In Episode 2 of On the ’Mones, Kate starts with a moment many midlife women will recognise: a close friend, a few glasses of wine, a forgotten word — and the immediate dismissal of perimenopause as something “everyone else is doing.”

That moment opens the door to a much bigger conversation.

This episode explores why many women resist menopause care — even informed, health-literate women — and why perimenopause is often misunderstood as a “trend” rather than what it really is: a long-overdue correction to decades of silence, stigma, and medical neglect.

Kate unpacks:

• Why perimenopause is being talked about more — and why that doesn’t mean it’s overdiagnosed
• How menopause mirrors the cultural unmasking we’ve already seen with ADHD in women
• Why HRT is no longer just about hot flushes, but long-term brain, bone, and heart health
• The three types of estrogen (E1, E2, E3) and how oral, transdermal, and vaginal forms differ
• How to think about estrogen as a toolkit, not a one-size-fits-all prescription
• And why resistance to “what everyone else is getting” is often about fear, identity, and agency — not medicine

The episode also features a deep dive into Wellness Woo of the Week, tackling wild yam cream: what it claims to do, why it doesn’t work biochemically, and why women are so often targeted by hormone misinformation in the first place.

This is an episode about hormones — but it’s also about psychology, culture, gender bias, and what happens when women finally have language for what they’ve been experiencing all along.

Smart, evidence-based, occasionally sweary, and deeply validating — this one is for anyone who’s ever wondered whether midlife medicine is a fad… or long-overdue progress.