Vital Wellness Clinic

09/01/2025

Many of us have set new year resolutions, goals or intentions to improve aspects of our lives, which in my view is a great way to kickstart the year.

However, as many of you will also know, things don’t always work out as we planned.

Why?

Perhaps we were overly ambitious, or
We didn’t think it through or plan properly or
We struggled with motivation, or
We lacked accountability or
Life just got in the way!!

One of my intentions for this year is to reconnect with my sense of community. This idea was actually planted last year in September after attending the annual mindfulness gathering/ conference in Oxford. I had not realised how disconnected I was until I reconnected with my mindfulness community in that space. I came away feeling most nourished and at peace.

As some you may know, as well as being a Menopause specialist, I practice and teach mindfulness. My own practice nourishes me and sustains me through life’s travails. I believe it also enables me to bring a wholesome approach to my clinical practice.

To support my intention (and hopefully some of yours!) I will be offering guided monthly mindfulness practice sessions throughout 2025.

I am pledging half the proceeds from these sessions to Grassroots Su***de Prevention, to support the important work they do. Last year I lost a dear friend to su***de.

I hope you can join in. 🧡

The first session starts on the 15th January 2025 at 7.30pm

Further details can be found at

https://bit.ly/monthlymindfulnesspractice

🧘🏽‍♂️

#2025

21/10/2024

These findings are not surprising, sadly, and we know the reasons why.

It’s time to take concrete actions to address the inequalities; whether HRT is desired or not.

As individuals we need to empower ourselves with knowledge and advocate for ourselves and others.

As communities we need to speak more openly so that young girls and boys grow up knowing the facts and women are not ashamed to seek help

As healthcare professionals we need to educate ourselves on the cultural differences and nuances that determine how women from ethnic backgrounds experience the menopause.

It goes without saying that more research and resources are needed to ensure there is better understanding of these issues,

Now, let’s get to work people! We need to work together.

Exclusive: 10-year study finds menopausal women of Chinese and black African backgrounds about 80% less likely to get HRT

17/10/2024

Another fantastic evening of teaching; this time I was presenting to GP colleagues on the management of unscheduled (unexpected) bleeding in women on HRT; a complex but very common problem we see as healthcare professionals.

A problem that can cause much anxiety for both patients and clinicians due to concerns about endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the womb).

Unscheduled bleeding is bleeding that occurs if your periods had stopped and you are on continuous combined HRT; or bleeding that occurs in addition to your scheduled bleeding if you are on sequential HRT.

Bleeding at the start of HRT is not uncommon, but any bleeding that persists beyond six months after initiation, or three months after any changes needs further investigation.

There has been a rise in referrals for unscheduled bleeding in the last 3-4 years which correlates with a rise in HRT prescribing. Interestingly, it does not correlate with a rise in rates of endometrial cancer.

In my presentation I unpacked the latest guidance by the British Menopause Society on this topic with relevant case discussions. We know that HRT is safe but we need to ensure we are prescribing the correct doses of both oestrogen and progesterone.

There was a really positive energy in the room with much discussion and learning.

Once again, thank you Spire for supporting education and learning in the locality.

15/10/2024

Great evening yesterday hosted by for member of the public as we continue to celebrate

Although the theme this year is Hormone Replacement Therapy, it is important for women to be made aware of non-hormonal options. Not everyone wants HRT and not everyone can have HRT. We have many choices indeed.

As always I banged on about lifestyle!! For indeed lifestyle is the bedrock of any approach!!

Thank you Nick and Nicola for the invitation to speak.

15/10/2024

Great evening yesterday hosted by Spire Harpenden and Spire Healthcare for member of the public as we continue to celebrate

Although the theme this year is Hormone Replacement Therapy, it is important for women to be made aware of non-hormonal options. Not everyone wants HRT and not everyone can have HRT. We have many choices indeed.

As always I banged on about lifestyle!! For indeed lifestyle is the bedrock of any approach!!

Thank you Nick and Nicola for the invitation to speak.

26/06/2024

PAUSE live is back! A trailblazing consumer event, in health and wellness, designed to support women on their unique journey th...

08/03/2024

Let us pause, take a breath and celebrate our successes, big and small!

Happy International Women’s Day!

#

01/01/2024

A New day
A New month
A New Year
A New beginning

For New opportunities and New connections!

Make every moment count!

