SH interviews Prof John Studd who continues to care about improving hormonal health in women. SimplyHormones Presents: Professor Studd on Bio-identical Hormones KC:      I'd like to talk if I may about bio identical hormones. A lot of women are very interested in this because they are told it's a more natural way to go because the hormones are absorbed in a more natural way than the equine oestrogen that's mostly prescribed. Do you have an opinion on that? Bio-identical hormones have been available in the UK for 20/30 years! PS:      Sure, I mean I've used nothing else but bio identical hormones for the last 20, 30 years. It's been very common in Europe and what's happened now is the Americans, now that they've overcome their love affair of horse urine and horse oestrones, they've just discovered it, they've just discovered the importance of using oestradiol, oestrone, testosterone and they've labelled this bio identical hormones and gullible people all around the world are thinking of this new American discovery which is a re-awakening on their part, a discovery of what we've been doing for 20 or 30 years and it's quite true. If I hadn't used Premerin for 20 years I think there's no place for it whatsoever. We're not horses, we're not plants either, we should use natural human hormones, and that is oestradiol, oestrone and testosterone EHEA, which is the precursor to testerone perhaps, and natural progesterone if you can, and that's all possible except the progesterone; we by and large use progestogen because it works. Progesterone cream doesn't work, it's not even absorbed, we've just spent, or I've just spent £100, studying this preparation and it's not even absorbed, it has no effect with the bones, the mood, the flushes, the sweats. KC:      It's not metabolised. Want effective Progesterone cream? Ask your GP for Utrogestan PS:      It's still a racket that you go on the internet for £35 a pot per month and it's a waste of your money. I wish it did work, it would be very, very useful and convincing logically and so we really, although we use the bio-identical oestrogen and testosterone we are by and large stuck with sythentic norethisterone or Provera, although there is a more natural progresterone called Utrogestan, which is effective, and so the compromise is that I use this almost natural progesterone Utrogestan. KC:      So are the bio-identical hormones that you ‘re identifying with, where are they derived from, are they? Hormones naturally sourced from Vegetables PS:      They all come from a laboratory. They don't dig them out of the ground or dig them from trees, they are all made in a laboratory, by vegetable precursors and they're pure and they are the same as the natural hormones in your body and my body. KC:      So it's just a case if women really want to go down the road of  bio-identical hormones it's really only available from a private practice isn't it? Get your bio-identical hormones from your GP! PS:      No that's not true. There's no reason why a general practitioner should not give you oestradiol either by tablets or preferably transdermally, that's by patch or by gel, that would be my ideal way of giving hormones, through the skin, just rubbing the oestrogen gel or testosterone gel, or a patch, but the patch caused rings, black rings where they use it very much or with an implant of course, which is very effective, a very convenient way of giving natural oestradiol and natural testosterone. KC:      That's very interesting that you've explained that more fully, women can now go to their GP and say that I heard that you can prescribe me XYZ and they are then getting a la carte prescription aren't they? PS:      They may choose not to, and this happens more and more these days, and so many GPs have just shut up shop for HRT and the menopause and there's no justification for it and it's wrong. GP's could offer effective, cheap treatment KC:      ‘Cos there are about 7/10 women that experience debilitating symptoms, so it's not good on their part that they are not getting the advice they need. PS:      They are not getting very simple, very safe, very beneficial treatment. It's also very cheap treatment. KC:      Yes, OK, we'll have to stir up the GPs then to get their act together. I know the British menopause society is trying to push for GPs to be more informed. PS:      We've been trying that for now for 20 or 30 years! KC:      Yes, trying to get everybody singing from the same songsheet it's a difficult one to achieve isn't it? Thank you very much for that. Interview ends. If you’d like to know more about Professor John Studd: www.studd.co.uk Professor John Studd DSc, MD, FRCOG was consultant gynaecologist at the Chelsea &amp; Westminster Hospital, London and also professor of gynaecology at Imperial College. He is now in fulltime private practice and runs the London PMS &amp; Menopause Clinic at 46 Wimpole Street London W1G8SD. At the same address he has The Osteoporosis Screening Centre for the assessment and treatment of osteoporosis. He is Vice-President of the National Osteoporosis Society and Chairman of the British Menopause Society. In 2008 he was awarded the Blair Bell Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine which is given every five years for the obstetrician/gynaecologist who has made the greatest lifetime contribution to the specialty. www.studd.co.uk For information on Menopause in a non-medical setting, there are over 200 pages waiting for you  at www.simplyhormones.com     Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 233 user reviews.

SH interviews Prof John Studd who continues to care about improving hormonal health in women. SimplyHormones Presents: Professor Studd on Bio-identical Hormones KC:      I'd like to talk if I may about bio identical hormones. A lot of women are very interested in this because they are told it's a more natural way to go because the hormones are absorbed in a more natural way than the equine oestrogen that's mostly prescribed. Do you have an opinion on that? Bio-identical hormones have been available in the UK for 20/30 years! PS:      Sure, I mean I've used nothing else but bio identical hormones for the last 20, 30 years. It's been very common in Europe and what's happened now is the Americans, now that they've overcome their love affair of horse urine and horse oestrones, they've just discovered it, they've just discovered the importance of using oestradiol, oestrone, testosterone and they've labelled this bio identical hormones and gullible people all around the world are thinking of this new American discovery which is a re-awakening on their part, a discovery of what we've been doing for 20 or 30 years and it's quite true. If I hadn't used Premerin for 20 years I think there's no place for it whatsoever. We're not horses, we're not plants either, we should use natural human hormones, and that is oestradiol, oestrone and testosterone EHEA, which is the precursor to testerone perhaps, and natural progesterone if you can, and that's all possible except the progesterone; we by and large use progestogen because it works. Progesterone cream doesn't work, it's not even absorbed, we've just spent, or I've just spent £100, studying this preparation and it's not even absorbed, it has no effect with the bones, the mood, the flushes, the sweats. KC:      It's not metabolised. Want effective Progesterone cream? Ask your GP for Utrogestan PS:      It's still a racket that you go on the internet for £35 a pot per month and it's a waste of your money. I wish it did work, it would be very, very useful and convincing logically and so we really, although we use the bio-identical oestrogen and testosterone we are by and large stuck with sythentic norethisterone or Provera, although there is a more natural progresterone called Utrogestan, which is effective, and so the compromise is that I use this almost natural progesterone Utrogestan. KC:      So are the bio-identical hormones that you ‘re identifying with, where are they derived from, are they? Hormones naturally sourced from Vegetables PS:      They all come from a laboratory. They don't dig them out of the ground or dig them from trees, they are all made in a laboratory, by vegetable precursors and they're pure and they are the same as the natural hormones in your body and my body. KC:      So it's just a case if women really want to go down the road of  bio-identical hormones it's really only available from a private practice isn't it? Get your bio-identical hormones from your GP! PS:      No that's not true. There's no reason why a general practitioner should not give you oestradiol either by tablets or preferably transdermally, that's by patch or by gel, that would be my ideal way of giving hormones, through the skin, just rubbing the oestrogen gel or testosterone gel, or a patch, but the patch caused rings, black rings where they use it very much or with an implant of course, which is very effective, a very convenient way of giving natural oestradiol and natural testosterone. KC:      That's very interesting that you've explained that more fully, women can now go to their GP and say that I heard that you can prescribe me XYZ and they are then getting a la carte prescription aren't they? PS:      They may choose not to, and this happens more and more these days, and so many GPs have just shut up shop for HRT and the menopause and there's no justification for it and it's wrong. GP's could offer effective, cheap treatment KC:      ‘Cos there are about 7/10 women that experience debilitating symptoms, so it's not good on their part that they are not getting the advice they need. PS:      They are not getting very simple, very safe, very beneficial treatment. It's also very cheap treatment. KC:      Yes, OK, we'll have to stir up the GPs then to get their act together. I know the British menopause society is trying to push for GPs to be more informed. PS:      We've been trying that for now for 20 or 30 years! KC:      Yes, trying to get everybody singing from the same songsheet it's a difficult one to achieve isn't it? Thank you very much for that. Interview ends. If you’d like to know more about Professor John Studd: <a href="http://www.studd.co.uk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.studd.co.uk</a> Professor John Studd DSc, MD, FRCOG was consultant gynaecologist at the Chelsea &amp; Westminster Hospital, London and also professor of gynaecology at Imperial College. He is now in fulltime private practice and runs the London PMS &amp; Menopause Clinic at 46 Wimpole Street London W1G8SD. At the same address he has The Osteoporosis Screening Centre for the assessment and treatment of osteoporosis. He is Vice-President of the National Osteoporosis Society and Chairman of the British Menopause Society. In 2008 he was awarded the Blair Bell Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine which is given every five years for the obstetrician/gynaecologist who has made the greatest lifetime contribution to the specialty. <a href="http://www.studd.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.studd.co.uk</a> For information on Menopause in a non-medical setting, there are over 200 pages waiting for you  at <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.simplyhormones.com</a> Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 233 user reviews.

#18: Bio-identical hormones from your GP?

SimplyHormones presents: An Interview with Prof John Studd, Vice President National Osteoporosis Society and Chairman of the British Menopause Society.  Osteoporosis is a natural disease of aging but one we can ALL do something about – this brittle bone disease most often eats away at bones  after degeneration of hormones at menopause. SimplyHormones Presents: An Interview with Prof Studd on Osteoporosis           Prof. John Studd KC:      I'd like if I may now to talk about osteoporosis, the silent disease as it's often described. It's something I very much don't want to happen to me, I just can't visualise myself walking down the road with a zimmer frame. The press and magazines, womens' magazines are full of information telling us that we are supposed to be doing lots of exercise, weight bearing exercise, having better nutrition, in order to stay fit and healthy and stop the degeneration of our bones. What would you say, is that the right answer? Overweight? You won't get osteoporosis! PS:      Well there is some truth in that, but it's more complicated. Having a good lifestyle, good diet and exercise is very good for you and what about exercise, it's very good for the brain, it's very good for the heart, it's very good for the mood, depression etc and in large amounts it's not bad for the bones, but I think it's somewhat of a deception to think that if you just keep a good diet and you're exercised by walking the dog for an hour a day, then that's going to prevent osteoporosis, and I see it very often, you have these healthy 60 year old women, slim, healthy, who walk for 2 hours a day, with a dog, without the dog and they've got rotten bones. And they mustn't think that because they are dog walkers and they exercise, that they are free from the risk of osteoporosis. Particularly, as I say, the thin women, the healthy thin women. By and large fat women don't get osteoporosis, and the reason for that is because with this excess fat they make oestrogens in their body fat, and that protects the bones. Thin women and anorexics at risk of osteoporosis The thin women don't make the same amount of oestrogens, so they are at higher risk, although they don't know it, if they have a healthy lifestyle with lots of exercise. So it's these women, they may have the menopause, they may have had anorexia when they were young, and they were very thin and healthy, and have lost their periods for 2 or 3 years when they were teenagers, they're the ones that are at risk, whether they exercise or not. KC:      I suppose that's why women have a natural propensity to gain weight as they go through menopause, because their cells are changing into fat cells instead of energy cells and in our day and age that's something we don't really want to see, women don't enjoy putting on weight, but actually it's good for us. Weight gain in men and women is complex PS:      Well, weight gain in men and women is a complex thing, I don't think it's that simple. As you get older you do less exercise, you probably eat more, you might even drink more. KC:      Metabolism is slower. Fact: HRT does NOT cause weight gain PS:      Metabolism is probably slower with age, so you tend to put on weight and I don't think it's a great deal to do with hormones, it's to do with age and exercise. And the same thing applies to giving HRT, because HRT causes weight gain when it doesn't .  All the studies looking at thousands of patients over the years, what we call a longitudinal study does not show any increase in weight with HRT. There is an increase in weight, a small increase in weight with age and the menopause, but not HRT. Now that's quite clear, but of course there is the occasional woman who has an idiosyncratic effect of oestrogens who does put on weight.  You stop the hormones and they loose weight so you have to accept that. But if you are looking at a big population apart from these odd cases you don't really put on weight with hormones. I used HRT and did not put on weight – that came later! KC:      No, I found that myself actually.  Thank you very much. Here is a brief bio of Professor Studd together with his contact details: www.studd.co.uk Professor John Studd DSc, MD, FRCOG was consultant gynaecologist at the Chelsea &amp; Westminster Hospital, London and also professor of gynaecology at Imperial College. He is now in full time private practice and runs the London PMS &amp; Menopause Clinic at 46 Wimpole Street London W1G8SD. At the same address he has The Osteoporosis Screening Centre for the assessment and treatment of osteoporosis. He is Vice-President of the National Osteoporosis Society and Chairman of the British Menopause Society. In 2008 he was awarded the Blair Bell Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine which is given every five years for the obstetrician/gynaecologist who has made the greatest lifetime contribution to the specialty. www.studd.co.uk You will find a huge variety of information on menopause at www.simplyhormones.com. Over 200 pages of qualified information. See you again soon. Kathryn Colas signing off…         Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 292 user reviews.

