0:09

Hello. I'm doctor Louise Newson,

0:11

and welcome to my podcast. I'm

0:13

a GP and Perimenopause and

0:15

I run the Newsome Perimenopause and well-being

0:18

center here in structuredronhaven. I'm

0:20

also the founder of the menopause charity

0:23

196 the menopause support app called

0:25

Balance. On

0:30

the podcast, I will be joined each week

0:32

by an exciting guest. To help

0:35

provide evidence based information

0:37

and advice about both the perimenopause

0:40

and the menopause.

0:46

Today on the podcast, I've got with me

0:48

a guest who's also been with me before.

0:50

I've got a few guests now that I've interviewed

0:53

more than once. This person is very

0:55

important to me. She's very special

0:57

196 I couldn't actually have done

0:59

what I'm we're gonna talk about without

1:01

her. So her name is Kat Keogh, and

1:04

I've known her for few years now,

1:06

so welcome Cat back to the studio.

1:08

Thank you, Louise. It's very nice to feel special

1:11

and be back

1:11

again. Thank you. So we first

1:13

met about five years ago,

1:15

four a half, five years ago now. I

1:18

just found the building that I was going to start

1:20

my clinic in the clinic that I was only going

1:22

to have four doctors working actually. That was

1:24

my business plan. And obviously,

1:26

now we have over hundred and twenty

1:29

doctors and nurses and pharmacists

1:32

and physicians

1:32

associate actually who work with me, not just

1:35

in the clinic, it's not that big a building, but

1:37

all around the country as you know. And

1:39

we went to a little cafe across the

1:41

road from the clinic because the clinic was a building site.

1:43

There's any cardboard boxes to sit 196.

1:46

we sat down and then I said,

1:48

oh, I've got this idea writing a book and

1:50

I've heard that you might be able to help

1:52

196. And much do you know about the menopause

1:54

and Perimenopause to which you said?

1:57

I was like, no. No.

1:59

I think in the time I was So

2:02

I'm, you know, just so you know, I'm a health

2:04

journalist by background. And at that

2:06

point, I think I had a very small baby.

2:08

I was on maternity leave with my youngest.

2:11

And, yeah, I'd I'd, you know,

2:13

full disclosure. I had an

2:15

inkling about the menopause just from,

2:17

you know, general knowledge. Hadn't

2:20

ever actually heard of the Perimenopause until

2:23

I heard you mention 196. And I had to sort

2:25

of style it out you know,

2:27

but I think I was quite honest that I

2:29

Yeah. There are things I don't know, but there are things

2:31

that I can learn. And -- Yeah. --

2:33

yes. I definitely have over the last five

2:35

years. Yeah. So I, as many

2:37

of you might know, I wrote the first book on

2:39

the menopause or when I say the first book

2:42

on the menopause is because I have written a few

2:44

books before, but they're more academic book So

2:46

this was the first one I wanted and I went

2:48

to Haynes, the publisher, the

2:50

year before we met actually, and they said, no, we

2:52

don't want to Menopur's book. Were all men?

2:54

Why would we talk about the menopause? And then

2:56

it became one of their best sellers.

2:59

So we worked together on it really hard.

