Last year, Cynthia Bailey from the popular American reality TV show, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, announced that she had fibroids.

Cynthia revealed that her fibroids caused chronic weight gain,  chronic fatigue and loss of sex drive. She stated that she didn’t understand why she was gaining weight and felt so unwell and visited her doctor who found that she had fibroids. She later had surgery to have them removed and said:

“I’m feeling much better! The surgery was the best thing I ever did! My only regret was I didn’t do it sooner.”

Cynthia also described the negative impact her symptoms had on her marriage but said that her experience with fibroids motivated her to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

We applaud Cynthia Bailey for speaking out about her fibroids and raising awareness of the impact fibroids can have not just with respect to the physical symptoms but its wide reaching effect on daily life.

Lifestyle, this word brings thought to mind of daily tasks, particularly professional and pastimes, hobbies, activities or lack of them. As a former Cabin Crew member the work had a strong influence and was my lifestyle. I was a long haul stewardess, which entailed trips to far distance lands for a few days at a time or a week. My whole life activities were based on where I was going and for how long. I had wonderful opportunities for sight seeing, exploration, shopping or relaxation.  At times though, my peers and I weren’t motivated to go out or it was mundane to re-visit some locations. It became standard to stay in the hotel and meet for a drink or two with my peers. I had to keep myself motivated to use the gym and spa facilities, which were the perks of lodging in five star hotels. My health had deteriorated as A Fly Girl and prior to leaving the job I had a surgical removal of a uterine fibroid.

I had uterine fibroids since I was in my early twenties, prior to working in the airline, and have no history of fibroids in the family. I was also raised on a diet which was balanced and healthy; minimal dairy and red meat. During my twenties my lifestyle had changed and when I reflect back to this I can pick out the decline in a totally healthy lifestyle, it was not drastic however it may have been significant to the cause.

Some key points that I should mention are that in my twenties, and since childhood, I craved sugar and water was not a friend of mine. Until recently I admit water isn’t medicine, but in my twenties instead of water I increased my daily dinner red wine with red meat.

During my youth my menstruation was a curse on my well-being. It came with severe dysmenorrhea, nausea and occasional vomiting. No matter what pain killing medication the doctor prescribed, nothing worked, my stomach looked enlarged on my small and athletic frame. The appearance was a minor, the pain was major.

Although my fibroid was present before being a cabin crew member, my new lifestyle fed the fibroids, my symptoms worsened and my distended stomach gave me the appearance of a second trimester pregnancy.

In my memoir, A Fly Girl, there are many incidences in my tales that reflect on the toxic lifestyle.

Just before leaving the airline I had a myomectomy, the surgical removal of fibroid through an intense operation. It was intense compared to today’s procedure as I had an incision whereas technology now uses laser surgery. It was done privately as I had waited for this operation since my initial diagnosis on the NHS for several years.

I was driven to have the operation because of various new symptoms which accompanied my period; the abdomen swelling was severe and I suffered with menorrhea, the haemorrhaging  would leave me extremely weak and anaemic. I felt quite emotional after surgery however I recovered well and speedily. I became fully conscious from then as to what triggers fibroid growth from a holistic perspective, nutrition, spiritual and physical.

I began to write poetry as a means of self- expression, my diet improved and water became my friend again. I eliminated a lot of foods and it was a turning point in building self-esteem and self-expression. Spiritually I was more expressive as the true me, and being a writer has aided this. I engaged in a lot more exercise, road running, and for a year I was training in Thai boxing to release anger, energy and develop mental strength and finally relaxation in the spa with sauna and steam to eliminate further toxins. I started to enjoy being a creative cook so that my dinners where healthy and whole.

The complete change, spiritual, nutritional and physical was agreeing with me and my body was in balance with no extraordinary monthly pain. Over the years and I started to slip, unconsciously, old habits die-hard and gradually unsavoury patterns took hold. Many years later the fibroid growth returned with vengeance, it came with not just swelling of the abdomen but when menstruating many parts of my body would swell including my face and eyelids. I also experienced restless leg syndrome. I was haemorrhaging and clotting heavily and it had an affect on my work life, I couldn’t commit my presence at work, neither guarantee attending social events and I was fully exhausted because of anaemia. It got to the point where I was emotionally drained and hit rock bottom. I had tried again over the last few years several remedies of natural treatments and some therapies had adverse affects. However determined not to give up, neither to go back to the medical approach, I had a vision that the pain at least should be over and started a six month change programme this year.

