The Vagina Dialogues — Modern Menopause

Over the past few months, I have frequently found myself unexpectedly, and guilelessly, talking about Vaginas. Not my own as such, rather Vaginas –with a capital V. In general. As a “thing”.

Honestly, it taking some getting used to.

Before this recent influx, I could count on one hand the number of times I heard anyone say the word ‘vagina’ let alone ask me about mine. If you grew up in …well EVER, vaginas have not been a recurrent topic of conversation. In fact, I would go further and say that they have barely featured in our collective cultural consciousness outside of taboo and innuendo. Sure, there was all that hoopla about the Vagina Monologues and then a short-lived, and ill-advised, pubic hair bedazzling movement; but for a long time ,and even though every human alive has had at least one vaginal encounter, the first rule of Vagina seems to have been we don’t talk about them. However, while I can intellectually recognize that the discomfort I feel talking about my Vagina is a product of a certain type of upbringing, what I find more difficult to reconcile, is how little I actually have to say about it for a person who has lived with one for all her life. he reality is that imposed silence can also led to apathy. Left unexposed to the intricacies of our own bodies, many of us do not even know which questions to ask to learn more.

But, this is changing. As a friend of mine recently enlightened me “vaginas are woke. There comes a time with most taboos when the changing moral standard and priorities lead to relaxation of constraints. A period of “wokeness” is a necessary step on the path towards normalcy.

The conversation about Vaginas is a necessary and difficult final hurdle to overcome in an ongoing wider socio-cultural relaxation around these female taboos. It is a reflection of a growing concern to address female reproductive health and assimilate issues such as menopause, pre-menstrual syndrome and other “women’s problems” in the broader church that is “personal wellbeing”. It is a sign that the processes that over fifty percent of the population go through, are now being counted as part of the sum of human experience because – you know – women are humans too….

So, to help us all navigate this new terrain and become active participants in change, Freda plans to bring you a bi-weekly summary of all the fortnight’s “Vagina related news events” –a term I mean to encompass a range of issues concerning female reproductive health and wellbeing, above and below our panty line.

Thus armed, I and the Freda community, will learn to own our female biology in a way that some of us have neglected or avoided, and become generators and contributors to a world at ease with its Vagina dialogues.

National HRT Shortage

Around a million women in the UK use treatment for symptoms of the menopause. Photograph: Garo/Phanie/REX/Shutterstock

via The Guardian

Supplies of Hormone replacement medication in the UK are experiencing shortages due to “manufacturing delays”. According to the Daily Mail Lloyds’ supplier “AAH Pharmaceuticals has run out of 15 of the 24 HRT brands it stocks”, and pharmaceutical retailer Alliance, “which is owned by the same group as Boots, has run out of nine of 27 HRT products”.

Shortages have been on the cards since last December, however, they have become worrying in recent weeks. Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, the chair of the Royal College of GPs complained that retailers have not been honest with the medical community about the extent of the shortages or the reasons for them. She encouraged the thousands of women in the UK who rely on hormones replacement therapies to function in their day to day lives to get their repeat prescriptions in quickly for the products and to ask pharmacists about alternatives.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) “No longer just an African problem”

via BBC Victoria Derbyshire Program

BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire spoke with former First Lady of the self-declared republic of Somiland, Edna Adan Ismail, about the global pervasiveness of FGM. Ms. Ismail was in the UK in her capacity as an activist working for the abolition of FGM According to the UN 1 in 20 girls or women has been the victim of some type of genital mutilation. These women suffer permanent physical damage to their genitalia, which can impact sensation and pose a high risk in labor, as well as carrying emotional and psychological scars from the experience.

FGM is illegal in the United Kingdom, however, as of November 2018, the National FGM Center reported that the number of young girls who have suffered or are at risk of abuse had more than doubled in a year. Furthermore, campaigners warn that due to community secrecy the practice is still significantly under-reported.

The National FGM center is working to identify incidences of abuse as well as engaging with high risk communities to change views internally. However, there are still few available solutions to help care for those who have already been affected including maternity wards that can cope with the risks related to FGM during labor.

Misconceptions about the Menopause

via Today.com

Author, film producer, and yoga teacher, Gail Konop writes an opinion piece for Today in which she takes common misconceptions about the menopause to task, enthusing that her menopause has proved to the “sexist time of life”

Writing about her experiences, Konop says that she has never felt more “vital” and comfortable in her own skin”. It’s an uplifting piece, worth the quick read that offers a rarely heard positive spin about the changes experiences by women going through menopause.

