Wednesday 6th June, 2018

We share how we went from being demotivated to being motivated again, and all it took was us getting out into the community to remind us why we do what we do.

We’re so happy to announce that our June Fibroids Twitter Chat will be with Angèle  Mbarga on 21^st June 2018 at 6:30pm CEST (that’s 5:30pm GMT, or 12:30pm AST).

Angèle  Mbarga is the Founder of Fibrome Info France which she established in 2011 to provide a place of healing dedicated to women suffering from fibroids. Angèle’s personal experience with fibroids motivated her to start Fibrome Info France to fill the gaps in support that she noticed when she was first diagnosed.

Through their support groups, Fibrome Info France supports over 1500 women every year, they assess women’s personal circumstances and then match them with a relevant support plan. In addition to providing support to women, they raise awareness, provide information on the complications of fibroids and are working towards improving the care that women receive.

They released an awareness video in 2012, in 2013 they published an information leaflet in collaboration with the Ministry of Women’s Rights and the Regional Council of Ile-de-France and in 2014 they worked with doctors to create an information and supportive guide for patients.

Fibrome Info France is making a significant difference in France and you can learn more about their work in our upcoming #FibroidsChat. To take part in the conversation find us on Twitter on 21st June at  6:30pm (French time) and use the hashtag #FibroidsChat.

You can find out more about Fibrome Info France here: http://fibrome-info-france.org/

Today we’re delighted to have a guest blog post by Constance Ray, the founder of Recovery Well, on getting back on track after substance abuse relapse.

Contance Ray started Recoverywell.org with the goal of creating a safe place for people to share how addiction has affected them, whether they are combating it themselves or watching someone they care about work to overcome it. The goal is to share stories of hope from survivors who know that the fight against addiction is one worth having, because no matter how it affects you, life can get better.

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Many people understand the battle against substance abuse; for millions of people, drugs and alcohol play a big role in relieving stress, anxiety, and the symptoms of depression, but unfortunately, substances only contribute to the problem–or exacerbate it. Because using drugs or alcohol to cope only numbs the issue and doesn’t get rid of it, many individuals find that after making the decision to live a sober lifestyle, they are unable to deal with their feelings in a healthy way, which leads to a relapse. This can in turn lead to guilt, shame, and even thoughts of suicide.

That’s why it’s so important to learn how to cope with stress, anxiety, and depression in ways that will make you feel strong and empowered. Having the support of your friends and/or family will go a long way, as will working to get your body healthy. This will allow you to see that even after a relapse, you have the power to turn things around for good.

Keep reading for some great tips on how to get healthy after suffering a relapse.

Seek professional help

One of the biggest keys to living a sober life is realizing that you can’t get there on your own. It’s imperative that you seek professional help so that you can address any physical or mental health issues that may be underlying. Starting at the root of the problem will help you find success much more easily when it comes to staying sober.

Forgive yourself

True recovery is impossible without the ability to forgive yourself for past mistakes. Understanding that all humans have inner struggles–and deal with them in different ways–will help you come to a place where you can love yourself, and therefore heal. Consider practicing yoga and/or meditation, which will incorporate mindfulness into your day. Learning to focus your mental energies on positive things rather than worry or stress will help immensely when it comes to your recovery.

Come up with a plan

It’s important to have a plan in place when it comes to your sobriety. Creating a step-by-step plan–as well as a routine to get there–will help you stay on track and find daily motivation for sobriety. For instance, you might set some small goals, such as working out every day or eating healthfully, and create a routine to make that happen. Having a plan in place will allow you to feel in control, which is important to many individuals in recovery.

Take up a hobby

Having a hobby can be hugely beneficial to those in recovery. Not only is it good for your mental health, it can help you get active, stay social, and will provide structure to your day. For many people who have battled substance abuse, the ability to know what comes next is important. Think about your interests and look online for activities that you’ll enjoy. Gardening, playing a sport, making art, and rock climbing are all great ideas. For more on how staying active can help your recovery, click here.

Stay connected

It’s common for individuals in recovery to have trouble staying social, especially after suffering a relapse. There may be feelings of guilt or shame involved, or you may be worried that your friends and loved ones are judging you. But having a connection with other people can be a big help for your sobriety, and it will give you a circle of support when things get tough. Make an effort to stay connected to your loved ones, even if it’s only through text messages.

