The Dr Louise Newson Podcast

Rosie Moss spent years being told her symptoms were simply grief, when actually there was undiagnosed PMDD also at play.
Rosie hosts the podcast Widowed AF, and after her husband Ben died suddenly in a scuba diving accident in 2018, she was left to raise three young children while experiencing monthly crises that went far beyond ordinary grief, including periods of being unable to leave her bed for days at a time. Over the following years she was prescribed a succession of medications, from antidepressants to sedatives to an antipsychotic, none of which addressed what was actually happening to her hormones.
Rosie describes being threatened with the police at A&E and being refused the estrogen dose that had finally brought her stability, while Dr Louise explains why physical symptoms such as joint pain and night sweats are often a sign that hormones are involved rather than grief alone, and why current guidelines still recommend antidepressants for PMDD despite limited evidence that they help.
Rosie also shares the three take-home tips she would give anyone navigating grief.
Follow Rosie and Widowed AF: @widowed_af
Let’s connect
👉 Track your symptoms and understand hormones, download the Balance app: https://bit.ly/4yZty5A
👉 More from Dr Louise Newson: https://linkin.bio/drlouisenewson

Dr Holly Carding, GP, Women’s Hormone Specialist and Education Lead at Newson Education, joins Louise to expose the hormone training gap that leaves doctors too scared to prescribe hormone treatments including progesterone, estradiol and testosterone.
Holly had almost no training on hormones as a medical student and as a GP, became a menopause champion after returning from maternity leave and now leads global education for Newson Education, building the Confidence in Hormones course from scratch to close a training and education gap for all healthcare professionals globally - including for GPs, nurses, pharmacists, psychiatrists, cardiologists and all other doctors.
They discuss the course's modules on testosterone prescribing, mental health, and individualising care for women with a history of breast cancer or clots, why "just a guideline" isn't enough for real patients, and the Hormones Uncovered conference returning as a two-day event in London, Hormones and Healthspan, in March.
Holly leaves three take-home tips for any healthcare professional wanting to get to grips with hormone health.
Let’s connect
👉 Find out more about the Hormones Uncovered conference: https://bit.ly/4wOmLtm
👉 Doctor, or know one who needs to hear this? Build confidence in hormone health with the Confidence in Hormones course at Newson Education: https://bit.ly/4g5V0ps
👉 More from Dr Louise Newson: https://linkin.bio/drlouisenewson

Content advisory: This episode contains themes of mental health and suicide
Anna, a nurse, was sectioned, hospitalised in psychiatric wards for months and overdosed more than once, all while being diagnosed with everything from treatment-resistant depression to a personality disorder. It took over a decade for anyone to link it to her hormones and to believe her.
She tells Dr Louise Newson how her suicidal episodes tracked her menstrual cycle for ten years, yet doctors dismissed her and used her own theory about hormones as evidence she wasn't well. Even after a hysterectomy, a reaction to synthetic progestogen from a Mirena coil, and repeated admissions, it took a private gynaecologist to diagnose PMDD and start her on hormone treatments (HRT).
Louise and Anna unpick why psychiatry so often overlooks hormones, the real difference between progesterone and synthetic progestogens and why removing the ovaries doesn't usually remove the problem. Plus three take-home tips for getting hormonal symptoms taken seriously.
Let’s connect
👉 Track your moodsymptoms with the Balance app: https://bit.ly/4yZty5A
👉 More from Dr LouiseNewson: https://linkin.bio/drlouisenewson

Psychiatrist Dr Sue Varma joins Dr Louise Newson to unpack why hormones are so often left out of mental health care and what gets missed as a result, from puberty to postpartum to perimenopause.
Dr Varma is a board-certified psychiatrist and was the first medical director of the World Trade Center Mental Health Program, treating 9/11 survivors and first responders.
Sue and Louise discuss why psychiatric training leaves out hormones' role in the brain - memory, mood, dementia risk - and why a proper medical work-up (thyroid, B12, vitamin D, hormones) should come before a psychiatric label. They talk about the stigma around seeking help, the risk of over-medicalising ordinary emotions and Sue's practical tools for difficult periods such as the "four M's" of mental health, the worry diary and her four-step framework - name it, tame it, claim it, reframe it.
Sue closes with three take-home tips for anyone having a difficult time right now.
Let’s connect
👉 Track your mood symptoms with the Balance app: https://bit.ly/4yZty5A
👉 More from Dr Louise Newson: https://linkin.bio/drlouisenewson
👉 Link to Dr Sue Varma's book : Practical Optimism https://a.co/d/ekTvcfq

Love Is Blind's Demi Santana Brown opens up aboutendometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids and the power of natural hormones.
Before Love Is Blind UK, Demi was a professional footballer for Millwall, West Ham and Leyton Orient - playing through heavy, painful periods for years before doctors took her seriously. She joins Dr Louise Newsonto share what it's really like to be dismissed by doctors, why the contraceptive pill made her mental health worse and how an online hormone test told her she was "fine" when her testosterone was actuallydangerously low.
Louise explains the real difference between synthetic and natural hormones, why testosterone and progesterone matter for endometriosis and how reducing inflammation can ease pain, heavy bleeding and fatigue. They also discuss medical misogyny, harmful advice like "just get pregnant," and Demi’s three take-home tips for anyone struggling with endometriosis.
Let’s connect
👉 Follow Demi: @demisantanabrown
👉 Track your hormones properly with the Balance app: https://bit.ly/4yZty5A👉 More from Dr Louise Newson:https://linkin.bio/drlouisenewson