Tag: health

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fertility Health Care research

A Practical Guide to Navigating PCOS

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1694731059747{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

With Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) Awareness Month upon us, we felt it imperative to discuss the medical condition considered to be one of the leading causes of infertility and a condition most commonly undiagnosed. PCOS is not a lifestyle illness – it is a diagnosed medical condition that can be debilitating. A person does not get PCOS because of their lifestyle. PCOS is a common chronic hormonal condition that causes hormone imbalances, irregular cycles, cysts in the ovaries, lack of ovulation, among other long-term health problems that affect physical and emotional wellbeing. According to the World Health Organization, PCOS affects an estimated 13-18% of individuals with uteruses who are of reproductive age. This is an alarming number. What’s even more unsettling is that there is no cure for PCOS and up to 70% of affected people will go undiagnosed worldwide. Due to a lack of awareness, education, and taboo around fertility conversations many people do not discuss their reproductive health and menstrual cycles with their families and friends. If you speak to someone of reproductive age you are likely to find out that they probably know someone affected by PCOS, they may have been diagnosed with PCOS, or they might think that they have PCOS but be undiagnosed.

Individuals who are not diagnosed and go untreated may be at higher risk for developing conditions that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, obesity, gestational diabetes, and high cholesterol. The condition also puts people at risk of developing increased thickness of the uterine lining, uterine cancer, having a preterm delivery and preeclampsia, and a greater chance of having a miscarriage. Research indicates that early testing, diagnosis, and intervention of PCOS improves fertility preservation and prevents complications such as obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, infertility, and cardiovascular issues later in life, especially in at-risk cases.

I might have PCOS

If you suspect that you may have PCOS meet with a medical doctor who specializes in hormonal disorders to discuss your concerns. They will check for symptoms, discuss your medical history, and discuss the regularity of menstrual cycle. Some of the common tests for PCOS might include a physical exam – such as blood pressure and a pelvic exam etc…, blood tests, and a pelvic ultrasound.

I’ve been Diagnosed with PCOS

It’s important to talk about this misunderstood condition and its challenges because it presents differently for everyone in ‘real life’ and is considered a lifelong condition.

If you or someone you know have received an early diagnosis of PCOS, this information may be helpful in navigating where to start and getting the support you need:

  • Get a second opinion
  • Determine and understand your condition and presenting symptoms
  • Connect with a medical doctor who specializes in Gynecology and/or PCOS itself
  • Find a supportive medical team who validate your concerns and align with your long-term goals
  • Connect with a Fertility Doula who can support you throughout your journey
  • Find out if the diagnosis was prompted because of Hyperandrogenism, Anovulation/Oligoovulation, or Polycystic Ovaries on an ultrasound so that an appropriate customized treatment and support plan can be created
  • Get familiar with the concept of insulin resistance because there are a number of factors that contribute to high insulin in PCOS, and insulin resistance has been found to be one of the central factors of the condition
  • Determine the major component of insulin resistance in your condition
  • Get familiar with the long-term health considerations in PCOS
  • Learn about other holistic health modalities such as a Naturopathic Doctor for example who can support your condition
  • Explore which treatments will improve your individual symptoms
  • Adjust your lifestyle to reduce the PCOS symptoms

What else can I  do?

Alongside the goals of PCOS Awareness Month we can:

  • increase awareness and education
  • lobby for improved diagnosis and treatment of the disorder
  • disseminate information on diagnosis and treatment
  • hold agencies responsible for the improved quality of life and outcomes of those affected
  • promote the need for research to advance understanding of PCOS: improved diagnosis, treatment and care options, and for a cure for PCOS
  • acknowledge the struggles of those affected
  • make PCOS a public health priority

To lean more, visit:

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Categories
Health Care sex sexual health

World Sexual Health Day

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1693400263770{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Sexual health across the lifespan is much more complicated than what we learned in high-school sex ed, assuming our parents didn’t opt us out. The sex ed I received was exclusively focused on preventing pregnancy and disease. While these topics are vital, this narrow focus left me and many others ill-equipped to understand and navigate consent and fairness in intimate relationships, ensuring my own pleasure, trying to conceive, medicalized childbirth, and the changes of perimenopause. The education system left my generation to fend for itself regarding these everyday human needs.

