- Hello Kiwis, I'm Paddy Gower and I have got issues. On this show, we investigate issues big and small that are important to all of us. Tonight ` menopause hits half the people in our country and it can hit hard. Kate Rodger joins us to ask ` why do we ignore it while women suffer in silence? And we uncover the most intense, biscuit related disappointment in the history of Aotearoa and Karen O'Leary demands answers. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023 (APPLAUSE) Tonight, my issue is with menopause. Yes, menopause. Now, obviously I am not suffering from it, but plenty of my female friends and colleagues are. Now, maybe your partner is going through it, or your mum or your sister. It literally hits one in every two of us and it hits them damn hard. At its worst, it can destroy lives, and we will meet some of those women tonight. We need to talk about menopause ` about how it causes women entire body pain, weight gain, anxiety, depression, and of course, hot flushes for years and years on end. Now, take this statistic from a big study of Kiwi women out this year. 1 in 12 women quit their jobs because of menopause. 1 in 12. That is just not right in my opinion and we need to talk about that. Our women need help from their doctors with the right drugs and with the mental wellbeing, and that help just is not there. We really do need to talk about that. Now, I will issue a little mansplaining alert here, because I guess I am going to have to mansplain a little tonight. I even do a menopause simulation and it does involve a sauna with clothes on, but it is only because I am trying to help. Because as brothers, sons, partners, colleagues, bosses and as a country, we need to do better with menopause. This truly is an issue for all of us. And tonight I'm very lucky to be joined by someone with incredible mana when talking about menopause ` my friend, Newshub journalist Kate Rodger, and of course our community investigator Karen O'Leary is back with another incredible biscuit investigation. Eli Mathewson and Courtney Dawson are at the news desk with all the news you'll need. (APPLAUSE) - Can I just say, can I say, Paddy, when are we going to talk about a men's issue, please? We struggle too. - Not tonight, Eli, not tonight. - Men are being silenced. - Eli! Eli, you're getting this all wrong. - It is. Welcome to World Menopause Day, everybody. We have our own day now. Can I just say, off the bat, though, we are devoting an entire show to women's health. Like an entire show devoted to women's health. And I, for one, I'm really grateful and really stoked about it. Menopause derailed me, and it derails so many other women around the country, and it's just been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to speak to so many of them. Tell you what changed my life, Paddy. Like a nicotine patch that helps you give up smoking, an oestrogen patch stuck to me absolutely changed everything. It was the Holy Grail. And we` honestly, I got to spend the most amazing day with such an inspirational young woman, called Jenna, and she finds out that Estradot ` the best brand ` is incredibly hard to find, so we went hunting. Now, just a little bit of a warning that this piece may be confronting for some people. - All right, so here's the magical box. - The magical box! - And here we're down to the last... - Please tell me you're joking. Please tell me you're joking. You have one patch left? - You know, it's never good to get to that point. - This little square is a hormone patch. Estradot is, by far, the most preferred brand for menopausal women. - And so this is basically an adhesive patch that you place on your lower abdomen. And it gives you all the all the good oestrogen to your body. - It changes everything! - It does. - Right now, Estradot is suffering from a global shortage and New Zealand's no exception. - It's amazing the anxiety that you feel when you are... solely reliant on a little square, where supply is dwindling. - What's your process been when you're trying to track Estradot down? What do you do? - What I have found that has been the most effective is actually going into pharmacies... - Letting them see your desperation, - Letting them see this desperate face. - Yes. 'I'm going to hot flush in front of you.' (LAUGHTER) While the average age for menopause is 51, in many cases, women much younger suffer from early menopause. - So I was 33 when symptoms initially started, but I was diagnosed at age 34. The first symptom was my cycle went irregular, and then that was followed by anxiety that came out of nowhere, and then extreme fatigue and heart palpitations, which were pretty scary. - 34 years old. A young family. It was a lot to take in. - One of the worst parts about it was I had this feeling as though I had lost myself. This is something that I don't tell that many people ` only the close people in my life know this ` but in the toughest parts of the journey, before I had started HRT, I would regularly think, 'I think my family would be better off without me around.' And it makes me emotional every time I think about that, because I know that's not true ` now. - That's pretty desperate headspace to be in. - Yeah. (PENSIVE MUSIC) ...this is a park? - It's a park. We're making it a park. No, it's a park. - It's a park. - May the force be with you. - Thank you. - Jenna tries her luck at the first pharmacy she sees to pick up her Estradot prescription. - No luck. - No luck. So I think we're just going to have to try and find somewhere else. - Yeah. - For Jenna, taking hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, was the game changer. Tell me about the first time you started using the patches. I noticed more and more improvements in how I felt, in my energy and my mental health, and my heart palpitations stopped completely. I actually still