The Dr Louise Newson Podcast16 Touko 2023

204 - Hormonal changes and mental health: maternal mental health awareness

Advisory: this podcast contains themes of mental health and suicide.

Earlier this month Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week was marked across the UK. In this week’s episode Emma Hammond, an employment lawyer specialising in advising women who have experienced discrimination due to the menopause, generously shares her own story.

After a traumatic birth with her first child, Emma developed serious symptoms, including psychosis and not sleeping or eating, that ultimately led to medication and hospitalisation. While she wanted a second child, her periods stopped and she was told she was perimenopausal – but an unexpected development took place soon after she was admitted to a mental health hospital.

Here she and Dr Louise talk about the powerful role of hormones in women during pregnancy, birth and perimenopause, and how hormones can be overlooked by healthcare professionals caring for women struggling with their mental health.

This podcast follows an earlier episode with Emma where she talked about her career, and offered advice on menopause in the workplace.

Emma’s three tips:

See your GP promptly if you are struggling with your mental health and don’t think you can fix everything yourself
Be honest and open with your family and friends about what you are going through so that they can support you
Think about life changes and holistic approaches as well as hormonal treatments or medication.

Jaksot(368)

68 – Testosterone: Why is it so hard to access?

Why are so many women denied testosterone?In this episode, Dr Louise Newson is joined by US menopause specialist Dr Susan Hardwick-Smith for a vital conversation about testosterone and why so many wom...

21 Touko 29min

67 – The Power of Hormones

Ahead of the publication of her new book The Power ofHormones, Dr Louise Newson sits down with journalist and Balance editorial director Kat Keogh to explore the hidden history of hormones and why wom...

19 Touko 44min

66 – PMDD and mental health: what’s really going on?

What if severe changes in your mental health were being driven by your hormones?In this episode, Dr Louise Newson is joined by Dr Isabella Sillar, an Australian doctor, who shares her powerful and dee...

14 Touko 30min

65 – The truth about food and health with The Happy Pear

What if improving your health could start with what’s on your plate?In this episode, Dr Louise Newson is joined by Dave and Steve Flynn, also known as The Happy Pear, for a refreshing and practical co...

12 Touko 30min

64 – Estrogen: separating fear from fact

Why are so many women still being told estrogen is dangerous?In this episode, Dr Louise Newson is joined by oncologist and author of Estrogen Matters, Dr Avrum Bluming, to explore how fear around horm...

7 Touko 32min

63 – Hormones, disability and the battle to be taken seriously : Laura Dallison

What happens when you know something isn’t right, but no one will listen?In this episode, Dr Louise Newson is joined by Laura Dallison, who shares her experience of navigating hormonal changes while l...

5 Touko 26min

62 – How hormones change your brain - Dr Jay Jagannathan

What if the symptoms women are told are down to stress or hectic lifestyles are actually coming from hormone changes in the brain?In this episode, Dr Louise Newson is joined by board certified neurosu...

30 Huhti 28min

61 – Living with untreated urinary symptoms

In this episode, Dr Louise Newson is joined by Penny Pijnenburg for a powerful conversation about genitourinary syndrome , a condition that affects most women but is still rarely talked about.Penny sh...

28 Huhti 31min