Norfolk Menopause

27/10/2025

Breast cancer and its treatment is incredibly tough, and debilitating menopause symptoms can exacerbate this. Women in this situation can often feel alone and left out of all the 'standard' menopause chatter which often focuses on HRT.

So it was great to have a question at Summit Training Club about where women in this situation can access help.

Locally Star Throwers and Little Lifts are local charities who can help. The Women's Health Concern wellness hub https://www.womens-health-concern.org/help-and-advice/menopause-wellness-hub/ is great. And don't miss Dani Binnington's amazing Menopause and Cancer podcast which is an incredible resource. Dani has in depth discussions with a range of experts and many women who, like her, have navigated menopause after breast cancer.

If anyone can recommend other sources of support please do add them in the comments, thank you so much!

21/10/2025

Happy World Menopause Day!

The theme this year is lifestyle medicine and Emily was delighted to go along to Summit Training Club in Wymondham with Harriet Drewry to bust some menopause myths and also focus on the importance of maintaining muscle mass in menopause. Great to be shown how to lift properly and safely too!

If you can’t access a gym there is plenty you can do at home though, midlife and the menopause transition is a time when lifestyle matters more than ever both for making us feel better and protecting our longterm health. Remember little steps all count, ‘movement snacking’ a few minutes here and there all adds up.

11/10/2025

I was delighted to read this paper, it is a really important addition to the evidence base and will help us to give women the best information available to make informed choices about their care.

The use of HRT after breast cancer is an emotive issue - oestrogen replacement is not recommended as it can increase the risk of recurrence. Yet many women with breast cancer struggle with severe menopausal symptoms and HRT is the most effective treatment for these and also has additional long-term health benefits

The evidence base around use of HRT after breast cancer is small and can seem contradictory. For this new review a panel of experts including menopause specialists and oncologists came together to review all the available evidence and come up with consensus statements.

They were clear about the limitations of the evidence but were able to give really useful guidance for patients and their medical teams around use of HRT, vaginal oestrogen and testosterone after breast cancer.

Dr Sarah Glynne, first author of the study and a GP Menopause Specialist says: ‘As a panel of experts, the consensus was that we should move away from a de facto ban of HRT after breast cancer diagnosis towards a more nuanced, evidence-based discussion that respects each woman’s circumstances, values and preferences.’

Read the paper at:

https://journals.lww.com/menopausejournal/fulltext/9900/menopausal_hormone_therapy_for_breast_cancer.532.aspx

11/10/2025

I was delighted to read this paper, it is a really important addition to the evidence base and will help us to give women the best information available to make informed choices about their care.

The use of HRT after breast cancer is an emotive issue - oestrogen replacement is not recommended as it can increase the risk of recurrence. Yet many women with breast cancer struggle with severe menopausal symptoms and HRT is the most effective treatment for these and also has additional long-term health benefits

The evidence base around use of HRT after breast cancer is small and can seem contradictory. For this new review a panel of experts including menopause specialists and oncologists came together to review all the available evidence and come up with consensus statements.

They were clear about the limitations of the evidence but were able to give really useful guidance for patients and their medical teams around use of HRT, vaginal oestrogen and testosterone after breast cancer.

Dr Sarah Glynne, first author of the study and a GP Menopause Specialist says: ‘As a panel of experts, the consensus was that we should move away from a de facto ban of HRT after breast cancer diagnosis towards a more nuanced, evidence-based discussion that respects each woman’s circumstances, values and preferences.’

Link in bio above, to read the paper.

29/09/2025

Creatine - Do I really need another supplement?

Well, maybe I do given that I couldn’t remember the name of the supplement I had just read about when I did this video!

There has been a lot of media attention (including on the BBC and Woman’s Hour last week) about Creatine supplements and the potential to benefit menopause symptoms. Creatine is a naturally occurring substance in animal products and helps power energy release in muscles and the brain. Most of us, with the exception on Vegans, probably get what we need in our diet but some studies have suggesting supplementing can help muscle strength, fatigue, mood and perhaps brain fog.