We’re always looking for good public health books to read and have been going through various public health reading lists. One book that kept coming up was Sweetness #9 by Stephan Eirik Clark so we decided to order this book from Amazon and get reading.

Sweetness #9 is a fictional book that focuses on the food industry and explores the impact of additives (in the book they focus on flavour enhancers and artificial colouring) and sweeteners, but the book also touches on issues around food regulation, the approval process and the nature of modern life that leads to the demand for processed, easy to prepare meals. This was an interesting read that opened us up to the possible reality of the inner workings of the food industry and the fact that we’re unlikely to be fully aware of, nor understand, what has been added to the processed foods we eat and the long-term effects of these additives.

Sweetness #9 takes its readers on a 39-year journey as we follow the life of the main character, David Leveraux, who starts his career, after graduating from a food science program with a MSc, as an eager Flavourist-in-Training at a leading global food company. His new job starts well, and he is assigned to the Animal Testing division where his role is to test the long-term toxicity of an artificial sweetener called Sweetness #9 (the testing is a legal requirement before FDA approval can be granted). Whilst conducting these studies on Sweetness #9 David notices some side effects in both rodents and monkeys. Feeling conflicted he isn’t sure what to do, but he eventually reports this to management, but this doesn’t go well, and he ends up being dismissed from the company. This leaves him feeling disillusioned and he wonders what to do with his knowledge of the effects of the sweetener: should he report them to the authorities or not? David keeps quiet and life moves on, but as the years go by Sweetness #9 is approved by the FDA and it is in everything from soft drinks to toothpaste. David continues to feel conflicted especially as he observes, over the next 30 years, society changing, including his own family, who consume a lot of Sweetness #9. The public is gaining weight, ADHD is identified and seems to be on the increase, and anxiety and generalised dissatisfaction is rampant – all these effects are the same effects he observed years before in the rodents and monkeys exposed to Sweetness #9.

Through the main character of David we explore how families’ eating habits have changed in the modern era, how food is manipulated and the politics behind food. We see food scientists question the intentions behind the decisions being made in their industry – why are we really making children’s medicine that tastes like bubble gum and candy apples? Here’s an interesting exchange from the book, although this is fiction you can imagine this type of conversation happening.

                  “I just don’t know if we should be doing this.”

                 “What?”

                  “Making it like candy.”

        “Children’s medicine? So, this is political, is it?”

         “What if kids start trading them on the playground?”

“This is why we have nurses. To dispense medicine. Or are you for sick children now? Hardly a platform I can   support.”

“All right, all right. You’ll have a new formulation by the end of the day. But when I’m called before Congress to explain how America’s children came to be like fatted calves, standing there ready and compliant for the next Rasputin, it’s your name I’ll say while leaning into the microphone.”

This was a scenario where a young flavourist is convinced to make children’s anti-psychotic liquid medicine taste like wild cherry to appease a multi-national pharmaceutical company and thus ensure they keep said company as a client.

A story that ran through the book was one based around Hitler, we struggled at first to see the relevance of this story-line but it all come together nicely at the end, we won’t spoil it for you.  I don’t know how true to life this story-line is, but we did find bits of it fascinating.  In the book, flavourists were recruited during the war, as food was scarce, to create meals that would allow military leaders to have the sensation of having a gourmet meal. So, using meagre resources and their knowledge of chemistry they mimicked food textures and flavours so perfectly that leaders felt they were eating the real thing. Also, in the book, flavourists were recruited during the war for other reasons, to fight the enemy in a subtle way. So, the book really gave a wide-ranging look at the role of flavourists in society.

This was an interesting read and forces readers to reflect on the food we eat and how additives and sweeteners could be affecting the health and wellbeing of our society.

Want to read this book too? You can purchase a copy on Amazon, see options below.

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Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. Find out more here

Our new Zazzle online shop is now live (yay!) and we’d be so grateful if you’d check it out.

