We are so delighted to announce that we will be launching our fibroids self-care webinar series in the autumn. The aim of this series is to empower women affected by fibroids with information, knowledge and practical tips to take action to improve their health and wellbeing.

The series will include four webinars led by experts in the field of gynaecology, nutrition, exercise and mental health with a fifth session being an Our Stories session. In this final session attendees will hear from women who have conquered fibroids and will have the opportunity, if they wish, to share their own experiences. We will also explore challenges, useful tips and discuss solutions. Lake Health and Wellbeing will use this session to listen, understand the current experience of women with fibroids and work with attendees to explore how we can best support women with fibroids.

If you have fibroids, this webinar series will be perfect for you. It will give you the opportunity to meet other women with fibroids and provide you with access to experts in the field, all from the comfort of your home. This is not to be missed.

The webinars will be held every two months and there will be a small charge.

For more information and to register your interest, please contact us on events@lakehealthandwellbeing.com  or you can sign up to our fibroids mailing list here

More details will follow very soon.

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

We were delighted to e-attend the Healthy Caribbean Coalition’s Civil Society Action Team’s inaugural meeting on 20th April .  The main objective of the action team is to ensure that the Caribbean public becomes aware of the challenges of childhood obesity and supports the call for policy changes and other educational approaches that will create a supportive environment for the reduction of this growing problem which places children at risk of developing diabetes and hypertension as well as  cancer and heart disease in their adult life

During this inaugural meeting of the action team, the HCC shared its communication plan for their childhood obesity prevention petition and discussed ways in which organisations could play a part in their local area. This included liaising with the media and encouraging  members, corporate partners and other social and parenting groups to sign the petition at www.toomuchjunk.org.

This was a really interesting meeting and we were delighted to meet representatives from a number of Caribbean organisations and we look forward to implementing the ideas discussed in the meeting in our local area here in St Kitts.

We’re delighted to announce that our May Fibroids Twitter Chat is with Olivia Haltman on 30th May 2018 at 7pm, GMT (that’s 11am PST, 2pm EST and 2pm AST).

Olivia Haltman is an accredited Integrative Humanistic Counsellor and an Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapist.  She is also a member of British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), EMDR UK & Ireland and BAATN (Black and Asian Therapist Network).

Olivia set up OH Services in 2010 to support people who want to develop their lives on a personal level and reach their best potential. She is passionate about self-development and helping others take positive steps on their life journey. ​

She has worked in the Mental Health Sector for over 10 years, supporting people from all backgrounds, genders and lifestyles.  She believes everyone is different, with unique needs and aspirations so she uses an integrative approach to apply and integrate the most suitable solutions for her clients.

​She also applies (where necessary) a holistic approach to help clients enjoy the essential benefits of wellbeing and healing processes.

We’ll be discussing the emotional impact of fibroids and how women with fibroids can improve their emotional wellbeing.

Join us for a very important and useful exploration of how fibroids impacts a women’s mental health. To take part in this conversation find us on Twitter on 30th May and use the hashtag #FibroidsChat

You can find out more about Olivia and the services she offers here: www.ohcounsellingservices.com

Kantar Health is a market research agency that specialises in pharmaceutical research, they regularly speak to physicians, patients and carers and have a wealth of experience in conducting healthcare research.  They work on behalf of pharmaceutical companies to speak to and understand how various health issues impact people’s live. On this occasion, Kantar Health would like to talk to patients who have been diagnosed with ALK+ Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), and are undergoing treatment.

The research will be individual in-depth interviews that will take approximately 1 hour and will be conducted either via a secure video link (like Skype or FaceTime), or in your home if you feel comfortable doing so. As part of the research the company will also be asking participants to complete a diary or task for 10-15 minutes per day, for 5 days prior to the interview.

The aim of this research is to better understand patient journeys, when, where and with whom they interact before and after their diagnosis, and identify support they may have and / or need.

 All information that is shared as part of the interview will be kept strictly confidential and there will be no attempt to sell you anything. Your decision to participate, or not, will not influence any current or future treatment decisions.

Kantar Health’s interviews are carried out in accordance with current (European: MRS, EphMRA, ESOMAR, BHBIA) guidelines and Data Protection Laws as well as with local UK specific rules.

As an appreciation of your time participants will receive an amount of £200 in your choice of bank transfer or cheque.

