207 - Managing menopause while living with physical disabilities

The Dr Louise Newson Podcast

Dr Louise Newson

Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Medicine

4.8 • 798 Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Laura Bibby joins Dr Louise to share her experience of managing the perimenopause shortly after a life-changing spinal cord injury. A senior nurse and an ambulatory wheelchair user, Laura shares her struggles to have urinary symptoms, crippling anxiety and joint pain recognised as being due to her perimenopause, and not just attributed to her injury. In an empowering conversation, Laura and Dr Louise discuss the importance of persistence, and speaking out to help women with disabilities overcome barriers preventing them getting the menopause care and treatment they deserve. Laura’s three tips: Be persistent – If something doesn’t feel right with your health, keep pushing and seeking for the right treatment. Even if a healthcare professional dismisses your request, keep going and explore other options Speak up and don’t feel ashamed. Menopause affects everyone Normalise conversations around women’s health, don’t have them in secret. Discuss periods and the menopause openly so that it is easier to go and ask for help when needed Follow Laura on Instagram @blue__brick_disability and you can read more about her story in this article on the balance website.

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. So today on the podcast, I've got someone called Laura with me, remotely,
0:49.7	someone like a lot of my guests, I've never met in real life. One day I'm going to have a podcast party and meet all the guests.
0:56.9	So Laura was an nurse and reached out to me, like a lot of people on social media,
1:01.6	her story resonated with me and I'm sure it will resonate to many of you listening.
1:05.8	And she's agreed to come and talk about it and her and the events that have led on since various things have
1:11.8	happened. So welcome Laura today. Thanks so much. Thank you for inviting me. So you're an
1:17.7	nurse. I'm a doctor. If I'd met you straight after your training and asked you about menopause,
1:23.4	how much would you have been able to answer? I would have looked at you blankly and not been able to answer it at all.
1:30.7	I've had no medical training at all.
1:33.3	It just wasn't something that was on the radar.
1:35.8	I'm actually an advanced nurse practitioner,
1:37.5	so I've done advanced nursing skills at master's level.
1:41.3	I'm a prescriber and no one has ever, ever talked to me about
1:45.2	metaphors.
1:46.1	Yeah, it's sad, isn't it?
1:47.1	I mean, if you could go back in time, do you think it would have been useful knowing
1:50.5	about the menopause?
1:52.1	Oh, absolutely.
1:53.2	My background's A&E, so I've worked, I spent 10 years working on A&E.
	...

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