Our new Shop For Good aims to promote a healthy lifestyle by selling products that remind us all to live healthily. Our shop also helps us to continue to do good in our community with all money raised going towards our public health projects. In our shop you can pick up badges, key rings, t-shirts, mugs and tote bags; more products will be added regularly and we’ll keep you updated on any new products. You can visit our shop here and below are a few of our products:

Our store is international, so our products are available to purchase from many countries as shown below.  Please click on the image below to find out more.

Thank you for your support. It is much appreciated.

Wednesday 30th May, 2018

In today’s episode of our podcast we speak to Jo-Ann Hamilton, the founder of Secret Birds, about her 10-year journey with fibroids.

In today’s blog we are delighted to hear from  Angèle Mbarga the founder of Fibrome Info France. Angèle shares her personal experience with fibroids, explains why she started Fibrome Info France, talks a bit about the situation in France and discusses the excellent work her organisation is doing to support women with fibroids. 

I had a surgery by laparotomy in 2010. In January 2011, when creating the association Fibrome Info France, I had no idea just how vast my job would be. The only thing I was sure of was the absolute need to have a place of healing dedicated to women suffering from uterine fibroids. This shelter will be their place where they would find a sympathetic ear and be able to share their own experience in a mutual aid environment. I had the vision of a modern sisterhood where every woman physically injured and hurt in her inner self, intimacy can henceforth stop and they would be able to talk openly, place a word on her pain without any judgement. My objective was to offer to women what had so badly missed in my time when I had to face fibroids for the very first time. Fibrome Info France is my plea a distress call of a woman wrecked by the violence of fibroids.

My fibroids were out of control, disabling and hemorrhagic.  My symptoms were blood clots with throbbing pelvic pains sometimes. Untimely and chaotic bleedings were my sad daily reality. My life was completely turned upside down. I had no menstrual cycle reference anymore. I had no life anyway. Fibroids were killing me softly. Periods and unusual bleeding got mixed up and caught me in an endless, disturbing and distorted cycle in a completely crazy pace. I was in hell! At office, in meetings, when hanging out with friends, in restaurants, in my own car or in common transportation, anywhere. Always this inopportune and incessant flow of blood gushing from me! There were no sanitary pads that could help me out with stopping this. Fibroids gave me no place for neither private nor professional life. It was like holding a time bomb in my womb with the difference that I had no idea when the explosion would happen.

While recovering from my surgery at hospital, I made a promise to myself to help those women with fibroids issues. They should not face the lack of information about this disease anymore. They should not go through the fibroids complications alone either. Once this idea sprouted in my mind I put all resources and forces I had to make it happen as quickly as possible. And in January 2011, Fibrome Info France was born. Our association assists through our support groups, every year we help over 1500 women to overcome their profound distress caused by this disease. Uterine fibroma is a disease that affects the woman in the depths of her intimacy and in some cases affects fertility. Its development and complications vary from one woman to another. But a widely spread cliché makes one  believe that fibroids are asymptomatic hence do not require any specific care. However, witnesses and S.O.S messages received by our association prove the need for information and support of women severely exposed to this disease which has a strong consequences and significant impacts on their intimacy, their professional and social life.

Uterine fibroma is the most frequent non-cancerous tumor that affects women in childbearing age. It represents also the first cause of uterus ablation in France, over 75000 every year. Physicians who are experienced in the care of this condition are of the opinion that African-Caribbean women develop fibroids at a younger age than the average and are prone to a higher rate of recurrence as well. The specific cases of young women who might likely relapse therefore exposed to repetitive surgeries raises the question of the preservation of the uterus and fertility. As the founder of Fibrome Info France, I assess on a daily basis women’s expectations with regards to this disease in order to have a good match with our actions towards them. The key challenge for our association is the information and awareness of women about the symptoms and complications of uterine fibroids in terms of basic prevention. We also provide tangible and lasting actions to improve the care of uterine fibroids and fight against its banalization.

