Viewers left in tears at Davina McCall's 'mind-blowing' menopause documentary

Viewers were blown away by Davina McCall's 'phenomenal' documentary about the impact that the menopause has on women's brains.  

The presenter's latest Channel 4 programme, Sex, Mind and the Menopause, explores how menopause can affect the mind and the role of hormone therapy in easing symptoms including brain fog and memory loss.  

Davina, 54, opened up about her own 'horrific' experience with brain fog, as well as hearing from a woman who believed she was developing early onset dementia during the perimenopause. 

She spoke with neuroscientists Dr Lisa Mosconi and Dr Roberta Brinton who say women should begin taking HRT at the age hormone levels decrease, because their brains will eventually become more unreceptive to therapy. 

Viewers were astonished by the findings of the documentary, hailing it a must-watch for both men and women and praising the host for her 'amazing informative programme'. 

Viewers were blown away by Davina McCall's 'phenomenal' documentary about the impact that the menopause has on women's brains

She spoke with neuroscientists Dr Lisa Mosconi and Dr Roberta Brinton who say women should begin taking HRT at the age hormone levels decrease, because their brain will eventually become more unreceptive to therapy

The documentary featured shocking statistics from a Channel 4 survey revealing that of the 4,000 45-55-year-olds asked, seventy per cent reported suffering from brain fog. 

Almost half said menopause symptoms affected their ability to do their job while nearly 85 per cent said there was nobody in the workplace to turn to about their problems. One in 10 had quit their job as a result. 

Speaking on her own experiences with brain fog, Davina said: 'Brain fog is horrific. When I had it, I couldn't read autocues, something weird happened to my eyes, I couldn't read celebrities' names. 

'I seriously thought I was going to have to give up presenting and when I was asked if I was okay I said "yes". 

Viewers were astonished by the findings of the documentary, hailing it a must watch for both men and women and praising the host for her 'amazing informative programme'

'I was so full of shame about what was going on. I just couldn't talk to people and it breaks my heart that ten years later women are still struggling, still ashamed of something that is completely natural.' 

The presenter chatted with Paula Fry, a high-flying City executive who feared she was developing dementia when she began going through perimenopause in her early 40s. 

'My symptoms I can pin back to when I was about 43,' she said. 'I went to a big tech firm had a lot to learn, a great job and I couldn't remember what I was doing. I thought I had early onset dementia.

The presenter chatter with Paula Fry, a high-flying City executive who feared she was developing dementia when she began going through perimenopause in her early 40s

'I spent a lot of time worrying and masking it, I had heavy bleeding quite a bit of pain every month. I had three pairs of pants on.

'I've been in meetings where I might be the only woman in a room full of ten men and I have to stand up and finish a pitch and shake hands with a load of people and I'm grimacing inside thinking, "Check the chair. Can I shuffle out if that happens?".' 

When asked whether she ever shared any of her problems with her workplace, she said: 'Never, never once.'

'The brain fog got me was the most debilitating thing about menopause. I just thought 'I'm not clever enough to do this job, i've lost it'. I forgot names and I'd be looking at someone and the name is gone.' 

The documentary saw Davina meet with Dr Mosconi and Dr Brinton, who have spent decades researching how women's brands change as their oestrogen levels decrease.  

'As a society we associate menopause with the function of the ovaries, but when when women say they have the hot flushes, the night sweats, the insomnia, the anxiety, depression, brain fog - those symptoms don't start in the ovaries. Those symptoms start in the brain', explained Dr Mosconi. 

Their research showed HRT is far more beneficial at the onset of a woman's perimenopause - when their hormone levels begin to drop - because that is when their brains begin to change, and ten years later their brain won't be as responsive to therapy.

'Menopause is like a renovation project on the brain,' said Dr Brinton. 'A restructuring a rewiring. 

'The brain is very clearly telling you: "I am under stress, I am in distress". The idea we can just suck it up is actually deleterious to women's longterm health.

'The use of oestrogen and hormone therapy at the time of menopausal symptoms [is crucial] - not ten not 15 years later, the brain has already changed and it's no longer going to be responsive to oestrogen therapy'.

Dr Paula Briggs, a Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health, told Davina later that despite some GPs denying perimenopausal women HRT - it's much better to start before they transition into menopause. 

'It's much better if women are started in the menopause transition, before they have experienced lack of oestrogen and the effects that causes. 

'I do see lots of women who have suffered for five or seven years and things happen, their marriages might break down or they lost their job and they go on HRT and they feel better, but they could have had that previously. So I think it's important women are given the right information early on so they understand they don't need to suffer.' 

Viewers were fascinated by their findings, with one writing: '@ThisisDavina another fantastic documentary. Well done to everyone making waves Those two ladies highlighting the changes in the brain blew me away. Don't let this be the last one please.'

'Thank you for your amazing informative programme last night', said another. 'Every woman has the right to have a normal happy healthy life through the menopause and after. 