This is a huge part of why I’m so passionate about the work that doulas, perinatal educators, and birthworkers do to promote population and individual sexual health. I love being able to sit with clients for an hour or two and talk about all of the things we don’t usually talk about. This includes talks about the strain that timed intercourse can put on couples trying to conceive. Or the impact that a complicated pregnancy has on a couple’s sex life. It can look like strategizing on options to space out pregnancies post-c-section. It’s as holistic and infinite as people’s lives are.

This year’s theme for World Sexual Health Day is consent. While the obvious implication is about consent to sexual activity, there’s an important connection to make with informed consent in medical decision-making. Women, female-assigned, and gender non-conforming people are at risk of sexual violence for the same reason that we are at risk of obstetric violence. In the context of a patriarchal, misogynistic society, our bodies are devalued and objectified. Society sends us the message that our bodies are not truly our own constantly. We are usually depicted as objects of sexual desire as baby-making vessels. This dehumanization of our bodies plays out on the street, in relationships, and in health care.

By supporting birthers to think critically about bodily autonomy in medical decision-making, and to honour their bodies by requiring informed consent, we support birthers to think critically about why they are at risk of losing bodily autonomy in all aspects of their lives, and we teach them to expect and demand more.

There is no sexual health without reproductive justice. The reproductive justice framework advanced by African-American women envisions a world where everyone can make reproductive choices, including the right to have and not have children, as facilitated by unfettered access to reproductive health care and social services. Informed consent is the foundation on which choice rests.

It’s also Labour Day, making this a great opportunity to express gratitude for all the hard and life-changing work that you are doing to promote health, choice, well-being, and change in your communities. We will continue to advocate for improved access to doula support and income security for birth and reproductive justice professionals. A labour of love is still labour. Clients deserve access based on need and we deserve to be able to make a living doing this community-building work.

 

Keira Grant (she/her) brings a wealth of experience to her EDI Co-Lead role. She is a Queer, Black woman with a twenty-year track record in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) education, projects, and community building initiatives. As a mom and partner she uses her lived expereince to provide support and reflection for her clients and her work. Keira is the owner of Awakened Changes Perinatal Doula Services.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Webinar: Supporting Young Parents, an event with Lorena Murialdo of Planned Parenthood Toronto

This 60 minute webinar will host Lorena Murialdo, from Planned Parenthood Toronto, who will lead a discussion about supporting young parents in today’s birth and parenting climate.

What will this webinar cover?

We took it to our DTC crowd to ask them what they would like to learn most about!
When we asked our members about what they would like to see covered, some of the answers included:

-What support young parents need in the early postpartum period
-What it feels like to become a parent when you (may or may not) still be being “parented”
-Resources best suited to youth in terms of things like continuing education, housing, age appropriate support, and community services,
-Mental health for young parents and how unplanned parenthood impacts labour, birth, and postpartum times

-Fostering healthy relationships with doulas and others in the absence of parental support

Lorena will address many of these and speak to what she feels is pertinent to her work and important for modern birth workers to be aware of.

This 60 minutes is sure to be packed full of thought-provoking suggestions and points for growing competencies when supporting young parents!

When:  Tuesday October 18th @ 1pm EST via Zoom
*recorded for playback (registrants only)/ closed-captioning available at all DTC events*

Cost:  $20 per participant

For more information about Planned Parenthood Toronto please visit:  https://ppt.on.ca/

__________________________________________________________________________

Lorena Murialdo is a Community Health Promoter with over 25 years of experience
working with diverse youth and young parent communities. Lorena specializes in
mental health, sexual health, life skills, personal development and parenting. Lorena is
also owner of b_mindful and over the past decade has focused her work on advancing
mindfulness based stress reduction and intervention programs as well as social and
emotional learning opportunities in educational, health care settings and a range of non-
profit and for profit work place environments and organizations. Lorena has a genuine
interest in community health and health promotion initiatives that enable youth and
young parents to gain greater control over the decisions and actions that affect their
overall health and wellbeing.

Categories
balance birth Business collaboration community connection Health Care Labour Doula

What Doulas need to know about the Pelvic Floor

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“The pelvic floor is one of the most important elements to birthing beautifully, but many birth workers and health care providers do not appreciate just how integral it is to the birthing experience” says Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist Ibbie Afolabi

Pelvic Floor Therapy is somewhat of a new element in supporting birthing people and those in the postpartum period.  However, the knowledge of its importance is gaining traction in the birth world.  

