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.

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

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

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.

High blood pressure is a major challenge for the black community in the UK with 33% of black adults having high blood pressure compared to 16% of white adults. When we look at the actual numbers, to understand the scale of the problem, the black community makes up 3.3% of the UK’s population so a staggering 625,503 black people in the UK are known to have high blood pressure; we have to do something about this.

What is high blood pressure?

Blood pressure is a measure of how much force (pressure) our blood exerts on our blood vessels (our arteries and veins). High blood pressure, medically known as hypertension, occurs when the force our blood exerts on our vessels is consistently higher than what is considered to be a healthy level, which is generally 120/80mmHg.  If a person has several blood pressure measurements, on separate occasions, which are 140/90mmHg or higher then they are considered to have high blood pressure. This is a major concern because it is associated with a number of health complications with people suffering from high blood pressure being twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke. This is because the high pressure can damage our arteries affecting the blood supply to our heart or brain.

What causes high blood pressure?

The exact cause of high blood pressure is unknown but there are a number of factors that increase a person’s risk of developing high blood pressure and many of these factors are associated with lifestyle and these include: lack of physical activity,  an unhealthy diet (especially a diet high in salt), being overweight or obese, drinking too much alcohol, stress and smoking. Furthermore, your risk of developing high blood pressure increases as you get older, and you’re at a higher risk if you have a family history of high blood pressure, are from the black community and suffer from sleep apnoea. Additionally there are a number of health conditions that increase a person’s risk of developing high blood pressure so for example people who have diabetes, kidney disease and adrenal and thyroid disorders are at increased risk of developing high blood pressure.

Why is the black community at higher risk of developing high blood pressure?

We know that the black community in the UK are twice as likely to develop high blood pressure as their white counterparts and are more likely to develop it at a younger age, but the question is: why?  Research suggests that there may be several reasons for this and here are just four key reasons:

Salt Sensitivity

We now know that people respond to salt differently so some people who consume large amounts of salt will not go on to develop high blood pressure whilst others will.  This has led to a term called salt sensitivity which is a measure of how a person’s blood pressure responds to salt. A person who is salt sensitive is likely to develop high blood pressure from consuming salt whilst a person who is salt resistant is unlikely to develop high blood pressure from consuming salt.

Sodium (salt is sodium chloride), blood pressure and fluid balance are controlled by the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in our body. In this system hormones control the absorption of sodium by the blood and therefore control our blood pressure. People who are salt sensitive have genetic variations in some of the genes involved in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system which makes them less able to handle salt and maintain a normal blood pressure.

Members of the black community are more likely to be salt sensitive particularly black Americans and black Caribbeans who are thought to have inherited the aforementioned genetic variations.

Salt Intake

Work by the Consensus Action on Salt and Health has found that:

“The majority of salt consumed by people of black African descent is from salt added in cooking and/or at the table. This is in contrast to the rest of the UK population (and indeed the Western world) where 75% of salt intake comes from processed foods. A health survey in England found that 83% of black men and 85% of black women added salt in cooking. Over a quarter (28%) of the same population add salt at the table. Salted meats and fish like salt-fish and salt-beef, and heavily seasoned meats such as fried chicken, stews and curries can contain a lot of salt.”

 This suggests that the black people may consume more salt than their white counterparts and when this is coupled with the salt sensitivity phenomena this is a recipe for disaster when it comes to high blood pressure.

Increased Risk of Diabetes

Diabetes is a key risk factor for high blood pressure with about 80% of type 2 diabetics suffering from high blood pressure.  When we look at how diabetes affects the black community data suggests that the black community is three times more likely to develop diabetes than their white counterparts, and this will mean that as a result of diabetes black people will be more likely to develop high blood pressure. Again, if we put this into numbers, to understand the scale of the problem, it is estimated that 5.3% of the UK’s black population have type two diabetes compared to 1.7% of the white population which means that  50,000  black people in the UK are affected by diabetes and hence are at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure.

Lifestyle

We also know that the black community are at increased risk of high blood pressure due to other lifestyle factors, for example black African women in the UK have been found to have the highest prevalence of obesity and obesity is a risk factor for high blood pressure. Additionally, the black community are less likely to be physical active with  NICE reporting  that:

“African-Caribbeans aged 16 to 74 years, 62 per cent of men and three quarters of women do not participate in enough physical  activity to benefit their health* (HEA 1995a), compared with the general population (59 per cent of men and 68 per cent of women (HEA 1995b).”

Physical inactivity is a key risk factor for high blood pressure and the above shows that many black people are not achieving their recommended level of physical activity putting us at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure.

What can we do?

In order to tackle this problem we clearly need to make some changes to our diet and lifestyle.  We can make a significant difference by looking at our salt intake. The government recommends that adults consume no more than 6g of salt a day. To achieve this we have to:

• Avoid adding salt to our food and use herbs and spices to season our food
• Avoid processed foods
• Ask restaurants to  prepare low-salt versions of the dishes on their menu

For some great tips on how to reduce your salt intake visit Consensus Action on Salt and Health’s website

Additionally we have to get more active and aim to do 30 minutes of physical activity every day and we have to tackle diabetes. We can reduce our risk of developing diabetes through lifestyle changes, – a healthy diet, being active and maintaing a healthy weight.