3:01

And really pleased. And then we worked

3:03

together again on the Penguin book,

3:06

which they approached me actually. was

3:08

just a small book, really. It was short

3:10

book, and there was some

3:12

health books that was 196 on migraine,

3:15

wasn't there, that was one on heart house, one

3:17

on gut health, and they wanted to do one on

3:19

the menopause. So they me I said, yes,

3:21

great. But it was quite small

3:23

196 I actually It sounds

3:25

really awful. When it came out in print, I wasn't

3:28

too excited about it because I felt

3:30

it was alright, but it wasn't

3:32

as much as I wanted to do 196

3:35

It did manage to become a Sunday

3:37

Times, number one bestseller, which

3:39

I think is more of a reflection that people wanted

3:41

to learn more about the menopause rather than

3:43

the book Don't get me wrong. It's a good

3:46

book, but it's sort of understanding

3:48

myself as opposed. But I always

3:50

wanted to do well, yeah,

3:52

but I wanted to do That's a bigger

3:54

better book almost. That's a bit more grown

3:56

up. That's not so chatty. That's

3:58

more evidence based. I'm

4:01

quite scientific. As you know, I've got

4:03

pathology degree as well as a medicine

4:05

degree. And I've spent

4:07

the last thirty years translating

4:11

medical and scientific literature

4:13

for lay people for doctors and nurses

4:16

and pharmacists and clinicians. And I

4:18

sort of have that as a skill And

4:20

I wanted to be able to use this even more with the menopause

4:22

196 try and get away from this fact

4:24

that the menopause is just about periods,

4:27

or it's just about fertility. Thinking

4:29

about our hormones is biologically active,

4:32

hormones that go into our bloodstream, that

4:34

go to every single part of our body,

4:36

and the effects that not having those hormones

4:38

can have. But do it in a

4:40

way that it's not just me

4:42

talking It's about others that

4:45

we can invite to be experts

4:47

and to share their words and wisdom,

4:49

but also not just to think hormones,

4:52

think about lifestyle, think about nutrition,

4:55

think about everything else as well. And

4:57

so we had this great opportunity

4:59

with a publisher's yellow kite to

5:01

write this book I knew

5:04

I couldn't do it on my own because I am

5:06

very busy. And I think

5:08

it's because of your journalism background,

5:11

but also your huge knowledge about health in

5:13

general, mean that you sort

5:15

of stalk me 196 you

5:18

know how my mind what would that be a fair thing

5:20

to say?

5:20

Then I know it's absolutely fair. It's the way

5:22

I offer. Right. And then you're absolutely

5:24

right. I think the opportunity with yellow coat for

5:27

this book has been fantastic 196. And

5:29

from day one, the aim

5:31

was to have, you

5:33

know, a book that sits on a shelf is

5:35

a companion, like a family companion,

5:37

and it is, you know, the title, the

5:39

definitive guide to Harry menopause

5:41

and menopause. It is just that it

5:43

is definitive. It's I

5:46

think almost three times the length of your previous

5:48

books, you know, dedicated chapters

5:51

just on what our hall

5:53

mains not just looking at looking

5:56

at puberty, pregnancy

5:58

-- Yeah. -- fascinate or depression, periods,

6:01

you know, it's a really thorough

6:03

look at hormones throughout

6:06

a woman's

6:07

life. 196 you're

6:09

absolutely right. It's got, you know,

6:11

there are experts upon experts in here

6:14

as

6:14

well as yourself in everything from, you

6:16

know, we've got Julia Samuel,

6:18

the psychotherapist, he's got fantastic

6:20

tips on talking to your children about

6:22

the menopause and especially younger

6:24

children because we know that women are

6:26

having children later in life. So

6:28

the chances that you'll be menopausal and

6:31

raising a young family if you choose to have

6:33

children is more common

6:36

these these days. We've got Joe Wickes

6:38

talking about exercise 196, you know,

6:40

we've got Emma and Alice Flint with some brilliant

6:42

recipes. Dr. Rajpar

6:44

talking about hair, skin

6:47

changes. It really is a compendium,

6:49

and I think you should be really proud of it.

