Freja's & PCOS Vitality join forces in making "It's just another bad period" history...

Freja’s is an organisation with one mission:  Making “it’s just a bad period” history and they believe that the first step in getting there, is making sure people understand what life with conditions such as PCOS (PolyCystic Ovary Syndrome) is really like.  Freja’s collects and shares stories of the real day-to-day impact of living with reproductive/endocrine health conditions to change the way society talks, thinks and feels about reproductive health conditions.  A team of dedicated writers, many of whom themselves with these diagnoses, interview people from all over the UK and the stories are shared with permission online.

Freja’s was founded by Majken.  Having struggled with painful and irregular periods, multiple miscarriages, and infertility she knows first-hand how important it is to open the conversation and invite people to learn about the good, the bad and the ugly of living with reproductive organs that just won’t seem to cooperate.  You can read hers and many other stories on Frejas.org.

The Freja’s team, who have two main guiding principles when they do these stories: 1. Always stay curious 2. Never ever publish anything without explicit consent, have teamed up with PCOS Vitality to tell stories about life with PCOS.  If you want to work with Freja’s writers on shaping and sharing your story, please get in touch hello@frejas.org

(c) words & images 2024 Freja's/PCOS Vitality

PCOS Beginner's Guide ... new & updated

We've recently reviewed and updated our Beginner's Guide to PCOS to reflect the changes in the newly published PCOS International Guidelines and to include some changes regarding medications such as Finasteride which the MHRA has issued warnings for with relation to side effects.

You can download your free copy of the Beginner's Guide to PCOS here

https://www.pcosvitality.com/introductory-guide-to-pcos

We are sure you will find this useful and if you have any suggestions on how we can improve it, please email us info@pcosvitality.com

Stay well,

Team PCOS Vitality.

Beyond pregnancy: more than a third of women experience lasting health problems after childbirth

A new study sheds light on the high burden of postnatal conditions experienced by at least 40 million women every year. Many women experience labour-related and childbirth-related morbidity in the medium-to-long term after childbirth (ie, beyond 6 weeks postnatally). The most prevalent conditions are dyspareunia (35%), low back pain (32%), urinary incontinence (8–31%), anxiety (9–24%), anal incontinence (19%), depression (11–17%), tokophobia (6–15%), perineal pain (11%), and secondary infertility (11%). •

Other conditions that occur as a consequence of labour and childbirth are less frequent (or less common), yet still have severe effects on women’s health and wellbeing. These conditions include pelvic organ prolapse, post-traumatic stress disorder, thyroid dysfunction, mastitis, HIV seroconversion, nerve injury, psychosis, venous thromboembolism, and peripartum cardiomyopathy. However, there are scarce population-level data from low-income and middle-income countries, except for postpartum depression, anxiety, and psychosis. • Although high-quality guidelines do exist for some of these conditions, these are mostly developed in, and tailored for, high-income country settings. Available guidelines consistently highlight the importance of good-quality care at birth, systematic clinical assessments, screening of postpartum women to identify those at risk, and prompt management.

The Review authors have called for more recognition of these conditions within the healthcare system not just in terms of typical postnatal care but to prevent future complications that can lead to lasting health issues. Beyond motherhood, people need access to a range of services to help them both emotionally and physically.

You can access the full review here

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(23)00454-0/fulltext