Dr. Louise Newson

If they've got some other symptoms, you've got that diagnosis.

And for so many of us, we haven't had really good training in hormones and perimenopause.

And so, you know, if I was a neurologist and someone came to me with tinnitus ringing in the ears and maybe some, like you say, some smell changes, I'd be trying to work out the pathways in the brain, do a scan and work out if there was, you know, a tumour or something going on that was causing it.

And if the scan was normal...

I would say to a patient, well, you're normal.

And they would go, well, no, I'm still having these symptoms.

If I was a cardiologist and someone had palpitations, I would just focus on the heart.

And you can see it, you know, medicine is very siloed.

So actually to have someone that can explain the reason for those symptoms.

is incredibly validating because otherwise you do almost drive yourself mad thinking maybe i am making it up you know like why would i make up that my coffee smells of tuna fish you know what i mean but if you're the only person thinking that then it's like okay well maybe it's just maybe a bit weird but you're validating and allowing other people to go oh gosh and then you know we know that our hormones progesterone is to dial and testosterone

work everywhere.

So they affect the pathways from our nose to our olfactory centre, which is what determines the way we smell.

And those pathways are disturbed if you don't have hormones or you have fluctuating hormones.

So we know why it happens.

And often people, when they have the right dose and type of hormones, those symptoms really, really improve.

But the first thing about any diagnosis is making it.

And if people aren't looking at the bigger picture or doctors aren't, then women are just being dismissed left, right and centre.

I mean, it's great.

One of the things, I know it sounds weird as a doctor, is I actually don't like to prescribe drugs that are unnecessary to people.

And, you know, one in three perimenopausal women, especially in the US, are taking antidepressants for their hormonal imbalance, which is just ridiculous, actually, when you think about it.