6:51

Well, thank you. Yeah. Well, we've

6:54

we've also got Dr. Rupi talking about

6:56

nutrition and eating healthily,

6:58

how important that is. Yeah. It's

7:00

interesting. So lots of people who have

7:03

books, have a ghost writer,

7:05

and that person's ever mentioned, but I

7:07

don't think, well, you're not certainly not a ghost. You're

7:10

more than just It's quite pale. So

7:13

I it's really difficult. I mean, we sort of say

7:15

maybe you're a commissioning editor or

7:18

I think you're just a partner in crime actually

7:20

because you sort of amplify my

7:22

voice, you work out the bits, you know, with

7:24

a lot of it is I feel it's joint project,

7:26

really. Italy? No. There's been lots

7:28

of early weekends and late

7:31

nights just, you know,

7:33

I think I've managed to go to

7:35

weddings and then come back and you know,

7:37

come back to emails where you've gone through and

7:39

I remember okay. Was it

7:41

shortly before Christmas? I think we were looking

7:44

through it as one of the

7:46

last stress the book 196 you

7:48

looked at it exactly twenty four hours

7:51

before me and we were working through it at

7:53

the same speed what we could tell by the track

7:55

changes it. And I was, you know, just

7:57

proofreading what you've written, and it is

8:00

quite a funny process

8:02

when you write a book It is actually 196

8:04

I know when we met Navi Karolyn

8:06

from Yellow Cuts, and she was a

8:08

bit worried. But, you know, how do you work together

8:11

what's it going to be? And we said, no, it's fine. We'll

8:13

be fine. We're good with deadlines. We're

8:15

organized, but sometimes it all comes

8:17

together at the Newson. And Actually,

8:20

this book, we made more

8:22

edits than before, so the first

8:24

time I saw it, I was sort of happy.

8:27

Second time I was happier, third

8:29

time I was even happier. But then at the last

8:31

minute, we put in another

8:32

chapter, which we feel both a

8:34

bit too scared to tell yellow coat about

8:36

because they

8:37

still get back in the weekend. Didn't

8:39

they? Yes.

8:40

Then I said, you know what? You know,

8:42

most of my work is trying to think about

8:44

women who don't have a

8:46

voice. You know, they're people who had never

8:48

come to my clinic or don't

8:50

know where to go for help or don't realize

8:53

what's going on. So we've got this

8:55

other chapter. Haven't we that we

8:57

added for people

8:59

who maybe haven't been thought

9:02

about before and we called it unseen and

9:04

unheard why the menopause conversation must

9:06

be more inclusive. And

9:08

so we've mentioned about women with

9:11

eating disorders, women with addictions, alcohol,

9:14

drug addiction, people in prisons,

9:16

people who've had FGM, people

9:18

in different communities that perhaps

9:20

never even been 196. I don't think they'd be missing

9:22

about in a book before. Yeah. And

9:25

I think I was too scared to tell Caroline I

9:27

asked you to tell Caroline

9:28

computed. But actually, they're really

9:30

pleased with that chapter as well, aren't they? Yeah. It's

9:33

really good. So It's kind of got a really good

9:35

balance. Well, it has got a good balance

9:37

of of the science of the facts,

9:40

but it also has a lot

9:43

of women's experiences in

9:45

the three some case studies. We've

9:47

had a lot of women who've been fantastic

9:50

and shared their sort of first person accounts

9:52

of various sort of

9:55

symptoms or menopause

9:58

with coexisting conditions but

10:00

also one of the big things about

10:02

this book is that we

10:05

ran a survey just before Christmas

10:07

early December late late November early

10:09

December twenty twenty two. I

10:12

always think if you get over a thousand

10:14

in a survey, it's a good sample size

10:16

for you

10:17

know, this isn't academic research but

10:19

a, you know, an extended straw

10:20

poll research.

10:21

And in eight days, almost six thousand

10:24

women responded, which was incredible.

10:27

A huge amount of cement.

