SHE Health

29/01/2026

27/01/2026

Everyone’s talking about how hard it is to look back at photos from 2016, and for me (Katie) that really rings true.

We started that year in ICU with my youngest recovering from a bone marrow transplant for a rare form of leukaemia. My eldest was a perfect match donor, and we know how incredibly lucky we were.
This was a pivotal time in my life. It made me realise how fragile life is, how important it is to look after yourself, and how much living as the best version of yourself really matters. The support of family and friends meant everything. We spent so much time apart, with one child in hospital and a four-year-old at home.

16 was the year we stopped taking family life for granted and started truly cherishing the moments we had together.

While 2016 was also the turning point for me (Laura ) Working as a GP partner after 2 years of watching first my littlest at the end of 2014 being critically unwell . Then soon after in 2015 Katie’s youngest was diagnosed with leukaemia. I realised I wasn’t looking after myself and couldn’t give my all to my patients either.

By the end of the year I reevaluated how to practice medicine. How joining the dots was critical to making a difference and how critical lifestyle medicine is to our wellbeing.

We didn’t have a plan back then - but we started with our youngest going to school and we went back to studying more too.

Which 10 years later has led to the evolution of SHE Health.

24/01/2026

Perimenopause isn’t just about oestrogen.

Progesterone and testosterone are often the first hormones to fluctuate and decline.
That affects sleep, mood, motivation, muscle, and emotional resilience.

Oestrogen then becomes more erratic.
Because its receptors exist head to toe, symptoms can show up everywhere.

Not just hot flushes, but things like:

▪️ waking at 3am with your brain wide awake
▪️ twitchy eyelids or restless, jumpy legs
▪️ feeling irrationally irritated by small noises - chewing, drinking or heavy breathing
▪️ feeling overstimulated or unusually irritated
▪️ walking into a room and forgetting why
▪️ joint aches or frozen shoulder out of nowhere
▪️ bloating and digestion that suddenly feels off
▪️ palpitations that make you pause
▪️ vaginal dryness or bladder symptoms you weren’t expecting yet

Your cycle may still be regular.
Blood tests may look normal.
That doesn’t mean hormones aren’t involved.

When symptoms don’t fit the hot-flush narrative, hormones are still very much part of the conversation.
These symptoms make sense once you understand what hormones are doing and your body.

Talking about it helps others recognise and get help ans support if needed.

22/01/2026

Hormone health, perimenopause, fatigue, brain fog, and weight changes are often spoken about as separate issues.

Those symptoms are signals, and the challenge is understanding which ones matter, and how they connect.

Brain fog. Poor sleep. Low mood. Weight changes. Cycle variation.
These are often dismissed as “just hormones”, normal phases of ageing, or attributed to postpartum life and busy lives.

In reality, symptoms are rarely driven by one hormone or one system alone.

▪ Hormone fluctuations across perimenopause or after having children
▪ Stress and cortisol load
▪ Thyroid changes
▪ Blood sugar instability
▪ Suboptimal nutrition, including low iron, folate, B12 or vitamin D
▪ Early metabolic changes

This is why symptoms deserve proper attention, not just reassurance.

Patterns matter. Tracking is one of our favourite tools.

Blood tests help join the dots and ensure all systems are working as they should. They help make sure nothing important is overlooked.

Health literacy matters to us . Helping you understand what is happening in your body is just as important to us as the treatments and recommendations we make.

This is the work Katie and I do every day, and have done for years.
Listening carefully, joining the dots, and helping women make sense of hormone symptoms, fatigue and brain fog is a fundamental part of how our clinic works.

We choose to spend more time at the start, so you don’t have to keep repeating yourself later, and everything that follows feels simpler and more joined up.

20/01/2026

We see cervical screening avoidance A LOT in women experiencing perimenopause and menopause.

Lower oestrogen can lead to vaginal dryness and sensitivity, which can make the process feel more uncomfortable, painful and sometimes trigger infections and bleeding.

If that’s been your experience, it’s important to know there are options and support available. Screening is about prevention, and planing ahead to find out how to make it better can make all the difference.

A separate appointment to discuss your concerns, developing a plan to work out why the symptoms are happening and consider treatment options ahead of time are just some of the ways that can help.

Vaginal oestrogen medications come in a variety of forms to try. And for most patients they are safe, even if you can’t use main HRT.

As it’s cervical cancer prevention week we wanted to open up the conversation so that you know all the available options.

19/01/2026

Periods and their impact are not always easy for women to talk about. However they can really affect your quality of life and what you can and can’t do.

Signs your period may be heavier than normal include:

■ Passing clots (especially larger than a £2 coin)
■ Needing to change pads or tampons very frequently
■ Flow that interrupts your day, work, exercise or sleep
■ Flooding or leaking despite protection

Heavy periods can sit alongside wider symptoms such as:

■ Fatigue or low energy
■ Hair thinning or hair loss
■ Palpitations , headaches or itching
■ Joint aches or unexplained pains
■ Feeling wiped out after your period finishes

Heavy bleeding is commonly linked with iron deficiency, hormone changes , thyroid issues or conditions such as fibroids or adenomyosis or sometimes cancer.

If your periods are disrupting your life more than they should, it’s worth looking deeper. Blood tests and a proper assessment can make a real difference to working out the cause as well as managing the symptoms .

Save to share with someone who keeps being told it’s “normal”.

17/01/2026

January often brings this pressure to do more and change faster. We’ve heard lots of stories in clinic this week.
For many women, we hear how this gets layered onto lives that are already really full.

When too much is asked at once, there’s little space for disrupted sleep, work stress, caring responsibilities, or hormonal fluctuation.
That’s usually where good intentions fall apart, not because the goal was wrong, but because the stricture couldn’t flex.

Smaller, steadier habit changes allow room for real life.
They support progress without tipping into overwhelm because they place less demand on the nervous system, reduce cognitive load, and are easier to repeat even under stress.

This is how habits tend to stick in the real world - through repetition in imperfect conditions, built into busy imperfect lives.

And they feel less of a chore.
We’re living busy lives too- so sleep is where we’re putting our focus for now after changing routines through December.

Nervous system regulation and sleep and their impact on choices and habits is so often overlooked.

We’ll be talking more about habits, behaviour change, and how to manage your nervous system, in a way that’s practical and realistic.
More information coming tomorrow.

Happy Saturday!

L & K

09/01/2026

Feeling overwhelmed by perimenopause?

Here at SHE l Health, we offer personalised, whole-health support that looks beyond symptoms.

We understand you need time.
Time to be heard and time for proper medical assessment.
We use that time to understand you fully: your hormones, your body, your mind, and your lifestyle.
We join the dots using evidence-based medicine and lifestyle care.
Whether you’re navigating mood changes, fatigue, weight concerns, sleep disruption, or just not feeling like yourself, our approach is thoughtful, medical, and tailored, so you can feel informed and uplifted, back in control of your health.

Because your health deserves more than quick fixes.

06/01/2026

Hello (again)

If you’ve been here a while, thank you for staying with us through change. What do you think?
And our new followers, welcome!

Over the last few days we’ve shared our rebrand - a clearer reflection of who we are, how we work, and the care we provide.

What hasn’t changed is our commitment to you to provide thoughtful, whole-health care for women like you who don’t feel themselves and want answers that make sense.

This space will continue to share evidence-based insight, clinical perspective, and honest and real conversations about women’s health - without noise, pressure, or quick fixes.

Whether you’ve followed us for years or found us this week, we’re so glad to have you here.

Laura & Katie and the rest of the SHE | Health Team