GP Dr Zoe Hodson believes replacing the testosterone women lose as they enter middle age could be the key to helping women going through menopause

Dr Paula Briggs, a Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health, told Davina later that despite some GPs denying perimenopausal women HRT - it's much better to start before they transition into menopause

The documentary saw Davina address the postcode lottery when it comes to accessing body identical HRT, which is not readily available in large parts of the country. The treatment uses a medication called Utrogestan, which is identical to the progesterone found in women's bodies

'Made me cry as I'm going through this atm. Hubbie watched with me and it made him understand.'

'Everyone, I mean everyone, should watch the #DavinaMenopause programme. So eye opening, we really, as a society, need to be far more supportive of those going through menopause', said another. 

'What a programme! Thank you Davina....this programme has brought me and lots of other women solace knowing we are not alone!', said another. 

The landmark documentary comes after news private menopause clinics are seeing ten times as many patients as they were 18 months ago as women desperately try to access HRT medication.

Experts said many women feel dismissed by NHS GPs who tell them they are ‘too young’ to be going through the menopause or wrongly diagnose them with depression.

Many research HRT online and choose to seek treatment at private clinics due to delays in getting prescriptions and waits of around a year for an appointment with an NHS specialist.

One private practice is seeing 4,000 patients a month – up from 300 in just a year and a half.

GPs are under growing pressure due to a national shortage of HRT, particularly Oestrogel, which is used by around 30,000 women in the UK to help manage debilitating symptoms of the menopause.

The documentary saw Davina address the postcode lottery when it comes to accessing body identical HRT, which is not readily available in large parts of the country. 

The treatment uses a medication called Utrogestan, which is identical to the progesterone found in women's bodies. 

Scottish GP Dr Helen Smith, who does not have the medication on her prescription list, explained: 'Utrogestan is derived from plants but it is identical to our own natural progesterone. 

'So it's very well tolerated by women and has a slightly lower risk with regards to breast cancer and clots and strikes so it is a really good, safe medicine to use.

'It was felt it didn't have a good economic case for prescribing it. Really when you look at it, it's really not that expensive if you compare it to some of the other ones. I think it's probably time to have another look at it'. 

Davina explained that the financial difference between Utrogestan and a cheaper alternative was only £18 per woman per year. 

The documentary also explores how testosterone can help women experiencing menopause, with the presenter admitting she lied about taking the hormone because it's 'seen as a male hormone'. 

The hormone is often used to treat low sex drive in women, however the British Menopause Society believes it can aid other symptoms including mood, cognitive function, metabolic function, urogenital health. 

GP Dr Zoe Hodson said: 'Your testosterone does a sort of steady dribble down and by the time you're 50 it can be about half level. So it's no wonder everyone is a bit tired. It's that ability to feel pleasure.' 

When asked about women who feat taking testosterone in case they become more masculine, the doctor said: 'As long as it stays within normal female physiological range we can discount the beards, we can discount the testicals.' 

After Davina asked whether testosterone could be the key to helping women going through menopause, she added: 'I think so. We lose three hormones and we replace two, who came up with that bright idea.'

Why the NHS MUST offer testosterone to women struggling with the menopause: As HRT shortages bite, KATE MUIR, the producer of Davina McCall's landmark TV programme, tells of her struggle with the change 

The shortage of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has caused uproar, igniting debates in Parliament and triggering the appointment of an HRT tsar.

The lack of oestrogen gel means that thousands of menopausal women are going cold turkey and their symptoms are returning overnight. Hopefully they’ll get their hormones and lives back soon. And then they may want something more: testosterone.

For as a new generation of menopausal women have discovered, they are missing not just two hormones — progesterone and oestrogen — but three.

Testosterone is a female hormone, too, and one we make in the largest amount; three times that of oestrogen.

Yet no one tells you that in school biology lessons. According to the British Menopause Society, it helps energy, mood, libido and cognition, plus it maintains muscle and bone.

At work, I felt like a clapped-out banger before I started testosterone. Now I know I’ll cruise smoothly through the day, like a Tesla, writes Kate Muir, pictured

While oestrogen and progesterone drop suddenly at menopause, testosterone gently peters out. But supplementing with testosterone at that time can help with debilitating symptoms, too.

I’ve been using testosterone cream for six years as part of my HRT.

The main difference it makes for me is in memory — before I began taking it I sometimes panicked and struggled to find the words for things. Now I can give a speech for an hour without notes.

At work, I felt like a clapped-out banger before I started testosterone. Now I know I’ll cruise smoothly through the day, like a Tesla.

It’s not just my experience — as part of a documentary I produced, Davina McCall: Sex, Mind And The Menopause, which was screened last night, we monitored a group of working women in their 50s who started taking testosterone on top of their regular HRT over three months. The results were astonishing.

‘I seem to have a sharpness back, a real focus and clarity about what I’m trying to say,’ said Joanne Harding, a councillor. Before the experiment she’d been exhausted. ‘It’s tiring feeling so tired all the time,’ she’d told us. (It wasn’t just how they felt — blood tests showed all the women’s testosterone levels were low-to-zero at the start.)

