Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast On the Mones

Recorded on holiday in Hawaii, this episode of On the Mones starts on a beach and ends deep inside the nervous system.

Watching her adult children in the surf, Kate reflects on bodies, confidence, ageing, and the subtle way awareness changes how we move through the world. From instinctive confidence to emerging caution, from physical capability to perimenopausal vigilance, this episode explores what happens when experience collides with embodiment — and how generational mirrors quietly hold us up to ourselves.

Along the way, Kate unpacks the emotional charge of family dynamics, teenage daughters, impatience, competence, and the uncomfortable realisation that the traits we judge most harshly may be the ones we’re rehearsing.

In the pharmacology deep dive, Kate breaks down clonidine — an elegant, often underrated medication that calms the body’s stress response. From blood pressure and hot flushes to ADHD, anxiety, sleep, and withdrawal syndromes, this is a clear, practical explanation of how clonidine works, when it helps, and why it needs respect.

And in Wellness Woo of the Week, Kate tackles main character energy — the seductive belief that calm, health, and regulation are moral achievements rather than states shaped by biology, environment, privilege, and access.

This episode is about bodies on beaches, brains on alert, and the humility required to notice when confidence, calm, or competence starts to look like superiority — especially to the people closest to us.

Wherever you’re listening from: welcome.

Let’s get on the Mones.

What if the thing that makes you feel safest… isn’t actually helping you?

In this episode of On the Mones, Kate unpacks a deceptively simple idea with enormous consequences: comfort is not evidence.

It starts with a respectful — but confronting — comment thread on a debunking video about naturopathy, vulnerability, and communication. From there, the conversation widens into something much bigger: why women in midlife are so often sold reassurance instead of rigour, validation instead of verification, and how “feeling heard” has quietly become a substitute for clinical outcomes.

Kate explores:

• Why warmth, charisma, and simplification can be persuasive — but dangerous — in healthcare
• The lack of regulation around naturopathy and why “my clients love me” is not a defence
• Real-world harm, including Australian regulatory cases involving banned health practitioners
• How wellness culture targets women — especially during hormonal vulnerability — and why that matters

From there, the episode pivots into a clear, evidence-based deep dive on SSRIs:

• How SSRIs actually work in the brain (and what they don’t do)
• Why they’re sometimes prescribed for hot flushes
• And how perimenopausal anxiety is frequently treated with antidepressants when estrogen deficiency may be the real driver

Through a clinical lens — and a personal story — Kate makes the case for better questions, better context, and fewer lazy defaults when women in their 40s and 50s present with anxiety.

This episode also features a Woo of the Week takedown of “adrenal fatigue” — why it isn’t a diagnosis, why it feels comforting, and how it turns complex physiology into fast food.

If you’ve ever been told:

• “At least she listens”
• “It can’t hurt”
• “It makes people feel better”

This episode is your pause button.

Because feeling cared for matters — but only evidence protects you.

A ninety-year-old man walks into a community pharmacy, forgets his wallet… and pays for his prescriptions with Chaucer.
 A stranger steps in with quiet generosity.
 And somehow, that moment lodges — deeper than it would have twenty-five years ago.

If you’ve noticed that things land differently in midlife — emotions linger longer, moments feel heavier, meaning matters more — you’re not imagining it.

And if, at the same time, your periods have gone completely off the rails — heavier, closer together, unpredictable, exhausting — this episode is for you.

And because it wouldn’t be On the Mones without it, we finish with Woo of the Week: magnesium — the mineral that somehow got promoted to nervous-system saviour, hormone therapy, and emotional support supplement. What it actually does, where it helps, where it absolutely doesn’t. 

If your bleeding is disruptive, your emotions feel deeper, or you’re being told this is “just your age” — this episode is here to remind you:
 you’re not dramatic, you’re not failing, and you’re allowed care, clarity, and proper answers.

In this episode of On the ’Mones, Kate Thomas — pharmacist, midlife woman, and professional oversharer — tackles one of the most distressing and misunderstood parts of perimenopause: what’s actually happening to your brain.

If you’ve found yourself forgetting words, losing focus, feeling anxious “for no reason,” questioning whether you suddenly have ADHD in your 40s, or quietly Googling early-onset dementia at 2am — this episode is for you.

Because here’s the truth:
 You are not stupid. You are not lazy. And you are not losing your mind.
Your estrogen has simply stopped doing its full-time job.

Kate explains how estrogen functions as the brain’s unseen office manager — coordinating dopamine, serotonin and acetylcholine — and what happens when that system starts running on skeleton staff. The result? Brain fog, anxiety, poor memory, emotional volatility, sleep disruption, and a sudden collapse in cognitive resilience.

This episode covers:

• What estrogen actually does in the brain (spoiler: it’s not just about reproduction)
• Why brain fog feels cognitive, not emotional
• How perimenopause can unmask ADHD traits in midlife women
• The critical differences between brain fog, anxiety and burnout
• Why treating hormonal symptoms with productivity hacks or “just manage stress” advice backfires
• The role of sleep loss as a cognitive and emotional multiplier
• What estrogen therapy can — and can’t — do for cognition
• Where SSRIs, SNRIs, stimulants and off-label menopause medications do fit (and where they don’t)

Kate also shares a brutally honest story from a midlife dinner party that spirals into a candid conversation about libido, testosterone therapy, HSDD, and the unequal way men’s and women’s sexual health is treated in medicine — including why prescribing Viagra or Cialis without considering the partner is clinically short-sighted.