do feel emotional every time I put on a patch, because I'm just aware of what my life could be like without it. - All right. Another chemist. How are you feeling about this one? Are we feeling good? - Yeah. There's always hope until it's dashed. - Ha! Yeah. So that was a no. All right, well, we've got one... One last chemist to go. Have you had luck at this chemist before? - I mean, some months they have it and some months they don't. - Right. - So it really does kind of feel like a gamble on whether it will come in. Hi. - It's a gamble Jenna has no choice but to take. QUIETLY: Yes! - There you are. - Thank you so much. Thank you. - My pleasure. - Got it! - Yes! Just double checking. We trust you. - This is the good stuff. - Yes! Mike's been a pharmacist for four decades. In the past three to four years, he's seen a big increase in women coming in for HRT. So how does this work from the pharmacist perspective? What's the process getting hold of Estradot? - We are only allowed to order five packets a week... - Huh!? - ...of any particular strength... - Right. - ...when they're available. So in our pharmacy, that might only last a day. (APPLAUSE) - PADDY: Wow. - Wow. It's the difference a tiny little patch wi` I mean, I prepared this one earlier, actually, Paddy. And hilariously, I've been so busy shooting the story that I ran out of my own patches! And I had to ring my friendly neighbourhood pharmacist, Sam, to put a box aside for me. I can't live without this patch, and it genuinely changed my life and they are hard to get. - Yeah, and there's a worldwide shortage of them which is causing this, obviously, but something that I was very emotionally affected by watching Jenna in that story ` she's very brave to share her story with other people, and it's awesome to have her and the audience watching this tonight, So thank you very much, Jenna. And Karen O'Leary ` menopause? - Well, look, I mean, I'm very excited about tonight's episode because obviously I've actually had 'men on pause' for my whole life. (LAUGHTER) It is an issue for me. Yeah. - Genuine issue. - (IMITATES DRUM STING) - I hate to ask this ` how's your biscuit investigation coming along? - Yeah, let's get onto that. Look, I'm going to start how I like to start with you, Paddy, which is with a question ` what is your favourite biscuit? - Well, ginger nuts. - No. Try again. What's your second favourite biscuit? - I don't know, chocolate chip. - OK. What's your favourite biscuit that's kind of shortbread-y, round with a circle in the middle? - Shrewsburys, Karen. - Exactly ` Shrewsburys. Well, look, I think it's time that we met my new best friend, Amelia. She's ten years old. I potentially should think about getting some friends my own age, but Amelia is fantastic. Check it out. We're here to talk about something that I know would send a shiver down so many New Zealanders' spines. What is your issue? - So it was a normal day. Just wanted to enjoy some morning tea. - Yes. - Opening up the biscuit packet. - Yes. - Picking up my Shrewsbury. - Shrewsbury ` love them. - No design on it. - You mean like double biscuit? - Yes. - No hole? - No hole. - No star? - No star. - No love heart? - No. No! - It's just not a biscuit. It's just not a biscuit anymore. - What is it? - It's a disappointment. - Do you have the actual biscuit? - Here is the evidence. Right here. - Looks like a regular Shrewsbury upside down. - No design on either side. - What can we get Griffins to do to make this this problem better? Like, would you want, like, say 1 million, maybe 2 million... dollars or biscuits? - Probably just a new packet of biscuits. - You just want one new packet of biscuits? - Yeah, that'll be fine. - OK. We are going to get you at least one packet of Shrewsburys, if not $2 million. OK? Are you happy with that? - Yep. - It's not going to be $2 million. OK, great. I'm on the job. This Shrewsbury issue has really consumed me, so there's only one place to go ` Consumer New Zealand. Jon Duffy, thank you so much for agreeing to talk to me. - My pleasure. - Could you just let me know` I mean, what is your official title? - I'm chief executive here at Consumer NZ. - What are your favourite things to consume? - I quite like food. - Well, actually, I'm here about food because my best friend Amelia bought a packet of Shrewsburys and, lo and behold, found one with no hole. It was a double bottom Shrewsbury. - The whole selling point is the hole I mean, it feels wrong. It's like when, like, mannequins don't have nipples ` It stands out You feel that it's off. I've never really thought about that, Jon, but I really think about that now. But let's go back to Shrewsburys. So I mean, what can she do as a consumer? - The Consumer Guarantees Act is the key piece of legislation here. As a consumer, you have the right to a refund or for the product to be repaired. - I mean, I've got the biscuit. I mean, do you want to...? - Yeah. Let's have a look at it. - And then you can tell me if you think it's gonna be enough to get some action. - It's off-putting. - It just doesn't make any sense. - That's right. Yeah. - I mean, is this enough? So John took me down to what he called the lab... - We put a lot of money into it. - WHISPERS: Doesn't look like a lab at all. ...where we deconstructed... (DRILL WHIRRS) ...and reconstructed Shrewsburys to find some answers. That's now massive. Have we come to any conclusions? - There was no excuse for it. - No excuse for this. - Unless there's an excuse. - But even if they've got an excuse` - There's not really any excuse. - So there is an excuse or there isn't an excuse. - Well, there's probably a reason why it happened, but is that reason excusable, I guess, that's kind of what I'm trying... - Well, would you excuse it? - I can't excuse that. - I think end of the day, if I take this to Griffins, we