The Menopause School

29/04/2026

Menstrual health - is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease, in relation to the menstrual cycle. This is an every-single-day reality. From periods to perimenopause - and the impact of how the menstrual health timeline is travelled will affect postmenopause too.
Menstrual health deserves a holistic approach.
It’s time we stopped treating menstrual health as only about menstrual cycles or menstruation and start seeing it as a fundamental pillar of our overall well-being.

28/04/2026

Ever wonder why allergies flare up at certain points in the menstrual cycle?

Rising levels of estradiol during the follicular and ovulatory phases can trigger mast cells to release more histamine, while simultaneously downregulating the enzymes meant to break it down. This "histamine spike" often mimics or worsens allergic reactions, creating a biological loop between the cycle and the immune response.

28/04/2026

Yams and soy do not contain progesterone, testosterone or oestrogen.
The active ingredient in the plants either diosgenin or stigmasterol is extracted in a laboratory and then converted to hormones.
Once the process is complete, the resulting hormone is "body-identical", meaning it is chemically identical to the hormones produced by human ovaries. The body cannot tell whether the molecule began its life as a soy plant or a yam.
However, the exogenous hormone does not arrive in a pulsing way like the version made in the ovaries.
More importantly human digestive systems cannot convert diosgenin or stigmasterol into hormones.

27/04/2026

Not long to go now! I am really excited to be speaking at the The Allergy & Free From Show on Saturday 9th May at 12pm.
I'll be sharing insights about the Missing Menopause Memo with Rebecca Seal and talking all things menstrual health.
Let me know in the comments if you are going to be there.
Grab a ticket here https://allergyshow.seetickets.com/event/the-allergy-and-free-from-show/nec/3561839

27/04/2026

Did you know? Both a one-off 'acute' style and long-term 'chronic' stress affects your menstrual cycle.
Acute stress usually delays the signal to your ovaries via the brain's GnRH hormone, while prolonged stress muffles it entirely, leading to irregular or missing periods.
When menstrual cycles individually get affected this has a knock-on effect in the mind and body, which is the same as saying, 'your menstrual health is affected'.

PS. Cortisol does not steal your progesterone 🙄

12/04/2026

The 4 Swans have become a fundamental part of teaching ovarian activity over age.
I can't imagine teaching menstrual health across life stages any other way. When you know it's all about sensitivity to changing levels and not the absolite levels that creates symptoms, helping others through perimenopause and beyond takes on a whole new easier to uderstand, mind blowingly effective perspective.

The “low oestrogen” story dominates menopause narratives, yet SWAN research shows four estradiol trajectories with episodic surges, not steady decline. Learn why this changes how we understand perimenopause and symptom patterns.

01/04/2026

We are looking forward to a day out at the The Allergy & Free From Show on 9th May, where Fiona Catchpowle will be speaking about Menopausology: The Missing Menopause Memo 😎
Follow the link to read more and book your tickets

Fiona Catchpowle is a Menopause Doula based in Birmingham. She specialises in teaching health and wellbeing professionals to become menstrual health informed, through a biology-led framework, with a whole person approach. With over 35 years experience as an educator, featured by The Sunday Times and...

18/03/2026

Perimenopause is not just 'the time before menopause'. It has a specifc definition. If we all used the same globally recognised one then things would be far less confusing.

A definition of perimenopause and other stages of ovarian aging were defined back in 2011 by STRAW+10. If we all used the same definitions it would make more sense.

06/02/2026

We're looking forward to being a part of this again.
When: Friday, 6th March
⏰ Time: 10 AM – 4 PM
📍 Where: Dudley Town Centre (By the fountains and the markets)
🎟 Entry: Completely FREE and everybody is welcome!
What to expect:
✅ Mini health checks
✅ Advice from NHS experts
✅ Guidance from the Menopause School
✅ Freebies and friendly chats

Navigating Our Womanhood Together (NOWT) is bringing the Women’s Health Bus Tour to Dudley! 🚌💗

Join us as we celebrate International Women’s Day by prioritizing our health, supporting one another, and getting the expert advice we deserve.

Whether you have questions about menopause, want a quick health check, or just fancy a chat with our amazing experts, we can’t wait to see you there. Remember: NOWT we can't do together!

The Details:

When: Friday, 6th March
⏰ Time: 10 AM – 4 PM
📍 Where: Dudley Town Centre (By the fountains and the markets)
🎟 Entry: Completely FREE and everybody is welcome!

What to expect:

✅ Mini health checks

✅ Advice from NHS experts

✅ Guidance from the Menopause School

✅ Freebies and friendly chats

Let’s make our health a priority this International Women’s Day. Tag a friend who needs to see this and come along together! 👭

12/01/2026

I spotted a claim about testosterone in younger women, in a social media post by a clinical person.
The statement is not true. What the biology actually shows ⬇

✅Estradiol is the most abundant biologically active s*x hormone in people with ovaries during the reproductive years. It circulates at much higher biological impact and drives systemic effects across the brain, bones, metabolism, cardiovascular system, skin, and the menstrual cycle.

📌Progesterone is also a major biologically active hormone during ovulatory cycles, with profound effects on the brain and nervous system, sleep, temperature regulation, and immune signalling.

➡️Testosterone is present in much lower concentrations. While important, it is not the most abundant and not the primary driver of menstrual cycle physiology or systemic hormone signalling.

Confusion often arises from discussions of androgen production or precursor pools, which do not reflect circulating bioactive hormone levels or overall physiological influence.
A more accurate statement would be:
"Testosterone is an important hormone in people with ovaries, but estradiol and progesterone are the most abundant biologically active s*x hormones during the reproductive years."

Why this matters:
Precision in language shapes understanding. Abundance, activity, and influence are not interchangeable, and mislabelling testosterone feeds inaccurate expectations around hormone testing and treatment.

✔️ Biology over buzzwords
✔️ Precision over provocation
✔️ Verify before you amplify

We include topics like this in all our trainings
https://academy.themenopauseschool.com/certified-menstrual-health-and-menopause-training-programs

18/11/2025

Sometimes the crazy things you read about ovarian aging, menopause, HRT and Mother Nature on social media astonish me.
I've just read a comment by a 'menopause expert' repeating the old chestnut that Mother Nature made women in such a way that they died close to menopause age and therefore didn't need hormones replacing, but now that we live longer we do 🤦🏻‍♀️
There are so many things wrong with that statement. It's quicker if I let ChatGPT explain 😊
Read the full answer here https://chatgpt.com/share/691c85a3-9588-8002-b8be-490af2c3e56c

14/10/2025

The Menopause School have developed a set of facts sheets for a weekend of amazing community events organised by the Women’s Health Co-production Group called NOWT - Navigating our womanhood together - born from a powerful co-production of 12 local organisations across Wolverhampton and Sandwell, NOWT is here to connect, uplift and inform.
✅They are building a space where everyone feels seen, heard and supported — no stigma, no shame, just real talk and real care.
This weekend the Women's Health Tour Bus will be celebrating World Menopause Day in the following places:
📍 FRI 17 OCT | 10AM–4PM
Sandwell – New Square Shopping Centre, West Bromwich (Next to Costa)
📍 SAT 18 OCT | 10AM–4PM
Wolverhampton City Centre, Queen’s Square (Next to “The Man on the Horse”)
💬 Free mini health checks
🎓 Expert advice from The Menopause School & more
🎁 Freebies to take home
🙌 Everyone is welcome!
Let’s Navigate Our Womanhood Together — because there’s NOWT we can’t do together 💪💕

All of this incredible work could not have happened without the support of Black Country Integrated Care System - ICS

BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country