Wishing you a joyous, healthy and peaceful 2024! 🎉🧡

02/11/2023

What a busy month October was for World Menopause Month!

We have come a long way indeed but it is clear to see that much needs to be done in the menopause space, especially for women from ethnic minority communities. Many inequalities still exist when it comes to access to information and care in these communities.

One of the major problems is the lack of meaningful research which includes women from ethnic minorities. Many studies in this field have been done mainly on Caucasian women. Helpful as it may be, it’s not going to work because it is not a one size fits all.

More inclusive research is needed to understand the experience of menopause in Black and Asian women. This is exactly whatProfessor Joyce Harper and her team at UCL would like to do. They are have approval to conduct a survey specifically for Black women, to understand their attitude and experiences towards menopause

This is where you my friends in the Black community come into the picture.

I will be most grateful if you can complete this short survey to share your experiences. If this is not relevant to you please share it widely.

https://ifwh.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a5XcrImZizhmwjc

It will take less than 5 minutes, I did it.

In doing this you will be playing your part in ensuring that the right resources are provided for all of us. You will be playing your part in ensuring that our daughters do not struggle as much as some of us did or still do.

Although this particular survey is for Black women, I know there’s another one for Asian women in the pipeline.

There are far too many of you here for me to tag!

Thank you so so much.

09/10/2023

At the weekend I had the great pleasure of being invited by Botswana National TV to talk about breast cancer and the menopause as October is Breast cancer awareness month and World Menopause month.

We spoke at great length about breast cancer; causes, treatments and the challenges faced by countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in early diagnosis and treatment for women with breast cancer.

My grandmother died of breast cancer 30 years ago at the age of 65. She died within 3 years of her diagnosis because sadly she presented with advanced disease.

Unfortunately, 30 years down the line, this is still very much the theme in Sun-Saharan Africa;

Despite the fact that the incidence of breast cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa in far less than that of high income countries like North America, the UK and Australia, 1 in 2 women (50%) diagnosed with breast cancer in Africa will survive 5y compared with >90% in high income countries.

This is because 60-70% of women in African countries are diagnosed late

Why??

* Lack of awareness
* Fear of treatments eg mastectomy/ chemo
* Socio and cultural stigma and believes
* Lack of screening programs due to cost and competing health needs
* Poor diagnostic services hindering early detection
* Poor treatment facilities
* Lack of research, meaning policy is often driven by data from the West and applied indiscriminately to low and middle income countries
* Limited cancer registers

As well as raising awareness in general the key message that I wanted to highlight was that breast cancer diagnosed early can be treated successfully. I also wanted to encourage breast awareness among women themselves;

* Encouraging women to know their breasts
* Once a month, standing in front of the mirror looking at their breasts and getting familiar with their breasts; size, skin colour changes, dimpling, ni**le changes
*Then feeling the breast tissue and armpits to get familiar with their normality, so that if any changes are seen or felt, they can be addressed much earlier

Of course we also talked about the menopause, especially in the work place.

01/10/2023

I love the beginning of a new month!

For me it is an opportunity to pause and be grateful for the little things and the big achievements; to pause and reflect on any learning from the past month; to pause and plan for the month ahead; and most importantly to pause and check in with myself.

I am particularly excited about October as it marks the beginning of World Menopause Month, and the theme for this year is cardiovascular health.

October is also and (and my mum’s birthday month!!). A very important month indeed shining the spotlight on very important conversations, that in my opinion should be topical at all times!

Women have an increased risk of heart disease and strokes after reaching the menopause. This is because we loose the cardio protective support that oestrogen provides.

It is therefore important to maintain a healthy lifestyle especially earlier in life to minimise the risk. I’m talking about the basics here;

✅ Regular physical activity, something that you enjoy and can sustain.

✅A healthy Mediterranean diet; eat a rainbow, whole foods and good fats.
✅ Adequate hydration; at least 1.5 - 2L water daily

✅ Good sleep quality; at least 8h of good quality sleep

✅ Stress reduction; again physical activity, connecting with nature, mindfulness.

World Menopause Day also gives us the opportunity to really dial up the volume in this space to raise further awareness about the menopause and to improve access to menopause care for all!

There will be a hive of activity throughout the month so please make sure you get involved in however way you can, and one thing you can to do today is to get a ticket for the , a free virtual festival with some amazing speakers including yours truly!

Happy World Menopause Month!
Happy Black History Month!