The Dr Louise Newson Podcast - 273 - Introducing Dr Louise Newson Menopause Masterclass

Episode Date: September 10, 2024

This week’s episode is all about Dr Louise Newson Menopause Masterclass, a brand new video-led, one-stop guide to perimenopause and menopause. In this episode, Dr Louise chats to Kate Muir, journalist, author, documentary maker and menopause activist, who worked with Dr Louise on developing Menopause Masterclass. Together they discuss the inspiration behind Menopause Masterclass, topics covered, featured experts and why it’s a must watch for everyone, whether you are menopausal, keen to be prepared for the future or simply want to know more to support loved ones. To find out more and to sign up to the Menopause Masterclass, click here. Click here to find out more about Newson Health.

Hello, I'm Dr Louise Newsom. I'm a GP and menopause specialist and I'm also the founder of the Newsom Health Menopause and Wellbeing Centre here in Stratford-Pon-Avon. I'm also the founder of the free balance app. Each week on my podcast, join me and my special guests where we discuss all things perimenopause and menopause. We talk about the latest research,

bust myths on menopause symptoms and treatments, and often share moving and always inspirational personal stories. This podcast is brought to you by the Newsome Health Group, which has clinics across the UK dedicated to providing individualised perimenopause and menopause care for all women. So Kate is back on my podcast. Kate Muir is my partner in crime and I know her very well. We plos and scheme and do all sorts of things.

Some we talk about, some we don't talk about. But today we're going to talk about a masterclass series that we've been working on for a long time and it's now been launched. So we thought we'd share with you more information about it. So welcome again to my podcast, Kate. Great to be back. I'm so pleased this is going to be out there in the world, the menopause masterclass, because it's the biggest thing anyone has ever made on the menopause. in terms of the hours of information in it and the hours of film.

So it's like a Netflix series, but it stars Dr. Louise Newsom. And I really love that. I'm so pleased that we've done this and that we've gathered all these experts to work on it with us. It's been amazing, actually. And do you know what? Every time I watch parts of it, I have this sort of inner warmth. As you know, I'm always critical of myself. But actually, it's such a group piece of work.

I know I'm featured throughout most of it. But it's not just me. It's a voice for everybody and other people's voices and opinions and, like you say, experts as well. And so just to set the scene, really, we decided to do the Masterclass because the Divina program that you were so heavily involved in and created and produced didn't have enough because it couldn't because it was a Channel 4. only two parts went there. So there was so much information that you learned over the years. There's so much information and knowledge that I have obtained, not just from scientific papers, but from patients as well, of course, that we sort of plotted for a while that we wanted to do something bigger, better, more in depth, really, that people could either watch in its entirety

or watch parts of it. So it's been broken up into chunks. But I remember sitting down, with you, it was probably two years ago now, Kate, you came over when I was in London one time. And you'd made notes and I'd made notes. And actually, they were very, very similar. Because I was saying, I want to have this and this and this. And you said, you need to have this and this and they. And they were very similar, weren't they? Which was really reassuring. Yeah. I mean, what was clear was that we wanted to talk about the holistic menopause and holistic midlife. And we're really talking to people late 30s, 40s, 50s. 60s, 60s, even older.

We're talking to a huge group of women in the middle of their lives who are holding up so much. And what I loved was that it's not just you and you're fantastic in it. And very calming, I feel, in your blue dress. But also, we've got an expert on nutrition, Emma Ellis Flims. We've got an expert on midlife psychotherapy. We've got an expert on divorce and what happens to women, in that period when they're in menopause at the same time.