If you are interested in taking part, please contact Megan Grendon from Gillian Kenny Associates on 01242 240 842 or MeganGrendon@gilliankenny.com

Gillian Kenny Associates is the medical market research agency that Kantar Health is using to recruit individuals  to see if you are eligible for the study.

The Healthy Caribbean Coalition has launched their Childhood Obesity Prevention Petition as part of their Civil Society Action Plan for 2017-2019.

The aim of the petition is to raise awareness of childhood obesity in the Caribbean and to influence the region’s leaders to champion and implement critical policies that will improve the health of our children, reduce childhood obesity and prevent the associated non-communicable diseases.

The Healthy Caribbean Coalition plans to present their petition at the CARICOM Heads of Governments Conference in Jamaica in July, which presents the perfect opportunity to raise this issue.

With 1 in 3 children in the Caribbean being overweight or obese urgent action is needed and therefore the HCC needs your help. Please add your voice to the HCC’s call for action to be taken on childhood obesity by signing their petition and encouraging your contacts to do so too.

We can all make a difference and improve our children’s health, and this petition is just the first step.

Thank you for your support. For more information on this campaign and to sign the petition, please visit: www.healthycaribbean.org/yourvoicematters

We’re so happy to announce that our April Fibroids Twitter Chat will be with  Le’Nise Brothers on Wednesday 18th April at 7pm,  GMT (that’s 11am PST, 2pm EST and 2pm AST).

Le’Nise Brothers,  is a nutrition and wellbeing coach for women who struggle with low energy, sugar cravings and hormonal issues such as PMS, PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, post-natal depletion and perimenopause.  Le’Nise loves seeing her clients regain their spark, improve their health and boost their energy.

Le’Nise is a registered naturopathic Nutritional Therapist, specialising in women’s health, anxiety, depression and weight loss.  She qualified after an intensive 3 year programme at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London, England, including over 200 clinical hours seeing clients in the student clinic.  She is also a member of the British Association of Nutritional Therapists (BANT), a regulatory body that oversees nutritional therapists in the UK.

We’ll be having a really interesting discussion with Le’Nise on the  the topic of fibroids, hormones and nutrition.

So, if you have a burning question on fibroids, the role that hormones play in their development and how  our diet impacts hormonal disorders like fibroids, then do join us on 18th April. To take part in the conversation please use the hashtag #FibroidsChat.

For more information on Le’Nise, please visit her website  eatlovemove.com or follow her on social media

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/eatlovemove

Facebook: www.facebook.com/eatlovemovenutrition

Instagram:  www.instagram.com/eatlovemove/

We’re so delighted to announce that our March Fibroids Twitter Chat will be with the Fibroid Forum UK on 14th March  at 3pm, AST (that’s 3pm EST and 7pm GMT).

We’ll be discussing all the great work that the Fibroid Forum UK have been doing to raise awareness and provide support to women who have been affected by fibroids.

Fibroid Forum UK is a Registered Charity Number 1177878 formed by women with experience of fibroids. The aim of the Forum is to provide information and create a support network through events, social media and a support group at Guys & St Thomas’ Hospital.

The Forum has contributed to the UK Government’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Women’s Health and the report published in March 2017 which focussed on endometriosis and fibroids. Like the APPG the Forum’s aims to empower women to ensure that they can make an informed choice about the best treatment options for their fibroids

The Fibroid Forum has a private Facebook group which you can access here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1294778417257709/  and they host a regular support group at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

To take part in the conversation please use the hashtag #FibroidsChat.

We look forward to tweeting with you on the day!

We are delighted to announce that we are now a member of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, an organisation that we admired from afar when we were based in the UK.

The Healthy Caribbean Coalition is a civil society alliance established to combat non-communicable diseases, their associated risk factors and conditions. In the Caribbean the four main non-communicable diseases are diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and chronic respiratory diseases and their four main common risk factors are smoking tobacco, high alcohol consumption, an unhealthy diet and being physically inactive. These are the issues that the HCC are tackling in the region.  Additionally, the Caribbean has the highest mortality rate in the Americas from NCDs in the Americas causing three out of every four deaths, this is cause for concern and the HCC is working tirelessly to address this through prevention, early detection and influencing government policy.

We’re delighted to have become a member of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition and look forward to working with the HCC and its member organisations to tackle NCDs in the Caribbean.

