Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome to the Uncomplicated Perimenopause Podcast. I'm Kate Grosvenor, your friendly perimenopause expert and life coach, and I'm Gabriella, kate's daughter, representing all the women who are nowhere near perimenopause but want to understand it better, whether you're just starting your perimenopause journey deep into it better. Whether you're just starting your perimenopause journey deep into it, or you're a loved one trying to support someone who is, we've got you covered. We'll be answering all of your burning questions, exploring the ups and downs and sharing expert advice and personal insights. So grab a cup of tea, get comfy and let's dive into the wonderful. Get comfy and let's dive into the wonderful, sometimes wild, world of perimenopause together. And remember, no matter where you are on your journey, you are not alone. Welcome to the Uncomplicated Perimenopause. Hello, my darlings, and welcome to Edmison 2, season 3. If I did that the right way around, yeah, uncomplicated perimenopause podcast. I'm kate grovner, a perimenopause expert and life coach, and I'm gabriella grovner yeah, here to learn with you all. So got an interesting one today, but we are we. It's weird today because we're celebrating almost like beginning of autumn. I love it with jackets and coats and we've got the heater on. Well, we've got the heater on for the cat, though, yeah, and Ellie, because Ellie gets cold. No offence, but we've got the heater on for the cat because we're big softies. You're a big softie? Well, yeah, there is that. Yeah, anybody else put like radios on for cats or heaters on for dogs or something, is it just us? Probably breed at this time of year, some dogs can't like the little little ones. Yeah, like, imagine, a chihuahua in the snow. Yeah, oh, that's okay. Yeah, but I, I think we, I put right confession time.

Speaker 1: 1:50

I put the heating on for peachy last night. Why? Because he was trying to. So we have right in our kitchen, okay, we have six cats, okay, but there's only five chairs and he kept trying to jump up on one of the bounce doors last night to go to sleep and none of the cats were letting him on because all the chairs were taken. So he kept trying to jump up and they kept going no, it's full, go away. And he loves to sleep on the radiator bed in the kitchen and I'd washed all the covers but he wasn't tempting for him because it was cold. So I put the heating on for Poochie last night. Did he appreciate it? No, did he appreciate it? No, he still wanted to sit on the chair with the big boys. I hope they weren't going to let him. That's what happens. He gave up and sat on the window seat, but it was too cold for me, anyway.

Speaker 1: 2:27

So we're celebrating autumn, my favorite season. It's so me. It is you, because it's your colors, though it's my colors. It's just so pretty there. Amber seasons, love them.

Speaker 1: 2:41

Did you still watch Twilight? What Did you still watch the Twilight? Yes, until now. Ironically, it's just like ha ha, lol, not like how I used to when I was like 12, but it's still, isn't it jarring? Now it's more. Now I'm like ugh, Edward, really, she picked him. Oh, would you be more team, team, 100%? She was so Edward. Back in the day, I was so Edward, but no, no, no, 100% Jacob. He was a better option, more handsome, more everything, more alive, even Always helps. I'm glad you announced it. So tell us if you watched Twilight 2. All the 50-year-olds out there yes, you've watched it.

Speaker 1: 3:17

I did watch it and you enjoyed it. And you read the books? I did. But I read the books because my year eight girls were so obsessed at the time and I was like because I find them reading it in class and they'd get reported to me and it was always because they were reading Twilight and I was like what is so fascinating about these books? So I read them to figure out what I you know, and then I kind of couldn't blame them because they were kind of patient, anyway. So we're digressing something else today which is probably not as interesting but is fascinating in the world of perimenopause, necessary, very necessary, and it's the beginning, we hope, of good news for perimenopausal women. What are we celebrating? Gabriella? You have no clue. Testosterone, testosterone, yes. So exciting news out of the perimenopause world is the beginning, we hope, of something changing.

Speaker 1: 4:07

So we have three main sex hormones as women we have oestrogen, we have progesterone and we have testosterone. And we talk a lot about oestrogen and progesterone. So oestrogen is the one that helps to regulate your cycle, your menstrual cycle. It helps bone density, it helps your skin to be boingy, it helps regulate cholesterol. It helps heart health be boingy. It helps regulate cholesterol. It helps heart health.