Finally, there needs to be collaboration between the government, the food industry, the public and charities to ensure that it is easy for all of us to achieve a healthy lifestyle or else this problem of high blood pressure will not go away.

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References

1. Ageymang C & Bhopal R. Is the blood pressure of people from African origin adults in the UK higher or lower than that in European origin white people? A review of cross-sectional data. Journal of Human Hypertension. 2003; 17(8). 523-534
2. Blood Pressure UK.
3. D Lane, D G Beevers and G Y H Lip. Ethnic differences in blood pressure and the prevalence of hypertension in England Journal of Human Hypertension (2002) 16, 267-273. DOI: 10.1038/sj/jhh/1001371
4. Diabetes UK. Diabetes: Facts and Stats (2014)
5. Diabetes UK. Diabetes in the UK 2011/2012: Key Statistics on Diabetes. Diabetes UK, 2011
6. Fuchs FD. Why Do Black Americans Have Higher Prevalence of Hypertension? An Enigma Still Unsolved. Hypertension.2011; 57: 379-380
7. Gatineau M, Mathrani S. Obesity and Ethnicity. Oxford:  National Obesity Observatory, 2011
8. NICE. Promoting Physical Activity Among Black and Minority Ethnic Groups
9. Scarborough P, Bhatnagar P, Kaur A, Smolina K, Wickramasinghe K and Raynew M.Ethnic Differences in Cardiovascular Disease. Oxford:  University of Oxford/British Heart Foundation, 2010
10. Sullivan JM.1991. Salt sensitivity. Definition, conception, methodology, and long-term issues. Hypertension. 17(1 Suppl):I61-8. PMID:1987013.
11.  The Stroke Association. Stroke in African Caribbean People. London: The Stroke Association, 2012
12. 2011 UK Census

On Wednesday 5^th August we were delighted to take part in TWYLYTE VIP’s Creative Arts, Entertainment and Networking Summer Event.  This was an excellent event that brought together representatives from the music, film, fashion and media industries and gave us the prefect opportunity to raise awareness of a very important health issue, cervical cancer.

The event was hosted by Jaye of TWYLYTE PR and recording artist Kele Leroc who started the night’s proceedings with live interviews featuring actor Femi Oyeniran (Kidulthood and Anuvahood); Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe, the director of the British Urban Film Festival; Nadine Woodley and Dani Mosely writers of the stage play The Forty Elephants; and Martina Barnett from Inside Out.

After the inspirational and informative live interviews we moved on to the ‘FASHION Meets AWARENESS’ Magnetic Fashion Show.  FASHION Meets AWARENESS is the brain child of Celena of Magnetic Fashion Connections and it aims to showcase creative designers whilst highlighting important health issues – an excellent idea. The fashion show featured a collection of creations from a new wave of fashion designers that included Erwin Michalec, Sonia Funnell and Dee Naturals. Following the fashion show we delivered the awareness part of FASHION Meets AWARENESS  with a short presentation on cervical cancer covering what is cervical cancer, what causes it, risk factors, screening, the HPV vaccination and the symptoms.

This was a really fun event and we were very grateful to be given the opportunity to raise awareness of cervical cancer and we’d like to say a big thank you to Celena from Magnetic Fashion Connections for inviting us to take part in this event.

In this week’s blog we speak to Paul Lowe co-founder of Cycling Instructor, a bikeability organisation that we’ve teamed up with to lead our summer cycling sessions. Our cycling sessions run weekly over the summer months and are open to everyone.

Can you tell us about the Cycling Instructor and why it was started?
Cycling Instructor Ltd was set up by Michael Poole and myself in 2005.  We had both worked for another cycle training provider and thought we could start our own business doing the same thing.

Can you tell us about the work you’re doing with Croydon Council?
We provide Bikeability training in Croydon borough schools, for adults over the age of 16 and various special projects with voluntary sector groups, such as The Lake Foundation.

What has been your favourite cycling project so far?
We really enjoyed the bench opening project with a local school and sustrans.

 How long have you been cycling and what do you enjoy most about cycling?
I have been cycling since I was about 6 and what I love doing is cycle camping or youth hostelling by bike.   After a few days on a trip the world falls away and you enter a ‘bubble’. Also due to the exercise your physiology changes and you can eat as much as you want all the time.

What advice would you give to anyone new to cycling in terms of equipment, technique and building confidence?
Just get a good second hand bike, get a lesson and a map and get going.  You learn about cycling by doing it.

Where can people find out more about the Cycling Instructor
There is lots of information about us on our website:  www.cyclinginstructor.com

Our summer cycling sessions have been running since the beginning of July and we’re now half way through the sessions which will run until the end of August. This year we’ve had a lovely group of people come along to the sessions; all very friendly and eager to build their confidence in cycling and get some exercise.

