Content advisory: this podcast contains themes of mental health and suicide.
On this week’s episode of the Dr Louise Newson Podcast, Anna Geldard shares her story of how her mental health was severely affected by menopause.
Anna tells Dr Louise how therapy and medication had helped her successfully manage her obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and mild depression symptoms for over a decade. But out of the blue, Anna’s symptoms returned and quickly spiralled. Anna was admitted to hospital, on six psychiatric drugs but still didn’t feel better.
Thankfully, after learning about the impact of hormones on mental health and being prescribed HRT, things changed for the better.
Anna’s top three tips:
1. Have more open conversations, starting from at home with the kids. This will filter through society, making menopause less of an unspoken thing and more of a just another thing about the body.
2. Make sure your resources are evidence based. There's a lot of information on social media, so just make sure that whoever you're listening to is appropriately qualified.
3. Advocate for yourself. If your symptoms are hormone related and you're being told you're too young or whatever, try again and don't just give up at that first hurdle.
Anna is on Instagram @Hormones.on.her_mind. Find out more about OCD through charities OCD-UK and OCD Action.
Contact the Samaritans for 24-hour, confidential support by calling 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org
199 - Rosacea and menopause: what’s the link?
198 - Joe Wicks: how to exercise and stay active during the menopause
197 - The problem with medicalising the menopause without HRT
196 - Introducing The Definitive Guide to the Perimenopause and the Menopause with Kat Keogh
195 - Health risks and treatment of surgical menopause with Dr Walter Rocca
194 - Transforming women’s urological health in Uganda
193 - Taking control of your menopause with Dorothy Byrne
192 - Freediving at 50 with world record holder Nina McGowan
191 - Workplace menopause advice from lawyer Emma Hammond
190 - Supporting women after breast cancer with Dr Tony Branson
189 - Joeli Brearley from Pregnant Then Screwed
188 - The importance of breathing efficiently with Dr Louise Oliver
187 - My experience of long COVID and changing hormones with Dr Marianne Tinkler
186 - Bleeding on HRT with Consultant Gynaecologist Mr Osama Naji
185 - Exploring experiences of menopausal women after breast cancer, with Dr Sarah Ball
184 - Reflections on 2022 with Dr Rebecca Lewis
183 - Urinary tract infections in women with Professor Chris Harding
182 - Mental illness and the role of estradiol with psychiatrist Professor Jayashri Kulkarni
181 - Supporting women’s hormone journey with Dr Samantha Newman
180 - Improving menopause care in Hong Kong with Dr Laurena Law
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