Newson Health and the menopause industry

Told me to eat these just now; no problem!!

I use fitr woman app to track period as they're very random now, which is free and give lots of tips around fuelling for activities, as well as if you're bleeding irregularly. Lots of recipes too.

When you log symptoms it's suggests foods and recipes

Stacy Simms has better advice if you are active

I adore that woman. It's hard work untangling the messages as she's speaking to athletes as well as active women but the basics have been really helpful

9 in 10000 risk which is incredibly low for a normal BMI and no history or clots. This was discussed widely at BMS conferences. There was ALOT of big pharma to push for patches and new preparations. Good GPS, both private and nhs will discuss the risks and benefits.

Yes I have done not eating until 12pm and it does seem to be good for me. It's the long fasts that I have an issue with.

Yes I have found that 16:8 fasting has worked really well for me in my early 50s for all sorts of reasons. Have never heard of Mindy Pelz though.

I have found low key (14:10) fasting to be beneficial though, as I like food a bit too much, but there's no way I would do the water fasts that she advocates.

Sounds really unhealthy as you say.

I think the difficult thing with HRT is getting real information to balance your own risks and benefits, as so many GPs know bugger all about women's health and don't seen to care.

Clearly it's not a magic bullet for all women but it should be accessible in the NHS for those that need it.

I was offered it by one GP and decided to hold off for a while. 18 months later, she had left so I saw a different GP who wouldn't let me try it because my periods were still reasonably regular (despite some women like my mum being regular until they stop).

A few months later I went back again, saw a lovely different male GP who listened to me, discussed risks and benefits reasonably and agreed it was worth a try.

There needs to be more consistency in approach, it seems like women's health issues are down to individual GPs preference and it shouldnt be the case.

She is an eating disorder made flesh

Enjoy food. Enjoy the food that YOU like. Don't eat too much of it and eat lots of veg.

I have suspicion about this too. I was really interested to hear what she has to say but I don't see how she's qualified to give the advice she's dishing out - she's not an endocrinologist, nor even a medical doctor, she's a chiropractor who has a degree in exercise!

For me, her banging on about non specific 'toxins' was a bit of a red flag (often a sign of unscientific nuttery). Then the defining moment when I really thought 'oh no' was when she advises a cyclical fasting regime for post menopausal women based on the phases of the bloody moon, fgs!

I mean WTAF? Based on what evidence?

I was so keen on her approach of taking women's cyclical hormone fluctuations into account, but she just spouts such bs is difficult to know whether anything she comes out with has value or not.

MP is a quack isnt she?

Supply issues have been a huge problem with gel/patches in recent years too. The last government appointed a "HRT Tsar" to try to deal with it, she was in position for less than 6 months before they declared the situation resolved and moved her onto something else. This was frustrating to so many of us who were spending hours phoning round pharmacies trying to find Estradot/Evorel/gel and having to make do with part prescriptions and the rest of it.

Supply for me does seem to be better, but I am on 75 mcg patches which anecdotally are less popular than the 50 or 100 patches.

I really liked the tablets! Find the gel messy and inconvenient. But it is supposed to be less risky than the tablets which is why I switched - and also the pills I was on kept having supply issues.

HRT pills are proven to raise the risk of blood clots whereas gels and patches do not carry this increased risk. The GP also said something about an increased risk because tablets are obviously processed by the liver in a way which transdermal is not. Gel/patch is always the first option. Many women do have to try a few options, I had terrible symptoms using the gel, it just didn't agree with me at all. One popular brand of patches gives me a skin rash - it's the glue, not the HRT element. A second brand of patches suits me perfectly. Bit like the contraceptive pill, it can take a few months to find the product which suits you best. There are some women still taking the tablets and very happy on them.

Stacy Simms has better advice if you are active. Sadly though the majority of women in the UK and US are not active though and with two thirds being overweight or obese fasting can be a good option if not taken to the extreme and the impact on hormones is managed as Mindy Peltz advises.

It is preferable in some cases as transdermal is easier on the tummy than pills.

I agree. The application of gel seems less serious than pill popping.

It's not about feeling younger but it is about feeling better. Or at least "normal". If you have debilitating menopause symptoms of course you want to feel better.

I think it's interesting that there seems to be a growing perception that HRT is a 'must do' and it's all about feeling young and better. I know women in their mid forties who are on high doses and sometimes 'have a little extra gel if they're feeling a bit low'. I'm in my 50s and I've been on HRT for 15 years, always a low dose. Recently I thought I'd try taking a bit more oestrogen, 3 pumps instead of 2. Within a couple of days I was bleeding and had period type pains. It reminded me what powerful stuff HRT is. So I can understand concerns at some of the high doses being prescribed.

Agree @WarriorN there would be no need for Newson Clinic or any other private menopause clinic if GPs and the NHS were doing their job properly, but they're not. It's pure luck whether you have a GP who understands/is interested and a battle if you haven't.

I've had a hysterectomy too - I kept my ovaries, lost my uterus and cervix. I was 44 when I had my hysterectomy. The surgeon warned me that my ovaries were likely to pack up quicker than any other women of a similar age who had not had a hysterectomy. Despite this - and having a hysterectomy is right there in my medical notes - I still has a massive battle to get HRT.

Have never had any kind of review. Given the total lack of knowledge of any GPs at my surgery they wouldn't know what they are reviewing. Having said that, I'm also on thyroxine for an underactive thyroid since before I had my hysterectomy and have never been reviewed for that either. It's on me to book blood tests to see where my levels are.

There's absolutely no consistency across care and this is why women go to online gp influencers for information and private practice.

Information is patchy and we don't know who to trust, including the bbc,

Sort of off topic but this lifting routine popped up on instagram for me - it's pretty much the routine I followed in the cancer exercise book, every other day. So simple and easy to do at home. Cans and bottles of water work too,

I'm not going to link as sometimes instagram shares your name.

And my dog always looks that bored and walks off.

That's appalling @AutumnCrow.

When I agreed to a total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo oophorectomy (bye bye womb, cervix, ovaries and fallopian tubes), my consent was conditional on my receiving HRT (oestrogen) transdermally afterwards - as much as needed, for as long as needed.

My consultant gynae surgeon wrote in full to my GP surgery.

Every year my GP surgery tries to stop my HRT, even the Estriol cream for vaginal atrophy. In fact they DO stop it, and the onus is on me to persuade them to restart it. There are no ‘reviews’ - no blood tests, no health checks for osteoporosis or heart, nothing. Just ‘blah blah cancer’.

I await this year’s curt and abrupt phone call later this morning, telling me I don’t need the HRT.

Maybe they think my ovaries have grown back by now. Women are such mystical creatures, after all, who need guiding and telling.

The menopause conversation was desperately needed. The lack of information was ridiculous- I even spent time googling if peri menopause was a real recognised thing prior to davinas documentary

However the message I feel swung to "it's dangerous not to take hrt" which is wrong.

Hrt is one tool to use. Safe at regulated doses. Not a cure all, must be used alongside lifestyle changes too.