So, what is the pelvic floor and why does it need therapy? Think of the pelvic floor like a hammock in your pelvis. It is a group of muscles that stretch from the front of the pelvis to the tailbone, or coccyx. It holds up the bladder, bowel and uterus. In most female and some intersex bodies there are 3 passages, or holes. Those are for the urethra, vagina and anus. They are held firmly by the pelvic floor muscles.  If the pelvic floor muscles are too tight or too loose, this can cause damage or trauma to the area during delivery, this can cause more extensive tearing or prolapse after a vaginal delivery. A pelvic floor therapist will work with you during pregnancy on exercises and muscle focus to help bladder leakage, relieve pelvic pain and discomfort, and help prepare you with breathing and positions for labour. This usually involves an internal exam.

The postpartum person also benefits from pelvic floor physiotherapy. If there was a cesarean, a PFT can aid in internal scar healing. Ibbie says on a website biography “We treat incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, constipation, pelvic pain, sexual pain and dysfunction, abdominal/gut issues, diastasis rectus abdominis, pregnancy related conditions, and much more.”

With all this information, if you are pregnant or just had a baby, it may be worth looking into pelvic floor therapy.  It is covered under most Health Care insurance plans.  If you are a doula, I highly recommend you network for pelvic floor therapists in your area, go meet them, learn about what they do and add them to your resource list for clients.  Who knows, maybe they will start referring clients to you as well!

 

Ibbie Afolabi can be found teaching courses and supporting people throughout Ontario, including with Doula Canada.  You can find here on these websites:

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][mk_button corner_style=”full_rounded” size=”large” url=”https://themamasphysio.com/” align=”center”]The Mama’s Physio[/mk_button][mk_button corner_style=”full_rounded” size=”large” url=”https://pelvicrehab.com/practitioner/ibukun-afolabi-mscpt-pelvic-health-physiotherapist/” align=”center”]Pelvic Rehab[/mk_button][mk_button corner_style=”full_rounded” size=”large” url=”https://stefanie-techops.wisdmlabs.net/courses/pelvic-floor-essentials-for-doulas-birth-practitioners/” align=”center”]Pelvic Floor Essentials for Doulas and Birth Practitioners[/mk_button][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Menopause Doula I ONLINE I April 3 course ACCESS date

Applicants recognize that this course material will not become available April 3rd, 2022.

This is an online course with 10 modules of content, 4 live meetings, 6 core assignments, module quizzes, a final exam, and a minimum of 20 practicum hours. Students have 24 months to complete all course requirements for completion.

Live meetings are scheduled for 7:30pm EST on:
April 21
April 28
May 5
May 12
*June 2 – optional business discussion and Q & A session

Students are asked to attend 50%.  All meetings are recorded for playback

Categories
birth Health Care Labour Doula Online Course Postpartum Doula reducing stigma sex sexual health Webinar

Why Sex & Birth Support Person? With Tynan Rhea

Doula Canada in partnership with Tynan Rhea is offering our Sex and Birth Support Person Training again starting October 1st. Below, Tynan discusses the importance of this training and why discussing sex with clients is a vital part of pregnancy and postpartum support . 

When I give talks to professionals on Sex & Birth, or when I go to talks about integrating sexual health questions into any health profession, there’s one phrase I hear all too often:

“If my client has any questions, I trust that they will ask me.”

But here’s the thing… no they won’t! Okay, maybe sometimes, but more often than not people will not come forward with their sexual health questions.

Why won’t people ask? Because they’re ashamed. Or embarrassed. Or they’re scared they’re not normal, that their care provider will treat them differently, or ignore their question, or make them feel like they did something wrong. Many of us find the topic of sexual health emotionally charged. I teach about it for a living and I still get a little anxious bringing up a sexual health concern with a new doctor. Not because I am ashamed or don’t feel I have a right to healthy sexuality, but because I don’t know what my care providers politics are if they don’t bring it up. I don’t know if this person is comfortable, knowledgable, or even indifferent. I do know that sex is a huge stigma for some folks still, and because of that stigma they may directly or indirectly shame me because of their own discomfort. Meaning, their response to my question could psychologically harm me. That’s a big deal!

That’s why as front-line birth professionals we have an obligation to directly ask our clients if they have an sexual health concerns or questions. That also means, we need to educate ourselves on what kinds of sexual health needs folks might have during conception, pregnancy, labour, or the postpartum period. That doesn’t mean we have to know everything, you are definitely allowed to say, “that’s a great question! I’m not sure what the answer is, I’ll look into that for you and in the meantime, here is a great referral.” It does mean we have to take initiative, though, and be open to listening to our client’s needs.