I worked on the spiritual and nutritional aspect alone, and I am currently getting back into the physical component. It was a worthy sacrifice to officially eliminate specific foods in my diet for the last six months and gradually experiment with herbs that balance the hormones and strengthen the womb. It has been the best introduction to well being adding herbal remedies to a wholesome diet. Also the spiritual freedom of expression this year has given me joy as I spoke from the heart being part of a national book tour. Having a 90% reduction of symptoms that over the years have accompanied my menstruation and now have disappeared is an amazing testimony, it verifies that there are options for healing in this earth, one must have resilience to overcome and to know that healing isn’t a linear progression.

I am thankful for my diverse experiences in life and I can say that having the fibroid has been a catalyst for my behaviour change. To focus on holistic health can be one of the most self-loving expressions a human can do.

I will update my progress in another six months with the inclusion of physical activity, and this can be found on my blog at www.msroseblossom.org

My experience in treating and healing fibroids or to prevent the onset of them begins with living a spiritual fulfilled life, and includes ways to balance health holistically, along with help from experts and support networks.

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Amanda Epe is a health promotion coach and author.

The Lake Foundation would like to thank Amanda for helping us raise awareness of fibroids and its challenges by sharing her story through this blog piece.

This week, an article in the Daily Record encourages everyone to take a look at the Japanese diet and lifestyle if we are serious about improving the health and wellbeing of our families. They stated that The Lancet has found that Japanese children are the healthiest in the world and this is down to their lifestyle.

The article highlights a new book by husband and wife team William Doyle and Naomi Moriyama, Secrets of the World’s Healthiest Children. This book is based on Doyle and Moriyama’s research into why Japan is the world leader when it comes to health. The key reasons why this is so include:

–          The Japanese eat foods high in nutrients, including fruit, vegetables and whole grains.
–          They don’t rely on processed foods
–           The Japanese only consume sugar or salt in small quantities
–          Meat is usually treated as a garnish or side dish rather than the main part of any meal
–          The Japanese eat moderately, they serve only moderate sized portions of food
–          The Japanese are physically active

Let’s follow Japan’s example and adopt some of their habits to ensure that we too can enjoy good health.

Last week, we attended Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) Annual General Meeting. This was an interesting meeting that gave us the opportunity to learn more about the work of the CCG and what health challenges residents of Croydon face.

What are Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)?

For those of you who might not be familiar with Clinical Commission Groups they are groups of GPs who work together to plan and develop local health services in England. They do this by buying health and care services such as planned hospital care, urgent and emergency care, community health services and mental health and disability services. CCGs are a fairly new concept and were established in 2012 partly replacing Primary Care Trusts. There are 211 CCGs in England covering the 8,000 GP practices across the country.

Connecting with the Public Through their AGMs

Each CCG holds an annual general meeting (AGM), which is open to the public, to provide an overview of their work during the previous financial year.  We decided to attend Croydon CCG’s AGM to get a feel for what health conditions need a bit of focus and to understand if The Lake Foundation can address any of the challenges that might exist.

Croydon CCG’s AGM

Croydon CCG’s annual general meeting began with a welcome by Dr Tony Brzezicki, the clinical chair of the CCG, and this was followed by short presentation from Paula Swann, the Chief Executive, who gave an overview of the CCG’s achievements and performance for the 2014/2015 year. From Ms Swan’s presentation we learnt that the CCG has been focusing on community and mental health services and has been transforming the way that care is delivered in Croydon by developing new care pathways for cardiology, COPD, diabetes, musculoskeletal and falls. Additionally they have provided better access  to care for people with mental health problems through a range of new initiatives and have supported patients with diabetes through their diabetes management course. Furthermore patients with heart problems are now seen and treated more quickly in community clinics and children with asthma have better support through Croydon’s paediatric asthma service.

Ms Swan stated that the areas that need focus include improving waiting times in A&E, ambulance response times and  the quality of care for people with learning disabilities.

The focus then switched to mental health and this was a very interesting and eye opening session that highlighted the extent to which Croydon residents are affected by mental illness. Firstly we heard from a patient who talked about her long journey with mental illness, she spoke of her ups and downs and commended that great work that local charities have played in providing her with support. She specifically mentioned Mind In Croydon whose many services have helped her manage her condition and “live well with my mental health needs.” This really inspired us and clearly demonstrated the  significant impact that local charities can have.

