Doctors are being taught to treat hormone guidance as if it's law, but according to retired GP and medical educator Dr Mark Coombe, that guidance is too often "at best very conservative, at worst wrong." Mark spent two decades in education and assessment for the Royal College of GPs and founded FourteenFish, the training platform used by hundreds of thousands of clinicians. He and Louise previousl

In this really interesting episode, two ocean rowers over 50 share their menopause journeys. One of them takes all three hormones, and the other would love to but has been refused testosterone by so many doctors. Gail Wolstenholme and Nicola Matthews are part of Team Old Enough to Row Better, a five-person crew aiming to become the oldest mixed team to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic in the Wo

Consultant dermatologist Dr Saj Rajpar, making his fifth visit to the podcast, joins Louise to explain why acne, hair loss and ageing skin are so often driven by hormones rather than skincare. Saj runs Midland Skin in Birmingham and has worked alongside Louise for years, since a shared patient's hair loss first brought them together. That collaboration runs through this conversation, from hormonal

Mathilde Barker was 23 when she finally understood why, since the age of 14, doctors had told her it was "just" muscle strain, put her on antidepressants, and once removed her appendix by mistake. It took five years to get a diagnosis of endometriosis, and two surgeries later, adenomyosis too. She joins Dr Louise Newson to talk through her whole journey: the misdiagnoses, a scan result that was re

In this episode, Dr Louise Newson is joined by Dr Pooja Saini and psychologist Dr Olivia Hendriks to discuss their important research into perimenopause, menopause and suicide risk. Together, they explore why hormonal changes during perimenopause and menopause can have such profound impacts on mental health, and why this connection is still often overlooked in both research and clinical care. They

Jo flew supersonic jets under extreme pressure for a living, but missed the menopause happening inside her own body. This week Dr Louise Newson is joined by Jo Salter, Britain's first female fast jet pilot, who spent years pushing through severe menopause symptoms without realising what they were, until she found herself mentally ticking off a symptom checklist in the middle of a conference. They

Rose Stokes, journalist and host of the Matter of Fat podcast, joins Dr Louise Newson to talk GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, the hormones behind weight gain and the shame around women's bodies. Rose has lived with obesity on and off for thirty years and is currently taking GLP-1 medication herself, after months of exercise and calorie counting made no difference to her weight post-pregnancy. She and Lou

Up to 80% of women with PMDD have suicidal thoughts. Online, it's being trivialised as the 'luteal uglies'. In this solo episode, Dr Louise Newson explains what'sactually happening in the second half of your menstrual cycle. She describes the sharp drop in progesterone that can trigger low mood, anxiety, irritability, brain fog, fatigue and more, and why calling it the 'lutealuglies’ does women a

Kim Smith went on a family holiday to Spain with a UTI and woke up nine weeks later having lost all four limbs to sepsis. Twice missed by Spanish doctors, Kim's kidney pain and uncontrollable shivering escalated so fast she doesn't remember being flown home. She tells Dr Louise Newson what actually happened, from the misdiagnosis to being told all four limbs would need amputating, and how she's re

Nutritionist Dominique Ludwig, author of No NonsenseNutrition, explains why your gut controls your hormones and hunger. Dominique trained at King's College and has spent 20 years in clinical practice, working with around 4,500m people before writing the book that turns her clinic advice, and the recipes behind it, into something anyone can use at home. Louise and Dominique talk through how your li

Many women are told that all hormone treatments are essentially the same. But the reality is far more complex, and understanding the difference could have a significant impact on your health, fitness and wellbeing. In this episode, Dr Louise Newson is joined by women’s health and fitness coach Davey Maher to discuss why bioidentical and synthetic hormones work differently in the body, how they inf

Natalie Sykes spent years using heroin and crack cocaine to self-medicate undiagnosed PMDD, autism and ADHD, and now finally understands why. Natalie, founder of the PMDD & Neurodivergence Alliance, tells Dr Louise Newson how PMDD's crushing hormonal mood swings collided with undiagnosed autism and ADHD to leave her, in her words, "allergic to my own body." Misdiagnosed as bipolar for decades, she

In India, one woman asked her gynaecologist about HRT and was told: "over my dead body." Dr Louise Newson travels to India to meet Sanjith Shetty, founder of the menopause community Miror and one of the country's most vocal male allies for women's hormone health. Sanjith built Miror after studying hundreds of femtech companies and finding that menopause, a phase every woman goes through, had almos

Rosie Moss spent years being told her symptoms were simply grief, when actually there was undiagnosed PMDD also at play. Rosie hosts the podcast Widowed AF, and after her husband Ben died suddenly in a scuba diving accident in 2018, she was left to raise three young children while experiencing monthly crises that went far beyond ordinary grief, including periods of being unable to leave her bed fo

Dr Holly Carding, GP, Women’s Hormone Specialist and Education Lead at Newson Education, joins Louise to expose the hormone training gap that leaves doctors too scared to prescribe hormone treatments including progesterone, estradiol and testosterone. Holly had almost no training on hormones as a medical student and as a GP, became a menopause champion after returning from maternity leave and now

Content advisory: This episode contains themes of mental health and suicide Anna, a nurse, was sectioned, hospitalised in psychiatric wards for months and overdosed more than once, all while being diagnosed with everything from treatment-resistant depression to a personality disorder. It took over a decade for anyone to link it to her hormones and to believe her. She tells Dr Louise Newson how her

Psychiatrist Dr Sue Varma joins Dr Louise Newson to unpack why hormones are so often left out of mental health care and what gets missed as a result, from puberty to postpartum to perimenopause. Dr Varma is a board-certified psychiatrist and was the first medical director of the World Trade Center Mental Health Program, treating 9/11 survivors and first responders. Sue and Louise discuss why psych

Love Is Blind's Demi Santana Brown opens up aboutendometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids and the power of natural hormones. Before Love Is Blind UK, Demi was a professional footballer for Millwall, West Ham and Leyton Orient - playing through heavy, painful periods for years before doctors took her seriously. She joins Dr Louise Newsonto share what it's really like to be dismissed by doctors, why the

Hair loss can have a profound impact on confidence, yet many women are told it’s simply part of getting older or encouraged to spend hundreds of pounds on products that promise far more than they can deliver. This week, Dr Louise Newson is joined by consultant dermatologist and hair specialist Dr Archana Rao to explore the powerful relationship between hormones, menopause and hair health. Together

Women are often told to choose between hormone treatment or lifestyle changes, when in reality the two work best together. This week, Dr Louise Newson is joined by GP and lifestyle medicine physician Dr Clare Nieland to explore how nutrition, movement, sleep, stress management and social connection work alongside hormones to improve women’s health. Together they discuss why lifestyle medicine is g