10:28

Yeah. It really 196. And the survey

10:31

itself was to bring

10:34

women's experiences to life in the book

10:36

So, you know, for example, in the

10:38

chat to all about hormones, we asked women,

10:41

you know, to have women in list of hormones. Have

10:43

you heard of any of these? And you'd expect

10:45

you know, ninety nine percent of women had

10:47

heard of estrogen, but when you went down the

10:49

nest, that knowledge

10:51

dissipated, you know, testosterone

10:54

quite few did. Progesterone, not as

10:57

many. And it was really interesting,

10:59

but we also looked at not

11:02

just the kind of physiological side

11:04

of things like what symptoms women were

11:06

experiencing, but also the social

11:09

side of things, including conversations

11:12

in the home. So probably

11:14

one of the most startling findings was that

11:17

three quarters of women or or seventy

11:19

five percent of women had

11:21

never had the menopause discussed in

11:23

their home growing up, which is

11:25

really telling of where we've

11:27

been at over the last you

11:30

know, few generations talking

11:32

about the menopause, you know. I

11:34

certainly don't remember talking to my grandmother

11:36

about it. I remember talking to my mom

11:38

about it. But I know that

11:41

I may have been quite lucky

11:43

in that

11:43

respect.

11:44

Yeah. I think I mean, you're younger than me.

11:47

Nice. My

11:47

mother has only talked about it because she takes

11:49

HRT, and I've done a podcast with her before.

11:52

And as you know, she's mentioned in the book, and

11:54

that only reason. Otherwise, I wouldn't, but

11:56

I often think about my grandparents. We

11:58

were very close to my especially my

12:00

mother's mother because my dad died so young.

12:02

So they were around a lot. And

12:05

my grandmother never drove,

12:08

but lot of her friends didn't drive,

12:10

and they were it wasn't a dumb thing to really

12:13

work so much then. But lot of them,

12:15

I remember going around for cups of tea and being really

12:17

bored like listening to them 196 they were doing some crochet

12:19

or whatever needlework. But a lot

12:21

of them had anxiety. They sort of It

12:23

was so nervous of their husband coming home

12:25

and finding them sowing when they should be doing some

12:27

cleaning. And it was all, I don't

12:29

know, very different to our society

12:32

now. But I wonder how many

12:34

of them were hiding behind this sort

12:36

of veil of the menopause, which

12:39

we see in other communities that so

12:41

many countries when I visit you

12:43

see less and less middle aged women

12:45

out.

12:46

You see women with children you see less women

12:48

and you just wonder there's a cumulative

12:51

effect or there's different but

12:53

I'm sure some of it is because

12:56

people don't know what's going

12:58

on. They have less self esteem. They

13:00

have less self worth. They have less self confidence.

13:03

And it's easier to be hidden at home sometimes,

13:05

isn't it? When we will have a bad pajamas day,

13:08

or a mental health day. It's great sometimes

13:10

being at home with a door shut to have to put makeup

13:12

on. You can wear your leggings. It's fine. But,

13:15

you know, if I didn't take HRT.

13:17

I would have those days every day because I couldn't be bothered

13:19

to do anything. You know? And I I sort of

13:21

wonder about that, but then they didn't know. So

13:24

they weren't talking about it because they didn't know what

13:26

was going

13:27

on, I suppose, as well. 196. I think

13:29

I remember when I I was left on your

13:31

podcast telling you about my grandma and

13:33

my dad's who my dad grew up

13:35

when I was sort of small holding in rural Ireland.

13:37

And I always remember my 196

13:39

telling me that my grandma really

13:42

suffered from hot flushes. 196

13:44

her way of dealing with them was to

13:47

run down to the bottom of the plot and

13:49

scream down

13:50

well. And, you know, we don't all have

13:52

wells to screen down, so I wouldn't

13:54

recommend it. But it's just

13:56

indicative of that was her coping

13:59

mechanism 196 that

14:00

was you know, she's quite formidable women,

14:02

eight children, you know, lots of grandchildren,

14:05

and, you know, that was her menopause

14:07

experience. Newson of

14:09

the in the survey, we had the

14:12

opportunity to give free text responses,

14:15

which is where you can really get a sense people's

14:17

experiences as well as those statistics.

14:19

It's that qualitative data. And

14:22

there were some really moving comments

14:25

in there, especially around the conversations,

14:27

and I think it's actually made it

14:29

into the book. But there was one woman

14:31

who talked about how her mom had gone

14:33

through an early but had never said

14:36

anything to her and her sisters. Mhmm.