should be able to get some action. - I think so. - I mean, after talking with John and having to think about mannequins and their nipples, I'm pretty confident that we should be able to get some cash out of Griffins. I'm thinking, like up to $2 million. - Yeah. I mean, you promised a 10-year-old kid $2 million. - 'Up to'. - Oh, 'up to'. Yeah, the National Party approach ` very good. OK. All right, coming up, Kate goes to Hawkes Bay to get someone's menopause story and ends up in the middle of a menopause party. And badass Karen gets up to something completely rogue and traumatised the country's most loved corporate beer. Too far, Karen! - Nau mai, hoki mai, welcome back, Kiwis. This is Paddy Gower Has Issues and I am the host, Paddy Gower. Now coming up ` Kate calls a menopause party in Napier and she gets stories that will curl your hairs. But right now ` it was a big weekend, and I was pretty busy sort of standing around doing some stuff. And I need you guys on the news desk to tell me, did I miss anything? - Well, Paddy. Look, politics is pretty complicated. We'll try and keep it simple for you, OK? All you need to know is New Zealand still has issues. - It was a weekend of major showdowns. And while the ABs took down Ireland in Paris, back home, it was the battle between National and, of course... - T-The... (STAMMERS) The red people. I was trying to remember who they were ` the Labour Party. - Whoa, Paddy. 'The red people'? Let's hope you never forget what the All Blacks are called. - Yeah, Paddy forgot how to say the Labour Party and the country forgot how to vote for them. And if you thought the tackles on the rugby pitch were brutal, spare a thought for the journos at the ACT Party celebrations. - What's your message to the voters? - Thank you. - SAMANTHA HAYES: Oh gosh ` I hope Isabelle's okay. - We can give you a quick update. Isabelle died. - # I will remember you... # - RIP. While Luxon was the big winner in politics, Chippy still had something to celebrate. - There is someone else special that I want to thank tonight ` someone that most of you won't know. And that is my partner, Toni. - (GASPS) Wait a second. Which 'Toni' is it? Toni Street? Tony Hawk? Is it Tony Blair or Tony from Tony's Tyre Service? Who is it? - Who is it? Of course, the National celebrations, they went all weekend long, and John Key even tucked into some delicious blue sausages the morning after. Look at those. The worst thing about those is they've been in the freezer since 2017. - Yikes. The real 'blue-nami' is going to be happening in his loo later. - Hey hey hey hey, blue-nami is my word, and I did not give you the authority to use it for John Key's blue poos. - I'm sorry, Patty, we wouldn't want to steal from you. - No, of course not. Thank you so much, P-Pa... (STAMMERS) The white guy. - That's P-P-P-Paddy to you, and it's Paddy with a Y instead of an I, in case you were wondering. All right. Now, what exactly is menopause? Well, a warning here ` it is time for me to do some mansplaining. We're going behind the issue. Menopause ` the official definition is when you haven't had a period for a year. Now it is caused by a gradual decrease in the hormone oestrogen in your body, and the average age of menopause is 51. But the build up ` pre-menopause ` what is called perimenopause, is when the symptoms start to hit you. Now, new global data says the average woman goes through this for over seven years. Then there is post-menopause.` this can take up to a year while the symptoms stabilise. So look at this ` it is basically a decade of a woman's life dealing with us. And the symptoms of menopause are very serious; they are much more than hot flushes. There is anxiety, there is lack of confidence, weight gain, cravings, lack of sleep, night sweats, fatigue, palpitations, low mood and memory problems. Now, this year, a groundbreaking new study by menopause advocate Dr Linda Dear has given us incredible insight into what Kiwi women are going through. Like this ` when women struggle at work, support is practically non-existent. 86% don't feel supported, only 15% actually even tell work that they are affected by menopause ` most women end up blaming physical illness, burnout and stress instead. The result? Well, this is huge in my view. 1 in 12 menopausal women in New Zealand quit their jobs. That is actually shocking. And twice that number ` 1 in 6 ` seriously consider it. That's honestly terrible. And here's one of the biggest problems ` Linda Dear's study shows that 64% of New Zealand women don't realise that the symptoms they are having are because of menopause. Nearly two thirds don't know what is happening to them. Why? Well, there is no point in mincing words here ` up until recently, the entire global medical system has been male-dominated. This study last year found that medical education about menopause around the world, including our own Kiwi GPs, is, quote, 'profoundly inadequate'. Now, the effect of all this ` thousands and thousands of women enduring debilitating symptoms when they shouldn't have to, and not actually knowing what is going on with themselves. Now, Kate went to Napier to talk to one woman about menopause, and then, in a symbol of how many people this affects, 30 women showed up. - KATE: What happens when you gather a gaggle of menopausal women on a picturesque hilltop in Hawke's Bay? Well, you get lots and lots of this. - Suddenly, like, I'm hearing menopause, stories, hot flushes, like, in the matter of ten minutes. It's amazing. - Entering into perimenopause and menopause for a lot of women is a really awful and challenging and difficult time of our lives. - It was just this gut feeling that something was wrong. But it took an absolute flatline last year for me to kind of go, ah. - I find it very frustrating that the health system does not value women's