We've got an expert on skin, which I think is so important to women, and we've got an expert on testosterone. I mean, and even Alison Macbeth, who is a wonderful doctor from Stop Hill Hospital in Glasgow, an NHS doctor, she comes down and talks about breast cancer and dealing with menopause after breast cancer, which comes up, and I'm sure it comes up for you too, Louise, all the time when I am talking to groups of women, and everybody says, but what do I do if I'd have breast cancer? So it was really exciting to begin to answer those questions

with a decent amount of time and amount of care. And I feel people get brushed off in two sentences or go and look at this. And there was an expert talking for half an hour, for instance, Dan Reisel on the brain, you know, a neuroscientist and a gynecologist, one of the few people who understands what's actually going on. in the perimenopausal and menopausal brain properly. And he's sitting there holding a plastic brain on the television.

And he's explaining it to us. And I think the visual, as well as giving us the time and respecting women to spend that amount of time because this is 10, 20, 30 years of our health. And the idea that we do in five minutes is just stupid when we research, you know, buying a second-hand car for three days, you know? It's absolutely outrageous, actually.

And, well, I spend a lot of my life frustrated, as you know, Kate, but when you read into history of women, how we've been sort of silenced for so long, but also we've had knowledge that hasn't been imparted. So we, as in clinicians and physicians, have known things that patients and women haven't. And I think this is one of the first times that, like you say, there's been so much in-depth information that has been shared that people can learn from. in ways that are digestible and easy. But if I do a radio interview or something on television,

like you say, it's minutes, sometimes it's seconds that you've got to portray that information. Whereas this is a really relaxed setting. It was really lovely the way it was filmed as well, wasn't it? They transformed this lady's house and just the colours that they used of the set was just there was something very magical about the way it was filmed, don't you think?

And we had a brilliant director, Lauren Hawthorne, and one of the things she said to us is just let it run, just keep talking. And instead of us cutting ourselves off, you know, she carefully cut obviously what we said, what you said, but, you know, we were given that space and space around us. And the idea that this, you know, should be trapped in a little studio for five minutes. And actually there you are in a big living room chair with plants behind you and things. like that. And there the person is watching you in their living room and spending time with you and listening and feeling like they're with you in the room. And, you know, I used to be a film critic before I was a mad menopause warrior. That was my job at the times for years and years. And it's really important how you deliver your message, where you deliver it from what people

feel about that message. And instead of it being a kind of doctor's surgery message, It's actually an academic with books behind you sitting in a chair like a man would giving a masterclass. Do you know what I mean? But it's really intimate and feminine as well. And I think that's really interesting. And I think I can imagine, you know, people, you know, because you can buy this. But, you know, people come round, they'll watch it with their friends. You could easily have a couple of menopause parties around this, you know, and really binge watching.

Well, that's the whole point. And I have done it in a way, or we've done it in a way that it doesn't have to be the person's suffering. So I can, and I have watched bits with my children actually and my husband. And I can imagine watching it with work colleagues as well, you know, parts of it is really important. And actually, sometimes women say it's really difficult to describe how they're feeling because it becomes very woe is me and they don't want to be, have any sort of self-pity, whereas we've got cases and we've chosen a selection of women who have had experiences that have been quite different, but actually when you listen to their stories,

and even one of them is with their lovely partner, David, who is just so gorgeous, so we've got Gwenda and David, and listening to his experience of her menopause will resonate with so many people, don't you think? Yeah, I mean, it was so lovely seeing a couple talking, about it and how supportive he was to her and how he just sit there and stay in bed with her when she didn't feel like getting up and really they're so honest aren't they and they're so in love yes and it's actually really really moving to watch them talking and they're very funny as well and they fell in love at school they are they are so lovely they are really gorgeous but they really share what it's like for many couples, actually,

when your life is affected so much by menopause. So it was very brave and bold of them to share in that way. But it really does resonate how menopause affects everybody. And like you were saying at the start, it very is a holistic program. So there is something for everybody. It's not one size fits all, one experience fits all. And so people can watch

the parts that are relevant from them, learn from bits that are relevant for them as well, and probably learn new information as well. And, you know, I am talking to someone who has a lot of experience with partners and certainly when breakdown of partners occurs, relationships. And that's really important. But we've also got a section on testosterone, well, two sections of testosterone. One about testosterone for women, of course, is that important. But I've also interviewed Professor Jeff Hackett talking about testosterone for men. And that's very important too, isn't it? Yeah, because I think in relationships there can be this thing they've started calling the couple pause where, you know, his hormones are down, your hormones are down, your relationship might