I am campaigning for posters about menopause in the GPs office

Elizabeth Carr-Ellis with the menopause poster

via The Telegraph

Elizabeth Carr-Ellis who goes by the Twitter handle @50Sense, write of how she came to start her “Pauseitivty” movement, which included designing an informative poster about menopause to share online and in GPs offices. “The lack of readily available information was astounding”, she writes considering that “menopause will affect 51 per cent of the population to some degree. But after writing about my experience on my blog, 50Sense.net, I learnt that few women knew about the symptoms - beyond hot flushes. We’re hit with a wall of silence until it’s too late.

The aim of the poster was both to educate as well as to highlight the alarming lack of information about menopause available to the public. Carr-Ellis worked with graphic designer Allyson Shields to create a “kick-ass and colourful” image which has been shared online with the hashtag #knowyourmenopause.

You too can join the movement by downloading the poster, printing and pose for a selfie with #KnowYourMenopause.

Woman 62 left with agonizing burns after Vaginal steaming

via NY Post

A Canadian woman who tried a controversial vagina steaming procedure was left with severe second-degree burns on her vagina. Vaginal steaming has long been used in some Asian and African culture and involves mixing an herbal medicine blend in a pan of boiling water and sitting over it for 20 minutes. It has recently come into fashion in the West with celebrities the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chrissy Tiegen posting about their steaming experiences. The procedure is said to help with reducing “vaginal prolapse, relieving cramps or bringing about other vague “cleansing” benefits”; however the supposed benefits are not scientifically proven and since the vaginal area is sensitive, burns of this type can be very painful and difficult to treat.

Woman takes legal action of breast implant cancer risk

Linzy developed a rare lymphoma 13 years after breast implant surgery

via BBC

Twenty UK women are taking legal action after developing a rare type of lymphoma linked to their breast implants. The cancer is one of the immune system, not a type of breast cancer, and is typically found near the scar tissue and the implant but can spread. Mr. Nigel Mercer, a plastic surgeon and chair of an advisory group of surgeons, states that “we only started seeing this as a disease recently, so it looks like it's a genuinely new disease."

More than 50 women have been diagnosed with the condition in the UK, and hundreds more worldwide. Representatives from the MHRA, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency are concerned that There is not enough information available to “make all patients considering a breast implant for reconstructive or cosmetic purposes fully aware of the potential risks”.

Breast implants undergo a rigorous risk-based approval process before they can be used by the wider population. One manufacturer, Allergan, ha reportedly said that patient safety is a priority and it would support informative labelling "to promote and advance the safest use of breast implant products".

What a music festival taught me about my period

MANCHESTER, TN - JUNE 11: A general view of the crowd as Damian Marley & Nas perform onstage during Bonnaroo 2010 at What Stage on June 11, 2010 in Manchester, Tennessee. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

via Huffpost

Annie Lascoe, Co-founder, Conscious Period

Tells the story of a time she attended a music festival and found herself scrambling to maintain basic hygiene while on her period. Lascoe argues that women in all walks of life can experience limitations and discrimination around menstruation:

“In our own country, women who are incarcerated have high rates of infection because they have limited—if any—access to pads. In many cases, they need to prove that they have a heavy period in order to receive sufficient product. Food stamps don’t cover period products; women with limited incomes are at higher risk of developing Toxic Shock Syndrome and fungal and other infections when they use their products for too long because they can’t afford enough. And to be a woman who is homeless and menstruating can be devastating.”.

Lascoe argues that such risks make this situation more “than a women’s issue or a public health issue; this is a human rights issue”.

'I thought the staff were trying to kill me': the illness that can haunt new mothers

Sarah Hayes, who has suffered from postpartum psychosis, with her son Alex, who was a few months old at the time.

via The Guardian

Experts are divided over what causes postpartum psychosis, which can leave mothers of newborns detached from reality

Postpartum psychosis affects one in 600 mothers, 50% of whom will have no history of mental ill-health. Experts are divided about what causes the psychosis and are still struggling to find effective ways to deal with suffers as well as with the children who suffer the physical or emotional absence of their mothers during a crucial bonding time in the child’s life.

The psychosis typically includes manic episodes that lead to hallucinations and extremely dangerous delusions. “Once reality sets back in, a deep depression often follows”.

CEO, UK charity Action on Postpartum Psychosis Dr Jessica Heron says: “The secrecy and shame that has surrounded postpartum psychosis for many years, can damage families and relationships – and that open discussion at the right time, in the right way, can help to build relationships and understanding”