14:38

And how now

14:41

her family kind of make a point of discussing

14:44

it to support each other. And

14:46

there were also people who

14:49

are mothers of sons

14:51

who make a point of discussing

14:53

it with their male children.

14:56

And I'm at the moment two small

14:58

boys I mean, they're only seven of

15:00

just five. But my seven year old now

15:02

because he often pears over at my laptop.

15:05

It's Perimenopause for

15:06

196. it it sounds silly, but

15:08

I know that he's gonna grow up knowing

15:11

about this. That's really important.

15:14

Well, it's about normalizing the conversation,

15:16

isn't it? I mean, as you know, I've got three daughters

15:19

196 some of the conversations that we've

15:21

had usually in the car actually.

15:24

Often when it's dark there's maybe a couple

15:26

of them with a friend in the back of a car

15:28

talking about porn, about sex,

15:30

about drugs, all sorts of things,

15:32

which is great. And I think sometimes

15:34

it's easier moving productions because they know I don't

15:36

get phased about

15:37

anything. And even, you know,

15:39

my younger daughter, if she has a bit of discharge,

15:42

first time she's too scared to show me a pants

15:44

196

15:45

she's worried. And that's really important,

15:47

actually. So these things I think

15:49

are actually more embarrassing to talk about menopause,

15:51

which is just something that does happen,

15:54

but it's not normalizing it so much.

15:56

To not think about how it

15:59

affects people or how the treatment's

16:01

available because that's sometimes what's

16:03

happening now, isn't it? It's just in the workplace.

16:06

It's well, we'll talk about it. 196

16:08

it's really important to talk about all sorts of things,

16:10

but we have to talk about it in the context that

16:13

There is suffering. There are women that not being

16:15

listened to -- Yeah. -- and there are treatments available.

16:18

And women deserve to be offered the

16:20

treatment that's right for them. Which is not

16:23

happening at the minute as we know to far too many

16:25

people. But it is this conversation

16:27

in my twenty year old quite often

16:29

when she goes to toilet in places in London,

16:32

she'll hear people talking to toilets

16:34

about their menopause or about their

16:36

a pair, you know, or my mother's going to a really

16:38

hard time at the moment. She can't stop crying.

16:41

Jessica's quite a few times it's happened.

16:43

She said to me, girl. I'm sorry to hear

16:45

you drop, but I don't mean to pick up my mom or

16:47

anything, but she's got this app called balance. It's

16:49

free. Why don't you download it? I will ask the mom

16:51

to download it. And and these

16:53

girls and women have been so thankful

16:56

to Jessica. She's like, Mommy, this

16:58

is the most empowering thing ever. I feel like I'm

17:00

really helping people you know, as

17:02

you know, she has really bad migraines 196 and

17:04

she spoke to others with migraine who've been, oh,

17:06

older. She said, well, could it be your hormones?

17:08

Is it related with your mind? Oh, yeah. I often

17:10

just for my periods, my mind going to trouble, well,

17:12

perhaps you could top up with a bit of estrogen.

17:14

No, estrogen's HRT. No,

17:17

actually, said it's not associated risk

17:19

of breast cancer. It's really safe through

17:21

the skin. You can have it, oh,

17:23

rabbit, you know. Mhmm. And it's those

17:25

sorts of conversations that I think

17:27

are really important. You know,

17:29

we don't want I don't ever ask what

17:31

you think your children's a little bit younger. I didn't

17:34

have that let's sit down now and talk about

17:36

sex I'll show you a cheesy book to my

17:38

children. It was very much led

17:40

by what they want to hear and it was all at different

17:42

times Sometimes they'd have a bit of

17:45

information. And then three weeks later, they'd ask

17:47

you something else. And then the full question would

17:49

ask when you're not expecting

17:50

it. But that's how conversations

17:52

go, aren't

17:53

they? Yeah. And I think it's making

17:55

it so that it's easy to

17:57

ask and understand, you know, like your son,

17:59

he's not sitting down and analyzing and thinking about

18:01

vaginal dryness, reduce libido.

