perimenopause with a loss of estrogen. Yeah, the glucose level rises with a loss of estrogen. It helps very much govern that, the metabolic sort of milieu having estrogen at a physiological level. So there are many ways to look at Treating menopause. If a woman is suffering and is concerned, also would like to help reduce her Future health risks, alongside with with with lifestyle changes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, it's so interesting.
Speaker 2:I think this is just gonna help so many women a lot of information we've given here and it can be like, oh my goodness, I might start if you're listening. I would really say if you could download. Dr Louise Newsome has created and I've helped as well, my director the free balance app is free for women because one of our missions is really we just want to help women, to help them understand because what's going on. It's such a fright could can be for some a very frightening time and difficult time. And the balance app contains evidence-based information. It has articles about me, greens, about all sorts of symptoms.
Speaker 2:There is a A symptom score you can do on there for for symptoms of the menopause. There's a period tracker so you can sort of attach symptoms to your period. So when the early perimenopause, often symptoms are worse just before your period the week before, because that's when you reach some levels of low. So you can see that for yourself and track it and you can download a health report that you can give to your GP here in the UK, which means a GP.
Speaker 2:I found very useful because at a glance I could see gosh, she's got a lot of symptoms, particularly in sleep, and she's got some hot flushes. By the way, another important fact, 20% of women will never have hot flushes on my sweats because we all think that's the cardinal symptoms and maybe waiting for that to happen doesn't always happen for everyone. Okay, it's so variable the symptoms, so I could see, as a GP, my my clinic at a glance, the symptoms, how their periods were changing. They may have become very heavy. That's another very common problem, and, and then we can get into the subject, it gets a subject. Do you think these symptoms could be due to my hormones rather going down blind alleys?
Speaker 2:You know they end up with with painkillers for muscle pains, diagnosis of fibromyalgia, recurrent urine infections, depression, migraine tablets. You know those things may be needed, may need to be considered, but actually if we get hormones up there first as well as well to be thought of in a differential diagnosis, it helps your app is available worldwide and even you know, here in Australia we could take it into the GP.
Speaker 1:Because, starting that conversation with our GP? Because I have found my experience it doesn't come up and it's.
Speaker 2:No, right, yeah, Start the introduces If you haven't. You know, I I found that I couldn't get the words out, they weren't there. And if you're feeling a bit nervous going to the doctor, no, oh gosh, you know, it's just about menopause of our waste of time. No, it's not just about menopause, it's really important, please. You're important and we keep putting ourselves at the bottom of the pile as women. This is important to get right. It's just. It helps you get the conversation going, because sometimes the words aren't there To express yourself properly and if it's, if it's there on a piece of paper. You know, doctors want to help you and they and it's not their fault, they haven't really been taught in medical schools. It's really thanks to Louise Newsom that we are more aware of this now and things are beginning to change.
Speaker 1:It's amazing, and I I Think that I drank to cover so many of these symptoms that I I Didn't really have many symptoms. I mean everything you've spoken about. Pretty much I have.
Speaker 2:Yes, but you can see how previous generations, like my mother and they said, I didn't have any symptoms and they had foot, they had, they had as much as we do in our generation and generations, and generations. And then you reflect on history and you reflect on on literature and you see how women have been, you know, portrayed in literature which is, you know, you think, hang on, how much was hormones going on here?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think I am. Many women At this age you know, the menopause age start to feel flat and they think, you know, it's their version of a midlife crisis. This is what you know. I actually thought about myself and what am I here for, you know? But I also. It coincided with the loss of estrogen, so I was going to feel flat, so it wasn't. You know, I think this People so much to think about because if I had known all of this earlier, I might not have turned to alcohol for the answers.
Speaker 2:You know, I said this is it, this is it, and that's the reason I really want to get that point across. We don't know, but it's, it's, it can, being aware of all causes and potential causes. It's just so important because I have so many women that have got. I wish I'd started this 10 years ago, you know, and sadly they, their marriages have broken, they've lost their jobs. You know, financially they're in a more of a difficult place and you know we can't blame everything on the menopause.
Speaker 1:But you know, I'm sure that was part of some women's journey because it wasn't treated and we see the casualties from that Totally and I think if we don't know, how are the you know the husband's meant to know how to support us and yeah, absolutely, and and in the workplace, you know so.