Speaker 1: 4:26

The estrogen question If you have a lack of, do you struggle conceiving? You can do yes, because it's the one with your periods. It also helps with different things to be moist. It helps mood swings, brain fog, all that kind of stuff right. So estrogen we talk about a lot Mood swings, the whole anxiety. We talk about a lot mood swings, the whole anxiety. We talk about estrogen and progesterone. Is the balancer of estrogen very necessary? It's the one that helps with your womb lining, your uterine lining. Uh, it's very good for sleep, very calming. So when women come to me and they say they're not very calm, we look, we talk about progesterone a lot.

Speaker 1: 4:59

Magnesium, about that magnesium, magnesium. We talk about magnesium a lot. Yes, great, but we don't talk about testosterone as much. No, because until now we've only had male testosterone in the uk and the androphem, which is the female testosterone that I've talked about occasionally, it's been very, very expensive, like 100 pounds a month, expensive, which is which is a real injection For an injection. No, it's a cream, right, and the reason it's been so expensive is because it was produced in Australia. So there's three countries that have approved it so far. There's Australia, new Zealand and South Africa. Okay, and it was never approved in the UK.

Speaker 1: 5:38

Now why is testosterone so important? For your sex drive, and not just your libido, but also sexual arousal Makes sense, it makes sense. Libido, but also sexual arousal makes sense, it makes sense. So sexual, sexual arousal. It helps maintain muscle mass and strength, it helps with cognitive stuff. So how you know, like how awake you're feeling, plays a role as well in and it really plays a role in energy levels, and that's why a lot of women in perimenopause feel a bit and a bit exhausted. So you know, when you don't have enough testosterone, that's why a lot of women in perimenopause feel a bit meh and a bit exhausted. So you know, when you don't have enough testosterone, that's when you can start to feel that you lose your confidence. And that's one of the most important things, I feel, because women will suddenly start to say, well, they shy away from social engagement, social events and stuff like that, yeah, and obviously lower libido, fatigue, and they always say lack of motivation. I'm I don't massively believe in motivation, but we'll talk about that right. So drum roll, thank you very much.

Speaker 1: 6:34

We have it's not approved on the nhs, but I've got. I've got the latest, I've got my papers. I feel like I could use reporter now breaking news. Um, this just in the mhra, right? So the mhra, I've got it here. So I don't make a mess of this, because it's it's very important to give you exactly the facts, because people then will say it's approved on the nhs. It's not approved on the nhs. What is approved is the mhra, which is the medicines and health care products regulatory agency. That's why I wrote it down right, because I forget that, obviously, brain fog.

Speaker 1: 7:05

It's granted approval for the androfem, which is a one percent testosterone cream, especially formulated for women. One percent what? Because we only want a small dose. You see, this is the thing. Up until now, the male testosterone I'll talk about male testosterone cream in a second but that's been available, the male testosterone cream, which is much higher dose, being the only one that's been available. So we have to micro dose it. So they've now approved the one percent cream for women anyway. So, um, they said it's, it's, they've, they've approved it now, so that it will now be produced in the uk from 2026. Now this means obviously that it will be more widely available, which is great news, because before, until now, you have to get a private prescription, you have to go through certain. There's only a few places where you could get it available very expensive, as I said, it was like 100 pounds still special, licensed, private prescriptions. So now, now more widely available and it's a UK approved as of 2020. So, after 26, any woman can just go to the GP. No, it's not yet approved on the NHS. Yes, approved to go privately. Still, it's going to go through private. We're hoping so.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Dr Louise Newsome, who we know is a menopause expert and's talking about it a lot. I'm going to be talking about it a lot. There's going to be a lot of us. Uh, hopefully we might get people like davina mccall talking about it. There's going to be a lot of us talking about it, getting wider awareness about it. What we, what we want to do, um, is get the nice people. You know what I want to say. Isn't it lovely, love, nice, and I see you is the NICE guidelines, okay, recommend considering testosterone supplementation for menopausal women experiencing low sexual desire when HRT alone hasn't been effective. That's what they currently say Wait. So they've approved this for the sake of libido and sexual drive. Well, this is the thing.

Speaker 1: 9:13

So currently in the UK the uk, if you are and, and the guidelines say post-menopausal, this is where it starts to get, hmm, so I, I did an experiment. What did you do? So I went to my gps. Yes, so you know, like last week when we were talking about my iud filler and I said stay tuned for next week's installment. So while I was there talking about what do I do now? Because my IUD fell out, I then said to them while I'm here, can I talk to you about testosterone? Because I thought I'm there anyway. So I said to them, because I know the guidelines, and the guidelines say you can only be prescribed Tell me it's a man's me this.