18:04

He's just seeing it as a word. Yeah. And

18:06

the conversation will start with time.

18:08

And It's a need to know basis as well,

18:10

isn't it? But it's an inclusive language

18:13

that's being used rather than, oh, no.

18:15

You don't need to know about the menopause

18:16

darling. That's not to your 196 older

18:18

women, you know? No. Yeah. So

18:21

it's a there's a difference between having

18:23

the talk to, like, you stay just

18:25

embedding it in your everyday relationships.

18:28

And, you know, that's another thing that the book's got.

18:31

As I say, it's got talking to

18:33

children about menopause. It's also

18:35

know, talking to colleagues about it

18:38

as well. And we've got some

18:40

really good expert views from

18:42

people like Miss Earl, Ernest

18:45

Wallsey talks about, you know,

18:47

having her heart flushed when she's about to get

18:49

up in the chamber in the house of lords and

18:51

losing her train of thought and it's

18:54

really refreshing to hear

18:56

someone who's got such a public persona

18:58

196 such an important job you know,

19:00

she's a lawyer by background 196 that

19:03

feeling of forgetting something and

19:05

not knowing what the next thing's gonna

19:07

come out of your mouth. And she

19:09

gives some really good advice about

19:12

talking to your colleagues about it saying

19:14

to colleagues you need to help me because

19:16

this might happen to me at the moment. This is

19:18

why, but also here's what you can do

19:20

to help. And I think, you know,

19:22

lots of time as women, we don't want to ask

19:25

for help. And we should

19:27

do. In cases like this, I mean

19:29

menopause isn't letting me all this. It's not an affliction.

19:32

It's something natural, but that doesn't mean it's

19:34

something that has to be endured if you're

19:36

struggling. Absolutely. And

19:38

I I think this whole conversation isn't

19:40

there about. It's a natural process with medicalizing

19:43

it. Well, actually, being in pain and childbirth

19:46

is natural. But most people

19:48

have some sort of pain control, and

19:50

that's where this misunderstanding of what

19:52

the hormones are, what the menopause Newson.

19:54

And I think this is why the book

19:57

I have my children. We use doctor Spok.

19:59

I don't know. Yes. We

20:01

were growing out in the seventies. The doctor Spok's

20:03

book. And whenever there was problem.

20:05

My mom would always get to doctors what to have a little

20:07

look what were going on, and then she bought me a coffee

20:10

when I had my first daughter Jessica.

20:13

And there were sometimes these things you just want

20:15

like, a motherly advice, but you don't want to be nagged,

20:17

so you just want it from a book. And that's what

20:20

I sort of thought about with this

20:22

book. I want it being a doctor spoke of the menopause

20:24

movie. So it can be it

20:26

wouldn't be nice in every household. So

20:29

you can dip in and out. Don't can't you don't

20:31

have to read the whole book. Certainly

20:33

just pick up. And I think for teenagers

20:36

reading a we've got some information about

20:38

PMS, you know, premenstrual syndrome.

20:40

That's gonna be really useful for a lot of people.

20:43

Or the workplace to anybody that employs

20:45

a woman should be reading this book because

20:47

they'll get more understanding about

20:49

what it is and what they can do as an employer.

20:52

Yeah. So it's written, I

20:54

think, in a way that people

20:56

can hopefully think about the menopause in a

20:58

different way. I mean, it started the

21:00

introduction is quite raw, isn't it? I don't

21:03

know whether we have to have a warning, but

21:05

we start talking about the mental health aspect

21:07

of the menopause

21:09

really early on, don't we? Yeah. And

21:11

it's important, I think, to cover all bases

21:13

like you say. It's got advice

21:15

about the workplace. It's got advice about

21:18

the home. It's got a really, really

21:20

thorough rundown about treatments, which

21:22

is, you know, kind of the core of the book

21:24

as well. It's got, you know,

21:27

really detailed chapters. Also

21:29

looking at those, you know, holistic

21:32

side of things because it's not It goes

21:34

beyond HRT. It looks at lifestyle.