What’s as important as knowledge, is also self-reflection. Has someone ever told you about a food they love to eat that made you want to gag? More than one of my family members hates chocolate, like, really hates it. Luckily, because most people I know love chocolate at least half as much as I do, I don’t feel ashamed for my love of chocolate when so-and-so closes their eyes and makes a gag sound. Sex is similar and in a very important way also different. Because sex is so taboo, and most of us have felt some kind of judgement or shame for some aspect of our sexuality over the course of our lifetime, it’s all the more important to check-ourselves.

Catch that micro expression of disgust before it happens! Be open to different forms of sexual expression and needs. This doesn’t mean you have to do it! It does mean you have to think about it, reflect on it, and maybe even challenge yourself: where did this assumption come from? What disgusts me about this? What excites me? Why do I think this is okay/wrong/neutral?

Self-reflection also means not trying to inflict our politics or sexual preferences onto our clients, either. If someone just isn’t into sex before marriage or hitting up swingers clubs, that’s their business and their choice. It doesn’t matter if swinging was your gateway into a personal sexual revolution- that’s your story and it’s valid! But it doesn’t mean it’s theirs. It can be difficult to know the difference sometimes (I’m guilty of it, oh goodness), but that’s why self-reflection is so vital!

The Sex & Birth Personal Support Worker course is designed to help you gain the knowledge and skills you need to ask the right questions and find the right answers, as well as reflect on your own experiences as a sexual being so you can hold space for your clients. You don’t have to know everything, and you don’t have to love everything, but you do have to provide reproductive health support and part of that support is about sex!

So, instead of “if my client has any questions, I trust that they will ask me,” let’s start acting from a place of, “if my client has any questions, I’ll know because I asked.”.

Tynan Rhea is a settler with German and Czechoslovakian ancestry. Tynan has a private practice online and in Toronto as a counselor, aromatherapist, and doula specializing in sex, intimacy, and relationships throughout the reproductive years and founder of PostpartumSex.com. Tynan graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Joint Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sexuality, Marriage, & Family. They received their doula training from the Revolutionary Doula Training program and their aromatherapy training with Anarres Apothecary Apprenticeship program. Tynan is currently enrolled at Yorkville University doing their Masters of Arts Counselling Psychology degree. Tynan approaches their practice from sex-positive, trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and feminist frameworks. Find Tynan on Facebook, Instagram @TynanRhea or TynanRhea.com

Categories
Health Care

An Open Letter to the Canadian Minister of Health

Good afternoon Honourable Jane Philpott, MP, Minister of Health,

I am contacting you about fully recognizing Labour and Birth Doulas as a therapeutic and provincially covered profession across Canada.

The World Health Organization recently reported that the support of Doulas through Labour and Birth is best practice and that Doulas should become covered by our government.

Specific to that report dated March 23, 2016:
“All hospitals should implement programmes that offer continuous support to women during labour. The presence of a companion of the woman’s own choice should be permitted and encouraged. An alternative to this may be to integrate “doulas” in maternity wards for the provision of continuous support to women during labour. Doulas are lay women who have received special training to provide non-medical support to women and families during labour, childbirth and the postpartum period (7, 9). Policy-makers and administrators should recognize that the best outcomes are achieved when continuous labour support is provided by non-staff providers, especially doulas. This is particularly important where policy-makers wish to reduce high caesarean rates in their hospitals or country.

The costs of doula services, where available, are usually passed on to the mother’s family. These costs could be a barrier to the provision of continuous support. Considering all the advantages and possible lower costs to the health system associated with the presence of a doula (less likelihood of cesareans sections and analgesia use), covering the cost of doula services should be considered by policy-makers. Programmes for training and accreditation of doulas should be available in all regions of the country. Courses and programmes can be offered by public hospitals and primary health services for training community doulas.”

For the full study please click here:
(http://apps.who.int/…/routine_care/cd0003766_amorimm_com/en/)

As the Director and Program Coordinator for one of Canada’s Doula certification programs I see this as a great opportunity to work together. I would like to speak to someone about how we can implement Doula training and programs into current birth practice across the country.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Mrs. Shaunacy King, BD, CBE
​
Director & Program Coordinator
Doula Training Canada