Speaker 1: 9:56

Tell me it's a man's world without telling me it's a man's world. That's why I was thinking when you said about right, so the only way that you get prescribed testosterone is if you say that you have a low libido. That's why I was really worried that you were like leading to and it's like that's the rules. So you can't get prescribed low. So testosterone affects your libido, your cognitive thinking. So you know, obviously they don't want women to think more, just saying Energy, muscle mass. I mean there's a lot of things it affects. But you can only get prescribed testosterone if you have low libido. I mean, tell me it's not a man's world. A man made this for sure If you've already been on HRT for some time and you could be considered menopausal, not necessarily perimenopausal.

Speaker 1: 10:46

I haven't tried that because I'm mostly 51 now. So I'm of menopausal age. If you are of that age and you can say that you have low libido, you can go to your gp or your ceiling nurse practitioner and you can say I think I need testosterone because I have low libido. Don't waste your breath talking about anything else. Just say no libido. You can argue it, you can mention everything else, it doesn't matter, because they've only got one box to tick. Okay, that's it. Is it right? No, no, is it fair? No, is it? Is it right? Is it fair? Is it? No, it's not, it's just. But this is a man's world, it's just as it is.

Speaker 1: 11:28

So what they will then do is they will send you off for blood tests, check your libido levels. I've still got, I've still got the bruise to prove it. Where's it's only little now. But so they will send you off for a blood test and they will take this is this is the weird things. If you are, obviously we.

Speaker 1: 11:46

We talk famously about how unreliable the blood tests are for the fs. You know all the ls, all the, all the perimenopausal ones, but but the testosterone blood test is accurate Because it measures your testosterone levels. It measures your testosterone levels and they go. When your testosterone leaves your body, it goes down on a steady decline. It's not like oestrogen that goes like this as it goes down. Your testosterone does go down on a steady decline. So when it measures it it does measure accurately, so they can just test your testosterone level. Is there an age where it starts to kind of drop? No, it actually starts in your body before estrogen Testosterone goes down.

Speaker 1: 12:21

I don't know if it before, but it does decline really quite early, which is why it's very, very important for women in perimenopause to actually lift weights, because we need the muscle mass, because testosterone is one of those things that helps you to maintain muscle mass and because it declines. So the rate of decline speeds up in perimenopause. And we do need our muscle mass because otherwise we're liable for fractures, we're liable for hip problems, we're liable to, you know, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, all those kind of things we really need to keep our muscles. So they send you off a blood test and if you are then deemed in lower than satisfactory levels, they will then prescribe you the male testosterone which is available on the NHS. It's not dangerous for a woman to take, so the male testosterone is called, called. I've got it, I've put it. I wrote it down somewhere. It's called testo gel or toss tostran, and you have to. That's the thing. You have to microdose it because we can't, because they I mean I said the angiofem hasn't been, yeah, but here's the thing If enough women I'm pretty sure if enough women go and start asking for the male testosterone, I think that's only going to help our case. I mean until now, because it's been so horrendously expensive I mean £100, the NHS isn't going to pay it. Right, that month is a lot. Yeah, I mean per. That month is a lot. Yeah, I mean per tube. I don't know how long a tube lasts because I haven't, I haven't taken it, but it's, I know it's 100 pounds per tube.

Speaker 1: 14:02

You can now get the, the male hormone, and it's clinically recognized because the nhs will prescribe it. It's evidence-based because they know that it will improve sexual desire, arousal, even help with orgasms, your energy, your mood, cognitive sharpness and women is accessible now. So if you do go and have a blood test for testosterone, because you've already been on hrt for some time, because you are of a certain age, like heading towards your 50s, you know you're not in the lower bracket they won't give it to you. They really just don't waste your breath. It's accessible now, it's supported by nice, the nic guidelines, and it's trackable outcomes. So they can they will be able to. You can track your cognitive levels and everything else.

Speaker 1: 14:42

Now the obvious issue is it's not formulated for women. It's too high a dose, so you are going to be microdosing. We only need one tenth of the amount that a man needs. I know that's really sad. Actually it is sad. No-transcript, that amount and we only. That's ridiculous. So the the error risk is very high.