21:37

It looks at exercise. The importance of

21:39

exercise. The importance of

21:41

a good healthy balanced diet.

21:43

And I think you say in

21:45

the catheter about diet, you're not gonna prescribe

21:48

a a diet in the inverted

21:50

commas. These are just principles that you

21:52

can embed into your, you know, your

21:54

daily life. It looks you

21:57

know, what needs to change in the future as

21:59

well. You know, you quite openly address

22:01

different groups, teachers, CEOs,

22:05

politicians, doctors, you

22:07

know, it covers an

22:09

awful lot in one book, and it's quite

22:12

a weighty book. There's no getting

22:13

around. It's it's a hard hack. It

22:15

feels very very greasy. It would

22:17

lovely colors and and actually when first

22:20

I looked at it in its black and white inside, and I

22:22

thought, oh, that's a shame. wanted it with more

22:24

pictures, but actually, it works

22:27

really well. The color is very visual

22:29

and the cover bright colors, but it's

22:31

something quite calming about it as well.

22:33

Yeah. It's not a slab of text it's

22:35

broken up quite nicely. You've got, as you

22:37

say, case studies. We

22:39

have box outs about the survey findings.

22:42

So, you know, for example, we've got a

22:44

chapter looking at skin and

22:46

hair in lots of detail, you

22:48

know, suggested skincare

22:51

routines if you're struggling with dry

22:53

skin or you might have had

22:55

resurgence of acne that you haven't seen since

22:57

your teenage years. So we talk

22:59

about how from the survey, what

23:02

other things women are experiencing with

23:04

their skin as well. And then every chapter

23:06

also has time outs. So

23:08

that kind of moments to

23:10

pause, either at the beginning of a chapter

23:13

all towards the end and almost, you

23:15

know, think about this. Take

23:18

a second. Take a step back. And then at

23:20

the end, you know, you can consolidate you're learning

23:22

from the chapter as well, but it's not it's

23:25

a long book, but it's written in a way

23:27

that's really accessible. It's, you

23:29

know, quite clear language, quite

23:31

straight to the point in a good

23:33

way. Professional handhold is

23:36

probably the best way to describe

23:38

it, I would say. Oh, that's yeah. I think

23:40

that probably is the only thing that I'm bit

23:42

uncomfortable. It's a bit personal about some of

23:44

my stories and why I do, what I do,

23:46

and my various insecurities. And

23:50

I think that's a bit that I feel uncomfortable

23:52

with, but I think it's actually

23:54

quite good to be transparent 196 lot

23:57

of people, I know, misconceivable

23:59

who I am, what I'm doing. So actually

24:01

tab it on out there to hear a bit about

24:04

my background is not

24:06

bad thing. It's not being Nothing that I do

24:08

has been handed on a plate to me. I was

24:11

at a conference recently and someone

24:13

was talking about some of the billing that I were

24:15

getting. He's a professor in

24:18

America, and he said, know he's not actually

24:21

what you do. It's just because it's you

24:23

that people are getting

24:24

annoyed. And I thought that was interesting.

24:26

And he said, yeah, there's lots of people

24:28

talking and saying that they that you've got lot of

24:30

money that you've had from your parents

24:33

you've got rich father. And I said, well, isn't that interesting?

24:35

Maybe I should just tell them, well, I don't have a father

24:38

and he died when I was young without any life

24:40

insurance. So everything I have I've worked

24:42

for without any handouts from anyone.