SimplyHormones presents: An Interview with Prof John Studd, Vice President National Osteoporosis Society and Chairman of the British Menopause Society.  Osteoporosis is a natural disease of aging but one we can ALL do something about – this brittle bone disease most often eats away at bones  after degeneration of hormones at menopause. SimplyHormones Presents: An Interview with Prof Studd on Osteoporosis           <a href="http://simplyhormonespodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/john_studd.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a>Prof. John Studd KC:      I'd like if I may now to talk about osteoporosis, the silent disease as it's often described. It's something I very much don't want to happen to me, I just can't visualise myself walking down the road with a zimmer frame. The press and magazines, womens' magazines are full of information telling us that we are supposed to be doing lots of exercise, weight bearing exercise, having better nutrition, in order to stay fit and healthy and stop the degeneration of our bones. What would you say, is that the right answer? Overweight? You won't get osteoporosis! PS:      Well there is some truth in that, but it's more complicated. Having a good lifestyle, good diet and exercise is very good for you and what about exercise, it's very good for the brain, it's very good for the heart, it's very good for the mood, depression etc and in large amounts it's not bad for the bones, but I think it's somewhat of a deception to think that if you just keep a good diet and you're exercised by walking the dog for an hour a day, then that's going to prevent osteoporosis, and I see it very often, you have these healthy 60 year old women, slim, healthy, who walk for 2 hours a day, with a dog, without the dog and they've got rotten bones. And they mustn't think that because they are dog walkers and they exercise, that they are free from the risk of osteoporosis. Particularly, as I say, the thin women, the healthy thin women. By and large fat women don't get osteoporosis, and the reason for that is because with this excess fat they make oestrogens in their body fat, and that protects the bones. Thin women and anorexics at risk of osteoporosis The thin women don't make the same amount of oestrogens, so they are at higher risk, although they don't know it, if they have a healthy lifestyle with lots of exercise. So it's these women, they may have the menopause, they may have had anorexia when they were young, and they were very thin and healthy, and have lost their periods for 2 or 3 years when they were teenagers, they're the ones that are at risk, whether they exercise or not. KC:      I suppose that's why women have a natural propensity to gain weight as they go through menopause, because their cells are changing into fat cells instead of energy cells and in our day and age that's something we don't really want to see, women don't enjoy putting on weight, but actually it's good for us. Weight gain in men and women is complex PS:      Well, weight gain in men and women is a complex thing, I don't think it's that simple. As you get older you do less exercise, you probably eat more, you might even drink more. KC:      Metabolism is slower. Fact: HRT does NOT cause weight gain PS:      Metabolism is probably slower with age, so you tend to put on weight and I don't think it's a great deal to do with hormones, it's to do with age and exercise. And the same thing applies to giving HRT, because HRT causes weight gain when it doesn't .  All the studies looking at thousands of patients over the years, what we call a longitudinal study does not show any increase in weight with HRT. There is an increase in weight, a small increase in weight with age and the menopause, but not HRT. Now that's quite clear, but of course there is the occasional woman who has an idiosyncratic effect of oestrogens who does put on weight.  You stop the hormones and they loose weight so you have to accept that. But if you are looking at a big population apart from these odd cases you don't really put on weight with hormones. I used HRT and did not put on weight – that came later! KC:      No, I found that myself actually.  Thank you very much. Here is a brief bio of Professor Studd together with his contact details: <a href="http://www.studd.co.uk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.studd.co.uk</a> Professor John Studd DSc, MD, FRCOG was consultant gynaecologist at the Chelsea &amp; Westminster Hospital, London and also professor of gynaecology at Imperial College. He is now in full time private practice and runs the London PMS &amp; Menopause Clinic at 46 Wimpole Street London W1G8SD. At the same address he has The Osteoporosis Screening Centre for the assessment and treatment of osteoporosis. He is Vice-President of the National Osteoporosis Society and Chairman of the British Menopause Society. In 2008 he was awarded the Blair Bell Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine which is given every five years for the obstetrician/gynaecologist who has made the greatest lifetime contribution to the specialty. <a href="http://www.studd.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.studd.co.uk</a> You will find a huge variety of information on menopause at <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.simplyhormones.com</a>. Over 200 pages of qualified information. See you again soon. Kathryn Colas signing off… Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 292 user reviews.

#17: Osteoporosis - the brittle bone disease you can prevent

Testosterone for libido, oestrogen for depression – when the imbalance of hormones with monthly PMT and later on menopause are the cause depression, why are women referred to psychiatrists and prescribed mind-numbing anti-psychotic drugs? You may well ask! Prof. John Studd, specialist  obstetrician and gynaecologist tells us here, in the first of three interviews, about his quest to break down barriers in the medical profession to correctly treat women when hormone imbalance is not obvious. SimplyHormones Presents: An Interview with Prof John Studd on Testosterone, oestrogen and depression Prof. John Studd   KC:      I wonder if we can start in this interview by talking about low levels of Testosterone. Headlines that are attracting a lot of media interest, especially in space are talking about this, how men can improve their sex life just by having more testosterone. What's your view  from a woman's perspective and the menopause? JS:      It's certainly true, there's a relationship between Testosterone and libido and levels of Testosterone and ease of orgasms and so on, and we've literally known for a long time, and certainly in this country we've been using Testosterone for many many years. So it is not an American discover, it really is not.  They are becoming aware about Testosterone about 20 years after we have in Europe, mind you the Americans are rather keen on treating men with Testosterone and they are just getting round to treating women with Testosterone. We forget that Testosterone is a normal female hormone. Women have 10 times Testosterone in their system, it's just that we men happen to have more than women, thank the Lord, so it is not a male hormone, it's not a foreign hormone and I would think that of all my patients that have HRT in various forms, probably about 80% have Testosterone as well as Oestrogen, and the reason for that is that it is good for their energy, good for mood, depression and of course for libido. They generally feel better if their Testosterone levels are at the correct level. KC:      And I've read and even attended your lecture, when you've spoken in depth about this, but what do you think about the placebo effect? Do you think that plays a part as well? JS:      There's a placebo effect with any drug that you want to give, this is why it's a very important that the study that we do have a placebo belonging to it. And I think I wrote the first paper on ‘Testerone and Placebo' about 30 years ago and that was an uncontrolled study, and it is the one paper in my career that I regret writing up inadequately, because I did not, then, 35 years ago have a placebo belonging to it, so you are absolutely right, the results could all have been worthless, in fact they are not, they've been repeated many times and it's quite clear that apart from a placebo effect there is an extra effect of Testosterone. KC:      Yes, so it's beneficial. JS:      There is no doubt it's beneficial to women. KC:      And I've also read that you feel it's beneficial, especially for depression as well. JS:      Yes, absolutely. Depression in women is a complex thing. Much of it is hormonal, and improved with Oestrogen, transdermal Oestrogen; that's Oestrogen put through the skin by gels, patches or implants. And also the addition of Testosterone does improve mood as well. And it's very important because depression is more common in women than men and it occurs at times of hormonal fluctuation, like pre-menstrual depression, post natal depression, depression around the time of the menopause, depression after removing ovaries at hysterectomy. All of these types of depression in women should be treated as first option by Oestrogens and perhaps also Testosterone. KC:      So there are a lot of benefits there and thank you for making women more aware of what it can do for our health. JS:      What I would like to do is make psychiatrists more aware of this, because psychiatrists are very unwilling to treat this sort of depression with Oestrogens and it's obvious to any woman if they have depression that's cyclical, every month, for 10 days every month, it's related to their periods. Psychiatrists don't see that. There is a severe depression, which is pre-menstrual or post natal, it's an endocrine problem, it's not a mental, psychiatric problem and the first option of treatment should be oestrogens. In the case of pre-menstrual depression, to suppress ovulation; if you suppress ovulation you suppress the cyclical hormonal changes whatever they are, which reduce the cyclical symptoms of PMS. It's very obvious and it is very effective treatment. KC:      And so many women are experiencing PMS. JS:      Well they're given anti-depressants, worse still. I certainly have patients who have spent a month in a private psychiatric hospital for their PMS or for misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder and they are given heavy duty anti-depressants, mood stabilisers like lithium, or worse, when they have an endocrine problem that is so easily treated with Oestrogens. KC:      Yes, I must admit when I was going through menopause I self-diagnosed myself as being leaning towards bipolar because there moments, days when I was on a complete high and other days when I was in the depths of despair and that can be quite frightening, to be referred to a psychiatrist as I was, was quite frightening as well, but I declined the heavy drugs and went for the talking therapy, which did get me through it, but it was emotionally quite painful. Thank you for that information. See below for a short biography of Professor John Studd together with information on http://www.simplyhormones.com  Professor John Studd DSc, MD, FRCOG was consultant gynaecologist at the Chelsea &amp; Westminster Hospital, London and also professor of gynaecology at Imperial College. He is now in fulltime private practice and runs the London PMS &amp; Menopause Clinic at 46 Wimpole Street London W1G8SD. At the same address he has The Osteoporosis Screening Centre for the assessment and treatment of osteoporosis. He is Vice-President of the National Osteoporosis Society and Chairman of the British Menopause Society. In 2008 he was awarded the Blair Bell Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine which is given every five years for the obstetrician/gynaecologist who has made the greatest lifetime contribution to the specialty.  www.studd.co.uk Tune in for our next two interviews on Osteoporosis (Prof. Studd is Vice-Chairman of the National Osteoporosis Society) and finally, Bio-identical Hormones (natural HRT) where you will find out how to get this treatment from your own GP. There are over 200 pages of advice and support for individuals and companies at www.simplyhormones.com. Sign up for our Newsletter on the Home page.     Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 237 user reviews.

Testosterone for libido, oestrogen for depression – when the imbalance of hormones with monthly PMT and later on menopause are the cause depression, why are women referred to psychiatrists and prescribed mind-numbing anti-psychotic drugs? You may well ask! Prof. John Studd, specialist  obstetrician and gynaecologist tells us here, in the first of three interviews, about his quest to break down barriers in the medical profession to correctly treat women when hormone imbalance is not obvious. SimplyHormones Presents: An Interview with Prof John Studd on Testosterone, oestrogen and depression <a href="http://simplyhormonespodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/john_studd.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a>Prof. John Studd KC:      I wonder if we can start in this interview by talking about low levels of Testosterone. Headlines that are attracting a lot of media interest, especially in space are talking about this, how men can improve their sex life just by having more testosterone. What's your view  from a woman's perspective and the menopause? JS:      It's certainly true, there's a relationship between Testosterone and libido and levels of Testosterone and ease of orgasms and so on, and we've literally known for a long time, and certainly in this country we've been using Testosterone for many many years. So it is not an American discover, it really is not.  They are becoming aware about Testosterone about 20 years after we have in Europe, mind you the Americans are rather keen on treating men with Testosterone and they are just getting round to treating women with Testosterone. We forget that Testosterone is a normal female hormone. Women have 10 times Testosterone in their system, it's just that we men happen to have more than women, thank the Lord, so it is not a male hormone, it's not a foreign hormone and I would think that of all my patients that have HRT in various forms, probably about 80% have Testosterone as well as Oestrogen, and the reason for that is that it is good for their energy, good for mood, depression and of course for libido. They generally feel better if their Testosterone levels are at the correct level. KC:      And I've read and even attended your lecture, when you've spoken in depth about this, but what do you think about the placebo effect? Do you think that plays a part as well? JS:      There's a placebo effect with any drug that you want to give, this is why it's a very important that the study that we do have a placebo belonging to it. And I think I wrote the first paper on ‘Testerone and Placebo' about 30 years ago and that was an uncontrolled study, and it is the one paper in my career that I regret writing up inadequately, because I did not, then, 35 years ago have a placebo belonging to it, so you are absolutely right, the results could all have been worthless, in fact they are not, they've been repeated many times and it's quite clear that apart from a placebo effect there is an extra effect of Testosterone. KC:      Yes, so it's beneficial. JS:      There is no doubt it's beneficial to women. KC:      And I've also read that you feel it's beneficial, especially for depression as well. JS:      Yes, absolutely. Depression in women is a complex thing. Much of it is hormonal, and improved with Oestrogen, transdermal Oestrogen; that's Oestrogen put through the skin by gels, patches or implants. And also the addition of Testosterone does improve mood as well. And it's very important because depression is more common in women than men and it occurs at times of hormonal fluctuation, like pre-menstrual depression, post natal depression, depression around the time of the menopause, depression after removing ovaries at hysterectomy. All of these types of depression in women should be treated as first option by Oestrogens and perhaps also Testosterone. KC:      So there are a lot of benefits there and thank you for making women more aware of what it can do for our health. JS:      What I would like to do is make psychiatrists more aware of this, because psychiatrists are very unwilling to treat this sort of depression with Oestrogens and it's obvious to any woman if they have depression that's cyclical, every month, for 10 days every month, it's related to their periods. Psychiatrists don't see that. There is a severe depression, which is pre-menstrual or post natal, it's an endocrine problem, it's not a mental, psychiatric problem and the first option of treatment should be oestrogens. In the case of pre-menstrual depression, to suppress ovulation; if you suppress ovulation you suppress the cyclical hormonal changes whatever they are, which reduce the cyclical symptoms of PMS. It's very obvious and it is very effective treatment. KC:      And so many women are experiencing PMS. JS:      Well they're given anti-depressants, worse still. I certainly have patients who have spent a month in a private psychiatric hospital for their PMS or for misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder and they are given heavy duty anti-depressants, mood stabilisers like lithium, or worse, when they have an endocrine problem that is so easily treated with Oestrogens. KC:      Yes, I must admit when I was going through menopause I self-diagnosed myself as being leaning towards bipolar because there moments, days when I was on a complete high and other days when I was in the depths of despair and that can be quite frightening, to be referred to a psychiatrist as I was, was quite frightening as well, but I declined the heavy drugs and went for the talking therapy, which did get me through it, but it was emotionally quite painful. Thank you for that information. See below for a short biography of Professor John Studd together with information on <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormones.com</a> Professor John Studd DSc, MD, FRCOG was consultant gynaecologist at the Chelsea &amp; Westminster Hospital, London and also professor of gynaecology at Imperial College. He is now in fulltime private practice and runs the London PMS &amp; Menopause Clinic at 46 Wimpole Street London W1G8SD. At the same address he has The Osteoporosis Screening Centre for the assessment and treatment of osteoporosis. He is Vice-President of the National Osteoporosis Society and Chairman of the British Menopause Society. In 2008 he was awarded the Blair Bell Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine which is given every five years for the obstetrician/gynaecologist who has made the greatest lifetime contribution to the specialty.  <a href="http://www.studd.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.studd.co.uk</a> Tune in for our next two interviews on Osteoporosis (Prof. Studd is Vice-Chairman of the National Osteoporosis Society) and finally, Bio-identical Hormones (natural HRT) where you will find out how to get this treatment from your own GP. There are over 200 pages of advice and support for individuals and companies at <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.simplyhormones.com</a>. Sign up for our Newsletter on the Home page. Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 237 user reviews.

#16: Testosterone puts your lights back on!

