“I think the arrogance of some doctors is just awful,” Dr Louise Newson tells me. “The stories I hear in my clinics from women who have just been completely dismissed and told their health concerns are all in their head are astonishing. One of the first things I learned as an undergraduate is to believe the patient. I appreciate that one person can’t know everything – as a doctor, there’s lots that I don’t know or understand – but I would never not believe my patient.”
A senior clinician who spent 30 years as a GP, Dr Newson first came to public attention as a specialist in women’s hormones on Davina McCall’s ground-breaking 2021 Channel 4 documentary Sex, Myths and the Menopause, watched by more than two million people.
On the show, she challenged established myths about the risks involved with taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for perimenopause and menopause, sparking a huge increase in demand for the treatment, which became known as “the Davina effect”.
She has since attracted a legion of followers grateful for her attempts to demystify and destigmatise the menopause and help women make more informed choices about their care.
Despite her social media handle being @menopause_doctor, Dr Newson takes a more holistic approach to this stage of life. “People still see menopause as a gynaecological condition that just affects your periods,” she says. “But if you’re only focusing on periods, you’re missing the rest of the body.”