We then heard from Dr Bobby Abbot a GP and the CCG’s clinical lead for mental health. He provided an overview of the impact of mental health in Croydon stating that 1 in 6 Croydon (67,000 people) residents have a mental health problem at any one time, half of all lifetime mental health problems begin before the age of 14 and that poor mental health affects a person’s physical health, education, employment, relationships, finances and housing. When he discussed who was most at risk it made for grim reading (or should I say listening) for the black community. He stated that the black community are seven times more likely to be affected by psychosis. Additionally he mentioned that anxiety and depression are the most common mental health issues in Croydon and these problems are projected to increase by 5% over the next couple of years.

To address the aforementioned mental health problems a number of services are being developed or expanded and these include: Personality Disorder Service, Early Detection Service, Primary Care Mental Health Support and Extension Home Treatment, just to name a few.

Finally we heard about the CCG’s work on Out of Hospital and Integrated Care. This work included developing or improving the following: co-ordinated care, roving GPs (for fast support), rapid response,  rapid acute medical unit (for integrated care), end of life care and the pharmacy discharge pathway.

Our Thoughts

This was a very interesting meeting giving a good overview of some of the health issues facing residents in Croydon. It once again highlighted the need to address mental health in the black community and we’re now going to go away and think about this and explore what approach we can take on this matter.

You Can Get Involved

You can get involved in the work of the CCG and help shape the way that health and social care is delivered in Croydon. The CCG has a Patient and Public Forum which meets regularly. We encourage you to attend to ensure that the views of the African and African-Caribbean community are represented as services are being developed. For more information please email  getinvolved@croydonccg.nhs.uk

This week  WHO published its European Health Report 2015. The report shows that whilst many European countries are making great progress in improving the health of their nations there is still much work to do. Great improvements were noted  in tackling premature mortality and therefore improving life expectancy but high levels of tobacco and alcohol consumption coupled with the rise in obesity  could mean that life expectancy for future generations may fall.  Furthermore inequalities do exist with the gap in life expectancy at birth between the highest and lowest countries being 10 years.

This report is an interesting look at the health of Europe and shows, to a certain extent, that the health challenges are lifestyle related. Therefore by more  people making different personal choices Europe can significantly improve its health.

The Lake Foundation specifically encourages the black community to make these changes as we are more likely to develop conditions like high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes which can be prevented by being more active and eating a healthy diet.

For more information you can read WHO’s report here

This week the UK government has announced a key part of its plan to improve cancer care in England. In order to improve the care that patients receive, NHS England will introduce a target  to ensure that patients are given a confirmed diagnosis or all-clear within four weeks of being referred by their GP.

The target the government  is aiming for is that by 2020 95% of patients will receive a confirmed diagnosed within four weeks. To achieve this the NHS has to invest £300M a year until 2020 and train 200 extra staff to perform diagnostic tests for certain cancers.

This 95% target by 2020 was recommended by the independent cancer taskforce and the plans to achieve this will be piloted in five hospitals before being rolled out nationally. It is hoped that achieving this target will save 11,000 lives a year by increasing the number of cancers diagnosed at an early stage.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK’s Health Secretary said:

“For people who are worried they may have cancer, waiting for that all important test result is a nerve-wracking time. We have a duty to make sure this period of uncertainty is as short as possible. For those who get the all-clear, they will have peace of mind sooner. Those who sadly have cancer will get treatment much quicker and we will save thousands of lives as a result.”

September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month in the US and this gives us the perfect opportunity to focus a bit of attention on this condition which is more common in the black community. In this week’s blog we provide a quick introduction.

What is Sickle Cell?

Sickle cell anaemia is an inherited condition where the red blood cells which carry oxygen around our body develop into an abnormal shape. Instead of being round they form into a sickle shape i.e. a semi-circle. These abnormally shaped blood cells are sticky and stiff and they can block blood flow into your tissues and organs. The reduction in blood flow to your organs can cause pain, organ damage  and increase a person’s chance of developing infections.

What Causes Sickle Cell?

It is caused by  faulty gene which will have been inherited from the patient’s parent. The person would have inherited one copy of the gene from their father and another copy of the gene from their mother. If you only inherit one of the faulty genes you will not develop full-blown sickle cell, you will  be a carrier of the gene, but you can pass this gene down to your children.

If you are a carrier of the sickle cell gene you have enough normal blood cells to ensure that your blood flows adequately throughout your body but as a carrier you do have to be careful in situations where oxygen levels are low like when mountain climbing and scuba diving.