My interview with Gill Burgess tells you everything you ever wanted to know about this silent killer; cervical smears – why they’re important and much much more.  Gill Burgess is the Cancer Screening Co-ordinator for Croydon PCT, specialising in Breast, Bowel and Cervical Cancers. Gill is innovative and forward thinking – just listen to what she has to say and the full transcript appears below. Interview with Gill Burgess on Cervical Cancer KC:  Hello everyone, it's Kathryn Colas here from SimplyHormones.com and I'm here today talking to Gill Burgess, who's a Cancer Screening Co-ordinator for Croydon PCT (NHS Primary Care Trust) and her speciality is breast, bowel and cervical cancer, and we're going to be talking to Gill this morning on cervical cancer to see if we can find out some more about it. So good morning to you Gill. GB:   Good morning. KC: We're going to be talking about cervical cancer, and I think the first thing our listeners would like to know is what is it exactly? GB:  Well, it's the most common cancer affecting women in developing countries Kathryn, and it's caused by Human Papilloma Virus, which is an infection of the cervix. It's associated with cellular changes which can be detected early on under microscopic examination; for example the smear test. HPV infection usually clears within a few months, I think it's about 90% within 2 years. The problem is it's persistent infection beyond 12 months which is associated with the high risk of cervical cancer. KC: And who is most at risk? GB: It's transmissible mainly in the younger age group.  You find most of it in women under the age of 30, but it's younger people that will pick up this virus. It's a very transient virus and it just goes from one to the other very very quickly, but like all viruses they move on as well, it's those, that as I said earlier, that persist that create the problem of cervical cancer. And only a very small proportion will go on to develop the cancer as well.  KC:  So it's still quite rare in a sense? GB:  Yes the risk infection is soon after sexual activity begins. In some populations               there is another peak among women actually at the menopause in older women, and although HPV is sexually transmitted, penetrative sex is not required for transmission. Skin to skin genital connections, penile to vulva for example, contact is a well recognised mode of transmission. KC: That throws a different light on it, doesn't it? GB:  Yes, I think some data was brought up a while back on age specific prevalency of HPV, suggesting that there's a pattern of infection between regions and socio- economic groups. Also HIV infected individuals are at a higher risk of HPV infection. And they can be infected by a broader range of HPV types. So if you've got HIV you've got a low immune system and you're very sexually active with different partners, then you are at a much greater risk. KC: I've also, continuing on risk, I've read some research that says the pill could increase the risk. Do you have a view on this? GB:  Yes, there are risks to the pill. It is actually one of the contributing factors alongside having a lot of children, at the early age of the first sexual activity. Cigarette smoking is another huge factor. And long term use of the pill, you're absolutely right, it is another risk along with co-infections like Chlamydia, because persistent infection, again, this is the risk factor. And the peak prevalence of the infection is in women under the age of 30, and, as I said earlier, those that are actually over the age of 50 going through the menopause. KC: So you say long term use of the pill, what would you describe as long term? GB:  They won't give the pill to obese women, or women who are over the age of 35 or women that smoke, because there are risk factors involved, but to me the pill is a better scenario than getting pregnant, because pregnancy is the biggest risk factor of all. So the pill is a contra-indication, a slight one, but then so is smoking. Smoking is a huge risk. KC: And it's better to stop smoking. It's all relative isn't it? You've just got to take a balanced view, because all drugs have side effects of some kind or another and you've just got to work out whether the benefits are greater than the risks. GB:  If you put somebody on the pill you've got look at their risk factors. You can ask the question about sexual activity, I don't know whether I would. If you get a girl in who wants to go on the combined or contraception pill and she is a smoker and you can talk sexual history to her, you could say “well actually the pill is a risk factor” and you could offer alternative methods of contraception. But there is a way round it.  But as you said quite rightly, smoking is what we need to get rid of first and foremost. KC: Yes, that's a killer for everything, a big no, no! Just touching again on the over 50 age group, which of course is what I fall into and post menopausal women, I don't think women of that age group fully understand why they have suddenly become vulnerable and of course it's because the divorce rate is now much higher within that age group so of course they're changing partners and exposing themselves to the same risk. GB: They are Kathryn yes, you're absolutely right. And I think you've got to look at the screening and the risk factors to women over the age of 50 and then tame the screening programme actually to individual needs and it is all about divorce rate and women becoming more sexually active. Woman today have a lot more sexual freedom and they are very happy to have much fuller and richer lives than our previous generations did. KC:  So just when they thought they could throw the whole thing wide open and say “yippee” now there's no risk of pregnancy and all the rest of it, all of a sudden they've still got to be careful of who they have sexual relations with because this is a sexually transmitted disease, as we've already discussed. GB: And another consideration of course is that men are also becoming more sexually active. We're not taking into consideration what the men are doing as well. Because men have got more money at retirement age haven't they? And they're meeting older women and so that's something else we need to be thinking about really. At what age should we stop doing cervical screening? Should we extend it into the older age group?  I know that some research has been done on that in the last couple of years but that again comes with its own little set of risks because if you start taking smears from women that are over age 65, you've then got the problem that it's difficult to take a smear from a woman who's over 65, because she's got the risk of vaginal atrophy, then you're going to a whole new world aren't you. KC: I'll just explain to our listeners a bit about that. That's vaginal dryness. I'm always standing on my soapbox about this, as you know Gill, because it's not really addressed properly in the doctors surgery, if women ever get that far because it's such an embarrassing subject, it's usually when they go for a cervical smear that the problem arises because the swab can't take the test. GB: Yes, that's right. KC:  But touching on the screening programme, there is a national screening programme in place for cervical cancer, so it sounds to me like there's a fixed age group at the moment, is there? GB:  There is, it's 25 to 65. KC: So it's quite broad then. GB: It is, we stopped screening under 25s, five years ago, although there is some controversy about it, because girls, if they've had early sexual relations and they've had a few partners, they feel that they ought to have a screening test done and it can be quite controversial and it took us a long time to get over to people that this is a screening programme, it's not a diagnostic test and so we have to be looking at signs and symptoms and I see many girls in my clinic, saying to me “please Gill can we please just do the smear test”.  I'm a great believer is educating women so I spend a lot of time showing them pictures and demonstrating exactly why we're doing it, what we're doing and what the outcome is and if they've got symptoms then we look at why. Why have they got bleeding in-between periods, or they might have another infection. It might be that they have missed the pill or the pill packet is out of sync. There are different reasons, so you would then refer these women to the GUM (Genito Urinary Medicine) clinics or the GP who can take swabs from these women to test for sexually transmitted infections and that has to be ruled out. The answer is not to get a woman in when she's 22 to start taking a smear test. KC:  It comes back to this, where we are in society at the moment, that we rush off to the doctor as soon as something is wrong and ask for a magic pill and we've just got to recognise our own bodies more, understand what's going on, and with people like you teaching us how to recognise things, and what we can do about it. GB: That's absolutely right and the cervix doesn't actually mature until the girl is probably 20-21 so if you start taking smear tests under that age you will automatically get an abnormal smear result in most cases. KC: So it's not helpful is it? GB: It's not helpful at all, it creates huge amounts of anxiety within the girl and the mother, or the parents, or whatever. It's a really difficult situation sometimes, but it's educating people, it is all about that and lots of explanations. KC:  Gill, can you describe to us what actually happens in a smear test?  They're called up for a smear test, they go along to the clinic for their appointment, and I know lots of girls and women might be very nervous about what's going to happen next. GB:  I opened my own cytology clinic (cytology: the study of cells), a womens health clinic almost 8 years ago, as an alternative to a GP and the reason I talk about that is because I worked in a nurse-led scenario, on a huge housing estate, looking after many single women and their children, and one of the things I found was that the women were never having their smear tests done because they were so terrified of the smear test, and it could have been due to child abuse or rape or domestic violence, whatever.  And these women were the women not coming for smears and I was very agitated by that because I couldn't understand what the problems were. So I was hell bent on educating them and then several years later I was given this wonderful opportunity. I put in a business plan to my PCT and said “let me have an alternative to a GP practice.” So I opened my own clinic and I went off and did  psycho-sexual training in London and I was able to recognise why these women don't want to have their smears, and as I said earlier it's all based on fear and lack of understanding. So what my clinic offers them is time, and there's comfort and we have long chats, and if they come and they're terrified, it can take up to something like 4-6 sessions to take the smear, but we find out what the problem is. So when they arrive, providing it's a nice normal scenario when women arrive for their smear, you explain the procedure, you do a sexual history, you talk about their menstrual cycle, the children that they have. You talk about what contraception they're using and I always ask the question “do you know why we take the smear?” and 90% of them will say ”well it's a test for cancer”, but of course it isn't a test for cancer, it's a screening programme. And then I will bring out my little pictures, I'm a great one for pictures, and show them where I'm taking the smear from, what's happing in that little corner and what the results are likely to be. And then I'll explain that they will have a letter from me, or their GP, or the screening programme, very quickly, to tell them what the result is. I show them where they have to lie, it's all very private and confidential and then the smear is taken and it's a very easy insertion of a speculum and then you just quietly take cells using a very soft brush. The cells are put into a pot and they are sent off to the laboratory.  It's a great opportunity for women to discuss all areas of their sexual life if they want to, anything they are unsure about. KC: I think that's very helpful Gill, because I think so many women think that when you're going for the cervical smear, as you said, we think it's to see if we've got cancer or not, but you're just testing for abnormal cells, and when you find those abnormal cells you can take action to clear those abnormal cells. It's not cancer. GB: I always say to women if you found a lump either in your breast, or your nose, your ear or wherever, you'd go and show somebody. But down there you can't see a damn thing, you know you can't see anything, so we take cells to have a look at what the changes might be. It's a screening programme, it's excellent. Well worth doing. KC:  And you've also explained in there, you get people that don't turn up for their appointments? GB:  Oh yes, the DNA (did not arrive) rate in my clinic is pretty high actually, so we have shortened appointments, but women get very fearful, of course if women have got their period it's not useful to take it then, and you can't take a smear on anybody who has just had a baby, you have to wait till they are 3 months post natal, because hormones need to go back (to normal), but culturally women don't agree with it, there are certain cultures that don't think it's a good idea. And of course many cultures are not sexually active and don't want to have smears and we have to recognise that as professionals, it is a screening programme, it's patient choice isn't it? And it's about recognising that the opportunity's there and if you want to take it you can, so professionals have to be very careful that we're not forcing the issues, if you understand what I mean? KC:  Yes quite, but it's in your own best interest to take part really isn't it? GB:  That's right, absolutely. KC:  And finally Gill, you've mentioned the HPV, the human papilloma virus as being a major cause of cervical cancer. Would you like to say something about the vaccination that is now available and how it helps, etc? GB: Yes, it came out about 2007, 2008 I think. There were two types of vaccines. As we said earlier, one of them looked at four different types of virus and the other one, two. And we chose Cervarix, because, although it covers two viruses it was the one that has had the longest evidence from America, it's now up to 8 years, whereas the Guardasil didn't have the amount of evidence.  A lot of people thought it was about  costing, which one we would use, but in fact it wasn't, it was just that the Cervarix had a longer evidence-base against it in America, so that's why it was chosen. It's actually given to young girls between the ages of 12 and 13 and they get three doses over a six month period. They (the researchers) are constantly looking up all the information on this file, the evidence goes on all the time in America.   KC:  I think I'd like to add in there, if the girls miss that vaccination at 12 or 13 is it recommended that they have it later on, or what happens then? BG: They can have catch up on it. It was recognised I'm sure that it was not cost effective to run a national vaccination programme for women over the age of 18, which is because as soon as the woman has started to have a sexual life is at risk of catching the virus anyway. And women not covered by the vaccination programme will still be invited to be screened routinely as part of the programme. Tests for HPV vaccination exist but these are primarily for use for research purposes and not normally available on the NHS, but I know that there's a lot of work being carried out on that. KC: And I also think another key area is what you've just said, that those girls that are invited for vaccination aged 12 &amp; 13 will also be on the screening programme at the relative time later on, it doesn't mean just because they've had the vaccination they don't need screening any more, I think that's very important too. GB: Yes. It's my granddaughters that will be the beneficiaries, I feel, of all of this, it's not going to be immediate. It doesn't mean to say that were going to stop taking smears because of the vaccine. The largest bonus for me is that it's the first vaccine against cancer and that's got to be a real bonus hasn't it? KC: Definitely, yes. GB: Absolutely. KC: Something that can really help and my very last question to you today Gill, is to do with sexual discrimination!  The HPV virus as we know is a sexually transmitted infection and it seems to me that what's good for the gander is good for the goose, so why aren't the boys in on the vaccine programme? GB:  Well I think the thing to remember is that because it's a relatively new vaccine, there's insufficient evidence to know what would happen to boys. There's also a cost issue as well, but also vaccinating the girls will also reduce the transmission to the boys won't it? So there is that school of thought. And this should lead to the reduction in rarer forms of cancer caused by HPV in both boys and girls, so I think with all of this, cost is the thing. I'm sure in America they'd love to vaccinate the boys and yes if it goes out there it will probably come over here, but at this point in time it's still very new and we're still learning a lot, but you're quite right as far as sex discrimination is, why not? Perhaps we should have given it to the boys first? KC: Listening to you speaking perhaps the boys need a slightly different vaccine, because of course they don't have the same hormone structure as girls. It may be a whole different ball game for them altogether. GB: Yes that's right, but certainly vaccinating the girls will reduce the rarer forms of the cancer, which is the big bonus isn't it? KC: That's brilliant. Thank you so much for that Gill, we've covered so much today and I think I must just reinforce to tell everybody to turn up for their cervical smear when they're called forward. GB: I have a very good motto actually you know: ‘never fear to have a smear'. KC: I like that. GB: It's not as painful as people think; it's just that it is about looking after yourself. KC:  And not worrying unnecessarily. GB: That's right, absolutely. KC: Well, thank you very much Gill. GB: Thank you Kathryn. KC: It's just been brilliant speaking to you and I'm sure that this information that we've discussed this morning will be of help to a lot of women. For further information on this subject please go to http://cancerhelp.org.uk and http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Cancer-of-the-Cervix.htm. For more information on any aspect of menopause, please visit http://www.simplyhormones.com. This interview was brought to you by Kathryn Colas of SimplyHormones.com  Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 224 user reviews.

#10: Cervical Cancer is a known STI

#3: The Pill is it right for you?

Celia Johnson

#15: Celia Johnson reveals Top Tips-Fitness through Menopause

#14: Early Menopause-My sex life is over

#12: Down to Earth Nutrition

#11: Sex, Meaning and the Menopause

A no-holds barred open discussion on breast cancer, the pill and menopause. Check out this online radio http://www.redshiftradio.co.uk, the Scarlet Ladies slot – a bit like Loose Women only it’s audio! It’s already happened, so click on the link for the recording. It’s great to have a UK based internet radio – check it out. Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 254 user reviews.

A no-holds barred open discussion on breast cancer, the pill and menopause. Check out this online radio <a href="http://www.redshiftradio.co.uk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.redshiftradio.co.uk</a>, the Scarlet Ladies slot – a bit like Loose Women only it’s audio! It’s already happened, so click on the link for the recording. It’s great to have a UK based internet radio – check it out. Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 254 user reviews.