well be on the rocks and actually it just needs a little bit of looking after and bringing back the hormones. And we also talk to Fahana Shazadi, who is a family law solicitor, but has done amazing surveys on divorce around perimenopause and menopause and just looks into the way that women who, you know, are going into divorce, typically in perimenopause, suffering from brain fog, don't quite know why, probably still have their periods. And they end up, you know, in a solicitor's office or in court, they've got lots of papers, they've got lots of aggressive letters coming into them, and they can't cope and they find it really hard and they just want to push it all away. And she says, hold on. Think about you. Think about your symptoms. Think about, you know,

do you need real help? Do you need medical help? And think about things like the pension gap. You've worked all these years looking after three children and working part time. Your husband hasn't. He's got a huge pension. You have no pension at all because you've been working part time. make sure the divide is fair and will cover you for the years you still often have to look after children. You know, there's things like that that we are only beginning to see through hormonal glasses. But she's also very practical in a wider way. But, you know, one and two people are getting divorced. It's not nothing. And to go in there confident and armed and calm rather than panicking, I think is really important. I think the other thing I like about what we're doing

is we have a kitchen. So we have Emma Ellison and she's a nutritionist. But what she's great at is debunking all the sort of mad supplements and things like that that people will sell you to cure your menopause for 30 pounds, men or this, men or that, the other. And it's not that you shouldn't be taking certain vitamins and supplements if you want to, but she tells you the ones that actually scientifically work. And I think that's incredibly important. important, don't you? Absolutely. Yeah, I remember talking with her when we're choosing the supplements that we use for health. So they're not supplements for menopause. And that is a big difference, actually, because there's all this meno washing where we're told that we should have this

supplement and that to help our hot flushes or, you know, menopause shampoo to help our dry hair or whatever. Whereas we're talking about supplements such as magnesium, which can help with our health, help with our sleep, help with migraines, for example, but also looking at probiotics and prebiotics, how to get better nutrition in simple, effective ways. And it's really great, actually, to be there in a real kitchen with real food with Emma. I really enjoyed doing that as well. And she's a found of knowledge. She's got so many quick, easy, simple, cheap recipes up her sleeve. She's always got tricks that we can learn from. And then we also've got yoga, haven't we? We did a section on exercise. So I had Lucy Holtham, who's a yoga teacher, who I do

yoga with every week, and me, we dressed up or down, depending on how you look at it, into our yoga outfits. And we actually did yoga in front of the camera, didn't we? We do have the Dr. Louise Newton headstand. And I think that will be the key image on TikTok. from this entire film. I think it's fantastic. And you just think, well, you know, people have often talked about you as only interested in the medical side and only interested in HRT and you go,

well, she's standing on her head and she's talking about yoga and exercise. I think that is really important that image for us to understand that our doctors are also human and that menopause is a big human event and not just a medical event. So I really love that. Absolutely. I must say I found the filming hilarious being there. I just loved leg up higher.

Well, I tell you what, it was funny because, you know, obviously I just free-lived. I didn't have a script for anything that I did. I knew roughly what I was going to say. And it's often the case, it's not until a camera's on me that I know what's coming out of my mouth. It's just the way my brain works. But I found the week quite exhausting. And when it's not live, obviously you can retake and maybe your hair is out of place. or maybe I need to reword something or rephrase something.

