Why I talked hot flushes on national TV
BBC Breakfast’s Louise Minchin tells Victoria Lambert that airing her menopause diary has started a national conversation
Louise Minchin, the BBC Breakfast presenter, is explaining the rules of menopause bingo. “You share a list of the 34 different symptoms with a group of other women,” she says, “and then see who ticks off the most.” She adds: “I played with a group of old friends from university just last weekend. It was hilarious; we all had something happening: hot flushes, for example, or brain fog, aching joints or insomnia. But none of us had the same set of symptoms.”
More importantly, she notes, none of the women – aged 50 like Minchin, or thereabouts – had talked about it so openly before. “I’ve been in the menopause for three years already,” she says, with a smile of incredulity, “and I hadn’t even talked to my sister about it until recently either. It’s unbelievable that this happens to every woman and yet – even in this age of social media and openness – we find it so hard to talk about.”
That national conversation now seems to have opened up – thanks to Minchin airing a short film on BBC Breakfast about her own menopause this week.
The four-minute film sees the TV presenter, who lives just outside Chester with her husband David, a 55-year-old businessman, and the couple’s two daughters, Mia, 17 and Scarlett, 14, coming clean to doctors – and herself – about the symptoms.
Minchin owns up to being shorttempered, anxious, having hot flushes and even heart palpitations – and most of all, having an intangible sense of not being herself.
She wasn’t sure what to expect when the film aired as part of a weeklong set of segments looking at the menopause, but has been knocked
back by the public response. “I have been inundated with other people’s experiences,” Minchin says, as we sit on a gloriously sunny hotel roof terrace. “On email, text, via Twitter and Facebook. And the common theme is that the menopause is something which is affecting millions of women to different degrees. And lots of us haven’t been coping.”
As happens to many women, the perimenopause (the time before menopause, when symptoms of fluctuating hormone levels first emerge) had snuck up on her.
“I was complaining to a GP friend about three years ago about hot flushes and night sweats without really considering what was going on,” she explains. “I found myself getting irrationally cross with Mia if her room wasn’t tidy.”
When your job means getting up at 3.36am, however, it’s easy to write off symptoms such as fatigue.
“The national average for women to go into menopause is 51,” she adds, “so it just didn’t cross my mind that this was what was going on. But I knew I didn’t like this version of myself.”
The friend recommended a hormone test, which found her levels were waning.
“I began a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) gel at once, which worked well for a while, then I swapped to patches, but had a reaction to the adhesive which brought me out in red welts.”
Minchin decided to explore alternatives and tried black cohosh tablets, a traditional remedy to help with hot flushes, and acupuncture.
“It’s fair to say that this combination got me back to being about 70 per cent of how I used to feel. But somehow that didn’t seem enough. I wanted to be 100 per cent ‘old me’.” HRT has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer in some groups, but Minchin, after doing some research, decided that with no family history of it and as someone who doesn’t smoke or drink much alcohol and is a healthy weight, it was a reasonable option.
“So I went back on HRT – progesterone tablets and an oestrogen gel – recently, and I do feel my old self,” she says. “I actually caught myself singing in the shower the other day. That felt good.”
Menopause is technically defined as when a woman has had her last period, but Minchin’s periods have stopped thanks to the HRT, so she’s not sure if she’s reached that moment.
“My periods had become very heavy before I went on to HRT, which many women will identify with. Yet, there is still a slight risk of pregnancy right up until your last one.”
This type of personal detail is embarrassing for Minchin, she admits, and one of the reasons why she was cautious before going public.
“I genuinely felt I was going over some sort of cliff-edge – I was full of trepidation. But I just had this nagging feeling we should be doing something about the menopause,” she says. “The younger generation are so good at talking about periods and being open, so why aren’t we?”
She has been particularly touched at how supportive her own girls have been. “In that first year, it was hard for us all as we just didn’t get what was happening. But now we joke about it and they tease me.”
What both her daughters realised was that Minchin had one secret weapon in her personal war with the menopause: exercise.
She became hooked on cycling five years ago after racing round the Manchester velodrome with her fellow Breakfast presenters Bill Turnbull, Susanna Reid and Charlie Stayt.
Within a year, she was training for a triathlon and is now a Team GB triathlete in her age group, having represented the country in international competitions.
Her sporting progress has been so stunning that Minchin has documented it in a book titled Dare to Tri: My Journey from the BBC Breakfast Sofa to GB Team Triathlete, which has been shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book Awards.
“Exercise helps with my symptoms. Every single bike ride, run, or swim helps me feel better,” Minchin says.
Her daughters picked up on that before her. “If I am being a bit grumpy, they say, Mummy, have you been for a run today? And they are always right.”
Isn’t Minchin worried that by “going public” about her menopause, she is holding her hand up to being an older woman on TV? We know what has traditionally happened to them.
“Five years ago, if someone had sat on the sofa and said I am menopausal…” She acknowledges the sheer impossibility of it with a raised eyebrow.
“But now, that’s no longer true. I am part of a generation of change. I have these bright, charismatic colleagues and we will carry on
‘I’ve huge sympathy for anyone who feels they are becoming invisible at this age’
doing our jobs.” She adds: “I have huge sympathy for anyone who feels they are becoming invisible at this age, especially in the workplace. But I can say my job is not like that now.”
Minchin also believes that, despite its challenges, there are positives which can emerge at this time of life. For her, one benefit has been a feeling that her brain is almost “on fire” at times, bursting with creativity and new ideas. “I feel I want to change the world,” she laughs. “I’m actually growing in confidence and energy.”
There are still some hurdles to get through first, however. Her husband turns up to collect the house keys, having discovered that Minchin locked him out when she left for the interview.
“My memory is still a bit all over the place,” she says.
“But what I am learning every day is that you can go through this and come out stronger and healthier. And key to that is opening up this conversation at every level – with your family, the postman, on social media and TV.
“I feel so supported by everyone who has got in touch. I hope they feel supported back.”