#9: Breast Cancer-The Pill-menopause

Podcast interviews with the best medical professionals bringing you up to date information on hormonal health for women, whatever their age.

Simply Hormones Podcast

I recently interviewed Susan Gala who specialises in strengthenening the pelvic floor. What a find! She is already helping women avoid leakage and improve your sex life! This subject is so embarrassing and Susan handles it beautifully. Listen to the podcast – I am sure this will help you.  Susan Gala Interview – The Pelvic Floor Hello, it's Kathryn Colas here from SimplyHormones.com and today I'm talking to Susan Gala from pelvicfloorexercise.net about incontinence and how pelvic floor exercises can improve not only this much forgotten area of the body but how it can have a beneficial effect on your sex life too. Susan is a lifestyle fitness and wellness professional, which includes being a Certified Stott Pilates practitioner and a licensed massage therapist and she's been involved in the industry for over 25 years, so she knows what she's talking about. Susan's enthusiasm for maintaining healthy lifestyles and wellness is contagious! She's devoted some time and expertise to a new website called http://www.pelvicfloorexercise.net as she understands the problems that can develop when we don't look after this particular area of the body. So, let's talk to Susan, now. Hello, Susan and welcome. Susan Gala: Hello Kathryn, it's a pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you for having me. KC: You're most welcome it was a joy when I first found your details. I must say that, first of all I am most glad I found your website, I think it was through Twitter, one of those because what you're doing is actually supporting what I'm trying to do.. In my professional life, of course, with simplyhormones.com, I'm always standing on my soapbox talking to women about incontinence and even vaginal dryness and what they can do about it. As you know it's an area that's acutely embarrassing for women to discuss with anyone, so to be able to interview you today is just brilliant and I hope all our listeners think so, too. So, let's start with some questions. We'll go on and talk about your new specialist feminine fitness regime called Sexercise(R), in a little while but first of all can you tell us something about the pelvic floor and how it gets into such a bad state? SG: The pelvic floor muscles can become very weak from life specific events which we need to be very aware of, such as pre and post-natal, menopause, the natural ageing process, obesity and oral nutrition, drinking excessive caffeinated fluids that irritates the bladder, the bowel and the nervous system; some medications can increase bladder dysfunction and, believe it or not, inactivity and what I mean by that is not being physically or sexually active. The pelvic floor muscles form a balance or a foundation that supports the bladder, uterus and rectum and just like other muscles in our body, such as the biceps and triceps in our arms, the quadriceps and ham strings in our legs, that need to keep strong for flexibility and balance, the pelvic floor muscles also need to be strong. KC: That's quite interesting what you were saying, it's not just an ageing process, it's about diet and exercise and medication and all sorts of other things, too that you mentioned. So can you say why do we need to make sure it stays healthy and strong? SG: We need to make sure that the pelvic floor muscles stay strong because it insures us from incontinence, it protects us from infection and also I think that while we're looking at the big picture, most women have babies and that is the foundation or the bowl of the pelvic floor muscles that hold up the bladder, uterus and rectum, that forms the birthing canal and also it is a very sexual epicentre which enhances our sexual desire and if we don't keep those muscles very strong and active during life specific events, they become weak but also as we age or experience menopause, the area can become very dry. So the pelvic floor is your foundation for all movement, all balance, all flexibility and alignment and what I mean by alignment, is posture. Think of it like a building. If we were an architect and were going to build a building, we have to first place it with a foundation; the same thing with the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor is our foundation it is our support system for the entire body and captures the problem. KC: I think those women who maybe listening who have perhaps done some Pilates will understand about the central core and strengthening the central core but I must admit I never considered the pelvic floor to be at the very heart of it. So that's very interesting. SG: If you think of it, the pelvic floor begins at the base, which is basically the top of our thigh, in between our legs and it's intertwined like also bungi-chords and muscles and ligaments and nerves – all in between the pelvic girdle so muscles forming all around the pelvic girdle in the lower part of the abdominal wall and the lower part of the back is intertwined with the pelvic floor muscles. In fact the lowest part of the abdominal wall the transversive abdominus muscle which I refer to as the TA muscle is right behind your belly button and it wraps around your torso in a horizontal way. It's a very important muscle bed, connected to your pelvic floor muscles and the pelvic girdle along with a deep, deep, lower back muscle which is called the multipidus muscle. So those muscles also work in conjunction with pelvic floor muscles which are all connected to the pelvic girdle. If you go over to my website, http://www.pelvicfloorexercise.net you can download a free e-book called ‘7 Secrets to a Sexier You'. There are illustrations in that downloadable booklet of the pelvic floor muscles and if you also go to my Fan Page on Facebook which is http://www.facebook.com/sexhercise, in my blog you will also see illustrations that you can download of the pelvic floor muscles. KC: I'm going to put all these contact details in the transcription, Susan, so that will be great for women to find out more about that. I also wonder if I could just move on a bit. It's so interesting all this. I certainly find it so, that it's an area of our body that we totally ignore on a daily basis except that we know we need to pee and that we might be giving birth and of course, you don't realise til you get older that it starts drying out as well. Can you tell us what prompted you to get started on helping women in this particular area? SG: That's very interesting because in the past five years I've had a lot of clients and patients that have been in their fifty's and they have experienced menopause, in a normal way that most women go through menopause and I didn't have the experience that they're having so they wanted to reveal a lot of their secrets to me and I spent time listening to them. We've had lunch, we've talked about different situations but all the time there was one area that I kept on hearing from all of them which would be a leakage problem. A leakage if they were laughing or giggling; a leakage if they were having sex; a leakage if they were going to a gym class and so it was quite obvious that these muscles they weren't in touch with and quite frankly they didn't realise that they had pelvic floor muscles. They didn't realise they had them or where they are located. KC:  And it's so embarrassing. It happened to me and straight away you think oh, my god I'm turning into my mother and that means I'm ageing and I'm not, I look at myself in the mirror and I don't see, well I do see my mother but I don't look as old as I think I should be if I'm experiencing incontinence. It's such an awful stage to get to and not understanding it but you don't have to be menopausal, either, as you've already said. It can happen following child-birth and other different times in people's lives, perhaps following an operation of some kind but it's just not knowing how you can deal with it and thinking that you've got to spend the rest of your life wearing special incontinence knickers and that's just dreadful, so it's so good that you're talking about it in such a detailed way to us all. SG: Thank you. Part of my programme is the anti-aging side too; it's not jus creating a physical fitness pelvic floor programme but I want to educate women on where these muscles are; how to palpate certain muscles that we can palpate and to realise that during our daily activities, sitting, standing, walking, we use these muscles. We don't realise it but if we're seated right now, we're sitting on those muscles! So how important is that to keep those muscles strong where a lot of people nowadays sit at their computer working… KC: You could do these exercises without anybody else knowing, can't you, really. SG: Absolutely, yes. KC: That's the brilliant thing about it. Susan I understand that you've got your programme coming out on cassette and it's also going to be downloadable. Tell us a bit more about that, what people can expect to see on that. SG:  Yes, this is very exciting: Sexhercise, which is my pelvic floor exercise programme is now world-wide and what I mean by that is that I offer a Virtual Studio on the website where I will guide you through the Sexhercise programme to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. It's offered as a membership programme so that will be a monthly investment of $19.99 with other bonuses. (American Dollars) You could also purchase my audio programme which is my audio guide to Sexhercise Essentially, two c.d.'s with a colour booklet for $29.99 or it's a downloadable programme for only $19.99. KC: It sounds just what people need because it's been said to me before that some people, some women don't know where their pelvic floor is and they almost need 1:1 contact with a teacher to show them how to do it. Would you agree with that? SG: Yes I do agree. In my Sexhercise basics programme, the entire programme is dedicated to learning where the pelvic floor muscles are, how to palpate certain muscles; how to breathe properly because breathing properly will help you activate these muscles. If you don't breathe properly it is very difficult to activate these muscles and keep them strong, to restore them. I always suggest to everybody, whether you visit my website and I will be your guide throughout the basic process or if you see me in a live workshop, I reckon then that everybody spends a long time, at least a month or two understanding the basics because you understand how your body functions. KC: I've also heard from the medical profession that sometimes it can take up to eight weeks for women to get their pelvic floor muscles back into good shape so they shouldn't expect results straight away. SG:  No. And I say, eight to twelve weeks. I suggest just doing one programme at a time, eight to twelve weeks, two times a week. However, we should never stop, though, because this is now lifestyle. It needs to be integrated into your lifestyle. If you look at any recent research now, the baby-boomer generation is huge. It is the largest population right now. We are living longer and we want an alternative. Now what I mean by that is a holistic awareness; an holistic awareness of our lifestyle so that we can live a healthier lifestyle as we age. KC: Yes. And it seems to me that we've got to go out and find it ourselves. It's not being promoted within the medical industry. We've got to find it. SG: Absolutely, I understand that and it's going to be one of my challenges which in a way is very exciting to me because I am going to, as soon as my promotional video is finished, I've just produced a 10-minute promotional video, to send out to the medical community. KC: Some of them are listening but most of them wear blinkers, don't they. They just keep on writing prescriptions and just pass you by, don't they but I think the tide is turning and I think women are letting the medical profession know that they want to know more about what is available to them to stay healthy and doesn't necessarily cost a huge amount of money and it certainly doesn't need a prescription being written does it? SG: No. Absolutely. As soon as my promotional video is finished, I will upload it to my website. I have interviewed an acupuncturist and a physical therapist regarding incontinence and I highly suggest that women try and experience with this fitness programme dedicated to pelvic floor fitness; an acupuncturist or even a physical therapist who specialises only in women's health. KC: I think it's almost worth not necessarily interviewing prospective therapists but at least finding out a lot about all the different people and what they specialise in before you start paying out your money because you may find that that person doesn't really know how your body ticks or how you want to make it tick better, so you've always got to put some homework in there, haven't you. SG: Absolutely and we don't have to be shy about doing that. This is our body. We only have one body but we have many parts to this body, so we've gotta make sure that it all works together as one unit. KC: Yes.  And I just think it is superb what you are doing, Susan and it really doesn't matter anymore where you are based, anywhere in the world, that anybody can access this information and it doesn't take weeks to be delivered to you. It's instant, isn't it, so I think that's just fantastic. I'm going to put all your information at the end of the transcript, Susan so that people can read more about how to contact you, about the cassettes and videos that you're doing, so that they can get better access and certainly learn more, on a personal basis, in their own time, 24/7 about how to make their pelvic floor more healthier and as women are ageing, how to have a healthier sex life, because it's all involved, isn't it. SG: Yes it is. KC:  OK. That's brilliant. Thank you so much for talking with us today, Susan. We've covered a lot of information here and I can't wait to send this out to everybody so that they can  hear it. SG: Thank you for having me. KC: You're most welcome. Here are all those contact details, as promised: Susan Gala: Susan's website has full details of her pelvic floor programme – http://www.pelvicfloorexercise.net and her Sexhercise programme and Kathryn Colas: You'll find lots of information on menopause, including my own personal journey at http://www.simplyhormones.com and do watch ‘Menopause: The Movie' highlighting how relationships are affected at menopause; here's the link: http://www.simplyhormones.com/video.asp  and do join me on my blog for my own views on what's going on in the world:  http://www.simplyhormones.com/mainpage.asp?pid=52 and feel free to comment on my ramblings and podcasts. Last but not least, do feel free to email me: kathryn@simplyhormones.com and follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/simplyhormones Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 226 user reviews.