So there was quite a lot of stopping starting. And I remember us doing the yoga one on a Thursday of quite a busy week. And each morning I, especially if I'm doing something public facing, I'll always do a yoga practice and it will always end in a headstand because it's a really great way to start the day. And I was in my hotel room doing headstands and thinking, please can I do the headstand well? And because I was doing it with Lucy because we're opposite and we're.

go up together, I just thought, oh no, it's going to be so obvious that she's a yoga teacher and I'm just as someone who enjoys yoga. But actually, it was quite interesting. All the camera guys and the crew's reaction, I got so much cred for doing a headstand more than imparting quite difficult scientific knowledge, more than interviewing other people. It was the headstand that made it for them, wasn't it? Yeah, no, we loved that. That was just. such fun. The other thing I think a lot of women will be interested in, I certainly learn a lot, was Dr. Sajad Rajpur doing skin. And the stuff he told you about the ingredients in these things that cost 150 pounds and how you could get exactly the same ingredients for three pounds,

50 in boots or wherever. And that he takes that apart. But he also tells you know what really does work, what you really need for menopausal skin. Obviously, estrogen, you know, replacing your estrogen is important, but there's all the other things you can do. But I feel in that area in particular, we are really sold to pig in a poke all the time. And, you know, menopause this and menopause shampoo and that, you know, and he just took it all apart and made it absolutely clear what was worth buying and what simple face washes, for instance, with nothing nasty in them, you know, were really worth buying rather than soap. Things like that that I just didn't know, but I sort of followed on once I'd heard him speak and I just did them. And they were tiny changes,

but they were good. Yeah, he's really great. We just did a podcast recently about acne and he makes everything so simplistic, whether it's for yourself or your teenage daughter who's influenced on TikTok to buy these ridiculous products. She actually just goes straight back to the basics and is really good because it all makes sense because so much in menopause, not just skincare, but menopause in general, it's been made really complicated because people have trying to be helped for centuries on something that is not a difficult problem, but because there's so much marketing involved, of course, and so much potential money to be made. So him just talking basically about skin and also reminding us that the skin is the biggest organ we have,

It's really, really important that if our skin looks well and healthy, it's far more likely that our internal organs are well and healthy. So it is a window into our system. And this is really important, I think, when so many people say, oh, HRT is a lifestyle drug. It's because women want to have nice skin. And it's actually, we should think about it in the other way and think, well, actually, if women have good skin,

isn't it a reflection of how their body and their organs are internally? But also we shouldn't be just thinking a skin as something on our face. It's systemically as well. And so many women who are perimenopausal and menopausal have dry, itchy skin. And if any of you have experienced itchy skin, it can drive you to distraction. It can stop you sleeping, stop you thinking, stop you working. and it's not just about putting on a fancy cream that might irritate it even more.

Obviously, it's looking at the root cause and then looking simply what else we can do. And so not underestimating what skin is and how much it can affect people when it's not working properly, if you like. And what Sajj is really good about, because he's a general dermatologist, he's got general medical training, it's not just what we put on the skin, it's how we feed ourselves or how we drink all internally as well. You know, exercise obviously improves our skin.

Drinking the right fluids improves our skin. And he's very much looking holistically and that's why we work together so closely because it's so important. But yeah, his session was great, wasn't it? Yeah, and again, looking from the inside out, I mean, obviously there's the vaginal biome and we know we've got to love.

look after our vaginal biome. My favourite new subject is vaginal biome or vagi biome. And, you know, just making sure you give yourself back that topical estrogen or an estrogen pecery or whatever in tiny amounts. And also Alison McBess, the cancer specialist saying it is safe for those who have had breast cancer. And I think it's great to hear that direct from her and the idea that we can just, you know, spend all that money on Chanel for our faces. But, nothing for down there and the idea that we all use the word down there and not vulva or urethra or you know all the proper words we should use but it can just make such a difference and be so comfortable and be so lovely and be so enjoyable for sex as well and the idea that you know we get

that free we can get that free on the NHS you can get it you know and use it every week every couple of days and it's such a simple thing and it's such a gift to give to women and And I also think women watching this who are menopausal but have mothers who are older or people who know people in nursing homes. It is really worth getting the message out to them too that they don't need to be in so much pain. And, you know, we've got experts talking about that and you talk about it. And it's just a really important part of, you know, women's story over 50. Absolutely. It's so important. And the other thing, microbiome, too, if we're on biomes, and we do the microbiome too.

