The Dr Louise Newson Podcast

Biochemist Dr Phyllis Bronson on why women who can't tolerate progesterone may actually be reacting to progestogens/progestins (the synthetic type of progesterone)
Phyllis has spent decades researching progesterone and mood, and her doctoral work looked at the molecular differences between body identical progesterone and the synthetic progestogens found in many contraceptive pills and older types of HRT. She joins Dr Louise Newson to share the primate study that changed how she saw synthetic hormones, and why a small change to a molecule can have such a big effect on the body.
They talk about progesterone as the "molecule of calm", how transdermal and oral progesterone work differently in the brain and why some women may simply need a higher dose. They also discuss progesterone's role in making cortisol, and why it's often the first hormone to decline, sometimes as early as your 20s and 30s.

Can you take HRT if you have endometriosis? Nicola Roberts feared it would bring her pain back. Now she takes estradiol, progesterone and testosterone and feels the best she has since she was 12.
Nicola's periods were agonising from the start, but she was put on the pill at 13 and told by nurses to take Anadin and use a hot water bottle. At 25 she was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis, then spent years on Depo-Provera, which left her with low mood, body aches and, at 40, osteoporosis.
Dr Louise Newson explains why synthetic contraceptives aren't the same as hormones, why Depo-Provera works "like giving you a menopause straight off", and how low testosterone is linked to endometriosis. They also talk about why so few women are offered testosterone, and how changing her diet and cutting sugar helped Nicola.
Nicola closes with her take-home advice for anyone with endometriosis who has been told hormones aren't an option.
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Doctors are being taught to treat hormone guidance as if it's law, but according to retired GP and medical educator Dr Mark Coombe, that guidance is too often "at best very conservative, at worst wrong."
Mark spent two decades in education and assessment for the Royal College of GPs and founded FourteenFish, the training platform used by hundreds of thousands of clinicians. He and Louise previously built free hormone education for GPs together — education that was pulled from its hosting platform after a handful of doctors complained it didn't "run to the guidelines."
In this conversation, Mark and Louise unpack how guidance gets misused as law in consultations and courtrooms, why NICE menopause guidance mentions breast cancer over 20 times more often than osteoporosis, and why more female GPs take HRT than the general public despite so much hesitancy to prescribe it. They close with three take-home tips on why every healthcare professional has a duty of care to understand progesterone, estradiol and testosterone.
Let’s connect
👉 Track your symptoms andunderstand hormones, download the Balance app: https://bit.ly/4yZty5A
👉 More from Dr LouiseNewson: https://linkin.bio/drlouisenewson

In this really interesting episode, two ocean rowers over 50 share their menopause journeys. One of them takes all three hormones, and the other would love to but has been refused testosterone by so many doctors.
Gail Wolstenholme and Nicola Matthews are part of Team Old Enough to Row Better, a five-person crew aiming to become the oldest mixed team to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic in the World's Toughest Row. Gail takes all three hormones and describes testosterone as "like the sun coming out." Nicola has tried the Mirena coil, gels and patches without feelinglike herself, was told by one GP she was too old for "that mucky stuff" and handed antidepressants, and still can't get testosterone prescribed in Scotland.
Dr Louise Newson explains why it's still so hard to access evidence-based hormone treatment, why testosterone matters for women's mood, energy and coordination, and why you can't exercise your way out of hormone deficiency.
They also share why taking up something new after 50 matters, from staying physically and mentally active to building confidence and widening your social circle, with four take-home tips.
Sponsor the crew: www.oldenoughtorowbetter.co.uk

Follow: @old_enough_to_row_better

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👉Been dismissed or offered antidepressants instead of hormones? Book with Newson Clinic: https://www.newsonhealth.co.uk/
👉 More from Dr Louise Newson: https://linkin.bio/drlouisenewson

Consultant dermatologist Dr Saj Rajpar, making his fifth visit to the podcast, joins Louise to explain why acne, hair loss and ageing skin are so often driven by hormones rather than skincare.
Saj runs Midland Skin in Birmingham and has worked alongside Louise for years, since a shared patient's hair loss first brought them together. That collaboration runs through this conversation, from hormonal acne that flares before every period to a patient whose acne returned after switching from bioidentical progesterone to the Mirena coil.
They also discuss why "dermatologist" isn't a protected title and what to check before booking high-street laser treatments, how the contraceptive pill and synthetic progestogens can block oestrogen's benefits for skin, and why dramatic skin ageing can be a sign of unaddressed menopause rather than normal ageing.
Louise closes, as always, with three take-home tips — this time on why the skin matters more than you'd think.
Let’s connect
👉 Track your symptoms andunderstand hormones, download the Balance app: https://bit.ly/4yZty5A
👉 More from Dr LouiseNewson: https://linkin.bio/drlouisenewson
👉 Follow Saj:@dr.rajpar_dermatologist