I recently interviewed Susan Gala who specialises in strengthenening the pelvic floor. What a find! She is already helping women avoid leakage and improve your sex life! This subject is so embarrassing and Susan handles it beautifully. Listen to the podcast – I am sure this will help you. <a href="http://simplyhormonespodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/Susan-Gala.jpeg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> Susan Gala Interview – The Pelvic Floor Hello, it's Kathryn Colas here from <a href="http://SimplyHormones.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SimplyHormones.com</a> and today I'm talking to Susan Gala from <a href="http://pelvicfloorexercise.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pelvicfloorexercise.net</a> about incontinence and how pelvic floor exercises can improve not only this much forgotten area of the body but how it can have a beneficial effect on your sex life too. Susan is a lifestyle fitness and wellness professional, which includes being a Certified Stott Pilates practitioner and a licensed massage therapist and she's been involved in the industry for over 25 years, so she knows what she's talking about. Susan's enthusiasm for maintaining healthy lifestyles and wellness is contagious! She's devoted some time and expertise to a new website called <a href="http://www.pelvicfloorexercise.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.pelvicfloorexercise.net</a> as she understands the problems that can develop when we don't look after this particular area of the body. So, let's talk to Susan, now. Hello, Susan and welcome. Susan Gala: Hello Kathryn, it's a pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you for having me. KC: You're most welcome it was a joy when I first found your details. I must say that, first of all I am most glad I found your website, I think it was through Twitter, one of those because what you're doing is actually supporting what I'm trying to do.. In my professional life, of course, with <a href="http://simplyhormones.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">simplyhormones.com</a>, I'm always standing on my soapbox talking to women about incontinence and even vaginal dryness and what they can do about it. As you know it's an area that's acutely embarrassing for women to discuss with anyone, so to be able to interview you today is just brilliant and I hope all our listeners think so, too. So, let's start with some questions. We'll go on and talk about your new specialist feminine fitness regime called Sexercise(R), in a little while but first of all can you tell us something about the pelvic floor and how it gets into such a bad state? SG: The pelvic floor muscles can become very weak from life specific events which we need to be very aware of, such as pre and post-natal, menopause, the natural ageing process, obesity and oral nutrition, drinking excessive caffeinated fluids that irritates the bladder, the bowel and the nervous system; some medications can increase bladder dysfunction and, believe it or not, inactivity and what I mean by that is not being physically or sexually active. The pelvic floor muscles form a balance or a foundation that supports the bladder, uterus and rectum and just like other muscles in our body, such as the biceps and triceps in our arms, the quadriceps and ham strings in our legs, that need to keep strong for flexibility and balance, the pelvic floor muscles also need to be strong. KC: That's quite interesting what you were saying, it's not just an ageing process, it's about diet and exercise and medication and all sorts of other things, too that you mentioned. So can you say why do we need to make sure it stays healthy and strong? SG: We need to make sure that the pelvic floor muscles stay strong because it insures us from incontinence, it protects us from infection and also I think that while we're looking at the big picture, most women have babies and that is the foundation or the bowl of the pelvic floor muscles that hold up the bladder, uterus and rectum, that forms the birthing canal and also it is a very sexual epicentre which enhances our sexual desire and if we don't keep those muscles very strong and active during life specific events, they become weak but also as we age or experience menopause, the area can become very dry. So the pelvic floor is your foundation for all movement, all balance, all flexibility and alignment and what I mean by alignment, is posture. Think of it like a building. If we were an architect and were going to build a building, we have to first place it with a foundation; the same thing with the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor is our foundation it is our support system for the entire body and captures the problem. KC: I think those women who maybe listening who have perhaps done some Pilates will understand about the central core and strengthening the central core but I must admit I never considered the pelvic floor to be at the very heart of it. So that's very interesting. SG: If you think of it, the pelvic floor begins at the base, which is basically the top of our thigh, in between our legs and it's intertwined like also bungi-chords and muscles and ligaments and nerves – all in between the pelvic girdle so muscles forming all around the pelvic girdle in the lower part of the abdominal wall and the lower part of the back is intertwined with the pelvic floor muscles. In fact the lowest part of the abdominal wall the transversive abdominus muscle which I refer to as the TA muscle is right behind your belly button and it wraps around your torso in a horizontal way. It's a very important muscle bed, connected to your pelvic floor muscles and the pelvic girdle along with a deep, deep, lower back muscle which is called the multipidus muscle. So those muscles also work in conjunction with pelvic floor muscles which are all connected to the pelvic girdle. If you go over to my website, <a href="http://www.pelvicfloorexercise.net/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.pelvicfloorexercise.net</a> you can download a free e-book called ‘7 Secrets to a Sexier You'. There are illustrations in that downloadable booklet of the pelvic floor muscles and if you also go to my Fan Page on Facebook which is <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sexhercise" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/sexhercise</a>, in my blog you will also see illustrations that you can download of the pelvic floor muscles. KC: I'm going to put all these contact details in the transcription, Susan, so that will be great for women to find out more about that. I also wonder if I could just move on a bit. It's so interesting all this. I certainly find it so, that it's an area of our body that we totally ignore on a daily basis except that we know we need to pee and that we might be giving birth and of course, you don't realise til you get older that it starts drying out as well. Can you tell us what prompted you to get started on helping women in this particular area? SG: That's very interesting because in the past five years I've had a lot of clients and patients that have been in their fifty's and they have experienced menopause, in a normal way that most women go through menopause and I didn't have the experience that they're having so they wanted to reveal a lot of their secrets to me and I spent time listening to them. We've had lunch, we've talked about different situations but all the time there was one area that I kept on hearing from all of them which would be a leakage problem. A leakage if they were laughing or giggling; a leakage if they were having sex; a leakage if they were going to a gym class and so it was quite obvious that these muscles they weren't in touch with and quite frankly they didn't realise that they had pelvic floor muscles. They didn't realise they had them or where they are located. KC:  And it's so embarrassing. It happened to me and straight away you think oh, my god I'm turning into my mother and that means I'm ageing and I'm not, I look at myself in the mirror and I don't see, well I do see my mother but I don't look as old as I think I should be if I'm experiencing incontinence. It's such an awful stage to get to and not understanding it but you don't have to be menopausal, either, as you've already said. It can happen following child-birth and other different times in people's lives, perhaps following an operation of some kind but it's just not knowing how you can deal with it and thinking that you've got to spend the rest of your life wearing special incontinence knickers and that's just dreadful, so it's so good that you're talking about it in such a detailed way to us all. SG: Thank you. Part of my programme is the anti-aging side too; it's not jus creating a physical fitness pelvic floor programme but I want to educate women on where these muscles are; how to palpate certain muscles that we can palpate and to realise that during our daily activities, sitting, standing, walking, we use these muscles. We don't realise it but if we're seated right now, we're sitting on those muscles! So how important is that to keep those muscles strong where a lot of people nowadays sit at their computer working… KC: You could do these exercises without anybody else knowing, can't you, really. SG: Absolutely, yes. KC: That's the brilliant thing about it. Susan I understand that you've got your programme coming out on cassette and it's also going to be downloadable. Tell us a bit more about that, what people can expect to see on that. SG: Yes, this is very exciting: Sexhercise, which is my pelvic floor exercise programme is now world-wide and what I mean by that is that I offer a Virtual Studio on the website where I will guide you through the Sexhercise programme to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. It's offered as a membership programme so that will be a monthly investment of $19.99 with other bonuses. (American Dollars) You could also purchase my audio programme which is my audio guide to Sexhercise Essentially, two c.d.'s with a colour booklet for $29.99 or it's a downloadable programme for only $19.99. KC: It sounds just what people need because it's been said to me before that some people, some women don't know where their pelvic floor is and they almost need 1:1 contact with a teacher to show them how to do it. Would you agree with that? SG: Yes I do agree. In my Sexhercise basics programme, the entire programme is dedicated to learning where the pelvic floor muscles are, how to palpate certain muscles; how to breathe properly because breathing properly will help you activate these muscles. If you don't breathe properly it is very difficult to activate these muscles and keep them strong, to restore them. I always suggest to everybody, whether you visit my website and I will be your guide throughout the basic process or if you see me in a live workshop, I reckon then that everybody spends a long time, at least a month or two understanding the basics because you understand how your body functions. KC: I've also heard from the medical profession that sometimes it can take up to eight weeks for women to get their pelvic floor muscles back into good shape so they shouldn't expect results straight away. SG:  No. And I say, eight to twelve weeks. I suggest just doing one programme at a time, eight to twelve weeks, two times a week. However, we should never stop, though, because this is now lifestyle. It needs to be integrated into your lifestyle. If you look at any recent research now, the baby-boomer generation is huge. It is the largest population right now. We are living longer and we want an alternative. Now what I mean by that is a holistic awareness; an holistic awareness of our lifestyle so that we can live a healthier lifestyle as we age. KC: Yes. And it seems to me that we've got to go out and find it ourselves. It's not being promoted within the medical industry. We've got to find it. SG: Absolutely, I understand that and it's going to be one of my challenges which in a way is very exciting to me because I am going to, as soon as my promotional video is finished, I've just produced a 10-minute promotional video, to send out to the medical community. KC: Some of them are listening but most of them wear blinkers, don't they. They just keep on writing prescriptions and just pass you by, don't they but I think the tide is turning and I think women are letting the medical profession know that they want to know more about what is available to them to stay healthy and doesn't necessarily cost a huge amount of money and it certainly doesn't need a prescription being written does it? SG: No. Absolutely. As soon as my promotional video is finished, I will upload it to my website. I have interviewed an acupuncturist and a physical therapist regarding incontinence and I highly suggest that women try and experience with this fitness programme dedicated to pelvic floor fitness; an acupuncturist or even a physical therapist who specialises only in women's health. KC: I think it's almost worth not necessarily interviewing prospective therapists but at least finding out a lot about all the different people and what they specialise in before you start paying out your money because you may find that that person doesn't really know how your body ticks or how you want to make it tick better, so you've always got to put some homework in there, haven't you. SG: Absolutely and we don't have to be shy about doing that. This is our body. We only have one body but we have many parts to this body, so we've gotta make sure that it all works together as one unit. KC: Yes.  And I just think it is superb what you are doing, Susan and it really doesn't matter anymore where you are based, anywhere in the world, that anybody can access this information and it doesn't take weeks to be delivered to you. It's instant, isn't it, so I think that's just fantastic. I'm going to put all your information at the end of the transcript, Susan so that people can read more about how to contact you, about the cassettes and videos that you're doing, so that they can get better access and certainly learn more, on a personal basis, in their own time, 24/7 about how to make their pelvic floor more healthier and as women are ageing, how to have a healthier sex life, because it's all involved, isn't it. SG: Yes it is. KC:  OK. That's brilliant. Thank you so much for talking with us today, Susan. We've covered a lot of information here and I can't wait to send this out to everybody so that they can  hear it. SG: Thank you for having me. KC: You're most welcome. Here are all those contact details, as promised: Susan Gala: Susan's website has full details of her pelvic floor programme – <a href="http://www.pelvicfloorexercise.net/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.pelvicfloorexercise.net</a> and her Sexhercise programme and Kathryn Colas: You'll find lots of information on menopause, including my own personal journey at <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormones.com</a> and do watch ‘Menopause: The Movie' highlighting how relationships are affected at menopause; here's the link: <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com/video.asp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormones.com/video.asp</a> and do join me on my blog for my own views on what's going on in the world: <a href="http://www.simplyhormonespodcast.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com/mainpage.asp?pid=52" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormones.com/mainpage.asp?pid=52</a> and feel free to comment on my ramblings and podcasts. Last but not least, do feel free to email me: <a href="mailto:kathryn@simplyhormones.com">kathryn@simplyhormones.com</a> and follow me on Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/simplyhormones" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.twitter.com/simplyhormones</a> Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 226 user reviews.