and just everything in your stomach really, really matters. And that I didn't realize until I read all the stuff that estrogen, of course, feeds all the sort of happy bacteria in your microbiome. So it's so important to look after that. But we all get such changes. And I know I had to go and get various probiotics to get it all in the right order. And it took me a while. But I think we kind of addressed that as well in the set of programs,

which is, you know, I think really. important. You know, you can't just get everything right with a dob of HRT, but you can if you kind of put your mind to it. Yeah, and it's a combination of everything. And it's often doing it in the right order, in the right time that's right for you as well. And even the exercise, I know we joke about yoga, but obviously yoga isn't for everyone. And we do talk about just the importance of movement and exercise and making choice as well. There's also a section talking about workplace in general, the impact of workplace for that person directly who's suffering, but also what employers can do to help, which I think is so important as there are so many women

living longer and working longer as well. Most of us, when we enjoy our jobs, don't want to retire at a certain age, but we want to give back as much as possible. We want to be good when we're working. We don't want to be going to work and not remembering things and not being able to function. So that's really important. I so agree. And we, you know, we got all those statistics that one in ten women are leaving their jobs due to menopause symptoms. I hope that's less now, given the work that's been done. But, you know, it really is hormones in your head and in your career. And I know with, you know, I often give presentations on the menopause in offices, you know, in big PowerPoints. And I know if I forgot the name of the person on the next slide and I

pause for like one second, I would feel like the world had come to the end. I'd exposed myself in public. I'd feel shame. And lots of women do when they suddenly can't remember a name. And it's just something they've just lost for a second because of brain fog. And the kind of humiliation, the self kind of humiliation is terrible. And so it's so important to be able to talk about that work and be able to leap over that moment and be able to help people get whatever advice they need medical or otherwise. And, you know, when I talk about that, people go, oh my God, yes, I know what that feels like, you know. And I had COVID last week and I was just realizing what brain fog felt like again, because I haven't had it for years and years. And I was thinking,

I have to remember five things. I have to go to the shop. And, you know, mask on. And went to the shop, but I had to write a list. And normally I can remember five things to pick up in the shop. And then I'm doing my work. And I just couldn't remember. what order I was doing things in. And then I passed out and fell asleep in the library. And that was exactly what brain fog felt to me. And what actually COVID, you know, felt like in later life. And it really humbled me for a couple of days.

And I thought, oh, my God, this is what a lot of people go through until they get HRT. So I was really profoundly affected by that. What about the other mental health aspects? Because you talk to Holly Rubin, our psychotherapist, about midlife? What were the things you thought she was good at talking about? Well, she was brilliant because we're also talking and thinking about families as well and the impact of menopause and perimenopause on families, but not just perimenopals and menopause, hormones in general as well, because if you're at home with teenage children who will invariably have

changing hormone levels, how that can have an effect and how when it's not recognised, you know, I was really irritable and really cross. And I sort of didn't care when I was perimenopause. It was like someone could just allow me to shout as loudly as I could and hate my husband as much as possible in front of the children. They, you know, we've had our odd bickers over the years, but we're not a door slamming family. We're not a shouty family.

We might discuss something and disagree. That's fine. But not in the way that I was becoming when I was perimenopausal. And, you know, Jessica writes about it in my book. She was really scared. But this was only for a few months. But, you know, how would it have been if it had been for longer? And how is it in families when it really does affect?

And how does the partner bring up to the person that's suffering? Could it be your hormones? How do you start that conversation? Because if they're not realizing it's related, it can be a very difficult conversation to initiate as well. And then how do you help your partner to receive the advice, support and treatment that's right for them as well? So it was really, Holly's brilliant. She's got a lot of knowledge working with individuals and with children and with families.