24:44

So what's the point of telling

24:46

people, you know, I've been bullied at school,

24:48

isn't it? They're always going to find something

24:50

negative. Mhmm. So actually, I think,

24:52

you know, I am a menopausal woman.

24:54

Who wants to have other women.

24:58

And this is trying hopefully

25:00

to move the needle

25:02

on. To 196 said two years

25:04

ago, you can glance back and look forward.

25:07

Let's glance back but

25:09

not forget that misogyny, they

25:12

absolute gender inequality that's gone on

25:14

with hormones in the past. But

25:16

hopefully, the book, the work I'm doing,

25:19

the work we're all doing, will help

25:21

these future generations, will help

25:23

from here now to maybe

25:25

make people have grown up thinking about the

25:27

menopause the Perimenopause about

25:29

hormones, but more importantly about women's

25:32

health as well. Mhmm. So in

25:34

a public way, Karen, I want to thank you very

25:36

much because I could not have done this

25:38

without you 196 your phenomenal brain

25:41

and encouragement and support. It's

25:43

just been incredible. And I'm really

25:45

looking forward to a bit apprehensive, but

25:47

I'm looking forward to some of the

25:49

feedback. I've already

25:51

got some ideas for another book that I'm not going

25:53

to divulge yet. Yes. So

25:55

don't go anywhere. And actually, Kat,

25:57

some of you might know, works with us anyway,

25:59

within the News and Health Group. So

26:01

all the content that's on The Balance, Perimenopause,

26:04

website, and content on

26:06

Balance, and all sorts of other articles. Cat

26:08

is very heavily involved as she runs our editorial

26:10

team. Works very closely with our clinicians.

26:13

So all our work can be peer reviewed and

26:15

referenced, and she's got a huge

26:17

amount of work that's going on behind

26:19

the scenes to enable anybody

26:22

from across the world to be able to access

26:24

evidence based information, which is so

26:26

crucial. So before we

26:28

end, though, Kat, I've got to give you three

26:30

take home

26:31

tips, but I'm going to ask you actually

26:33

three reasons why everybody

26:36

should buy a copy of the book 196

26:40

think. Reason

26:42

number 196, if you

26:46

have children 196

26:48

you don't know how to talk to them about your menopause

26:51

by the book, it's got a really

26:54

clear practical and

26:57

effective tips on

26:59

how to start those conversations with

27:03

younger people 196 help

27:05

bring about understanding in the home help

27:08

bring about some clarity for children

27:10

as well because I think that's really important Second

27:13

reason, if you've

27:16

ever experienced any hormonal

27:18

changes in your life to this point, whether

27:21

you might not be Perimenopause yet

27:24

You might be, you know, still having

27:26

periods 196 you want to find

27:29

that a little bit more about how hormones

27:31

affect your body 196 the processes

27:34

behind it 196 the knock on

27:36

impact when hormones can be slightly

27:38

out of kilter. That's another really good reason.

27:41

And the the final reason would

27:43

be if you're someone who is struggling,

27:47

is feeling confused or

27:49

alone by the book.

27:51

It will give you the information. It will

27:53

give you the reassurance It

27:56

will give you the power

27:59

to look at your own house,

28:02

do something about it if you are struggling with

28:04

symptoms. And

28:06

it's something that you can pass on to friends

28:08

as

28:08

well. Excellent. Well, that's

28:11

it. Very good. So I

28:13

look forward to when people do order

28:15

it. If there's if you've got any reviews, obviously

28:18

put them on Amazon, and we really

28:20

look forward reading them and

28:21

hearing. And Look forward to getting you

28:23

back onto the podcast when we've written the

28:25

fourth episode.

28:27

Very mistake. Thank you for helping me.

28:30

Thanks, Kurt. For

28:34

more information about the Perimenopause and

28:37

menopause, please visit my website

28:39

balance hyphen menopause dot

28:41

com or you can download the

28:43

free balance app, which is available to

28:45

download from the App Store. Or from

28:47

Google Play.