The Joy of Menopause

The Second Shift

This subject has crept up on me. I turned 50 in November, and have – so far – barely noticed symptoms that I attribute to menopause. Sure my sleep is crazy, it has been for as long as I can remember. Mood swings? I’ve always been a bit grumpy. Brain fog? Rude. Oh, maybe I should find out more…

Contributors to the show are Dr Annice Mukherjee, Diane Danzebrink, and Pauline Eyre.

Annice talks about some of the positives as well as symptoms, lifestyle tweaks that can help, and the benefits of HRT. Her interview includes an endocrinologists’ in-joke which none of the rest of us will really get. We talk politics: why the health system lets women of my age down, and what should be done about it; and we talk society: why don’t we talk about this more?

Here’s a link to Annice’s book, The Complete Guide to the Menopause.

I interviewed Diane on a day when she was bursting with excitement about the announcement of Carolyn Harris MP’s Menopause Private Members Bill, something for which she has long been campaigning. Diane runs Menopause Support, offering paid services, free information, and access to a large facebook group which you can find via the website, along with the petition for better GP education, workplace support, and for it to be included on the PHSE curriculum.

Finally Pauline Eyre’s current standup show All Change is about her experience of the menopause, and we chat about how the lives of us middle-aged women are really complicated. She mentions Flushfest.

I also need to mention another support group/website, The Merry Menopause. I would have loved to interview Jo as well, but couldn’t fit everyone in – it’s the podcaster’s eternal dilemma: so many people, so few minutes to allocate to them.

And as if this wasn’t enough, you might like to listen to another podcast about menopause, so here’s Your Next Episode