#7: How to improve your pelvic floor and enjoy better sex

#5: Menopause Real Lives: Marian Child

The Silent Killer! A recent phenomenon, in medical terms, and it’s up to YOU to find out about it – it could save your life. Look no further, here you will find symptoms and treatment options and ‘where to go next’ inforamtion. It has been a pleasure to interview Dr Sharon Tate. Raising awareness of this deadly disease can only help to improve the low survival rate.  It’s such a recent phenomena, in medical terms, but symptoms can now be identified enabling women to take charge of their own health Trasncript of Interview with Dr Sharon Tate, Target Ovarian Cancer and Kathryn Colas, http://www.simplyhormones.com Kathryn Colas: Hello, good morning, it's kathryn Colas here from SimplyHormones.com and I'm here today talking to Dr Sharon Tate of Target Ovarian Cancer. Target Ovarian Cancer is a charity dedicated to achieving a long and good life for every woman diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the United Kingdom, and  working to improve diagnosis and treatment of this disease. This silent disease.. They have a challenge. Ovarian cancer in the UK today is characterised by low survival. We have the lowest survival rates in Europe. Low awareness, though lack of understanding. Chronic underfunding, that means they're not getting the investment. Fragmentation, means it's a piecemeal approach to research and patient care and there is no national platform, as such, just yet, so there's no research grant for them. To me, that looks quite grim! And it seems to me that whatever stats I look at for whatever degenerative disease, the over 50's seem to be prime candidates and I feel that by helping to raise awareness of ovarian cancer and the challenges to overcome it we can reduce the incidence of this dreadful disease, particularly in the most vulnerable age group, which just happens to be mine! KC:  Good morning Dr Tate ST:  Good morning KC:  Morning. So, let's get some answers for the listeners about ovarian cancer. How familiar do you think people are with the symptoms? ST:  Well, Kathryn, awareness of ovarian cancer and, in particular, its symptoms is very low amongst women and we know, from a big piece of research that we did last year called the ‘Target Ovarian Cancer Pathfinder Study'  that only about 4% of women are confident in naming a symptom of ovarian cancer. KC:  Right. That's very low, isn't it? ST:  It is. This tends to be the case for women of all age groups. Women who are slightly younger, say in the age group 16 – 34 are a little less confident in naming symptoms than women who are more mature,   say,   age 55 or over but overall, awareness across all the age groups is poor. KC:  It's, poor, yes. Can you tell us about the most common symptoms and are they the same across the board in the different age groups. ST:  Well, the symptoms most commonly experienced by women of all ages who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer include: an increase in abdominal size or persistent bloating, so this is not the kind of bloating that tends to come and go and fluctuate like women experience around a period or if they have food intolerances. It's not like that. They also experience persistent pelvic or abdominal pain in the tummy or below and many of them experience difficulty eating or feeling full quickly and those three tend to be the major symptoms. However, occasionally, women do experience urinary symptoms so this may mean that they need to pass water more urgently or, perhaps, more often than usual. Many women experience changes in bowel habits so this may include ongoing diarrhoea or constipation and also extreme fatigue and back pain are symptoms that women do experience. And it's important to bear in mind, as well, that the list I have just reeled off, is not a check list, per se, so women  don't have to be able to go down it and say, yes I've got that got that, got that one… KC:  Yes. If I just interject there, because some of those symptoms you've mentioned cross over into menopausal symptoms, as well. ST:  That's right. They do. And that is one of the challenges of ovarian cancer that that list of symptoms is common to many conditions that are not caused by cancer and what we advise women is that they seek advice from their GP; in particular if the symptoms are new to them, so they've never experienced this type of symptom before and also if they experience them on most days and also if the symptoms are getting worse over the days or weeks. So, the symptoms, once they start, won't tend to fluctuate they will tend to progressively get worse and be there continuously. KC:  And, there is a terribly low survival rate with this disease. Why is that? And how can we improve recovery? ST:  Well, ovarian cancer is an extremely challenging disease to diagnose and also treat and many cancers do contribute to keeping the survival rates low. However, a lack of awareness of symptoms amongst women and also medical professionals is now recognised to be a very key issue. And we do know that women often experience mis-diagnosis and by the time they are actually diagnosed, their disease has spread well beyond the ovary, making it more challenging to treat and tive them the most successful outcome. But opn a more positive note, what we do know also is that among the women who are diagnosed when the procedure is confined to the ovary, the survival rate is significantly improved. So that would be our goal, really, trying to diagnose women when their cancers are at a stage where it hasn't started to spread beyond the ovary. KC:  So it's really up to women, not so much to be vigilant but to be persistent when they, if they really feel and I think women really know their bodies and if they feel that there is something causing them problems, even if the doctor says, ‘no, it's this and it's that, there's nothing to worry about', if women could be more persistent themselves and say ‘look, I'm not happy, I really think it's something more serious, who can I see' and maybe they'll get a bit more attention. ST:   Absolutely. We dol speak to women all the time that face these sorts of challenges who aren't being listened to and we would advise them, where possible to get a second opinion and if it's at all possible for them, if they can't get that within their local NHS services, if it's at all feasible then perhaps to seek, say a private consultation because it might expediate their diagnosis. KC:  Yes.  And just movbing on a bit – most of us are familiar with cervical smears and can ovarian cancer be detected through smear tests like this? ST:  It's a very common misconception that a smear test can detect ovarian cancer. About 50% of women believe this to be the case. However, it's not. The smear test is just designed to detect abnormalites in the cervix. Importantly the smear test is designed to detect abnormalities before they even become cancerous.  At a stage when they are easily treatable before they can progress on and become cancerous. At the moment there is no national screening programme available for ovarian cancer as there is for breast and cervical cancer. So as we've  just discussed  really the best thing women can do is to understand their own bodies and know what is normal for them and obviously there are changes as you go through life and obviously what was normal for a women prior to menopause isn't necessarily the same as after the menopause but they will get use to what is their current state of ‘normal' as we like to call it and if anything deviates from that, then we really encourage them to report potential symptoms to theier GP as soon as they can. KC:  It might be a nice idea, some time in the future when money is more available for women over 50, like they're invited in to have a mammography, that they could also be invited in for the cervikcal smears the ovarian cancer tests, whatever and get them all over because it's that age group, isn't it? ST:  Absolutely. I mean at the moment, in the UK, there are two clinical trials ongoing to assess the efficacy of the tests that we have for ovarian cancer, to see if it is feasible to roll the tests out as part of a national screening programme. But we won't know those results for at least another five years. In the meantime vigilance and symptom awareness is absolutely key. KC:  Yes, yes.  And going back to diagnosis… we expect our GP's to know so much, don't we and perhaps that's why there's mis-diagnosis. Do they get trained in recognising symptoms for ovarian cancer|? ST:  Well as I mentioned earlier on, it's only be in recent years that we've had any evidence to show that women with ovarian cancers do experience symptoms and so, unfortunately, at the moment, in the UK what has happened is that most GP are unaware of the recent developments in research and they wouldn't recognise the symptoms that I spoke of just now as being potentially caused by ovarian cancer and so although, as an organisation we are working very hard to update GP knowledge, we do encourage all women to know the symptoms and if they are worried, in particular to ask their GP to rule out ovarian cancer. Say those words; get them on their radar and we also advise women to take along a copy of our symptoms leaflet which they can obtain from us, to help them explain their concerns, really. KC:  Yes. If they've got it written down, it's so much more helpful, isn't it? And, going into a scenario – if a woman recognises these symptoms and goes to her GP, what's the next stage, what happens next? ST:  Well in the first instance the GP would order some tests. The two tests that are considered the gold standard for helping to diagnose ovarian cancer are a blood test, called CA125 and levels of CA125 in the blood can be increased by ovarian cancer and also a test called the trans-vaginal ultrasound or TVU, this is an internal scan which is used, basically, to create a picture of the ovaries and then this picture can then be examined basically for any abnormalities that may exist. If these tests are positive then the woman would be referred to the hospital to see a gynaecologist for further tests because in themselves, these tests are, I suppose a ‘steer' telling the doctor what to do next. It wouldn't necessarily mean that the test's positive, you wouldn't necessarily have ovarian cancer but it's a good ‘steer'. KC:  Yes. There's some questionable cells there. And, … I've forgotten what I was going to say there. Oh, yes… And would then that ultimately result in a hysterectomy? ST:  Unfortunately, yes. For most women because, as I mentioned just now, by the time they are diagnosed the cancer has spread well beyond the ovary and so what is required in most cases is very radical surgery which includes removal of both ovaries, both fallopian tubes, the uterus and also often the cervix; very extensive surgery. KC:  Total hysterectomy. That's quite drastic isn't it? Obviously to save a life. I'd just like to move on a bit and briefly touch on the subject of funding. How can ordinary women help to raise funds for your research|? ST:  Well there are many things women can do if they'd like to support our work. I mean, it may be something like making a donation which could be in the form of a one-off gift or a monthly contribution. They may also like to take part in a challenge event, so for example, Target Ovarian Cancer will have a team of runners which will include staff, supporters and trustees, taking part in the Adidas 5K challenge in Hyde Park or they may like to run their own fund raising event and if they would like more ideas on what they could potentially do or support, or materials to help facilitate that, then they might like to visit our website and, or, contact our fundraising team who would be more than happy  to support them with their fundraising. KC:  i SEE ON I notice on your website that you have a super poster on there, haven't you, that people can print off and put in their place of work or gym, or wherever, can't they? ST:  That's right, we have a range of awareness materials, including that particular poster and the symptoms leaflet which are available as you say to download from our website or they can order them direct from us, free of charge and they'll get a nice glossy version of it. And, yes, they can often people will approach, say their local library or community centre or any sort of social network that they're involved in and create a display or, people have been into their local pharmacy and have asked them to display them in store. We also have a booklet available, called ‘Let's talk' which is full of hints and tips for raising awareness and we also run a course which accompanies that ‘Let's Talk' booklet which really aims to give people practical skills and advice on how they can go out there and raise awareness if that's the sort of thing they are motivated to do and we run these courses throughout the year at venues across the country, so anybody who's interested in attending can contact us and we will let them know when there's an event in their area. KC:  So there's lots of scope for everybody to do absolutely anything, really, isn't there? ST:  Absolutely. And I think, in a way, that for some people, raising awareness is a new concept. People are very familiar with the concept of raising money but, actually, these two activities very much go hand in hand. If you're fund raising then, what does it hurt to give somebody a leaflet, so we see them very much as a partnership but to some people it might be a little bit more unusual to think about raising awareness. KC:  Yes. That's excellent. I think we've covered a lot there in our quite short conversation and I could probably talk to you ad infinitum about everything but thank you so much for the opportunity of talking with you and explaining everything clearly and I'd just like to tell the listeners that your charity details and website information will be listed at the end of the transcript which always accompanies my podcasts and, thank you, once again and I'll say goodbye. ST:  Well thank you and goodbye, Kathryn KC:  Thank you, goodbye. TARGET OVARIAN CANCER – Contact Details: Target Ovarian Cancer, 30 Angel Gate, London EC1V2PT.  tel  020 7923 5470. Full of information describing symptoms and how you can help raise awareness, get posters/leaflets  for your workplace, etc. Web:  www.targetovarian.org.uk  Email: info@targetovarian.org.uk Kathryn Colas: You'll find lots of information on menopause, including my own personal journey at http://www.simplyhormones.com and do watch ‘Menopause: The Movie' highlighting how relationships are affected at menopause; here's the link: http://www.simplyhormones.com/video.asp  and do join me on my blog for my own views on what's going on in the world: http://www.simplyhormonespodcast.com and feel free to comment on my ramblings and podcasts. Last but not least, you can contact me: kathryn@simplyhormones.com .   Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 193 user reviews.

The Silent Killer! A recent phenomenon, in medical terms, and it’s up to YOU to find out about it – it could save your life. Look no further, here you will find symptoms and treatment options and ‘where to go next’ inforamtion. It has been a pleasure to interview Dr Sharon Tate. Raising awareness of this deadly disease can only help to improve the low survival rate.  It’s such a recent phenomena, in medical terms, but symptoms can now be identified enabling women to take charge of their own health Trasncript of Interview with Dr Sharon Tate, Target Ovarian Cancer and Kathryn Colas, <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormones.com</a> Kathryn Colas: Hello, good morning, it's kathryn Colas here from <a href="http://SimplyHormones.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SimplyHormones.com</a> and I'm here today talking to Dr Sharon Tate of Target Ovarian Cancer. Target Ovarian Cancer is a charity dedicated to achieving a long and good life for every woman diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the United Kingdom, and  working to improve diagnosis and treatment of this disease. This silent disease.. They have a challenge. Ovarian cancer in the UK today is characterised by low survival. We have the lowest survival rates in Europe. Low awareness, though lack of understanding. Chronic underfunding, that means they're not getting the investment. Fragmentation, means it's a piecemeal approach to research and patient care and there is no national platform, as such, just yet, so there's no research grant for them. To me, that looks quite grim! And it seems to me that whatever stats I look at for whatever degenerative disease, the over 50's seem to be prime candidates and I feel that by helping to raise awareness of ovarian cancer and the challenges to overcome it we can reduce the incidence of this dreadful disease, particularly in the most vulnerable age group, which just happens to be mine! KC:  Good morning Dr Tate ST:  Good morning KC:  Morning. So, let's get some answers for the listeners about ovarian cancer. How familiar do you think people are with the symptoms? ST:  Well, Kathryn, awareness of ovarian cancer and, in particular, its symptoms is very low amongst women and we know, from a big piece of research that we did last year called the ‘Target Ovarian Cancer Pathfinder Study'  that only about 4% of women are confident in naming a symptom of ovarian cancer. KC:  Right. That's very low, isn't it? ST:  It is. This tends to be the case for women of all age groups. Women who are slightly younger, say in the age group 16 – 34 are a little less confident in naming symptoms than women who are more mature,   say,   age 55 or over but overall, awareness across all the age groups is poor. KC:  It's, poor, yes. Can you tell us about the most common symptoms and are they the same across the board in the different age groups. ST:  Well, the symptoms most commonly experienced by women of all ages who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer include: an increase in abdominal size or persistent bloating, so this is not the kind of bloating that tends to come and go and fluctuate like women experience around a period or if they have food intolerances. It's not like that. They also experience persistent pelvic or abdominal pain in the tummy or below and many of them experience difficulty eating or feeling full quickly and those three tend to be the major symptoms. However, occasionally, women do experience urinary symptoms so this may mean that they need to pass water more urgently or, perhaps, more often than usual. Many women experience changes in bowel habits so this may include ongoing diarrhoea or constipation and also extreme fatigue and back pain are symptoms that women do experience. And it's important to bear in mind, as well, that the list I have just reeled off, is not a check list, per se, so women  don't have to be able to go down it and say, yes I've got that got that, got that one… KC:  Yes. If I just interject there, because some of those symptoms you've mentioned cross over into menopausal symptoms, as well. ST:  That's right. They do. And that is one of the challenges of ovarian cancer that that list of symptoms is common to many conditions that are not caused by cancer and what we advise women is that they seek advice from their GP; in particular if the symptoms are new to them, so they've never experienced this type of symptom before and also if they experience them on most days and also if the symptoms are getting worse over the days or weeks. So, the symptoms, once they start, won't tend to fluctuate they will tend to progressively get worse and be there continuously. KC:  And, there is a terribly low survival rate with this disease. Why is that? And how can we improve recovery? ST:  Well, ovarian cancer is an extremely challenging disease to diagnose and also treat and many cancers do contribute to keeping the survival rates low. However, a lack of awareness of symptoms amongst women and also medical professionals is now recognised to be a very key issue. And we do know that women often experience mis-diagnosis and by the time they are actually diagnosed, their disease has spread well beyond the ovary, making it more challenging to treat and tive them the most successful outcome. But opn a more positive note, what we do know also is that among the women who are diagnosed when the procedure is confined to the ovary, the survival rate is significantly improved. So that would be our goal, really, trying to diagnose women when their cancers are at a stage where it hasn't started to spread beyond the ovary. KC:  So it's really up to women, not so much to be vigilant but to be persistent when they, if they really feel and I think women really know their bodies and if they feel that there is something causing them problems, even if the doctor says, ‘no, it's this and it's that, there's nothing to worry about', if women could be more persistent themselves and say ‘look, I'm not happy, I really think it's something more serious, who can I see' and maybe they'll get a bit more attention. ST:   Absolutely. We dol speak to women all the time that face these sorts of challenges who aren't being listened to and we would advise them, where possible to get a second opinion and if it's at all possible for them, if they can't get that within their local NHS services, if it's at all feasible then perhaps to seek, say a private consultation because it might expediate their diagnosis. KC:  Yes.  And just movbing on a bit – most of us are familiar with cervical smears and can ovarian cancer be detected through smear tests like this? ST:  It's a very common misconception that a smear test can detect ovarian cancer. About 50% of women believe this to be the case. However, it's not. The smear test is just designed to detect abnormalites in the cervix. Importantly the smear test is designed to detect abnormalities before they even become cancerous.  At a stage when they are easily treatable before they can progress on and become cancerous. At the moment there is no national screening programme available for ovarian cancer as there is for breast and cervical cancer. So as we've  just discussed  really the best thing women can do is to understand their own bodies and know what is normal for them and obviously there are changes as you go through life and obviously what was normal for a women prior to menopause isn't necessarily the same as after the menopause but they will get use to what is their current state of ‘normal' as we like to call it and if anything deviates from that, then we really encourage them to report potential symptoms to theier GP as soon as they can. KC:  It might be a nice idea, some time in the future when money is more available for women over 50, like they're invited in to have a mammography, that they could also be invited in for the cervikcal smears the ovarian cancer tests, whatever and get them all over because it's that age group, isn't it? ST:  Absolutely. I mean at the moment, in the UK, there are two clinical trials ongoing to assess the efficacy of the tests that we have for ovarian cancer, to see if it is feasible to roll the tests out as part of a national screening programme. But we won't know those results for at least another five years. In the meantime vigilance and symptom awareness is absolutely key. KC:  Yes, yes.  And going back to diagnosis… we expect our GP's to know so much, don't we and perhaps that's why there's mis-diagnosis. Do they get trained in recognising symptoms for ovarian cancer|? ST:  Well as I mentioned earlier on, it's only be in recent years that we've had any evidence to show that women with ovarian cancers do experience symptoms and so, unfortunately, at the moment, in the UK what has happened is that most GP are unaware of the recent developments in research and they wouldn't recognise the symptoms that I spoke of just now as being potentially caused by ovarian cancer and so although, as an organisation we are working very hard to update GP knowledge, we do encourage all women to know the symptoms and if they are worried, in particular to ask their GP to rule out ovarian cancer. Say those words; get them on their radar and we also advise women to take along a copy of our symptoms leaflet which they can obtain from us, to help them explain their concerns, really. KC:  Yes. If they've got it written down, it's so much more helpful, isn't it? And, going into a scenario – if a woman recognises these symptoms and goes to her GP, what's the next stage, what happens next? ST:  Well in the first instance the GP would order some tests. The two tests that are considered the gold standard for helping to diagnose ovarian cancer are a blood test, called CA125 and levels of CA125 in the blood can be increased by ovarian cancer and also a test called the trans-vaginal ultrasound or TVU, this is an internal scan which is used, basically, to create a picture of the ovaries and then this picture can then be examined basically for any abnormalities that may exist. If these tests are positive then the woman would be referred to the hospital to see a gynaecologist for further tests because in themselves, these tests are, I suppose a ‘steer' telling the doctor what to do next. It wouldn't necessarily mean that the test's positive, you wouldn't necessarily have ovarian cancer but it's a good ‘steer'. KC:  Yes. There's some questionable cells there. And, … I've forgotten what I was going to say there. Oh, yes… And would then that ultimately result in a hysterectomy? ST:  Unfortunately, yes. For most women because, as I mentioned just now, by the time they are diagnosed the cancer has spread well beyond the ovary and so what is required in most cases is very radical surgery which includes removal of both ovaries, both fallopian tubes, the uterus and also often the cervix; very extensive surgery. KC:  Total hysterectomy. That's quite drastic isn't it? Obviously to save a life. I'd just like to move on a bit and briefly touch on the subject of funding. How can ordinary women help to raise funds for your research|? ST:  Well there are many things women can do if they'd like to support our work. I mean, it may be something like making a donation which could be in the form of a one-off gift or a monthly contribution. They may also like to take part in a challenge event, so for example, Target Ovarian Cancer will have a team of runners which will include staff, supporters and trustees, taking part in the Adidas 5K challenge in Hyde Park or they may like to run their own fund raising event and if they would like more ideas on what they could potentially do or support, or materials to help facilitate that, then they might like to visit our website and, or, contact our fundraising team who would be more than happy  to support them with their fundraising. KC:  i SEE ON I notice on your website that you have a super poster on there, haven't you, that people can print off and put in their place of work or gym, or wherever, can't they? ST:  That's right, we have a range of awareness materials, including that particular poster and the symptoms leaflet which are available as you say to download from our website or they can order them direct from us, free of charge and they'll get a nice glossy version of it. And, yes, they can often people will approach, say their local library or community centre or any sort of social network that they're involved in and create a display or, people have been into their local pharmacy and have asked them to display them in store. We also have a booklet available, called ‘Let's talk' which is full of hints and tips for raising awareness and we also run a course which accompanies that ‘Let's Talk' booklet which really aims to give people practical skills and advice on how they can go out there and raise awareness if that's the sort of thing they are motivated to do and we run these courses throughout the year at venues across the country, so anybody who's interested in attending can contact us and we will let them know when there's an event in their area. KC:  So there's lots of scope for everybody to do absolutely anything, really, isn't there? ST:  Absolutely. And I think, in a way, that for some people, raising awareness is a new concept. People are very familiar with the concept of raising money but, actually, these two activities very much go hand in hand. If you're fund raising then, what does it hurt to give somebody a leaflet, so we see them very much as a partnership but to some people it might be a little bit more unusual to think about raising awareness. KC:  Yes. That's excellent. I think we've covered a lot there in our quite short conversation and I could probably talk to you ad infinitum about everything but thank you so much for the opportunity of talking with you and explaining everything clearly and I'd just like to tell the listeners that your charity details and website information will be listed at the end of the transcript which always accompanies my podcasts and, thank you, once again and I'll say goodbye. ST:  Well thank you and goodbye, Kathryn KC:  Thank you, goodbye. TARGET OVARIAN CANCER – Contact Details: Target Ovarian Cancer, 30 Angel Gate, London EC1V2PT.  tel  020 7923 5470. Full of information describing symptoms and how you can help raise awareness, get posters/leaflets  for your workplace, etc. Web:  <a href="http://www.targetovarian.org.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.targetovarian.org.uk</a> Email: <a href="mailto:info@targetovarian.org.uk">info@targetovarian.org.uk</a> Kathryn Colas: You'll find lots of information on menopause, including my own personal journey at <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormones.com</a> and do watch ‘Menopause: The Movie' highlighting how relationships are affected at menopause; here's the link: <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com/video.asp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormones.com/video.asp</a> and do join me on my blog for my own views on what's going on in the world: <a href="http://www.simplyhormonespodcast.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormonespodcast.com</a> and feel free to comment on my ramblings and podcasts. Last but not least, you can contact me: <a href="mailto:kathryn@simplyhormones.com">kathryn@simplyhormones.com</a> . <a href="http://www.targetovarian.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 193 user reviews.