And hopefully that comes across really well in that part of the master class. I'm sort of thinking about how you would use this because, you know, it's hours and hours and hours. And I'm thinking a lot of women might want to just, because sometimes there's a 10 minute little bit on something, or there's a little case that you can listen to, or sometimes there's half an hour on testosterone or on something longer. And I just think you could probably sit and watch this in bed and just watch that 30 minutes that you want to see about a specific subject. And then, you know, you're travelling on the train and you can watch a 10 minute blip on, you know, how to use HLT or whatever. But I think it's nice that it will fit into people's lives. You know, it doesn't involve a consultation or being anywhere. And you can just pick up on these little films here, there and everywhere

and pick out the ones you want and watch them in the wrong order if you want, which is rather nice. Yes, and that's what I hope. Because you can see an index of what it is, and some of them are really very short and some of them are a little bit longer, but they're very bite-sized and manageable. And so I'm hoping people can start with what they know that they want. to know and then they can delve into other areas as well. And that way you don't have to do it in

this right order. Like you said before, you could watch some with some friends or colleagues or relatives or you could just watch some on your own. And I've done it in a way that I'm hoping it's quite timeless as well and also it's quite countryless as well, as in any country, wherever you are you will be able to learn. There is one area where I do demonstrate some hormones, but I'm not talking about drugs in particular. I'm not mentioning drug names. I'm not mentioning formulations or dosing. So again, it's very generic

because we wanted it to have longevity. There's obviously more research coming out, but this is very much a basic, you know. So we've known about hormones for centuries. So this is just imparting the knowledge that people can use and then use that knowledge to then get more information if they want. So there really is something for everybody, like you say, even if you're not menopausal,

or never going to be, if you're a man, for example, you should still watch some of it. I think there really is something for everybody. I also think talking to businesses myself quite often that people are slightly afraid of talking about the really personal stuff in a work atmosphere. Of course they are. But this is something businesses can do. They can say, look, you can watch this package. we will, you know, give you this and you can watch this at home in your own time, but we are providing this brilliant, accurate menopause resource for you.

And I think that gets through the, oh, we'll just talk about it for an hour, at HR in front of everybody, and people get embarrassed. And here is a chance to have your own thoughts, your own decisions and research things. And I think this is giving women power. Absolutely. And also, you know, it's a lot cheaper than getting someone to come in and give Hours and hours and hours of lectures, of course. But it is, this is all about choice.

This is all about giving people information so they can make the right choices for them. And I'm really hoping it's going to enrich people's knowledge, but their lives as well. It's hopefully going to allow people to think differently about what hormones are, what menopause is, and how people can receive advice and treatment. And usually treatments, actually,

that are right for them, including lifestyle. as well. So lots and lots that there is in this Masterclass series. And I'm very grateful for you, Kate, to helping, you know, you produced it, to help me write it and just bring it out so that it actually happened rather than something that I was just talking about for ages. So before we end, three take-home tips. And of course I'm going to say three reasons why people should be downloading it and watching the Masterclass series. I think because women, really like to research their health properly. And this is a chance to get right down into the nitty-gritty with an expert that you trust. And it's not what you're going to get in an hour-long

documentary. So you've got that depth. And secondly, you've got the width of the people talking about it. And also, I would say my second point is you've got the lovely Dr. Isaac Mnionda talking about testosterone as women's cardinal hormone. He has the most beautiful voice as well. You want to listen to him before you go to sleep, if I may say. And then third, you know what? You're there, Louise. And I am so glad to put a frame around you and see you talk to people and let people really understand you face to face.

So I'm very proud to have been involved in that. Oh, that's so lovely, Kate. Thank you ever so much. And I really look forward to hearing people's feedback about it. and I just want to publicly thank you for allowing me to work with you so closely and to develop something that I know will help so many people. So thank you very much. Thank you.

You can find out more about Newsome Health Group by visiting www.orgon.combe. And you can download the free balance app on the App Store or Google Play.