Navigating a maze of symptoms from hot flushes to suicidal thoughts, perimenopause is a women’s health issue that has slipped under the radar until recent years. It’s now the focus of Effin Hormones, a podcast created by four friends and indie producers in Manchester trying to figure it all out alongside their listeners.
“When we first started [the podcast], the bog standard image would be a pained looking grey-haired woman in front of a fan, who looked probably 20 years older than certainly I and all my mates felt,” Helen Brown, producer and the brains behind Effin Hormones, told Prolific North.
The podcast recently won Gold for Best Wellbeing podcast at the British Podcast Awards, as the group continue to challenge perceptions with a healthy dose of Northern wit.
“The problem in this country is we don’t do public health messages. We don’t do women’s health. We don’t talk about the things that you can do to help yourself,” said Terri Sweeney, proudly showcasing the award on her mantlepiece.
Helen Brown is joined on the podcast by host Emma Goswell, co-hosts Terri Sweeney and Beena Khetani, with new guests featuring on each episode.
“We are ex ravers sort of but we didn’t really meet on the dance floor,” teased Emma Goswell, who is also a radio presenter on Virgin Radio Pride.
The four friends, three of whom are ex-BBC staff, initially met by the smoking shed at the BBC when the office was based on Oxford Road in Manchester.
Although Khetani currently works at BBC Studios, both Brown and Goswell worked together initially as producers at Radio Manchester, whilst Sweeney moved up to Manchester after working at both BBC Radio 1 and 2 in London.
“We had a redundancy round at the BBC called Delivering Quality First and I set up something called delivering quality thirst, which was a drinking session,” joked Sweeney.
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Pictured left to right: Helen, Emma, Beena and Terri.
After “a lot of after work drinking” and establishing solid friendships, the Coronavirus pandemic hit and after work drinks transitioned into regular online drinks over Zoom instead.
“We would get on Zoom, drink and talk about our bodily problems,” said Goswell.
“I’ve been wanting to make a perimenopause podcast for a really long time because I was deeply frustrated with the lack of support,” explained Brown, who is also Managing Editor at Purposeful Podcasts.
“I really wanted to update that image of people going through this time of life because it just didn’t seem to reflect me at all. I’ve been ticking it over in my mind for a couple of years then as soon as we all started talking about it on Zoom, I was like: ‘This is it. This is the podcast. I could hear it’.”
“It’s something generationally women have just put up with”
According to the British Menopause Society, more than 75% of women are affected by menopausal symptoms and over 25% of women describe their symptoms as severe.
“Perimenopause can be up to 10 years before you actually stop having your periods and the average age for a woman to have menopause and stop periods is 51. So you could be all the way through your 40s having all sorts of issues,” said Sweeney.
Terri Sweeney
It was an issue that only started to gain widespread attention in 2021, after the group began working on their podcast. Through Channel 4’s documentary with Davina McCall called Sex, Myths and the Menopause, it led to protests and campaigners calling on the government to break down the taboos surrounding women’s health.
“It’s something that generationally women have just put up with, just put a brave face on and just thought ‘oh, we can cope with this. We’ll do this’. It’s time for that to end, it’s time to actually get the treatment we deserve,” Goswell explained.
As soon as the group hit their 40s, they all began experiencing various symptoms with no idea about what was happening to them – and it seemed as though their GPs were none the wiser too.
“I had horrendous migraines that would floor me – feeling faint, feeling irritable, feeling anxious, palpitations, all these things. Nobody ever put two and two together and said ‘oh, do you think you might be in perimenopause?’”
“The fundamental issue that women are having is being dismissed, the misogyny in some GP practices, the lack of health equality and then the lack of access to HRT,” added Sweeney.
“I collapsed on the tram twice on the way to work”
Battling with doctors over perimenopause symptoms is an experience shared by most of the group. “I collapsed on the tram twice on the way to work,” said Goswell. “I went to my GP and they literally just said to me ‘there’s nothing wrong with you, stop worrying about it, it happens occasionally’. The GP just totally dismissed me. That was all part of perimenopause.”
Emma Goswell
“We wish we’d had this information in our 30s so I knew what was coming. It hit us and had no idea what was going on, there wasn’t [any] information.”
“Our hope for [the podcast] is that loads more women will start to listen much younger than they think they’re gonna get the menopause.”
“We’re a very small but hopefully important part of the menopause revolution,” added Sweeney.
There remains a lack of understanding around the impact perimenopause can have on mental health too. Coronation Street star Sue Devaney appears as a guest on one of the episodes, delving into how her life ground to a halt during perimenopause.
“When you hear the story about what she’d gone through and how dark it really got for her, I just thought it was really interesting. She talked about coping with menopause in the workplace and how Coronation Street had been really understanding, giving her extra time to look at scripts or let her take scripts on set because of brain fog,” said Goswell.
Although in Devaney’s case her employer was supportive, it isn’t the same for everyone with many women leaving their posts at the height of their career due to a lack of support.
“They’re leaving in their droves because they can’t cope with the menopause.”
From the impact perimenopause can have on your sex life to discussing HRT treatment, the podcast isn’t all doom and gloom. Alongside Sweeney’s staple dad jokes, the group make sure they have a laugh whilst diving into important issues with their guests.
“We all think you have to laugh because that helps you get through it,” said Brown. “It’s very funny, very sweary! We come up with all sorts of silly features and take the mickey out of each other and have a laugh.”
Helen Brown
“That’s really what a lot of people have connected with because it’s a difficult time. You can feel very, very lonely because no one was talking about it and you’re going through these horrible symptoms. It was really, really important to me to provide people with a gang that they could hang out with.”
“Just having an impact on one woman’s life, we know we’re doing everything right”
With two series under their belt and a third on the way, the group want to continue to highlight issues surrounding both perimenopause and menopause.
“We hear from women from all walks of life. We’ve heard from a guest who had surgical menopause when she was in her 30s due to cancer. Looking at the whole picture of women’s health is part of what we’re doing and how it affects hormones,” said Sweeney.
“There have been quite powerful messages of some people who’ve been on the border of feeling suicidal saying that hearing that they’re not going mad or that they’re not on their own has actually helped them to do something about it.”
She added: “I certainly think we’re getting rid of the shame around it.”
“Honestly, the messages that we’ve had brought us to tears,” added Brown. “People’s stories need to be told.”
The four friends behind Effin Hormones
They haven’t just helped listeners through their podcast, sharing their own experiences with each other has helped them on their own journeys too.
“When I think about how far I’ve come since we started recording just over a year ago, how far I’ve come since I was sat at my girlfriend’s garden just bawling my eyes out. I’m a different person, you know? I’m vaguely sane,” said Goswell.
“That journey we’ve been on over the last year, it is really strong for me to see where I was last year and to know where I am now,” added Sweeney. “Little things have changed but they’ve made a massive difference.”
With more than 4,000 downloads of the podcast in the space of a week, the group are open to funding or sponsorship for their next series which will be released with an episode a month.
“We’re just trying to raise enough money to keep us going,” she explained. The group currently fund and find the time to create the podcast themselves alongside juggling their busy day jobs.
It’s something the group is all passionate about continuing as “so many more people are talking about” the menopause revolution.
“Just having an impact on one woman’s life, we know we’re doing everything right. It makes all the embarrassment and everything else that we might feel sometimes when we’re doing it feel worth it,” said Sweeney.
You can listen to the Effin Hormones podcast via the website on effinhormones.com or on Spotify.
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