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.

On the podcast, I will be joined each week by an exciting guest to help provide evidence-based

information and advice about both the perimenopause and the

menopause.

So today on the podcast, I have somebody who's been with me on the podcast four times before,

which is a record actually. So back again, I've managed to

persuade Dr Sarah Ball to join me to talk about some of her work. So thanks Sarah. It's a pleasure,

Louise. So Sarah's a GP and medical specialist like myself and have been very like me, I think,

is it fair to say, overwhelmed with stories that we hear day and day out from menopause and perimenopals of women, which were not under our radar before we started doing so much menopause work.

Is that fair to say?

Yeah, I've been amazed at how many people have come to the surface

and described their struggle and their suffering

and their lack of knowing where to turn.

So it's trying to convey that to other people to understand how to try and help these people.

And I think what's really hard,

I mean,

we're talking today,

and a publication has come out in the BMJ,

being quite vocal, actually,

and quite sort of anti-women asking for HRT.

And also there's this undercurrent that some of the work,

certainly that I'm doing,

...