Complications of Sickle Cell

People with sickle cell may experience a number of symptoms and complications; everyone is different so each individual will have a different experience with sickle cell.  You may experience any of the following:

Episodes of pain (Sickle cell crisis)
This is the most common complication of sickle cell and occurs when sickle shaped blood cells block the blood vessels that supply a particular tissue. This means oxygen is unable to get to that tissue and it becomes starved of its energy source. This causes tissues to become damaged – this causes the pain. Repeated episodes eventually lead to organ damage. The episodes can affect your ribs,  spine, pelvis, abdomen, chest, legs and arms.

Anaemia
Anaemia is a decrease in the number of red blood cells in the body. Sickle cells do not live for a long time and when they die they are not replaced quickly enough so sickle cell sufferers will have a low red blood cell count which can lead to:
· Shortness of breath
· Feeling tired all the time
· An irregular heart beat

Infections
Children with sickle cell are prone to developing infections such as pneumonia, bone infections and meningitis. If your child has sickle cell they may need to have some additional vaccinations or be given antibiotics as a precaution.

Jaundice and Gallstones
The rapid break down of the sickled cells can lead to the build up of a  yellow waste product called bilirubin. This causes the yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eye, this is called jaundice.  The bilirubin can also solidify forming gallstones.

Stroke and Acute Chest Syndrome
If sickle cells block the blood flow to the brain this can lead to a stroke, and if it blocks the blood flow to the lungs this can result in acute chest syndrome where patients experience chest pain and difficulty breathing.

Treating Sickle Cell

Sickle cell cannot be cured and a treatment plan is developed to help sickle cell sufferers manage their disease. The aim of any treatment is to:
·  Prevent episodes of pain
·  Relieve pain
·  Minimise any complications
· Treat any other symptoms

Diagnosing Sickle Cell

Sickle cell is diagnosed through a blood test.  When a person has sickle cell this will become apparent when they are a child.  If you are worried that your child has sickle cell you can arrange for them to have the blood test by making an appointment to see your GP.  For couples who are expecting a baby and may be concerned that their baby may inherit sickle cell, your unborn baby can be tested from eleven weeks into your pregnancy. You can speak to your GP or obstetrician about this.

More Information

For more information on sickle cell please visit the Sickle Cell Society’s website

The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has found that unhealthy eating contributes to more deaths globally than any other factor. This is because unhealthy eating plays a role in increasing risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.  They also found that high blood pressure was another big cause of premature death across the world.

The IHME’s conclusions are based on data from 108 countries from 1990 to 2013.

This study is very important as it adds to the evidence base that shows the extent to which our diet affects our health and wellbeing. It also shows that we can significantly improve our health by making very simple changes to our lifestyle.

Researchers at the National Institute of Ageing have published the results of their study exploring the relationship between weight at midlife and Alzheimer’s Disease.

In their study they found that being obese or overweight at midlife (at age 50) may put people at increased risk of developing early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. They found that for each unit of increase in BMI at age 50 accelerated onset of Alzheimer’s by nearly 7 months in those who developed the condition.

Although more work is needed to confirm this relationship between body weight and Alzheimer’s, this work suggests that maintaining a healthy weight could be an option for delaying the development of Alzheimer’s.

Our cycling group have had a great time over the past two months building up their confidence to cycle on the road, learning cycling techniques, getting some exercise and discovering new and interesting places in Croydon.

Since our last update where we shared our experience cycling from Croydon to Catford we’ve had quite a few cycling adventures. We started off with a lovely 16.3km ride through South Norwood, Beckenham and Crystal Palace.  This route saw the group take on quite a few hills and busy roads as well as beautiful parks like Crystal Palace Park where we discovered the park’s Darwin and the Dinosaurs trail, a collection of life-size dinosaur models created by leading scientist Richard Owen.

Our second cycling adventure was a 16.4km route from Croydon Arena to Central Croydon and then on to Lloyd Park, Addiscombe and South Norwood Country Park. This was a really lovely route taking us through some beautiful, quiet neighbourhoods and along a number of green spaces.

Our most recent adventure was a 14km ride to West Wickham this was a challenging and sometimes dramatic ride as we battled scary roundabouts , rush hour traffic, and numerous buses.

These last three cycling sessions were great fun. Altogether we cycled 46.7km and burnt about 600 calories and we look forward to next week’s adventure.