health. - You know what ` you can do this, with HRT or not, but it's hormones ` you're not crazy. - What would you say were your worst symptoms? - To be perfectly honest, Kate, every symptom that I've read about, I've had. - Symptoms like insomnia, anxiety, body pains, heart palpitations, and a loss of motivation and confidence. - My body was a mind(BLEEP). Sorry. It was ` it was a mind(BLEEP) when I started going through perimenopause. It was sending me signals that I had no idea on how to actually decipher. And as a, what I call, together woman, I had no idea what was happening. - So let's talk about sex. Well, lack of sex, to be precise. - I had no libido and` - Was it overnight, no libido? - Like overnight. - Right? - You know, everything was working up here, but nothing down there. And` And I couldn't even go into actress mode because my body wouldn't come with me. Until I met my best friend... Yeah? - ...Miss HRT. - Yeah, man. - Watch out, Johnny, I'm coming for you. (LAUGHS) - From the bedroom to the boardroom, menopause has been robbing women of their mana and their mojo. Sarah owns a successful international education consultancy; it's a powerhouse career and she loves it. - I was at a point where I couldn't work. I'm a very active, healthy person ` I couldn't exercise, I could barely get out of bed without crying, without disconnecting from everyone around me, and the thought of having to then step in front of, you know, 100 people to speak. I just` It wouldn't have happened. - Last year, these wahine, spearheaded by a community GP and human dynamo, Dr Samantha Newman, successfully lobbied Pharmac for free access to HRT medication progesterone. - My primary concern, having gone through this journey myself, is how do we make this support accessible to all women in New Zealand? - But accessing help, that's one thing. Getting help and being heard, that can be quite another. - I find it frustrating for women who are walking into perimenopause and menopause ` that phase of their life ` that they often have to speak to multiple GPs before they land with a GP who has knowledge about the hormonal journey. Took another three male GPs before I went private to get someone to listen, and when they listened, I cried, because I thought, 'I'm not mad, I'm not this wacky woman.' - And what a lot of these not mad, not wacky women have found is the most helpful is HRT ` hormone replacement therapy patches. - I've been on the patches for probably three weeks, four weeks. And I'm` I'm pretty cool, eh? (LAUGHS) - She's so normal now (!) - They were absolute goddesses. It's such an interesting thing when you get a whole lot of women in the room like that, the energy is awesome, because I was of a generation where my mother and her mother before her and someone and someone just didn't talk about menopause. It wasn't something that they were, A, comfortable doing, but that society weren't comfortable hearing. It's not a very sexy topic, is it? I'm hoping that we're the generation now where we're not going to be silent anymore, Paddy, and that our daughters will know what's coming for them. - Yeah, and you're playing a big part in that. And I know you don't want to use these words like courageous, but you are, Kate. And, you know, I just wanted to know what has menopause been like for you while we're being... - You probably had to witness a few things in the newsroom over the last five years, but because I didn't know what it was and I thought I was too young ` I was in my 40s, but I still felt like I was in my 20s ` I didn't see it coming, and I had these weird experiences where I was so confident in my job, and then I would go around the world and do my job and interview Tom Cruise, for example, and I might get a little nervous. But to stand on an aircraft carrier for Top Gun, knowing that Tom's coming down and I'm about to speak to him and just fully, just thinking, 'I can't actually do my job,' that 'I shouldn't be here,' that someone else should be doing this job now. I've never felt like that before, and that's just one kind of operational kind of meltdown, and that would be in my job. But in my personal life and for my family, the mood swings and the change to me, the shame I felt feeling those emotions was quite a lot. So yeah, it's been a journey, but there's lots of women listening that have probably been through exactly that. - Yeah, well, you can feel no shame about the work you're doing that was helping other women. Now coming up ` Kate gets the real reasons we fail menopausal woman and then sets me up for my own taste of menopause. And Karen's maverick investigation narrows down responsibility for the mutant Shrewsbury to one woman and one bear. - Welcome back to Paddy Gower Has Issues, Kiwis. I am Paddy Gower. Now, coming up ` you do not want to miss what happens when Karen 'Results' O'Leary confronts the Cookie Bear about Amelia's mutant Shrewsbury. Brutal. (LAUGHTER) But first, every week there is one thing out there that I have no issues with, and that's why we call this segment No Issues. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) And tonight, I'm talking about a man who, at one point or another, it seems like everyone in this country has had an issue with. But they are all wrong, because tonight I've got no issues ` and let me know if you agree ` with Ian 'Fozzie' Foster. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Yeah, literally` literally nobody has taken more crap than this guy out there. In 2022, Fozzie was about as popular as COVID-19. Even the front page of the paper literally said that Fozzie had to go. Well, now they need to do a new headline ` 'Fozzie, we were wrong.' Or at least 'Soz Foz.' (LAUGHTER) Now, Fozzie represents everybody who has ever had a boss that doesn't like them and makes them feel like they aren't wanted. Because for Fozzie, it wasn't actually a feeling ` he wasn't wanted. So if he wins the World Cup, he'll hold it up like this. (LAUGHTER) A lot of people... (LAUGHS) Now, a lot of people reckon Fozzie should have dropped Sam Cane, and that he was an idiot for being so loyal to him. Well, what an idiot Fozzie was to be so loyal to Sam that Sam would have done anything to win that game for us on Sunday, and what an idiot Fozzie was to be so loyal to him that Sam put in one of the best performances ever by an All Blacks captain. Fozzie, you idiot. All right, Fozzie, sorry for calling you an idiot, but you are not that exciting. I tried to find some exciting stuff about you, and I just could not, except I found out that Fozzie likes backgammon. (LAUGHTER) He really is not that exciting. But the team that he coached on Saturday was freakin' exciting, so I've got no issues with Fozzie not being exciting. People also say that Ian Foster has got no passion. Well, what was this? He's the opposite of 'got no passion'. 'Got no passion' looks like this. Good try, mate, Bloody good. - Yeah, bloody good. - Good try, mate. Not like this ` Yeah! - Yes! - So on behalf of Aotearoa New Zealand, I would like to say soz, Foz, we have got no issues with you. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Just make sure you win the semi-final and the final, Fozzie. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Just so you know, you heard it here first ` I'm pretty sure I know the score in the game against Argentina. - Mm-hm. - 38-17, you mark my words, for an All Black win. - OK, that's pretty good. - Yep, go and put your money on that. But now let's move on from Fozzie Bear to another bear ` the Cookie Bear. And I mean, it has been` it has been alluded to the fact that this interview was quite hardcore. It was pretty intense. I mean, I did kind of have a bit of rage, but I'm thinking I'm 45, so maybe I've got a perfectly good excuse for this. (LAUGHTER) Yeah, but look` look, I just` I really had to go to the scene of the crime to find out what had happened to this` this appalling biscuit. So, check it out. (MOODY JAZZ MUSIC) I'm here at Griffin's to demand answers ` and if they don't like it, well, I'm sorry, that's just the way the cookie crumbles. I need to find the chief biscuit. (FURTIVE MUSIC) (SNIFFS) (LAUGHTER) (TENSE MUSIC) (TENSE MUSIC SWELLS) - JOLLY: Dum-de-doo! - Hello. I'm Karen. Nice to meet you. - Dum-de-doo. - Have a seat. (JAZZY DETECTIVE MUSIC) Thank you, obviously, for agreeing to come and talk to me today. - Dum-de-doo. - The name 'Cookie Bear' ` I mean, did you get that when you got this job, or have you always been called the Cookie Bear, and it just happened to work when you got this job as the mascot? - Dum-de-doo! - OK. Now, look, obviously we're not here to just talk niceties. I've got this biscuit that I brought in from my best friend Amelia. Have a look at that with those lovely big eyes. I mean, do you think this is an acceptable Shrewsbury? (DRAMATIC MUSIC STING) Do you think it's an acceptable Shrewsbury? Look at it! - Dum-de-doo! - Do you?! - SADLY: Dum-de-doo. - Oh, well` Sorry. I-I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just` - SADLY: Dum-de-doo. - (SIGHS) I feel like this is getting us nowhere. Can you please go and get your manager for me? I'd really appreciate it. - RESIGNED: Dum-de-doo. - Thank you. Thanks. (DETERMINED MUSIC) Cookie Bear set me up with Griffin's head of biscuit innovation. See this? - Shrewsbury. I've not seen that before. - My best friend Amelia received this Shrewsbury in a packet. We sell about 1.8 million of those a year ` that's the first time I've seen that. - How has this ended up with no design? - Bickies come down the line, and one's got a pattern, one doesn't` - Yeah. - ...and a machine picks them up and puts them on top of each other. So it looks like someone's taken off a few too many bottoms and not enough tops, and hence that's gone through. But I have not seen that before. That should go in a museum. - I mean, what would you say is the trick to making a really good Shrewsbury? - Oh, see, you got me there. It is the hole in the middle, the magic ` the fact that you can stick your finger in` - The magic of a Shrewsbury is being able to put your finger in that hole... (LAUGHTER) I was just` Hang on, I need to say that again, cos I was going to say something completely inappropriate then. Um... I'm not gonna say it. So I'm just thinking, would Griffins consider giving her some compensation by way of maybe $1.8 million, the same number of Shrewsburys you make? (TENSE SYNTH MUSIC) - Probably not $1.8 million. That seems a little steep. - 1.6. - Still a bit steep. - One? - How about some bickies? - Sounds good. - Mm. Thought so. - I feel like you need to take me to the scene of this horrific crime. - Absolutely. - Yeah, well, I don't know which way it is. - Oh, that way. Sorry. Let's go. - Dum-de-doooo! (APPLAUSE) - (LAUGHS) - I'd just` I'd just like to say I never knew I was such a good negotiator. Eh? Did you see that? - I was like` - That was amazing. - So great. - I'm not gonna take no for an answer until the packet of biscuits. - Nah. Gifted. - But I really did need to get out there and see what had happened to create this... this monstrosity of a biscuit. - Yeah, all right. Dum-de-doo ` we'll look forward to seeing that. Now, coming up, Karen gets to that source of all those Shrewsburys, and how did Amelia's mutant biscuit happen ` and what can possibly be done for Amelia? And Kate is after answers before putting me through her extremely mean, I must say, menopause challenge. (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) These guys. Nau mai, hoki mai ` welcome back, Kiwis. This is Paddy Gower Has Issues, and I am Paddy Gower. Now, coming up, Kate and her mates construct a plan to