White Wine Question Time: What actually is Menopause?

White Wine Question Time is teaming up with Acast to host an exclusive event for Menopause Awareness Month!

Menopause is not talked about anywhere nearly enough. But, as October is Menopause Awareness Month, Acast have teamed up with Kate Thornton’s White
Wine Question Time to help change that. They’re hosting a live podcast recording that will share plenty of lived experiences of the menopause, some medical fact and fiction, and what we can all do to better understand and treat the problem..

The event will be hosted at Acast HQ where Kate will be joined by actor and presenter Tamzin Outhwaite and Dr Lydia Robertson. Tamzin has spoken publicly
about her own struggles with menopause and has become passionate about providing various menopause treatments to those who can’t afford it. Dr Robertson is a member of the British Menopause Society and has dedicated much of her career to treating and furthering understanding of the menopause and its effects. This conversation aims to remove the stigma around menopause and create an open environment for people to share stories and ask questions.

So, whether you’re an expert or want to know more to support your friends or family – or yourself – there will be plenty of useful information for everyone.

To celebrate the upcoming event, we sat down with Kate Thornton to discuss her menopause journey.

Has your menopause journey changed your outlook on life?

Gosh, massively. How long have you got? Probably the best way to describe it is that it’s like squatters have moved into your body and they’re vandalising you from
the inside out, and the hope is that one day somebody’s going to come along and evict them, and you can get your house back in order. That’s where I am at the moment. I’m in full squatter mode, but very much looking forward to getting my house back in order.

Why do you think menopause awareness is so important?

51% of the population will go through the menopause. The only two guarantees in life you have as a woman is death and menopause. Cheery stuff, I know, but it’s an
inevitability. And it’s not just a female issue, it’s an everyone issue. Because everyone has a mum, everyone has a sister, everyone has a female co-worker.

Everyone will be exposed to women who are, at some stage, going through perimenopause. So, it’s really important that we all understand what it is, and what some of these women are navigating it for a decade or more!

What more do you think can be done to make menopause less of a taboo subject to talk about?

We’ve just got to talk about it. Just talking about it makes it less of a taboo. The fact that we even discuss it is progress. Five years ago, I don’t think anybody knew  that there was a thing called the perimenopause! I think the understanding that we’ve achieved, in terms of education, has been massive. We’ve got a lot further to go, but boy oh boy, have we come a long way so far – and these podcasts can only help that.

To get even more information about menopause and its effects you can search for the British Menopause Society in your search engine.

And listen to the live recording of White Wine Question Time’s Menopause Awareness event over on your podcast app this Friday. Click here to subscribe and
listen now.

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This column was created with Stak. Stak produces podcasts that entertain and inform, including some of the UK’s biggest and most popular shows – boasting a combined 4 million monthly listen and over 45 years of podcasting experience. Whether recording remotely or in our broadcast-grade London  studio, we special in every stage of the podcasting process. To find out more or get in touch, visit our website at stak.london.