Hello, I'm Dr Louise Newsome. I'm a GP and menopause specialist, and I'm also the founder of the Newsome Health Menopause and wellbeing centre here in Stratford-Pon-Avon.

I'm also the founder of the free Balance app.

Each week on my podcast, join me and my special guests where we discuss all things perimenopause

and menopause. We talk about the latest research, bust myths on menopause symptoms and treatments,

and often share moving and always inspirational personal stories.

This podcast is brought to you by the Newsome Health Group,

which has clinics across the UK dedicated to providing individualised perimenopause and menopause care for all women.

So today on the podcast I've got someone called Melanie Furwood, who actually is from South Africa,

and I don't think I've interviewed someone who's been in South Africa before.

So this is a first, Melanie.

Hello, lovely. And hello from Cape Town. Yeah. So you reached out to me and you've written a book,

which we'll talk about, but it's about knowledge showing. A lot of the work that I do,

many people realize, is about sharing information, sharing knowledge, so as individuals, we can

decide what's right for us. So tell us a bit about you and we'll talk a bit more in, well,

in a lot of detail about hysterectomy, the operation to remove a woman's womb. So if you don't mind

just saying a bit more about you, if that's okay. Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

It's lovely to speak to you and to all your listeners.

And thank you for what you do for all us women all around the world.

So I don't come from a medical background.

Actually, I have a political background.

I was a member of Parliament in South Africa with Nelson Mandela.

And between our transition, 1994 to 2001, I then became South

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