put me through some kind of mini-menopause to increase my empathy levels. Spoiler alert ` it works. (LAUGHTER) But right now, I've been so busy, and I've been wanting to keep up with all the Taylor Swift news, and I see she's got some sort of football-player boyfriend. Bring me up to speed, my little newsdesk. - Yeah, well, it's pretty exciting, Paddy ` she's dating an NFL player. Or is she? Let's investigate in The World Has Issues. - The talk of the town is that Taylor Swift is dating Kansas City Chiefs superstar Travis Kelce, and for those of you who don't know anything about the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs are kind of like the Blues, but they have helmets and pads and fans and money. The relationship reportedly started when the 6'5 buff boy attended Swift's live show and gave her a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it. The last time someone tried to court me with a bracelet, it was on his ankle. - Now, things started to heat up when Taylor was spotted watching the game with Kelce's mum ` Wait a minute. Sorry, a friendship bracelet and a good relationship with his mum ` I gotta say, I'm getting rainbow flags on this one. (LAUGHTER) Kelce's won two Super Bowls, and like me, is one of the greatest tight ends of all time. But... (GROANS, LAUGHTER) ...this might be the biggest thing that's ever happened to him ` and NFL in general. The audience for that game had over 2 million more female viewers than usual, so let's hope her next boyfriend is a New Zealand comedian, cos I could use the bump. - But let me ask you this ` is it true love? Probably not. TikTok is rife with conspiracy theories at the moment that this relationship is fake. For example, some people think that she's just dating Travis to get to his brother Jason, who plays for the NFL team who she actually supports. (LAUGHTER) - Oooh. - And, I mean, who amongst us hasn't dated the brother of the person we actually want to be with? I mean, that's why I'm currently dating Jimmy Momoa. (LAUGHTER) - Hey. Hey, we don't do conspiracy theories here ` keep it on track, please, newsdeskers. - For sure, for sure. A more plausible theory for this relationship is that it's a publicity stunt for her new Eras Tour concert movie. It came out this weekend. It's a film version of her tour that's already earned $4 billion. - Wow. - Well ` turns out, in a relationship, you can both be gold-diggers. So this proves, you know, celebrity relationships can do a lot to boost your businesses, which is why I would like to take a moment to announce that I am, yes, dating the Briscoes lady. It's going great. (LAUGHTER) - Oh, congratulations, Eli. Can you tell me about the sale when it's on? I would love that. Thank you very much. - I will. - Back to you, Paddy. - Yeah. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) All right, thank you, team, and good luck to them ` although I think for Taylor Swift I think NFL stands for 'not for long' for Travis. - KATE: Aw. - But on Travis Kelce ` Kate? Would you go there? - I would. (LAUGHTER) - OK. Quick answer. That was very quick. (CHUCKLES) - You're not gonna ask me, Paddy? (LAUGHTER) - No. I know you've got men on pause. OK? Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Now, Kate, back to menopause. You know, what` where did your investigation take you next? - I think I was really moved by the fact that so many women just didn't have great GP experiences. I wanted to know why that was the case. So I thought a couple of good things that needed to be done ` we needed to look into the GP situation, of course, but I wanted to get the facts about how it affects us physically, so I sat down with one of New Zealand's leading endocrinologists. KATE: GPs don't know enough about menopause right now watching this ` I mean, what have you got to say to them? - Half their patients will be women, probably. All those women are going to go through menopause. I just think it's not a topic you can avoid. - Stella Milsom is an endocrinologist, and she's one of the country's leading voices on all things menopause. - In 2023, If you're healthy ` and you look very healthy to me, Kate ` and you've got menopausal symptoms that affect your quality of life` - Mm-hm. - ...option number one is hormones. It's not antidepressants. It's not clonidine, it's not gabapentin. It's not being told to go and practice yoga or go to an acupuncturist, or to take herbs, or do something else relatively dodgy. - Hormone replacement therapy is now considered a key treatment for menopause. In the early 2000s, a study found that it caused harm, and although that study is now widely debunked, the fallout is still affecting how women can get access to the treatment now. - Everyone was frightened. Women were frightened, doctors were frightened. And then what happened is it wasn't taught in medical school ` it wasn't taught in postgraduate courses. And so we've now had a decade or so of health professionals who actually have not been educated in the menopause situation in general. - This, coupled with a health workforce crisis, has meant that a woman's menopause journey can be dependent on which GP happens to turn up on the day. - We've got a real shortage of experienced general practitioners, then we've got the level of knowledge of primary care, and I'm going to be reasonably direct here and say that I think there's` there's quite a spectrum. Many women, and depending on where they live, are finding it really difficult to access a GP that they have a good therapeutic relationship with. - Emeritus Professor Sue Pullon has been a GP for decades. Where did you study to be a doctor? - Oh, I went to Otago, and it's a long time ago now. (CHUCKLES) Yeah, I was at medical school in the 1970s. - Were you, as a trainee GP, taught about menopause? - We certainly had a little bit on