178 - My story of ‘treatment resistant depression’, ketamine and HRT

The Dr Louise Newson Podcast

Dr Louise Newson

Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Medicine

4.8 • 798 Ratings

🗓️ 15 November 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Sam shares her moving account of the journey she has been on for the last five years when, after a miscarriage and losing her father, things started to unravel and her mental health suffered. A difficult few years followed spent navigating depression, trialling several antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications, and seeking help from psychiatrists to try and understand what was going on. At the time, Sam believed she was years away from becoming menopausal and through her own research sought treatment privately in the form of ketamine due to her desperation to feel better and function again. Through learning more about hormones and their effects on the brain and mental health, Sam has recently begun to take HRT and feels she has started on a more positive path to health and stability. Sam’s three tips for those struggling with mental health: Try and be assessed by a menopause specialist before accepting a diagnosis, medication or treatment from a psychiatrist – it may save you a lot of unnecessary suffering. If you do start taking HRT, be patient. It can take time and the dose and type may need tweaking before you feel the beneficial effects. Become as well informed as you can about your hormones and the menopause from good sources online. And talk to other women – you’re not alone.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Louise Newsome and welcome to my podcast. I'm a GP and menopause specialist and I run the Newsome Health Menopause and Wellbeing Centre here in Stratford-Bron-Avon. I'm also the founder of the Menopause charity and the Menopause support app called Balance.
0:29.9	On the podcast, I will be joined each week by an exciting guest to help provide evidence-based
0:36.5	information and advice about both the perimenopause and the
0:40.9	menopause.
0:45.8	So today on my podcast, I do have a feeling it's going to be another emotional podcast for those of you
0:51.1	that want to get your tissues ready.
0:53.0	But I'm going to be talking today
0:54.5	someone who I've only actually just met face to face in the studio. It's someone called Sam,
0:59.7	who reached out to me, like many people, who actually, and an email. And her story is really
1:05.9	interesting. And I learned a lot from it. And it's made me even step up another gear to try and help other groups of women.
1:13.2	So welcome Sam today to the podcast.
1:16.3	Thank you, Louise.
1:17.2	That's a pleasure to be here.
1:18.7	Oh, so do you mind just saying a bit about who you are and where you've come from and just a few words about your journey, if that's okay?
1:26.9	Yeah, so my name's Sam. I am 47 years old. The accent may give away that I'm originally
1:34.0	from Scotland, although I don't currently live there. And I am a mum to a 10-year-old daughter
1:41.9	and a wife and a daughter and a sister and I am very clearly
1:47.0	menopausal and I think that journey in hindsight that journey began probably about five and a half
1:54.8	years ago so what happened then so in March 2017 just a few weeks after my 42nd birthday, I had a 14-week
2:06.6	miscarriage of a much-longed-for second child. And my dad had died about six months earlier,
2:15.3	having lived with us on and off for a number of years while he
2:18.4	underwent surgery and chemotherapy for bladder cancer. So altogether it was really a very stressful
	...

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