Zoe Ball has candidly opened up on her ‘horrific’ menopause after experiencing excruciating symptoms.
The radio presenter, 54, discussed the current treatments she is on to control the pain after suffering anxiety, panic attacks and difficulty breathing.
Speaking with co-presenter Jo Whiley on their Dig In podcast, Zoe said she puts bioidentical gel on her arms and takes progesterone every day, while making sure she has quarterly blood tests.
A bioidentical gel is a Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) that contains hormones, such as estradiol (oestrogen), which are chemically identical to those naturally produced by the body.
‘I take those everyday because I was getting some really bad periods. I was getting some really nasty random big bleeds’, she said.
‘And when I was doing the Breakfast Show, I had horrific anxiety. That was my worst sort of symptom and that involved panic attacks, not being able to breathe, a lot of tears, quite a low mood and it was quite frightening at times.
Zoe Ball, 54, has candidly opened up on her ‘horrific’ menopause after experiencing excruciating symptoms
The radio presenter discussed the current treatments she is on to control the pain after suffering anxiety, panic attacks and difficulty breathing
‘Once I sussed out that was a major cause… because I did go on anti-depressants for a while for my anxiety, but I’m off those now and I’m really glad to be off those, but they did help for a little period of time.
‘It’s difficult with things like this because sometimes you are not sure what is what. You don’t know whether some of your symptoms are coming from things in life or mainly menopause so you have to try these things.
‘But now I am on a very steady, I’ve got steady moods. I sometimes get sad but that’s just life, it happens. But definitely hormone wise I feel so level.’
It comes after Zoe fought back tears as she revealed she had an emotional breakdown following her mother’s death last year.
Zoe was forced to take time off from her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show following Julia’s passing in April 2024 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Late last year it was announced that Zoe would step down from her morning slot, with Scott Mills taking over from her.
Last month, Zoe opened up about her mum’s passing and the sheer impact it had on her, revealing she was forced to take time off work following a breakdown.
Speaking on her podcast, Zoe said: ‘I couldn’t work. I was on the floor in the kitchen. I couldn’t, I couldn’t move.
Speaking with co-presenter Jo Whiley on their Dig In podcast, Zoe said she now has Bio identical gel on her arms and progesterone every day, with quarterly blood tests
It comes after Zoe fought back tears as she revealed she had an emotional breakdown following her mother’s death last year
Zoe was forced to take time off from her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show following Julia’s passing in April 2024 from pancreatic cancer (pictured in 2010)
‘I had a proper emotional breakdown, you know, I haven’t really talked about it actually. But it was, yeah, it was brutal.
‘I had an amazing doctor who turned up at my door with coffee and bagels and said, “so, we need to get you some help”, and he was wonderful.’
As she continues to grieve, the mum of two admitted she found Julia’s first birthday since her passing extremely difficult.
She explained: ‘It’s a year and a bit since we lost Mum, and I found her birthday this year, the toughest, the toughest, you know, a whole year later.
‘That was brutal. It was a week of absolute weeping, I still get quite emotional sort of talking about mum, even now.
‘But I think leaning on your loved ones is the best thing and also just not being afraid to weep. There’s a lot of crying, there’s a lot of pain that has to come out.’