#6: Target Ovarian Cancer

Get the real story behind Mammograms and my preferred route of Thermal Imaging. Listen to Prof Gordon Wishart on why this disease is on the increase.  Here’s the full transcript of the podcast interview:    Hello it's Kathryn Colas here of http://www.simplyhormones.com and I'm here today to talk to Professor Gordon Wishart about the early detection of breast cancer and how thermal imaging fits into this profile. Before I speak to Professor Wishart, let me tell you something about him. He's a consultant breast and endocrine surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. He is distinguished for his pioneering work in the treatment of breast cancer, where he has introduced innovative and sometimes controversial techniques, which have subsequently seen wide acceptance and adoption. (If you want to find out more about Professor Wishart I've put all the details at the end of this transcript.) KC: Hello, Professor Wishart, and welcome… GW; Good morning. KC: I'd like to start if I may by discussing the current breast screening program. There's currently a very good NHS screening program in place that calls forward women aged 50+ every 3 years, until the age of 70 for a mammogram. But it seems to me that evidence is becoming more widely available in the public domain about an alternative, less invasive method, and perhaps more effective method that can detect tumours at a much earlier stage, and that is thermal imaging. The use of a heat seeking camera. Professor Wishart, can you explain to our audience in layman's terms how thermal imaging works? GW: Yes well, thermal imaging has been around for approximately 50 years, but the reason it's come back to the fore is because there have been great advances in the digital camera technology, mainly because these are now being used by the military. And in addition to that we now have the ability to interpret these scans, which are lots of different colours, and we can interpret those with computer algorithms much more easily. So because of that we now have a system where we can take digital temperature pictures of the breast while it has been cooled and what we are looking for are areas of the breast that have abnormal blood patterns, or areas of the breast that don't cool down during this period of cooling, and the reason that the cancers and tumours don't cool down is that they encourage their own blood supply to go around them to feed the tumour, and these are abnormal blood vessels that don't contract when they meet cold air, so they retain their heat, so those are the things that we're looking for on an infrared scan. KC: It seems to be working quite effectively doesn't it? GW: Well the recent research study that we publish said that it was very effective in detecting breast cancer especially in younger women, and that's the great challenge for us. Most of the delays in diagnosis in breast cancer occur in women under 50 and it's in that age group where the breasts are more dense, the mammograms are less sensitive and it's just much harder to actually detect breast cancer in those women. KC: But it also seems to me that no-one is paying any attention to looking at ways of reducing the incidence of breast cancer. In my view I wouldn't want to be faced with such a diagnosis and be subjected to disfiguring surgery and a lifetime of dependency on drugs, but instead it's become the norm, if you like, where both the NHS and cancer charities channel the research and thus our understanding of the process towards looking at a truncated life after diagnosis and how they would  provide a reasonable quality of life through drugs. What would you say to this? GW: Well I think the prevention of breast cancer is probably going to be something that we are going to talk more about. Up until now the two main risk factors for breast cancer are being female, and having a family history, of course neither of which you can do anything about. I think some of the things that have increased the risk in recent times are essentially reproductive factors. A lot of women are now having their first pregnancy at quite a late age; they're not breast feeding because they're anxious to get back to work and in general having less children than they had before.  All of these things increase your risk of breast cancer, by small amounts, but they all add up at the end of the day and so I think when you look at the incidence of breast cancer in western countries compared to say rural Africa or Asia, they have a much higher incidence because they have multiple pregnancies; they start as teenagers and they breast feed, and so I think that this is something for public health to tackle there. But I think there are two other risk factors that have now really been much more recognised and those are alcohol and obesity and we know it this country that we do have a teenage and a young adult alcohol problem and there's much more binge drinking and much greater alcohol drunk by women. If we look at the generation of my mother or my grandmother, women didn't really indulge in alcohol, but that's changed dramatically, and we do have quite a lot of young girls now who are both drinking heavily and are overweight, and we already know that incidence of breast cancer are going to increase to about 1 in 7 by the year 2024 But with alcohol and obesity moving forward at the rate they are, it could actually be higher than that. KC: And that's in younger women you think? GW: Yes it is, the risk factors are occurring in younger women, we don't know how long that will take to feed through to increase the incidence, but it's something we need to monitor. KC: Obviously, as women age their incidence increases, but now you're saying it's going to become a serious problem with women even younger? GW: I suspect so yes. KC: That leads us nicely to my next question to you. If we could move on to how information is made available to us. My own research has revealed that published information on early detection of  breast cancer focuses on personal breast awareness, feeling for lumps that you haven't noticed before, but not much else really. What are your recommendations on personal breast awareness? PW: I think that probably there are 3 main areas to focus on. One is knowing what to look for, one is knowing when is the best time in the month to actually examine yourself, and then the third element really is what is your risk? Is it average, is it lower than normal or is it higher than normal? I personally think that the breast cancer charities are giving a very mixed message to women during the last 10 to 15 years and I think that discouraged many women from carrying out self-examinations. I think when they introduced the breast awareness campaign I think what they were trying to stop was women examining themselves every day and becoming very anxious about everything they felt. But actually, given that women detect 90% of breast lumps themselves,  unless they know what a normal breast feels like, I can't see how they're going to find a new lump easily, so I think examining yourself once a month is the right thing to do. I think the best time to do it is about day 10-14 of your cycle so that the normal lumpiness that can often come with a period has settled down by then, so then you have the best chance of spotting something new. So I think self-examination is a good idea; doing it mid-cycle is the right time, and then the other thing is that now we can actually give someone an idea of what their own personal risk is and at Breast Health UK we've been using a well-validated model, which looks at family history and lifestyle, called Tyrer Cuzick,  and by filling in this questionnaire we can give someone a prediction of their lifetime risk and feel that if it's lower than normal that must be quite reassuring, although low risk doesn't mean no risk. KC: Vigilance is key isn't it? GW: That's right, but if someone's at higher risk, then there are a number of things you can do. They might want to start screening at a younger age, or have more intensive screening, I think those are the key things. KC: And do you think that's where the thermal imaging could come in, because you could see more than a mammography would pick up? GW: We've certainly got a number of younger women under the age of 50 who are now having a digital infrared breast scan, which is a type of thermogram, because they want to start something at a younger age and so it has become very popular with women who just can't get access to mammography. KC: That's good, and also just to bring in the older woman, with women who are already post-menopausal, obviously they're not in a cycle any more, so would you probably just pick a date in the month, say the middle of the month for arguments sake, when they should check their breast? GW: Absolutely and I know that these things are always difficult to remember and just one of the things that we are introducing as part of breast awareness month is an actual text reminder service through Breast Health UK, so that women who sign up for this will get a text at the right time of the month, so that they can remember to examine themselves and there's also a very good video showing women how to examine themselves so that's something that we hope, through the Breast Awareness Month, people can get access to this. To be quite honest I think the majority of women do not examine themselves and those that do are not very sure what they're looking for. KC: It's certainly raising awareness isn't it, in a much better way because it's quite random at the moment, where women may find out how to examine their breasts properly? GW: I think that's absolutely true. KC: Moving on again, I recall listening to an interview you did recently on Radio 4 Woman's Hour with Professor Hilary Thomas from Breakthrough Breast Cancer. .I remember Professor Thomas expressing a view that thermal imaging was not an option, as the evidence in research was just not there. What would you say to this? GW: Yes, I think any representative from charities would always give a very balanced view, and there's always a balance between early results and getting those new technologies out there and not really raising women's expectations too high. I think what she was trying to say is that we haven't done a screening, a research study of 10, 000 women and followed them for 10 years, and the reality is that whatever new technology comes along we're not going to be able to do that now. We're just not able to wait that length of time, we have shown in our research study that it can detect breast cancer and so the way that we have been using it recently is in addition to mammography, so we're not trying to take this up as an alternative to mammography. What we're trying to say is that mammography is not very good in younger women. Why not add this on so they have a better chance of detecting something if it's there? I wasn't surprised by that approach and you always get a very cautious approach with any new breakthrough. KC: I think it's different with drugs though, because you have to do so many tests to make sure that it's safe, but with something like this new technology, it's like new computers with ipads for example, it's so fast isn't it? The technology is coming into our field of recognition in such volume and so quickly that we need to understand it more quickly don't we, ourselves? GW: Yes I think that's absolutely right, but I think it's all to do with being cautious and managing expectations. For instance you will remember that there was a story just a few months ago about a possible vaccination to stop women getting breast cancer. And that was very well exposed in all the media, but the reality from that is it's only been tested in animals. You would then have to do a study in humans where you took a group of women and you randomised half of them to the vaccine  and half of them not to have a vaccine and then you'd have to follow them up for a very long period of time to see who got breast cancer and whether it was less in the vaccinated group; so I think that's an example of where expectations were raised far too high and there wasn't really a balanced reporting. I think it's always difficult to get it right KC: Because people want these things to happen yesterday don't they? When they hear the news they want to start queuing up and getting it sorted. GW: Yes they do and of course every time there is one of these large news stories, those of us in breast cancer clinics just see people coming in with bundles of papers that they publish from the internet, and they want to talk it through asking “why did I not have this” and it does create a lot of anxiety, so I think we have to just talk it through in the best way that we can. KC: And finally I'd like to talk to you about improving the early detection of breast cancer must surely be a long term goal for the NHS, not least because it could save so much money and of course the disfiguring surgery along with chemo and radiotherapy, the psychological trauma for women, and the savings overall in all those things must surely run into millions of pounds, what's your view on this? GW: Well, I think that there's no doubt that breast screening in this country has been successful at detecting smaller tumours that are less likely to have spread and as you say require much less treatment. So I hope that despite the economic crisis and the reductions in funding for the NHS that the breast screening program is here to stay. It does seem to me however that the people running that program are reluctant to change the way that it's organised, for instance it's the same screening program for everybody regardless of your age and regardless of your risk. One of things we know for instance is that if you have more dense mammograms you have a higher risk of breast cancer. We've known that for many years now; it wouldn't be that difficult to look at the first mammogram that someone has at the age of 50, and if they were very dense they might go down one particular route that might involve more intense screening and if it's less dense they might need less screening. In addition to that there are genetic tests that you can do that modify that risk up or down now, and so it seems to me that a screening program that would stratified according to your risk might actually be more cost effective than just doing the same thing for everyone. But despite asking these questions I think that it's unlikely that it is going to change and it's unlikely that new things are going to be added in to it. I suspect that it's going to remain very much the way it is at present. KC: So from a personal perspective, and I know many women agree with me on this, that mammograms can be very very painful and you also run the risk, I've heard women say, and I've said it myself, that I'm not going for another mammogram, they're just too painful. So I think they would probably embrace thermal imaging, but of course they'd have to do it on private basis wouldn't they? GW: Well yes unfortunately that's correct. If we look at the uptake for the invitation to come for a breast screening, across the UK it's about 70-75% in the best areas. In some of the parts in inner London where there are large numbers of ethnic minorities, where maybe the message hasn't come across about the importance of it, the pick up rate can be as low as 30%, so there are clearly a large number of women who either don't want to come or choose not to come, so at least we now have an alternative that they may want to explore. KC: Yes absolutely, well thank you so much for all that information Professor Wishart. I think it's been very helpful and I'm going to put all the information at the end of the transcript about the breast health program you're running, because of course it's breast health awareness month in October and I think there will be a lot of people that will be picking up on this. I've already spoken to some friends about thermal imaging and the things I've discovered, and they're saying oh yes, give me the details, so breast cancer I think is something that really hits home to women and they want to be aware and to do something about it. So thank you once again professor. The FREE service launched by Breast Health UK to remind women when and how to check their breasts is detailed here  http://www.breasthealthuk.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=290 and here is the reminder form:  http://www.breasthealthscript.com/form.php New breast screening technology offers breast cancer detection hope to women under 50 Research from Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge in May 2010 revealed that using Digital Infrared BreastScan (DIB) to detect breast cancer in combination with mammograms, increases the sensitivity of detecting tumours to 89%. The study showed that dual imaging increases sensitivity by 11% compared with mammograms alone (78%). Read more … http://bit.ly/97egsa Kathryn Colas: You'll find lots of information on menopause, including my own personal journey at http://www.simplyhormones.com and do watch ‘Menopause: The Movie' highlighting how relationships are affected at menopause; here's the link: http://www.simplyhormones.com/video.asp  and do join me on my blog for my own views on what's going on in the world: http://simplyhormonespodcast.com and feel free to comment on my ramblings and podcasts. Last but not least, you can contact me: kathryn@simplyhormones.com . Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 181 user reviews.