This is not an expensive supplement and you may wish to try 3g a day. BBC Good Food has a list of recommended products including Weight World who sell competitively priced creatine monohydrate supplements :

As a powder (around 9p a day for 3g) :
https://www.weightworld.uk/creatine-monohydrate-powder.html

or a tablet :
https://www.weightworld.uk/creatine-monohydrate-tablets.html.

It seems that most will see beneficial effects in 3-5 weeks but you may wish to use for 8 weeks or so and then pause to see if there is any clear benefit.

Have you tried this? How did you get on?

27/09/2025

A quick follow on from my previous video about the in depth health check. This was really motivating for me and a great way to think about opportunities to maximise health and strength for the future. It was amazing to feel excited about looking after my wellbeing rather than despondent about what I am not doing.

Top tips for me were:
- TAKE VITAMIN D rather than just talk about it;
- To think about when I eat not just what I eat;
- Use heavier weights for fewer reps if I am doing any strength training.

And I will explore the Norwegian 4x4 too!

If you have a chance do see what you can learn.
health

24/09/2025

Join us on Tuesday 30th September from 6-8pm for an empowering and informative evening designed specifically for women in senior leadership navigating the menopause.

All welcome!

Tickets £16.96, include drinks and canapes.

For more information and to book your place, use the link in our bio or visit: http://www.norfolkmenopause.co.uk/menopause-conversation/

22/09/2025

In this video Emily talks about her Numi Health Check.

Wow, what an empowering and inspiring experience. I am absolutely confident the insights from this are going to help me practice what I preach. Peri/menopause needs to be the time when we stop and think about how we future proof our health for the decades ahead of us. We need to see this stage of life as an opportunity, a time when we start prioritising ourselves and our health and wellbeing.

A Numi health check feels pretty and luxurious, gorgeous surroundings and 1:1 focus that is pretty rare for most of us. The tests are thorough, and most of them quite fun (!). They gather an enormous amount of personailised data that is then used to map a route forward.

I’ll do another video talking about how the data is put into an action plan. But for now, if you get this chance please GRAB it, I am absolutely confident you will get a huge amount out of it. See this as an investment in YOU and your future!
health

16/09/2025

Sleep tips from a lifelong struggler!

In this video Emily shares some tips that have helped her. She has never been a great sleeper, and perimenopause definitely made things worse, but even previously good sleepers can struggle in peri/menopause.

CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) can be a massive help, and some tips from this have really helped Emily and also reduced anxiety around sleep, it is so easy to get into a vicious circle with sleep and anxiety.

Firstly, sleep studies show we tend to underestimate how much sleep we are getting, knowing this can be a comfort! Furthermore, when we are not getting enough sleep our body will prioritise deep restorative sleep when we do fall asleep, if you wake in the early hours knowing this can be reassuring and ease anxiety. All won’t be lost the next day.

Another tip that helped Emily - don’t toss and turn in your bed if you can’t sleep, your brain and body might unwittingly start associating your bed with sleeplessness. If you have a spare room move there and read/listen to an audiobook in a dim light, or try the sofa. Don’t stimulate your brain with a device though.

Hope these tips help you too!

12/09/2025

Why is perimenopause still missed?

In this video Emily talks about why perimenopause can still be hard to recognise. Often symptoms start earlier than women anticipate, and years before periods finish. And often it is psychological rather than physical symptoms that hit first, the so-called ‘brain before body’ effect. It is easy to attribute these symptoms - often poor sleep, anxiety, and brain fog - to stress and other midlife pressures. A reminder of why it is so important we have our hormonal health on our radars. And look out for those close to use too!

05/09/2025

This video has been prompted by a message from one of my Norfolk Menopause patients. Androfeme is a testosterone replacement product designed for women to use in addition to conventional HRT and has been used privately in the UK for a number of years. It is imported from Australia, but the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority) have now approved it’s use in the UK. However this does not yet change any thing, the UK product still needs to be developed and then given NICE approval in terms if cost and clinical effectiveness. This will not be until at least next year (2026).

So a step in the right direction but no change in availability yet! Though as you will hear in my video I don’t in practice find Androfeme particularly easy to use.....

30/08/2025