The long-awaited Women’s Health Strategy was published last week by the Government. Whilst this is promising in terms of formally recognising the huge gender health gap that exists, it is key that what is promised comes to fruition, and does not end up as a series of empty reassurances. Although the creation of a pre-payment… Continue reading Keep an eye on the Women’s Health Strategy
For those of you who missed it, towards the end of last year, NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) finally issued updated guidance on the use of progesterone in pregnancy that could lead to 8,450 more successful births a year. Based on a systematic review of research studies including the PRISM trial, it… Continue reading Progesterone progress
One of the most interesting things I have found when looking back through my Nan’s memoirs is the mentions of other women that flit in and out of the story. This excerpt in particular made me stop and think: ‘At the bottom of the path and on the other side of Belle Hill, there were… Continue reading Nan’s Diary: Raising lost voices
It’s the end of Baby Loss Awareness Week today, culminating in the International Wave of Light when people around the world light candles at 7pm in memory of babies they have lost. It’s a lovely collective thing to do and you can find out more from The Miscarriage Association or Tommy’s. But it’s ok if… Continue reading Wave of light
Tonight’s documentary at 9pm on Channel 4, ‘Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause’ is a must watch. The misunderstanding, misinformation and lack of GP education on the menopause, and particularly perimenopause, which many women begin to experience the effects of in their late 30s, is leaving thousands dealing with debilitating and painful symptoms, and… Continue reading My perimenopause
Going through miscarriage has been made even more traumatic due to the restrictions put on attending antenatal appointments and scans during the pandemic. A new book of poems, Healing After Miscarriage by Vicki Renz, aims to help process the feelings of grief and loss after such a difficult event, when it can be hard to… Continue reading Poetry for healing after miscarriage
I’ve been a bit quiet over the last month or so on here because I’ve been suffering for the last three months with urinary tract symptoms that simply won’t go away. It’s become debilitating and wearing being in constant pain, and not being able to treat it properly, and has led me to discover how… Continue reading Chronic UTIs and the scandal of poor testing
Breaking news from Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research at the University of Warwick is that a drug designed to tackle diabetes could also be re-purposed as the first treatment to prevent miscarriage by targeting the lining of the womb. Previous research found that women who experience recurrent miscarriages do not have enough stem cells… Continue reading Diabetes drug could be key to helping recurrent miscarriage
After my last post, I took a step back, as I found it really emotionally draining to go back over the utterly shite treatment I had with my last birth in particular. But the state of post-natal care also needs to be addressed and was, on the whole, poor during both my experiences. There have… Continue reading Blog series post #6: Better post-natal care
Better late than never is the second part of my round-up of IVF news: New TAC-seq method A new molecular engineering method called TAC-seq (Targeted Allele Counting by sequencing) has been developed by researchers in Finland, Estonia and Sweden. It is hoped it will be introduced into the healthcare system this year in the form… Continue reading Blog series post #4: the next steps for IVF Part 2
My Beautiful Diary of the Amazingly Mundane 