Get the real story behind Mammograms and my preferred route of Thermal Imaging. Listen to Prof Gordon Wishart on why this disease is on the increase. Here’s the full transcript of the podcast interview:  <a href="http://simplyhormonespodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/GCWishartphoto-vsml.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a> Hello it's Kathryn Colas here of <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormones.com</a> and I'm here today to talk to Professor Gordon Wishart about the early detection of breast cancer and how thermal imaging fits into this profile. Before I speak to Professor Wishart, let me tell you something about him. He's a consultant breast and endocrine surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. He is distinguished for his pioneering work in the treatment of breast cancer, where he has introduced innovative and sometimes controversial techniques, which have subsequently seen wide acceptance and adoption. (If you want to find out more about Professor Wishart I've put all the details at the end of this transcript.) KC: Hello, Professor Wishart, and welcome… GW; Good morning. KC: I'd like to start if I may by discussing the current breast screening program. There's currently a very good NHS screening program in place that calls forward women aged 50+ every 3 years, until the age of 70 for a mammogram. But it seems to me that evidence is becoming more widely available in the public domain about an alternative, less invasive method, and perhaps more effective method that can detect tumours at a much earlier stage, and that is thermal imaging. The use of a heat seeking camera. Professor Wishart, can you explain to our audience in layman's terms how thermal imaging works? GW: Yes well, thermal imaging has been around for approximately 50 years, but the reason it's come back to the fore is because there have been great advances in the digital camera technology, mainly because these are now being used by the military. And in addition to that we now have the ability to interpret these scans, which are lots of different colours, and we can interpret those with computer algorithms much more easily. So because of that we now have a system where we can take digital temperature pictures of the breast while it has been cooled and what we are looking for are areas of the breast that have abnormal blood patterns, or areas of the breast that don't cool down during this period of cooling, and the reason that the cancers and tumours don't cool down is that they encourage their own blood supply to go around them to feed the tumour, and these are abnormal blood vessels that don't contract when they meet cold air, so they retain their heat, so those are the things that we're looking for on an infrared scan. KC: It seems to be working quite effectively doesn't it? GW: Well the recent research study that we publish said that it was very effective in detecting breast cancer especially in younger women, and that's the great challenge for us. Most of the delays in diagnosis in breast cancer occur in women under 50 and it's in that age group where the breasts are more dense, the mammograms are less sensitive and it's just much harder to actually detect breast cancer in those women. KC: But it also seems to me that no-one is paying any attention to looking at ways of reducing the incidence of breast cancer. In my view I wouldn't want to be faced with such a diagnosis and be subjected to disfiguring surgery and a lifetime of dependency on drugs, but instead it's become the norm, if you like, where both the NHS and cancer charities channel the research and thus our understanding of the process towards looking at a truncated life after diagnosis and how they would  provide a reasonable quality of life through drugs. What would you say to this? GW: Well I think the prevention of breast cancer is probably going to be something that we are going to talk more about. Up until now the two main risk factors for breast cancer are being female, and having a family history, of course neither of which you can do anything about. I think some of the things that have increased the risk in recent times are essentially reproductive factors. A lot of women are now having their first pregnancy at quite a late age; they're not breast feeding because they're anxious to get back to work and in general having less children than they had before.  All of these things increase your risk of breast cancer, by small amounts, but they all add up at the end of the day and so I think when you look at the incidence of breast cancer in western countries compared to say rural Africa or Asia, they have a much higher incidence because they have multiple pregnancies; they start as teenagers and they breast feed, and so I think that this is something for public health to tackle there. But I think there are two other risk factors that have now really been much more recognised and those are alcohol and obesity and we know it this country that we do have a teenage and a young adult alcohol problem and there's much more binge drinking and much greater alcohol drunk by women. If we look at the generation of my mother or my grandmother, women didn't really indulge in alcohol, but that's changed dramatically, and we do have quite a lot of young girls now who are both drinking heavily and are overweight, and we already know that incidence of breast cancer are going to increase to about 1 in 7 by the year 2024 But with alcohol and obesity moving forward at the rate they are, it could actually be higher than that. KC: And that's in younger women you think? GW: Yes it is, the risk factors are occurring in younger women, we don't know how long that will take to feed through to increase the incidence, but it's something we need to monitor. KC: Obviously, as women age their incidence increases, but now you're saying it's going to become a serious problem with women even younger? GW: I suspect so yes. KC: That leads us nicely to my next question to you. If we could move on to how information is made available to us. My own research has revealed that published information on early detection of  breast cancer focuses on personal breast awareness, feeling for lumps that you haven't noticed before, but not much else really. What are your recommendations on personal breast awareness? PW: I think that probably there are 3 main areas to focus on. One is knowing what to look for, one is knowing when is the best time in the month to actually examine yourself, and then the third element really is what is your risk? Is it average, is it lower than normal or is it higher than normal? I personally think that the breast cancer charities are giving a very mixed message to women during the last 10 to 15 years and I think that discouraged many women from carrying out self-examinations. I think when they introduced the breast awareness campaign I think what they were trying to stop was women examining themselves every day and becoming very anxious about everything they felt. But actually, given that women detect 90% of breast lumps themselves, unless they know what a normal breast feels like, I can't see how they're going to find a new lump easily, so I think examining yourself once a month is the right thing to do. I think the best time to do it is about day 10-14 of your cycle so that the normal lumpiness that can often come with a period has settled down by then, so then you have the best chance of spotting something new. So I think self-examination is a good idea; doing it mid-cycle is the right time, and then the other thing is that now we can actually give someone an idea of what their own personal risk is and at Breast Health UK we've been using a well-validated model, which looks at family history and lifestyle, called Tyrer Cuzick, and by filling in this questionnaire we can give someone a prediction of their lifetime risk and feel that if it's lower than normal that must be quite reassuring, although low risk doesn't mean no risk. KC: Vigilance is key isn't it? GW: That's right, but if someone's at higher risk, then there are a number of things you can do. They might want to start screening at a younger age, or have more intensive screening, I think those are the key things. KC: And do you think that's where the thermal imaging could come in, because you could see more than a mammography would pick up? GW: We've certainly got a number of younger women under the age of 50 who are now having a digital infrared breast scan, which is a type of thermogram, because they want to start something at a younger age and so it has become very popular with women who just can't get access to mammography. KC: That's good, and also just to bring in the older woman, with women who are already post-menopausal, obviously they're not in a cycle any more, so would you probably just pick a date in the month, say the middle of the month for arguments sake, when they should check their breast? GW: Absolutely and I know that these things are always difficult to remember and just one of the things that we are introducing as part of breast awareness month is an actual text reminder service through Breast Health UK, so that women who sign up for this will get a text at the right time of the month, so that they can remember to examine themselves and there's also a very good video showing women how to examine themselves so that's something that we hope, through the Breast Awareness Month, people can get access to this. To be quite honest I think the majority of women do not examine themselves and those that do are not very sure what they're looking for. KC: It's certainly raising awareness isn't it, in a much better way because it's quite random at the moment, where women may find out how to examine their breasts properly? GW: I think that's absolutely true. KC: Moving on again, I recall listening to an interview you did recently on Radio 4 Woman's Hour with Professor Hilary Thomas from Breakthrough Breast Cancer. .I remember Professor Thomas expressing a view that thermal imaging was not an option, as the evidence in research was just not there. What would you say to this? GW: Yes, I think any representative from charities would always give a very balanced view, and there's always a balance between early results and getting those new technologies out there and not really raising women's expectations too high. I think what she was trying to say is that we haven't done a screening, a research study of 10, 000 women and followed them for 10 years, and the reality is that whatever new technology comes along we're not going to be able to do that now. We're just not able to wait that length of time, we have shown in our research study that it can detect breast cancer and so the way that we have been using it recently is in addition to mammography, so we're not trying to take this up as an alternative to mammography. What we're trying to say is that mammography is not very good in younger women. Why not add this on so they have a better chance of detecting something if it's there? I wasn't surprised by that approach and you always get a very cautious approach with any new breakthrough. KC: I think it's different with drugs though, because you have to do so many tests to make sure that it's safe, but with something like this new technology, it's like new computers with ipads for example, it's so fast isn't it? The technology is coming into our field of recognition in such volume and so quickly that we need to understand it more quickly don't we, ourselves? GW: Yes I think that's absolutely right, but I think it's all to do with being cautious and managing expectations. For instance you will remember that there was a story just a few months ago about a possible vaccination to stop women getting breast cancer. And that was very well exposed in all the media, but the reality from that is it's only been tested in animals. You would then have to do a study in humans where you took a group of women and you randomised half of them to the vaccine  and half of them not to have a vaccine and then you'd have to follow them up for a very long period of time to see who got breast cancer and whether it was less in the vaccinated group; so I think that's an example of where expectations were raised far too high and there wasn't really a balanced reporting. I think it's always difficult to get it right KC: Because people want these things to happen yesterday don't they? When they hear the news they want to start queuing up and getting it sorted. GW: Yes they do and of course every time there is one of these large news stories, those of us in breast cancer clinics just see people coming in with bundles of papers that they publish from the internet, and they want to talk it through asking “why did I not have this” and it does create a lot of anxiety, so I think we have to just talk it through in the best way that we can. KC: And finally I'd like to talk to you about improving the early detection of breast cancer must surely be a long term goal for the NHS, not least because it could save so much money and of course the disfiguring surgery along with chemo and radiotherapy, the psychological trauma for women, and the savings overall in all those things must surely run into millions of pounds, what's your view on this? GW: Well, I think that there's no doubt that breast screening in this country has been successful at detecting smaller tumours that are less likely to have spread and as you say require much less treatment. So I hope that despite the economic crisis and the reductions in funding for the NHS that the breast screening program is here to stay. It does seem to me however that the people running that program are reluctant to change the way that it's organised, for instance it's the same screening program for everybody regardless of your age and regardless of your risk. One of things we know for instance is that if you have more dense mammograms you have a higher risk of breast cancer. We've known that for many years now; it wouldn't be that difficult to look at the first mammogram that someone has at the age of 50, and if they were very dense they might go down one particular route that might involve more intense screening and if it's less dense they might need less screening. In addition to that there are genetic tests that you can do that modify that risk up or down now, and so it seems to me that a screening program that would stratified according to your risk might actually be more cost effective than just doing the same thing for everyone. But despite asking these questions I think that it's unlikely that it is going to change and it's unlikely that new things are going to be added in to it. I suspect that it's going to remain very much the way it is at present. KC: So from a personal perspective, and I know many women agree with me on this, that mammograms can be very very painful and you also run the risk, I've heard women say, and I've said it myself, that I'm not going for another mammogram, they're just too painful. So I think they would probably embrace thermal imaging, but of course they'd have to do it on private basis wouldn't they? GW: Well yes unfortunately that's correct. If we look at the uptake for the invitation to come for a breast screening, across the UK it's about 70-75% in the best areas. In some of the parts in inner London where there are large numbers of ethnic minorities, where maybe the message hasn't come across about the importance of it, the pick up rate can be as low as 30%, so there are clearly a large number of women who either don't want to come or choose not to come, so at least we now have an alternative that they may want to explore. KC: Yes absolutely, well thank you so much for all that information Professor Wishart. I think it's been very helpful and I'm going to put all the information at the end of the transcript about the breast health program you're running, because of course it's breast health awareness month in October and I think there will be a lot of people that will be picking up on this. I've already spoken to some friends about thermal imaging and the things I've discovered, and they're saying oh yes, give me the details, so breast cancer I think is something that really hits home to women and they want to be aware and to do something about it. So thank you once again professor. The FREE service launched by Breast Health UK to remind women when and how to check their breasts is detailed here  <a href="http://www.breasthealthuk.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=290" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.breasthealthuk.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=290</a> and here is the reminder form:  <a href="http://www.breasthealthscript.com/form.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.breasthealthscript.com/form.php</a> <h4>New breast screening technology offers breast cancer detection hope to women under 50</h4> Research from Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge in May 2010 revealed that using Digital Infrared BreastScan (DIB) to detect breast cancer in combination with mammograms, increases the sensitivity of detecting tumours to 89%. The study showed that dual imaging increases sensitivity by 11% compared with mammograms alone (78%). Read more … <a href="http://bit.ly/97egsa" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/97egsa</a> Kathryn Colas: You'll find lots of information on menopause, including my own personal journey at <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormones.com</a> and do watch ‘Menopause: The Movie' highlighting how relationships are affected at menopause; here's the link: <a href="http://www.simplyhormones.com/video.asp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.simplyhormones.com/video.asp</a> and do join me on my blog for my own views on what's going on in the world: <a href="http://www.simplyhormonespodcast.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://simplyhormonespodcast.com</a> and feel free to comment on my ramblings and podcasts. Last but not least, you can contact me: <a href="mailto:kathryn@simplyhormones.com">kathryn@simplyhormones.com</a> . Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 181 user reviews.

#8: Breast Cancer on the increase

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