Speaker 1: 15:09

Yeah, so when I say micro dose, micro dose, yeah, and so for somebody like me, that's adhd. I can't even bake because I get the quantities wrong. You're laughing, but it's so true. I cook because I cook from my soul and my heart. Yeah, but I know baking has to be, baking has to be accurate and I I just can't do it. Yeah, okay, um, so it's very fiddly. It's not great. Um, obviously there are.

Speaker 1: 15:34

There is risk of side effects if you overdose, and the side effects aren't great acne, male pattern, baldness, facial hair, deeper voice, which is very rare, by the way. So the deeper voice thing is very, very rare. Do you grow more hair? You can grow facial hair and you can have male pattern baldness. So you know, men get thin on top. You can get thinning hair on top if you take too much. Yeah, obviously it's not licensed for women, but they give it to you anyway and they do monitor you. When you're on it, though, they will ask you to keep track and they will monitor you and they will keep in touch with you. No, that's so nice. Yeah, aren't they cute cupcakes?

Speaker 1: 16:12

And one thing that they don't talk to you about and I think I personally, as a life coach, as background in psychology, which we know, um, I think one of the things that they should talk to you about more is the psychological issue, because it's when I talk to my clients about testosterone, the first thing, one of the first things I usually have to say to them yes, you do have male hormones, because it's not something that we grow up knowing, because it's not something we talk about, right? So imagine that I'm now going to say to you and I need to take testosterone, I'm giving you a male hormone and I'm giving it to you in package. That's talking about men. So I'm giving you a product for men, for male hormone for men, with all the labeling and all the instructions for a man.

Speaker 1: 16:53

It's not great for a woman's mindset or mental health, so it's very it doesn't sit well, you know, with a lot of women. And if a woman's mental health in, you know you're taking it anyway because your libido is low, your energy is low, your cognitive, you know, functioning is low. And then I'm giving you a product that's designed for men, addressed to men. Yeah, about a male, you can't take and handle as much as they can. Hmm, we need one-tenth of it. We can't process it the same way. We need one-tenth of it. We also need it designed for women. That's helping women that's talking about with female issues. I think we deserve it. It's not asking, it's not asking for a lot, is it? I mean, the good news is that it's already in the nhs.

Speaker 1: 17:35

It can help you. It will help you. If it, if you, if you do it correctly and you you microdose and everything else, it will help you. And it will help you with libido. It will help you feel a bit more. You know you get a bit, get a bit more lead in your pencil. You know it will help you feel more energized. It will help you feel a bit more light. You've got a bit more sharpness. Yeah, I mean, you know one of one of the products we have in the lifestyle brand which is the viva clarity. That product's brilliant. You know no clarity, viva clarity, periclart oh god, jesus, periclart is a case in. So the viva peri and the periclarty, those two products together really do help, despite what I've just said. Yeah, um, they really do help you to to get more cognition and get more again in your brain cells and just feel like you, there's, there's a bit more like spark again.

Speaker 1: 18:28

But this is like the lack of testosterone is just that. It's not just the clarity in your head, it's that male confidence thing, because that's what sometimes goes wrong. Well, not wrong, but sometimes it's missing. And it depends, I feel sometimes as well it depends on your character, which I know can sound a bit bit weird. But if you all your life have been quite a confident kind of, not brash personality, but you know, I've always been the kind of like ta-da kind of person, yeah, and it's main character, we call it, you call it, is that? What is that? But it hurts when you just feel like I just want to go back to bed, and I guess it's the same for everybody. I might be generalizing there, but some I I think a lot of people can relate to you.

Speaker 1: 19:19

Yeah, you just feel like you're a bit of a hermit. It just feels a bit odd, but so many women feel under confident in in perimenopause and, yeah, maybe I'm being ungenerous, I think maybe most women feel like that, yeah, but I feel like it's um, so forget everything I just said in the last two minutes, but it it just feels like for so many of us. We feel that whole side of our personalities just slip away a little bit and then you're still in a man's world after all of this. Yeah, it's really disheartening and we, just, we, just we just feel like we need that, that clarity, we need that, we need that sense of self back again.