And in this week’s Woo of the Week, Kate takes a hard look at black cohosh:

• What it is (and what it definitely isn’t)
• What randomised controlled trials and Cochrane reviews actually show
• Why “natural” doesn’t mean effective
• And how oversold supplements cost women time, money and confidence

If you’ve ever felt gaslit by your own body, dismissed by well-meaning advice, or ashamed of changes you couldn’t explain — this episode gives you language, biology, and relief.

Because desire, clarity and resilience aren’t personality traits.
 They’re physiological processes — and they deserve real information, real medicine, and real conversations.

You’re not broken.
 You’re early to the conversation.

Is testosterone really making women “ragey”… or is it just giving us fewer f*$ks to give? Or is it all down to age and experience?

In Episode 4 of On the ’Mones, pharmacist Kate Thomas dives into one of the most misunderstood hormones in women’s health: testosterone. Along the way, she unpacks a petty (and infuriating) pharmacy encounter that sparks a much bigger conversation about boundaries, ageing, assertiveness, and how much bad behaviour women in healthcare are expected to tolerate.

This episode covers:

• What testosterone actually does in women (hint: it’s not a “male hormone”)
• Why women naturally produce testosterone — and what happens as levels decline in perimenopause and menopause
• The evidence-based role of testosterone in HRT
• Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD): what it is, how common it is, and why it’s so under-treated
• Why HSDD is a clinical diagnosis, not a blood test result
• How testosterone therapy compares to how easily erectile dysfunction is treated in men
• Safety, side effects, and monitoring of transdermal testosterone (including AndroFeme)
• Why testosterone doesn’t cause “rage” — but can reduce people-pleasing and tolerance for bullshit
• The difference between assertiveness and aggression in midlife women

Woo of the Week:
Kate takes aim at “natural testosterone boosters,” DHEA supplements, and adrenal support blends — breaking down why these products are often less safe, less predictable, and less evidence-based than properly prescribed testosterone therapy.

You’ll also hear:

• Why supplements that “boost testosterone naturally” are basically hormone roulette
• The difference between oral DHEA, vaginal DHEA, and prescription testosterone
• Why control and precision — not “natural” — are what actually make treatments safer

If you’re navigating perimenopause, menopause, libido changes, or feeling like you tolerate far less nonsense than you used to — this episode will give you language, clarity, and evidence to back yourself.

Key takeaway:
Testosterone isn’t a personality transplant.
It’s not a cure-all.
And it doesn’t fix context.

But for the right woman, with the right diagnosis, at the right dose — it deserves a seat at the grown-up medical table.

🎧 Listen now to Episode 4 of On the ’Mones — where hormones, healthcare, and real life collide.

In this episode of On the ’Mones, we unpack three things many women quietly worry about — progesterone, memory changes, and the wellness advice that sounds scientific but absolutely isn’t.

First, we deep-dive into progesterone — why it’s not always a gentle background hormone, how it acts in the brain, and why some women feel calmer while others feel anxious, flat, or completely unhinged when they start it. We explain the real science behind "progesterone intolerance", PMDD, GABA receptors, and why “just push through it” is terrible advice.

Then, I get personal about brain fog — the kind that messes with your confidence and identity. We talk estrogen, cognition, working memory, task overload, and why perimenopause doesn’t steal intelligence — it steals your buffer.

Finally, it’s Woo of the Week, and we’re taking on collagen powders and protein marketing. What actually happens when you eat protein? Does collagen really know where your sore knee is? (Spoiler: no.) We separate legitimate nutrition from seductive nonsense and explain what the evidence actually says.

This episode isn’t about doing more — it’s about understanding better.

If you’ve ever thought:

• “Progesterone made me feel worse — what’s wrong with me?”
• “Why does my brain feel different lately?”
• “Is this supplement actually doing anything?”

You’re in the right place.

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.

On the ’Mones — Episode 1: Welcome to the Hormonal Girl Band

Is it just me… or is something seriously happening to my body?

In the very first episode of On the ’Mones, pharmacist of 25 years Kate pulls back the curtain on peri-menopause, hormones, rage-quitting jobs, libido loss, bone health, and the quiet suffering so many women carry alone.

From estrogen “leaving the group chat” to a friend breaking down in the kitchen whispering “I thought it was just me”, this episode sets the tone for the podcast: honest, evidence-based, funny, messy, and deeply human.

You’ll hear:

• Why peri-menopause catches so many women off guard
• How hormones are meant to rise and fall (spoiler: balance is a myth)
• The Beyoncé–P!nk–Adele explanation your biology teacher never gave you
• Why loss of libido isn’t a personal failure — and what options actually exist
• A takedown of seed cycling (sorry, chia pudding)
• And a new segment: Is it peri-menopause or am I just being a Karen?

If you’ve ever felt anxious, irritable, flat, foggy, ragey, invisible, or like your brain “isn’t braining” anymore — this is for you.

You’re not broken.
 It’s not your fault.
 And you’re definitely not alone.

Welcome to On the ’Mones. Let’s get on them.