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July 17, 2024 14 mins

Have you ever thought hot flushes were just a quirky trope from sitcoms like the Golden Girls? Think again! In today’s episode of the Ageless and Awesome podcast, I pull back the curtain on the real and often misunderstood struggles of menopause. As a clinical nutritionist, naturopath, and former registered nurse, I share my personal journey and truths about menopause symptoms, from anxiety-inducing hot flushes to night sweats that disrupt sleep. This episode promises to shatter the glamourized myths and give you a raw and real understanding of what many women face during this natural life phase.

We also dive into the complexities of Menopause Hormone Therapy (MHT), formerly known as Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). Despite this subject being somewhat outside my current professional scope, my extensive background in nursing and pharmaceuticals equips me to share informed personal opinions. I stress the critical importance of consulting a knowledgeable doctor who specialises in menopause when considering any form of therapy. Join me for this honest conversation that aims to empower you with the knowledge and confidence to navigate menopause more effectively.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women

(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to Q&A Thursday with me,
susie, and today I'm not reallyaddressing a question.

(00:45):
I actually get asked thisquestion all of the time.
It's a question about HRT, orthe new terminology is MHT
menopause, hormone therapy and Iusually don't talk about it
because it is, in many respects,outside of my scope of practice
.
Because it is, in many respects, outside of my scope of

(01:08):
practice.
I am currently a clinicalnutritionist and naturopath.
I have had a very long historyin the pharmaceutical industry
and I'm a registered well, was aregistered nurse, have a degree
in nursing, and so, while Ihave a lot of knowledge, it's
not technically my place to betalking about HRT, um, but I'm

(01:33):
just going to talk today aboutmy personal opinion, because I
get asked this question all thetime and if you're working with
me in a client relationship, I'mmore than happy to talk about
it, but just generally, uh,through the podcast, I um, I
don't talk a lot about it forthe reasons I've just said.
And so today, because I've beenasked this question so many
times over and over, I'm reallyjust going to talk to you and

(01:55):
this is my opinion, all right,and I will preface this by
saying also that any decisionsyou want to make about any type
of therapy, any type ofprescription medication, needs
to be made in conjunction withyour trusted doctor and not by

(02:15):
getting information off theinternet, not from getting
information off podcasts, justbetween you and your doctor.
But, of course, you want tomake sure that your doctor is
someone that has a specialinterest in menopause.
Because, I have to say, basedon the experience of many, many
of my clients, there seems to bea real lack of I'm going to say

(02:39):
willingness, I'm also going tosay education, with many doctors
on menopause, hormone therapyor MHT, and I'm not sure why
this is.
I mean, I think there's verylittle education given about
menopause, mainly because it's anatural part of a woman's life
cycle.
It's not a medical condition.

(03:00):
It's a natural part of awoman's life cycle.
It's not a medical condition,so I don't feel like there's a
great sense of urgency to treatin inverted commas menopause.
However, I have to say, havinggone through all of this myself,

(03:22):
I had no idea how debilitatingthe symptoms would be until I
started experiencing them myself.
My memory of what I thought hotflushes were before I started
experiencing them was I'veseemed to have this memory.
I don't know, god, I'm agingmyself now If it's the Golden
Girls or something that I waswatching, probably as a teenager

(03:43):
, but I remember and I remembermany TV shows sort of showing
this experience of a hot flushwas a woman standing in front of
a refrigerator and fanningthemselves, and I don't know
whether you have had that sameexperience or that's kind of
what you know about a hot flush,but to me it was just kind of
fun and funny and not a big deal, like you get a bit hot and

(04:04):
then it's over, right.
But if you've ever experiencedthem, sometimes you can get
palpitations prior to them, youcan get a sense of anxiety prior
to them, they can wake you upin the middle of the night, you
can be drenched with sweat.
I remember teaching yogaclasses, probably about six
years ago now, maybe a bitlonger classes probably about

(04:28):
six years ago now, maybe a bitlonger and actually having like
sweat just running down my body,soaking my yoga top, and I'm
thinking, oh my God, I hope mystudents can't see this.
And it's really distracting aswell.
And you know, if you're acorporate woman stuck in a
meeting and you're getting, youknow, trying to get these layers
of clothing off because youfeel like you're going to
explode, you feel like you'vebeen locked in a sauna, but it's

(04:48):
your body and you can't getaway from it, it's really
actually can be quitedistressing, if not just
annoying.
So you know, and that's not itLike it's not even.
I think the worst symptom isprobably more things like the
brain fog and the fatigue andthe lack of motivation and all
that sort of stuff.
So if you feel like you'rereally experiencing these, then

(05:10):
there's a few things you can do,and I would always start and
maybe it's because I'm aSecondly, maintaining a healthy
weight.
We know for sure that if yourdiet is pretty good and you're
maintaining a healthy weight,that your experience of
menopause generally will be waybetter than if you're not

(05:36):
watching those things.
We know that and so that wouldbe the first two things I would
look at, because the menopausehormone therapy is not
necessarily a magic bulleteither.
There are plenty of women thathave ended up going through my
program because they've gone onto MHT and it has not worked for

(05:56):
them.
So losing excess weight,getting a diet that is
absolutely ideal for the personas an individual, has way more
effect than MHT for many women,certainly a lot of the women
that I've worked with Now.
In terms of, if you've got allof that under control and you're

(06:18):
still really struggling withsymptoms, definitely go and have
a chat to your GP about whatmight be appropriate for you as
an individual.
You know, because many peopleare on other medications, many
people have other medicalconditions, and so all of that
needs to be taken into accountbefore making decisions about
whether MHT is appropriate.