For more information on the Health Caribbean Coalition you can visit their website here

The OECS Commission’s HIV/TB Elimination Project has launched a series of animations aimed at raising awareness of TB and HIV in the Caribbean. The short, three-part, series tackles HIV/TB prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and control. One of the key messages of the series is that HIV patients can still lead a full life so early detection is of utmost importance.

This campaign targets the public, with the animations designed to encourage community involvement to facilitate social change. It also aims to bring HIV/TB into public discourse and in so doing address the stigma associated with these conditions and therefore combat the discrimination that those affected by HIV and TB may face.

The animation series is part of the significant body of work being carried out by the OECS Commission to meet the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets by 2020. These targets are to diagnose 90% of HIV-positive persons, provide antiretroviral therapy to 90% of people diagnosed and to achieve viral suppression in 90% of those treated.

The OECS HIV/TB Elimination Project

The OECS Commission’s HIV/TB Elimination Project is a multi-country project involving six OECS member states and began on 1^st April 2016 and runs until 31^st March 2019. As well as working towards the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets this project has the aim of ensuring that services for HIV, TB and STIs are sustained, strengthened, available and accessed by key affected populations in the OECS. To achieve their aims and objectives the HIV/TB Elimination Project will focus on five strategic areas:

1. To implement targeted evidence–based combination prevention strategies for key populations
2. To implement the TB elimination framework for low incidence countries to accelerate the elimination of TB in the OECS
3. To increase access to quality laboratory testing, screening and diagnosis for the clinical management of HIV and TB
4. To integrate TB control programs with HIV services to ensure that comprehensive, high quality care is provided for individuals co-infected with HIV and TB
5. To improve HIV/STI /TB surveillance system to increase the availability of data to support evidence-based planning, measure the impact of the response and the achievement of targets

The six member states involved in this project are Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines, each of these countries have their own national HIV programme which are aligned with this project.

View the Animation Series

You can view the videos from the animated series below:

Episode 1: HIV/TB Screening

Episode 2: HIV/TB Prevention

Episode 3: HIV/TB Control

More Information

For more information on this animation series you can visit the OECS’s website here  and for more information on their HIV/TB Elimination Project please click here

On 9^th February the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA ) released a set of temporary safety recommendations, for healthcare professionals, on the fibroids drug ESMYA. This action was taken by the MHRA following reports of serious liver injury in four women taking ESMYA.

The MHRA have made the following recommendations:

• Do not initiate new treatment courses of EMYA, including in women who have completed one or more treatment courses previously.
• Perform liver function tests at least once a month in all women currently taking ESMYA. Stop ESMYA treatment in any woman who develops transaminase levels more than 2 times the upper limit of normal, closely monitor and refer for specialist hepatology evaluation as clinically indicated. Liver function tests should be repeated in all women 2 to 4 weeks after stopping treatment.
• Check transaminase levels immediately in current or recent users of ESMYA who present with signs or symptoms suggestive of liver injury (such as nausea, vomiting, malaise, right hypochondrial pain, anorexia, asthenia, jaundice). If transaminase levels are more than 2 times the upper limit of normal, stop treatment, closely monitor and refer for specialist hepatology evaluation as clinically indicated.
• Advise women using ESMYA on the signs and symptoms of liver injury.

They noted that there have been no reports of liver injury with ellaOne, a emergency contraceptive pill, which contains ESMYA. Therefore, there are no safety alerts for this medicine.

Currently the European Medicines Agency (EMA)  are currently conducting a review of EMSYA and will provide an update in the near future.

What is ESMYA?

ESMYA is a prescription drug that was first authorised in the EU for use in patients with fibroids in 2012. It is used to treat moderate to severe symptoms of fibroids and works by stopping the hormone progesterone from stimulating the growth of fibroids and this reduces their size.  It was initially licensed to be used before surgery to shrink fibroids but can now also be used as a stand-alone treatment. It should only be used for up to three months at a time.  The use of ESMYA can be repeated but there should be breaks between each 3-month course of treatment.

The most common side effects of ESMYA are the absence of a woman’s period and thickening of the lining of the womb. You can speak to your doctor about what all the side effects are and these will be listed in the drug leaflet which comes with ESMYA.

ESMYA must not be used by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, have vaginal bleeding or have womb, cervical, ovarian or breast cancer. You can speak to your doctor about other restrictions or these will be listed on the drug information leaflet.

For Information

For more information you can download the EMA’s information sheet for healthcare professionals and the MHRA’s full letter issued to healthcare professionals below.