Speaker 2:Menopause affects 51% of the population directly. I'm 49% of the population indirectly. It's a question for society. It's not just a woman's problem. It's a question for employers. It's a question for you know, families, men, you know everyone really.
Speaker 2:You know we see In the workplace 10% of women at least, and probably more than that, leave their job permanently because of menopausal symptoms. You know that has a massive knock-on effect, obviously to the individual, their financial Position, the stress on the families, the employer. It's really, you know, costs the employer a lot to re-employ someone, get them up to that skill level, because in midlife we're pretty skilled, what we're doing, we've got the experience then and it costs cost employer enormous amount. It costs the government an enormous amount. If they're not, if women's not working, they're not contributing to GDP. We talk about you breaking crashing through the glass ceiling, getting more women on the board, the pension inequality, the pay, gender, gender paying inequalities and and really one of one of the issues to cause is inequality is is is menopause.
Speaker 1:One of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I rather causes as well, but it's an important cause, so it's a whole question for all of society.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and over here in Australia, do you know, if we have a, we would have the skin treatment. Oh, yes, you have. Yes, that's everywhere skin.
Speaker 2:We have it as a gel or patches or spray. I'm not sure I would imagine you have all those in in Australia as well, certainly some of them, but eastern through the skin is the way you want to go. The details are wrong about the balance up again. There's a community there for people to talk to. It's been translated in to, I think, several different languages as well, and so you can talk to a community. There's details about HRT the best types and less side effects want to go for you know it helps people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, amazing. I'm going to recommend the app to everyone and I'm going to Listen to this podcast. What you've said, I I really was clueless.
Speaker 2:It's been. So don't feel embarrassed by that, because I think most of us what it's been in you know sudden awakening over the last few years and we haven't been told about it. We need it. We've actually got a you know Something through Parliament in the UK that it's going to be discussed in schools so the next generation, hopefully, we'll have more awareness For something that does affect so many people directly. It's quite a thing that it is quite amazing. It is quite amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, shocker Hasn't been discussed and it really does bubble the mind and even though, of course, some symptoms won't be menopause, of course a lot will.
Speaker 2:That's right, it's. It's really to think hormones, not to to being blind about anything else, but is to have Thinking about hormones in the differential diagnosis and seeing an expert about that to discuss. You know, you may, we may need further investigations into this particular symptom and it's appropriate to do so. But I often say to women look, I think this, this does sound like hormones and you have had investigations. You have had investigations, was turned up nothing, what we'll do with. You've got many, many symptoms. You will start a hormone treatment and we'll see what improves and what melts away.
Speaker 1:And very often these symptoms do improve Amazing. Well, you know. For anyone listening that does have any of these symptoms, just start by a visit to the GP and and go from there. Yeah, get on the, have a google get talking.
Speaker 2:That needs to be, needs to be gone, um, and I think talking when we're good at talking us women really.
Speaker 2:So I think just talking in your own communities about menopause In a big way, in a loud way, just mentioning menopause to your family at the dinner table. It's just, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. You know, we talk about um antinatal care, we talk about getting pregnant and you know, uh, pregnancy it's, it's another stage of woman's life. But it's very, very important to be aware of how it can affect individuals, not to judge as well. Not to judge because if you have had mild symptoms, your best friend may be on her knees with symptoms and and that is what happens. And Um very important not to make judgments. Actually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I can't thank you enough, rebecca, for coming on and sharing all these absolute pleasure.
Speaker 2:I hope it was helpful.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely. So in the show notes I will put where we can find you and the app name and um anything else you want me to share, so the listeners can. Sure on there and give a photo, but, um, thank you for your time and it's been amazing. It really has been.
Speaker 2:So it's absolute pleasure. It's lovely, lovely, chatting to you again. Thank you.
Speaker 1:If you don't already know, in addition to our podcasting work, we are each sobriety coaches with our own separate businesses helping people to drink less. If you are a loved one want to take a break from alcohol, we invite you to have a look at our individual websites Meg's is glassfulfilledcomau and Bella's is Isabella Fergusoncomau, so take the next step that feels right for you.
