Content warning: This episode contains discussion of suicide
Vanessa had always suffered with PMS and struggled with her mood and emotions after the birth of each of her children. After her fourth child was born, Vanessa’s mental health took a severe turn and she became suicidal. When her husband intervened and insisted she received specialist care, a psychiatrist realised how unwell Vanessa was and this was the beginning of an eighteen year journey of taking medication and receiving mental health support, including spells of inpatient care. It was all Vanessa could do to wake up every day and look after her children. Vanessa had wondered whether her mood was linked to her hormones as she would have 2 good weeks in every month before two bad weeks would inevitably creep in. In more recent years, friends persuaded her to see a menopause specialist and begin topping up her declining hormones and, as Vanessa explains, this has been lifechanging.
Vanessa’s advice:
Help is available if you are struggling. Please contact the Samaritans by phone on 116 123, download the Samaritans Self-Help app or email jo@samaritans.org
255 - Mental health issues and hormones: introducing Newson Health’s psychiatrist Dr Louisa James
254 - Dr Louise’s new paperback book: what’s new and who’s it for?
253 - Coping with the perimenopause when you’re a carer
252 - Bryony Gordon: mental health, hormones and witchy magic
251 - Kate Muir: everything you need to know about hormones but were afraid to ask
250 - Testosterone: the missing piece of the jigsaw?
249 - Dr Mary Claire Haver: on a mission to demystify menopause
248 - The menopause brain: why it might be feeling strange and what you can do about it
247 - Addiction and menopause
246 - Postnatal depression, PMDD and menopause: Wendy’s hormone journey
245 - How medicine has failed women, with author Elinor Cleghorn
244 - Hot flush drug fezolinetant
243 - Contraception during perimenopause: HRT, the pill and the Mirena coil
242 - Sex, hormones and the menopause
241 - Women, ADHD and hormones
240 - Creating long-lasting food habits for better health
239 - Challenging NICE's draft menopause guidance
238 - New Year, new mindset – why movement matters more than exercise
237 - The juggling act: how to navigate menopause and midlife
236 - Menopause in overlooked communities
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Relaxback UK Show
Your Sleep Guru Podcast
Good Nurse Bad Nurse
Nothing much happens: bedtime stories to help you sleep
این نقطه