Speaker 1: 19:57

And I talk a lot about we hear that a lot in in the groups of sense of self and getting back to the old me and but see, this is the thing that I I always say is because you can't go back to your old self because she no longer exists. It's like when women have babies and they go. I just want my old self back and I go. You'll never be the same. No, because you don't unlearn yourself. You don't go back to your pre-mum self because you're biologically changed to be programmed on a different wavelength once you've had a child. Change to be programmed on a different wavelength once you've had a child. Similarly, when you go through perimenopause, you biologically change and you are different than you will. Yeah, you can't go back to your pre-perimenopause self because you're different.

Speaker 1: 20:40

The thing about perimenopause is like I love my 50 something year old self. I don't give a shit. Yeah, it's very difficult to make me angry now. It is really difficult. I mean to make me sad because I feel for the whole world. I'm generally oh bless, I'll cry about people and I feel really sorry for them. But making me angry you have to push a lot of buttons, like you'd have to go like bb, bb, bb, bb. Like you'd have to get quite a few at once to make me like actually lose it. I mean there are people that live in our house that's quite good at it, no names mentioned, just saying, but anyway, I actually coughed.

Speaker 1: 21:11

I thought you were like no, um, but the good news about about going to the permanent pause is that the new you becomes wiser, calmer, focuses on the stuff that's more important. Yeah, less f's to give. I've heard a lot. Yes, I have fewer shits to give. Yeah, there's a great song about I've got no to give. You should listen to. It should become my theme song.

Speaker 1: 21:32

Yeah, for permanent wars, a woman everywhere. But yeah, so that version of you is gone. She's never coming back. Yeah, testosterone for women. We need to start a testosterone revolution, guys. I think we do. I think we do, but at least now it's been approved in the uk. It will be produced in the uk. We will be the fourth country. Yeah, that has it approved. It's baby steps, but it's exciting news. So it's going to be produced here and hopefully, fingers crossed, the nhs picks it up and says do you know what? It's about? Time the women get their own cream on prescription, and that will be the end of that one. Fingers crossed, guys.

Speaker 1: 22:07

Anyway, if you want to ask us any questions, please feel free to submit your questions on the WhatsApp number below or if you're in our free perimenopause group, which is Perimenopause with Kate Grosvenor on Facebook, please join us there, because it's a great free group. You get lots of support, advice, you can ask us questions and if you want more support if that was even possible, which it is. We have a perimenopause membership. It's just nine pounds a month and you will get recipes. Actually, we need to tell them. Have you told people in the group about the challenge coming up on the 15th? I'm gonna spoil it for you then. Don't hate me, can I tell them? Yeah, are you sure? Yeah, so on the 15th of september we are starting a periweight challenge.

Speaker 1: 22:49

This is not about dieting. It is about so many women come to us in perimenopause and say I just I'm out of love with my body, I just don't like it anymore. We help them to just feel better in their own skin, basically in their own bodies. Tons of resources, tons of resources, a 30-day challenge. It's all about what should you eat in perimenopause just to feel good about yourself? And exercise and hydration and all the four pillars.

Speaker 1: 23:18

It's free inside the membership and the membership, as I said, costs you just nine pounds a month. It's gonna be a 30-day challenge. We've done it before. It's absolutely amazing. If you want information on that, that will also be in the notes below this podcast. We'd love to see you in there. It's an amazing, amazing, amazing membership. And, as I said, nine pounds a month. What? 30 pence a day or something. It's fabulous and you can tag us and stuff as well. So if you get stuck, you can just tag me and I will be in there answering your questions, which is pretty darn good. Good, and there's recipes, there's recipe books, there's yoga, there's resources, there's mindset resources loads of stuff in there.

Speaker 1: 23:54

All right, my darlings, I hope you've enjoyed this episode. As I said, you can ask us questions in the free group, in the membership group or in the WhatsApp, in the WhatsApp, on the WhatsApp All right, take care, and we will see you next week. Bye. On the one fat All right, take care, and we will see you next week. Bye. Thanks for joining us today on the uncomplicated perimenopause podcast. We hope you found this episode helpful and inspiring. Don't forget. If you have any questions or topics you'd like us to cover, you can reach out through our perimenopause group or on WhatsApp. For more information on my coaching, perimenopause supplements, books. For upcoming events, please visit wwwkategrosvenorcom. And if you've enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate and review our podcast. It really helps us reach more listeners, just like you. Until next time, remember, perimenopause doesn't have to be complicated. We're here to help you every step of the way. Stay uncomplicated, thank you.