Paula Fry, a senior manager in the City, had said of her libido: ‘Brad Pitt wouldn’t do it for me.’ After testosterone treatment her mojo was back, and in general she said ‘it just feels like a lift in mood, the missing piece of the jigsaw’.

Before our experiment, business manager Maggie Dennis just said resignedly: ‘What is libido? I’d almost forgotten about it.’

And after? ‘I feel more like myself. I can think more clearly. I’ve got my va-va-voom back!’

Yet as Dr Zoe Hodson, a GP from Manchester and menopause specialist, said in the programme: ‘We lose three hormones and they give us back two. Whose bright idea was that?’

She also explained that women’s fears that testosterone supplements would make them hairy were largely unfounded. Menopause experts give women only a tiny bit of testosterone, and roughly the same amount as the average woman would have in her early 40s (women need a tenth of the amount men make).

The shortage of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has caused uproar, igniting debates in Parliament and triggering the appointment of an HRT tsar 

Occasionally women don’t tolerate it well, and one report has suggested that some can experience mild acne and hair growth — particularly if they use too much.

But after six years, I haven’t grown a moustache. Dr Hodson said: ‘As long as it stays within the normal female physiological range, we can discount the beards, we can discount the testicles!’

What was surprising is that testosterone in both women and men is commonly viewed as a sex hormone, ramping up desire.

But the tests with the women for our documentary — and what they emphasised themselves — showed that the hormone had brought back their mental agility as well as their ability to feel pleasure.

Carolyn Harris, a Labour MP who has led the campaign in Parliament for a yearly payment for HRT prescriptions, is another who has experienced the brain-boosting impact of testosterone.

She started taking testosterone on top of her regular HRT last year, and is delighted with the results: ‘Testosterone should be readily available on prescription for all women,’ she told me.

Many women in the spotlight take testosterone and are happy to talk about it, including Lorraine Kelly and Davina McCall, who has seen great results but admitted in last night’s show: ‘Testosterone was another hormone I lied about taking — I felt embarrassed and ashamed about it.’ Not any more.

The message is getting out there, but slowly: in a survey of more than 4,000 women for the programme, 61 per cent had never heard that testosterone could be part of HRT. Yet NHS guidelines approve it ‘for menopausal women with low sexual desire if HRT alone is not effective’.

Setting up our testosterone tests for the programme, we decided to go beyond just filming.

We wanted the women to have solid evidence for themselves about any changes, so they filled in a form rating the severity of more than 20 menopause symptoms, and a testosterone-specific test which asked about brain fog, energy and libido. Most found that after the testosterone treatment their general menopause symptoms, such as difficulty sleeping, had gone from extreme to rare or non-existent. And they were no longer misplacing objects around the house — the car-keys-in-the-fridge syndrome had gone.

We didn’t have time to show all of this on TV, but our interviewees agreed to do other ‘before’ and ‘after’ tests, including memory checks. Again, there were improvements. ‘I can remember my husband’s mobile number now,’ said one tester.

Obviously, this was not proper science, and after you have done a test once you tend to get better at it. But it did give the women insight into their progress.

Menopause researchers are hoping to do cognitive trials on a larger scale, and academics at Manchester Metropolitan University are planning to investigate women and testosterone with data from the UK Biobank (a project involving 500,000 people).

There has been one trial comparing testosterone gel and a placebo on 92 women who were not already on HRT, conducted by Professor Susan Davis at Monash University, Australia.

It showed ‘a consistent finding of improved performance on tests of verbal learning and memory with testosterone therapy’.

Studies have shown that testosterone treatment does not raise the risk of breast cancer — long-term risks remain untested, but using gel or cream is known to be safer than pills or implants.

Despite testosterone being approved by the NHS, very few GPs feel confident about prescribing it. Because it was once wrongly considered to be a male-only hormone, they were not taught about it at medical school.

A female testosterone patch was approved in the UK years ago, particularly for younger women with low sexual desire after a hysterectomy or removal of the ovaries, but was discontinued due to ‘lack of demand’. So now women are given male-sized sachets or pumps of testosterone gel on the NHS, and have to work out one tenth of the dose themselves.

I’m on a six-month waiting list just to apply to get testosterone gel at my NHS menopause clinic.

I get the rest of my HRT on the NHS but have to go private to buy AndroFeme, a testosterone cream for women that’s licensed in Australia and imported here. It costs me about £160 a year — but I’d rather have that than a cappuccino in the morning.

The British Menopause Society guidelines for doctors note that a lack of testosterone in women ‘can lead to a number of distressing sexual symptoms such as low sexual desire, arousal and orgasm.

‘Testosterone deficiency can also contribute to a reduction in general quality of life, tiredness, depression, headaches, cognitive problems, osteoporosis and muscle loss.’ Topping it up seems to be a no-brainer. As Davina McCall asks: ‘When will they give us our own hormone back?’

Kate Muir is the author of Everything You Need To Know About The Menopause (But Were Too Afraid To Ask).