Friday’s session was excellent. We had ten in the group and were led, once again, by Brian from the Cycling Instructor who was supported by Matthew.

In previous weeks we focused on cycling technique and riding safely on the road and this week it was time to put it all into practice with a ride from Croydon to Catford and back (about 9 miles).

Our journey to Catford took us along Route 21 which is part of the UK’s National Cycle Network  and is a 94 mile route from Greenwich to Crawley and then on to East Bourne via East Grinstead and Heathfield.

We began our journey at the beautiful South Norwood Country Park and joined Route 21 at Elmers End. The cycling path took us through the picturesque green spaces and quiet neighbourhoods of  Beckingham, Sydenham and Lewisham and included riverside cycling along the Waterlink Way.

This session was a lovely experience. The weather was perfect – sunny and mild, and the beauty of route was really impressive.  Many South Londoners, myself included, are certainly missing out on the beauty of our city as the pressures of city life mean we aren’t able to take the time to explore and appreciate the beauty that is right on our doorstep. Cycling really addresses this as it creates endless opportunities to explore the city of London in a fun way.

We encourage everyone to give cycling a try, you’ll be surprised at how fun and relaxing it is and at the journey of discovery you can have; you’ll see your city in a whole new light! And we love it because it provides you with a great way to get some exercise. It’s a win-win.

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Joins us next week Friday at Croydon Arena, all are welcome. For more information visit our events page or email events@thelakefoundation.com

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new fibroids booklet. This booklet was developed in response to our fibroids survey which  showed that:

• There was a general low level of awareness of fibroids amongst participants prior to their diagnosis
• There was a good level of awareness of the main symptoms of fibroids but a low level of awareness of other symptoms.
• Participants were aware that ethnicity was a risk factor for fibroids but less aware of other risk factors.
• 80% of participants stated that they needed information but only 53% said that this was available to them.
• 63% of women said they didn’t feel that they had enough information to make an informed decision about their treatment

In addition to the above some participants stated that their biggest challenge in managing their condition was the lack of information and conflicting information about fibroids. For example, one participant said, “there is not enough information, particularly with regards to surgery alternatives and diet changes.”

What the booklet covers

Our booklet provides much-needed information on all aspects of fibroids from symptoms and risk factors to treatment and prevention. It aims to ensure that women have accurate, reliable information about this condition and importantly discusses the treatment options available. We hope this booklet will be a one-stop-shop for anyone with questions or concerns about fibroids.

We appreciate all those who have helped us

We’re delighted to have had some excellent reviewers work with us. We would like to say a big thank you to Dr Nigel Hacking, Consultant Interventional Radiologist at Southampton University Hospital and Miss Rosol Hamid, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist and Head of Women Services at Croydon University Hospital for providing very helpful comments and suggestions.

We would also like to thank Celia Osu and Tenequa Wildy for their useful feedback and  our case studies for their willingness to share their experience and raise awareness. Finally, we are grateful to The Brielle Agency for proofreading our work and to Adrinqa for their creativity in designing the booklet.

You can download a pdf below and hard copies will be available soon.

Fibroid_LF_booklet_v0.4

On Saturday 18th July, we were honoured to deliver a presentation at the RNCJ’s 2nd Annual Elderly Conference. The theme of the conference was enhancing health and wellbeing and in keeping with that theme we spoke about aging healthily. We stressed the importance of combating the negative perceptions, stereotypes and narrative around the elderly which is very disempowering, and replacing this with a more positive narrative that empowers the elderly and enables them to live the best life possible; this means creating opportunities for the elderly to remain active.

We discussed the health challenges associated with aging and how these can be overcome through lifestyle changes particularly keeping active, eating a healthy diet, keeping the mind active and staying connected to friends, family and the wider community.  And, we finished off by reminding attendees that our ‘Golden Years’ can be the best years of our lives as we have a lot of time and flexibility. This gives us the opportunity to do the things that we’ve always wanted to do, pursue our passions, make a difference in our community and spend time with our loved ones, but we can only enjoy this phase of our life if we are healthy.

Attendees also heard from Sabrina Jantuah from Age UK who spoke about Community Connections, a project that is aiming to tackle isolation in Lewisham by encouraging people to access local services. Sabrina stressed the need for projects like community connections as 51% of people who are over 75 live alone and this has a negative effect on their wellbeing.  Sabrina’s talk was supported by a presentation from  Jeremy Sharpe of The Link who also highlighted the scale of the problem of isolation of the elderly in the UK. He provided data that made for grim reading – 500,000 older people in the UK spend Christmas Day alone and over 5 million older people consider their TV to be their main form of company. Jeremy described how The Link are combating isolation by working with churches to develop befriending programs where volunteers regularly visit those who live alone.

It was also really nice to hear of all the great work that the RNJC is doing to support the elderly in their local community in Lewisham. They run a monthly keep fit class, are implementing a befriending programme with support from The Link and are starting a coffee morning.

This was a very enjoyable and informative event and we’d like to say a big thank you to the conference organisers, particularly Shola Fiberesima.