menopause, and it wasn't particularly emphasised. - But in the past couple of years, she's helped redesign the curriculum, so that now med students learn a lot more about women's health. - They rotate round through medical wards, through surgical wards, and importantly, in relation to menopause, they do obstetrics and gynaecology, and they do time in general practice. Interacting with patients, they're working under supervision, they're talking to women about menopausal symptoms. They're talking about many other things as well. - What's the ratio of women to men studying to be`? - Oh, things have really changed now. For` At least for the last 10 years, we've had more women than men going into medicine. Somewhere between 65% and 70% of the current classes are women. - And is it right for me to feel confident that young women growing up now are going to` it's going to be a better environment for them to be menopausal? - I'm going to say yes. I think there has been tremendous advance in those clinical skills. Young woman should` shouldn't think that the catastrophe of menopause` - (LAUGHS) is going to` is going to be like` - (MOCK`SNARLS) - Yeah, be like the circle of doom over them. (APPLAUSE) - Good, huh? I love the thought that GPs that are coming out into the workplace now are much more upskilled, and I love the thought that GPs watching are inspired to do the same and upskill themselves, but a great thing that we should do as women is empower ourselves over our own health as well. Go to your GP equipped knowing, perhaps, what your symptoms are, and the Australasian Menopause Society website is perfect for that. So just log on and you can work out what your symptoms might be. - All right. In the leaders' debate that I was moderating, I asked both male leaders about the possibility of menopause leave, which they both said they were interested in. What did you make of that? - Well, the first thing I made of it is suddenly we're all talking about it, which was outstanding, and we had lots of women online, and in that conversation, for and against, which I found really, really interesting. More than anything, we've got a new boss of the country ` don't we, Christopher Luxon? I think it's up to you to take this seriously enough and to actually maybe have an inquiry and look into whether menopause leave should be something that you initiate, but certainly look into how it's treated in the workplace. - Yes, absolutely. Amen to that ` he should back up what he said in that debate. Now, Karen. - Mm. - Biscuitgate ` or should I call it Shrewsburygate? I don't know. - Shrewsburygate. - Yeah. Shrewsburygate. Yeah. - Yeah. What` Am I going to fix it? - Yes. Yeah, of course I'm going to fix it. I thought you were gonna ask me if I was going to fix it, and I was gonna say they don't call me Karen 'Results' O'Leary for nothing. Basically, I'm about to make a young girl's dreams come true. That young girl, her name is Karen, and she always wanted to go to a biscuit factory. (UPBEAT MUSIC) (EXHALES SHARPLY) Well, Amelia, we've risked it for the biscuit, and I think it's really paid off. You've come all the way from Paraparaumu to Papakura ` which is actually quite a long way ` 561km. I mean, we're going to show you how they make Shrewsburys. How do you feel? - If you ask me 1 to 10` - Yeah. - ...11. - OK. - How excited are you? - 1.8 million. - # Oompa-Loompa, doompah-de-do, # I've got a perfect puzzle for you. # Oompa-Loompa, doompah-de-de, # if you are wise... - This machine puts the jam on. - It's here, where the lids get flipped on to the bottoms, that Emilia's horror cookie was made. But all is forgiven when the free samples come out. - They actually get flipped upside down, so... - Robots. Did you hear that? Robots! - Yeah. - (IMITATES ROBOT WHIRRING) ROBOTIC: Let's go. And while Amelia was taking it in, I was asking the big questions. Are there exactly the same number of circles, stars and love hearts made? - Yes. Yeah. - Are Super Wines friends with malt biscuits? (OTHERS LAUGH) - Do we have to clean that jam up? What does this do? - No, no. That stops the whole line. (INDISTINCT CHATTER, MACHINES HISS) - But would you agree with me that they've got smaller over time? - It's a myth. I'll show you. Shall we do` We'll do a little experiment. - OK. - Oh, this is exciting! - OK. Whoa, I'm excited. (RELAXED R&B MUSIC) - Which one looks bigger? - That one. - They're the same size. It's an optical illusion. Your hands have just got bigger. - Is that why I think the biscuits have all got smaller? - That's why you think the biscuits have got smaller. - Exactly the same size. - See? Mystery solved. - Hey, Amelia, thanks for coming to Griffin's Bakery today. We've made you a customised little Shrewsbury box. - (GASPS) - (CHUCKLES) - (GASPS) - They've got the letter A on. - What... Is there one with the K on? - We` Oh, sorry, Karen. - Thank you. - You're welcome. - Well, Amelia, what a result. What do you think? - That` that was so amazing. - But obviously, I mean, the thing is, we've still got this biscuit ` the reason that we're here. - I know. - I mean, what do you think we should do with it? - Give it to the camera guys? - Actually, we hardly ever feed them. It's probably a good idea. - Yeah. - Here you go. (MUNCHING) (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Another result ` and by far your cutest result. - I mean, check it out ` look, this bespoke packet of biscuits is amazing. And not just that ` we're now going to team up with them and auction off a bespoke packet. They'll put whatever letter you want on them. And to find the auction, just go to our Facebook or Instagram page, and all of the money raised will be donated to Women's Health Action, providing help to women across the country for many things, including... - (GASPS) Menopausal health. - That's right. - Yeah. Yeah. (APPLAUSE) - And don't forget ` if you've got an issue, I've got an issue ` email us at issues@paddygower.co.nz ` I'll come and help you out. - All right ` coming up, Kate and her menopausal mates craft the best way to help me and other men understand just a little bit what menopause really means. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Welcome back, Kiwis ` This is Paddy Gower Has Issues, and I am Paddy Gower. - You are Paddy, and I don't think there's too much conflict over the fact that you are a male. You're a man. - Yeah. That's true. And you admitted at the beginning of the show there was some mansplaining to do. We've talked a lot about menopause. You don't know what it feels like. - No. - We decided... - Mm. We did. - ...that you should. (UPBEAT MUSIC) It's all very well for us to talk with Paddy about menopause. We've got to really make him feel it. - So you need Paddy to understand what menopause feels like. We can do it. - How are we going to do that? Well, one of the big things is when you get hit by a massive hot flush, and for a lot of women, that's really a sweaty situation. - Well, I think that's great, cos like I said, I think I am the Nando's sauce ` the Perimenopausal. - So maybe we can try` - Yeah, totally. and sort of up the temperature` - Set him on fire. - Put him in a sauna. - Wearing a suit. Sauna, suit, full makeup, full TV shebang. - I also suddenly started putting on weight in areas that I did not enjoy, so we need to make sure that his suit's maybe a size or two` just a little too small. - Too tight. Insomnia is a massive impact on women during perimenopause. - We need to keep him awake for a whole night before we put him in a sauna. - Yeah. I can do that. I can just, like, give him a call every hour on the hour. - So, sleeplessness ` plus, I think energy drinks ` he needs to be, like, edgy. A bit` You know. - Wired. Kind of wired. - I think it sounds torturous. - Well, that's` that's the point, though, isn't it? Paddy. It's me. - H-Hello? - Hi, Paddy. - Hello. - Hi, uh, it's me. It's me, Karen. Hey, um` - (BLEEP) Yeah, what? - Sorry` Sorry to bother you. (FOREBODING MUSIC) - Right, so this menopause simulation is well and truly underway. I feel like crap because I had no sleep because of O'Leary's crazy phone calls. - Paddy! What's up? It's me again. - (BLEEP) with me. - I'm in too-small clothes like I've put on weight ` I've got Eli's pants on, for goodness' sake. I can't even move. I've got a face full of makeup like I've blimmin' painted it on, which feels gross already, and now I've got to get in the sauna and start to, you know, have some hot flushes. Before that, I'm going to drink some energy drink, which I hate and will make me feel anxious. So ` here goes. (TENSE MUSIC) (EXHALES) GROANS: Ooh. Oh... Really starting to get a bead on now, and, uh... sorry, Eli ` I accidentally wiped this bloody makeup, and, uh... Yeah, don't know if they'll get this out of your little shirt. Show must go on. 70 degrees Celsius, baby. If this ain't a hot flush, I don't know what is. Why women wear makeup when they're going through this, I do not know. That'll be one of my first questions when I get out of here. - An opportunity to really bring it down is he would have to walk out of the sauna, and all of a sudden cameras are there and he has to do his job. (CELL PHONE RINGS) - It's the boss. Hello? - MAN: Gidday, Paddy, just confirming you're ready for this live cross. - Live cross. - Tell us all about the sinkhole ` in 10. - The sinkhole? - In five, four... - You bastards. - I think that would give him empathy for some of the extracurricular signs of perimenopause that women face daily. - Three... Here he comes. Two... - OK. - Go, Paddy. - All right, here I am in... here` here I am in Parnell, about to bring you the latest on the sinkhole that has emerged. There's very little information, but we're waiting to hear more from the council and, obviously, the other authorities that are in... involved with this very big sinkhole. Back to the st... studio. Shit, that was actually hard. Pass me the water. Happy World Menopause Day. (LAUGHTER) (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Wait... wait a second. I was wondering why my suit smells so funny. (LAUGHTER) - And also, Paddy, why didn't you ask to borrow my clothes? - I wanted to, believe you me. All right. (CHUCKLES) - So how long were you in the sauna for? - Uh, look, about 20 minutes. - And how long did it kind of... It might be an hour shoot to get that? - Yeah, it was actually really, really hard. - (SCOFFS) - WHINES: 'Oh, it's so hard! It's so hard! 'I did it for an hour. It was so hard!' Try doing it for seven and a half years. - All right, point taken. Thank you very much, Kate Rodger, for your amazing investigation tonight. Karen 'Results' O'Leary ` amazing stuff with Shrewsburygate, and our newsdeskers ` Eli, thank you for your suit. (APPLAUSE) Thank you so much. All right. For me, it goes like this ` do we care about the women in our lives? Of course we do. But if we truly cared, we would do a lot more about menopause. I like to talk about solutions on this show, so we could train our GPs better. We could improve access to the drugs that women need, maybe have a proper inquiry about menopause leave and other menopause workplace issues. I could go on and on, but there is something much bigger that we could do, and Kate has raised it tonight. I'll be honest, I am embarrassed by how little I knew about menopause before tonight. Embarrassed. So, men, we could pull our heads out of our you-know-whats and listen and learn about menopause ` understand it and help. We can also stop being menopause numpties and start being menopause allies. I'm Paddy Gower ` those were my issues, and I'm gonna miss youse. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023