In 2012, our first awareness video was released as well as our first information campaign. Both were financed by myself. In 2013, with the support of the then Ministry of Women’s Rights and the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, an informational leaflet was published. We also launched our second information campaign. In 2014, in partnership with doctors who support our action we developed and informative and supportive guide for patients and for the rest of the medical corps that are still underestimating the impacts of uterine fibroids as well. Around ten centres fully dedicated to diagnose and to the care of fibroids were opened in several hospitals in Paris and in other French provinces. All of our actions aim to respond to the need for information by women suffering from uterine fibroids and the imperative requirement to guide them on their therapeutic path. Our association will turn 7 on June 30!  To celebrate our achievements and alert the public about fibroids’ impacts we will hold an open house day in our premises. We invite anyone who is keen on acting for women’s health and rights to come and join us in our fight to improve the care of uterine fibroids, for the preservation of the uterus and the fertility of women suffering from fibroids.

Angèle MBARGA
Founder
Fibrome Info France

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We would like to thank Angèle Mbarga for sharing her inspirational story with us and applaud her for the fantastic work she has done in establishing Fibrome Info France and providing much-needed support to women in France who have been affected by fibroids. To find out more about  Fibrome Info France you can visit their website or connect with them on social media. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fibrome-Info-France-233050816814726/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fibromeinfofr 

Disclosure: this post contains an affiliate link. Find out more here

On 23^rd May, we attended the St Kitts Marriott Wellness Lunch. This was a lovely event, organised by the hotel for its staff, that aimed to promote healthy eating.

We were invited to have an information table to raise awareness of the work that we’re doing, and it really was a pleasure being at this event. We received a very warm welcome from everyone and had a steady stream of visitors to our information table who were genuinely interested in learning more about our projects and campaigns.

We had some great conversations about a number of health issues and got the opportunity to talk to attendees about the Healthy Caribbean Coalition’s Childhood Obesity Prevention Campaign. This was very well-received with many showing their support by signing the childhood obesity prevention petition which will be presented to Caribbean leaders at the CARICOM heads of governments conference in July. You can find out more about this campaign and sign the e-petition here

We were able to speak to women about our fibroids survey which aims to understand the experiences of women with fibroids so that we can determine if there is a need to develop an awareness and support programme here in St Kitts. From our conversations, we learnt that  many women have been affected by fibroids and we hope that we can, in the future, provide some form of help to those who need it.

Additionally, it was  nice meeting representatives from other organisations such as MASA Assist, Nagico, the National bank and credit union, all doing great work in some form or the other to support the wellbing of the public.

The lunch also gave us the opportunity to showcase our new ‘Be Healthy’ badges which we recently released to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Our badges as well as our key rings, t-shirts, tote bag and mug are available on our new online shop. Please do visit our shop to find out more about these products. You can visit our shop here.

This was a fun event, in the beautiful ball room of the Marriott with some lovely healthy food and great conversation – the perfect way to spend an afternoon! We’d like to say a big thank you to the organisers for inviting us to take part and to everyone who visited our table, we really appreciate all the support and kind words, and we look forward to attending future events at the Marriott.

Wednesday 23rd May, 2018

In today’s episode we focus on a study that we really, really love – the Harvard Adult Development Study, affectionately known as the Harvard Happiness Study.

You’ve probably received lots and lots of emails recently from companies big and small about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) which is the new EU data protection regulation that is coming into effect on 25^th May.

We’re no longer based in the EU but as people on our mailing list are, we’d like to let you know that if you’re on our mailing list, we would have asked you if you would like to be on our mailing list. This will have been done, most likely, at an event through our mailing list sign-up sheet or you would have signed up via our website.  We wouldn’t have added you randomly or if you simply emailed us to ask a question or requested information. We would have, and will, always ask(ed) you before we add(ed) you to our mailing list.

If you would no longer like to  be on our mailing list, you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe button at the bottom of any edition of our newsletter.

Just a reminder that we:

• Only store your email address and name to send you our monthly newsletter as well as information about our events, giveaways and special announcements
• Won’t share your email address with anybody else, nor will we sell your email address to anyone

We hope you’ll continue to take this journey with us as we aim to improve the health and wellbeing of our community. We have some really interesting projects coming up, plus we’ve just opened up our Shop For Good where you can pick up some cute little items such as badges, key rings, t-shirts and tote bags with encouraging health messages. These items are perfect for health awareness events, giveaways and just to use, or wear, whilst you’re out and about so can you promote a healthy lifestyle.

We look forward to keeping in touch with you and thank you for being part of our mailing list family.