Body identical HRT has more benefits than risks for most women. Benefits include improving symptoms as well as improving future health. Important to remember that our hormones oestradiol, progesterone and testosterone are biologically active hormones with many beneficial roles in our bodies. These benefits and risks charts are worth a read. balance-menopause.com/upload…

I have generated a word cloud of menopause symptoms based on a large survey of nearly 6,000 women we did recently - the larger words are the more common symptoms.  Notice how many of the most common symptoms are related to the brain!

Wow - seeing all the dates and locations listed out like this is making me even more excited than ever to go on tour later this year. It’s such an honour to be able to travel around Britain and speak to women face to face about menopause and hormones because understanding their roles in our bodies can really be very empowering. I am already preparing some great (and shocking) content for the show.. If you'd like to join me, you can get tickets for all dates/locations here: nlp-ltd.com/dr-louise-newson…

Why the menopause is more than just a natural transition - balance-menopause.com/menopa…

If you’ve seen the headlines this morning debating whether menopause is a disease and being over-medicalised, this video explains my thoughts. Menopause is more than a collection of symptoms; it is a cardiometabolic and inflammatory condition which leads to an increased risk of numerous diseases. Menopause has been ‘medicalised’ for years – including with antidepressants, antipsychotics, painkillers, sleeping tablets, anticholinergics to treat bladder symptoms, and heart medications to lower cholesterol, reduce blood pressure and control palpitations. The first-line treatment for menopausal symptoms is body-identical HRT. Studies have shown that when women are given the right dose and type of hormones, their symptoms improve, and they have a lower future risk of numerous long-term inflammatory diseases associated with menopause including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, dementia, and depression as well as early death. Talking about menopause as being a ‘natural transition’ or part of ‘healthy ageing’ ignores the very real suffering of many women with menopausal symptoms.

The majority of women will experience symptoms during their menopause, which can affect both their home and work lives. The symptom you may hear about most is hot flushes, but this is a bit misleading because actually women can experience symptoms all over their body - and not just physical symptoms, psychological symptoms too. The severity of symptoms varies tremendously between women. Some will only experience them for a few months, others can continue to suffer for years, or even decades. But it’s important all women are supported with accurate and up to date information, and can also access HRT to help relieve symptoms if that is what they want.