Dr Samantha Newman talks hormone and HRT
Dr Sam Newman (right) and I at an event she did about menopause (and kindly asked me to speak at) in 2022
I managed to get some time in Dr. Samantha Newman's schedule to talk to her about hormonal changes that occur as we go through menopause and I've recorded our chat in this podcast episode Dangerous Age - the myth, muck and magic of menopause and beyond.
Sam Newman is not only a GP, she is a women's health export and has her own private practice, FEMALEGP, where she sees women in person, or online (I have to say this whole new online way of delivering medicine has a real place in today's healthcare). She's passionate about making a difference for women and to really giving time and space to hear about and help with their health issues.
Menopause is a strange time and what we may think is normal, is not normal, and also, Sam reminds us, what are we prepared to accept as the new normal? Sounds like gobbledegook? Welcome to menopause mind!
Seriously though, like many women, I've been through the menopause transition, no period for a few years and I'm pretty positive about the menopause experience. I had never even considered HRT as an option, for no other reason than, it just wasn't on my radar.
I had been putting my fatigue and slowly increasing State of Blah down to my impossibly long 'to do' list, running my business single-handedly and never really getting the chance to recover from the past seven years (during the menopause transition) which also saw both my parents becoming ill and dying. With all that going on, I hadn't even thought that maybe hormones had a role to play in Blahdom.
But talking to Samantha for this interview changed that for me. In this podcast she reminds us that our hormones have many and varied roles, from periods, to brain function, to inflammation reduction, you name it, there's a hormone in the mix there somewhere.
If you are looking for information about hormonal changes and some of the things we can do to manage them, then make a cuppa and have a listen to this.
It's my new 'Dangerous Age' podcast. I get so many letters and emails from women about various things that come up as they go through menopause that I thought it would be good to create an avenue to address some of the issues, and the inspirations around menopause.
And in this podcast I will be talking about stuff that happens around menopause. It doesn't happen in a vacuum. Life has a habit of crashing parties. But this is for future editions. For now, I hope you find useful information and possible pathways with this interview.
And here are some links for you.
Until next time,
Georgina xx
Sam's private practice is called FEMALE GP and can be found here: https://www.femalegp.co.nz/
You can find her show on Radio Kidnappers here.
NatFem Botanics is a range of natural and organic products for menopause and beyond, including vegan and non-vegan balms for vaginal dryness. You can find the range here and we ship internationally
The book Sam mentioned is The Vagina Bible: Vulva and Vagina - Separating the Myth From the Medicine, by Jennifer Gunter.
Other links:
Continence New Zealand: https://www.continence.org.nz/
DermNet: https://dermnetnz.org/
ISSVD The International Society for the Study of Vulvalvaginal Disease: https://www.issvd.org/