(06:38):
But also and I really stressthis you must must find a GP
that is trained and has aninterest in menopause.
I have had so many clients cometo me and to say I've been
asking my GP for MHT and I'm notgetting it, and I've referred
them to a doctor that actuallyhas specific training in MHT and

(07:04):
they've been able to get theirhormones, no problem at all.
And and uh, I'll have anexample, and she's one of my
clients she might be listening,I'm not going to call her out Um
, that she had been trying forages, which had terrible,
terrible sleep problems.
Um, she doesn't have a uterus.
So, generally speaking, gpsthat's another thing will say

(07:26):
well, you don't needprogesterone if you don't have a
uterus, you only need theestrogen part.
And it's just simply not true.
We use progesterone, we need it, it's good for our bones, it's
good for our stress, it's goodfor our sleep, it's really,
really important.
So if you're struggling withsymptoms and your doctor has put

(07:48):
you on the estrogen componentof MHT and hasn't looked at
progesterone, is refusing evento give it to you because you
don't have a uterus, then find adoctor that has actually been
trained to have a discussion asto whether or not that's
appropriate for you.
Particularly if you have afamily history of osteoporosis

(08:11):
or if you are osteopenic, youmust, must, be on progesterone,
really, really.
So that is important.
The other thing is and I thinkit's something that's not really
talked about enough is the roleof testosterone therapy in
menopausal or perimenopausalwomen, and that is another
discussion that your GP, ifthey're trained in menopause,

(08:33):
will talk to you about.
They will want to test for yourlevels and see if that is
something that is going to bebeneficial for you.
So I have absolutely no problemat all with saying to my
clients I think you wouldbenefit from having a discussion
with your GP about whether ornot that hormone therapy is

(08:55):
suitable for you.
As I said, my background in thepharmaceutical industry means
that I'm very, very open tomedicines.
I think there is an absoluterole for pharmaceuticals when
needed, and they're a greatadjunct to having the best
nutrition possible for you.
Movement, stress management.

(09:18):
You know what I'm going to sayif you're a regular listener,
because I bang on about thatholistic approach all of the
time.
But, yeah, I do strongly feellike if you're struggling with
symptoms and you're on HRT andit's not working for you and you
are carrying extra weight,you're stressed, your diet isn't

(09:39):
fantastic, then there'sopportunities there for you to
make changes to allow thathormone therapy to work better,
for you to make changes to allowthat hormone therapy to work
better for you.
Now there are also, of course,herbal medicines that can work
really well.
Now you've got to understand,though the herbal medicines can

(10:00):
be great for alleviatingsymptoms, but they are not going
to improve your bone health.
So if, as I said before, ifyou're at risk of osteoporosis,
do not muck around with that.
You really need to besupporting your body with
progesterone if you have issueswith bones or bones in your

(10:21):
family.
But, yeah, there are somereally good herbal medicines
that can help with menopausesymptoms as well, and so that's
worth exploring as well with aqualified herbal medicine
practitioner, naturopath,medical herbalist.
Uh, I'm all of these things, uh, but yeah, and depending which
country you're listening to mein, you may have different uh

(10:44):
language as to what you, how youdescribe people.
But yeah, I would definitely goto a qualified person to get a
prescription that's just rightfor you, rather than just buying
random supplements off theinternet, because, let me tell
you, they're very expensivecompared to a tailored approach
and they will be far more likelyto work than the ones that
you're just buying off theinternet.

(11:06):
What else do I want to say aboutthis?
I think that's probably aboutit.
I guess.
One other question that comesup a lot is how do I find one of
these elusive GPs that's hadthis training?
If you go, if you're inAustralia, the Australian
Menopause Society has a list ofdoctors that have a menopause
interest.
I know there's an onlinetelehealth clinic called Wellfem

(11:31):
.
I'm pretty sure that's speltW-E-L-L-F-E-M-M-E.
I think If you Google somethinglike that you will find them.
They've got about a one monthwait list.
One of my clients told me theother day so you'd want to book
in fairly quickly if you'rereally struggling.
But, as I said, it's not the beall and end all if there is

(11:54):
still other stuff going on inyour body that you're not
addressing.
So just be aware of that.
Yeah, I think that's about all.
If you had any other specificquestions, do send them to me.
Hello at suzygardencom or onInstagram at suzygardenwellness.
I hope that's been helpful andif you want me to do a whole

(12:17):
episode, please let me know.
The Q&A episodes are usuallyfairly short, but yeah, I'm just
as I said, I don't feel likeI'm an expert in it, so I don't
really feel like I'm the personto be talking about it.
But if I get enough interest ingoing and approaching a doctor
to come and talk, then I willabsolutely do that.
All right, so enjoy the rest ofyour week.

(12:37):
Have an awesome weekend.
I will see you next Tuesdaywith a fresh new app.
Thanks so much for joining metoday on the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you liked today's episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple Podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every week.

(12:58):
If you like free stuff, thenhead to the show notes and click
the link to receive my freeRadiant Reset Hormone Detox
Guide for Perimenopausal Women.
Or if you'd like to continuethe discussion, head over to
Instagram and DM me atSusieGardenWellness.
I'd love to connect with you.
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