LADYPARTS: taking a wide view on women's health

Megan Assaf had extremely painful periods from the beginning. In her late 20s, she found out her uterus was upside down, folded in half, off to the left and stuck behind her colon. She didn’t learn this from a doctor, but from a holistic healer working in a tradition that comes from the Maya people of Belize. What’s more, Megan got her uterus repositioned, and learned how to do this very hands-on work herself. Megan Assaf is a massage therapist who works with women, and has moved hundreds of uteruses, including Andrea’s.

This interview was originally recorded in 2012 for the Sound Medicine Radio Hour. Listen to "Can Abdominal Massage Help Painful Menstruation?"

This is the last episode of Season One of LadyParts. Thanks to Melissa Davis, Eamon Linehan, Brendon Linehan, Nikki Katz, and Rev Kev Ewing at Baobab Tree Studios in New Haven for their help and support this season. The Ladyparts theme song is by Adam Ragusea. Other music in this episode by Meavy Boy. Our logo is by Jamie Squire.

As always, we appreciate a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. If you’re interested in sponsoring a second season, please shoot us an email at [email protected].

This episode explores the mind-body connection from two very different angles. We hear Functional Medicine doctor and OBGYN Jessica Wei on how stress, hormones and the gut affect mental health and mood in women in particular.

Psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster speaks about how women diagnosed with hysteria changed the way we treat mental illness, and why that seemingly outdated diagnosis still matters today. Jamieson's new book is Conversion Disorder: Listening to the Body in Psychoanalysis

Also in the episode: a criminal justice reform package that somehow made it through Congress helps pregnant and menstruating prisoners.

Get access to extended cuts of these and future interviews when you become a Ladyparts patron. (Yes, we're on Patreon!)

Ladyparts is on Facebook. Like our page or request access to the private group.

Other ways to get in touch: Twitter @andrea_muraskin, Instagram @andreamuraskin, email [email protected]

Episodes from other podcasts we recommend: "Nursing the Mind" from Antidotes, Stories in Medicine "Resting Botox Face" from Household Name

Ladyparts is hosted and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Production help this month from Melissa Davis. The Ladyparts logo is by Jamie Squire, and our theme song is by Adam Ragusea. Other music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions and Meavy Boy.

If you liked this episode or even if you didn’t, consider giving it a rating in Apple Podcasts, iTunes, or Stitcher. Thanks so much for listening.

March is endometriosis awareness month. But here’s the thing about these months: they tend to highlight something we should be paying more attention to all the time. Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue similar to the lining inside the uterus (called “the endometrium”), is found outside the uterus, where it causes a chronic inflammatory reaction.

Symptoms include painful periods, painful ovulation, painful sex, heavy bleeding, chronic pelvic pain, and fatigue. It’s also a major cause of infertility. The disease affects an estimated one in ten women in their reproductive years.

In Episode One, we took a deep dive into Orilissa, a new hormonal drug developed to treat endometriosis. This time, we’re zooming out.

Guests:

Lucky Church, supportive husband of an endometriosis patient

Linda Griffith, PhD, Founder & Director, Center for Gynopathology Research, School of Engineering, MIT, and endometriosis patient

Serdar E. Bulun, MD, Chair Dept. OB/GYN, Northwestern Univ. & Prentice Women’s Hospital

Amy Jane Melhuish, patient and advocate

Marc Possover, MD, President of the International Society Of Neuropelveology and Director, Possover International Medical Center

Tamer Seckin, MD, Attending physician Lenox Hill Hospital and Founder, Endometriosis Foundation of America

Ladyparts is hosted and produced by Andrea Muraskin, in partnership with Baobab Tree Studios in New Haven, Connecticut. Production help this week from Melissa Davis. The Ladyparts logo is by Jamie Squire, and our theme song is by Adam Ragusea.

Support Ladyparts on Patreon.

Thanks to the Endometriosis Association of America for welcoming us at their annual conference.

No-one wants to be in pain. In previous episodes we’ve discussed ways to help alleviate menstrual pain with medication, acupressure, herbs, and even surgery. But aside from not being in pain, if you bleed, when you bleed, what do you want?

In this episode, we explore the concept of creating a special place in time and space for menstruation. Sometimes this happens by choice, as in the practice of “conscious menstruation,” and sometimes it’s enforced, as under cultural or religious taboos. What can we learn from taking a step back, turning away, in whatever small way, from society, from routine, and attuning to our internal cycle?

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Links referenced in this episode:

The Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute

Sacred Artist and Hebrew Priestess-in-training Bekah Starr

Call for submissions for "Cycles," a menstruation-based art show in Beacon, NY, curated by Bekah Starr (Deadline January 5, 2019)

"A Girl Gets Her Period, And Is Banished To The Shed" 2015 NPR story on menstrual seclusion in Nepal, by Michaeleen Doucleff and Jane Greenhalgh, featuring Prakriti Kandel

Non-profits working on menstruation sanitation and safety for women and girls: Nepal Water for Health, Wateraid, Wash United

Recommended Podcasts

Take Some Time Off

Inflection Point with Lauren Schiller

Credits

Ladyparts is hosted and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Production help this month from Melissa Davis, Eamon Linehan , and Will Stratton. Parts of this episode were recorded at Boabab Tree Studios in New Haven, Connecticut. The Ladyparts logos are by Jamie Squire, and our theme song is by Adam Ragusea. Other music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions and Brevyn. Special thanks to Taya Shere.

To make informed decisions about our health, we have to break taboos against publicly discussing our basic bodily functions - and most perplexing symptoms. Ladyparts takes a wide view, attempting to bridge the divide between mainstream medicine and holistic healthcare, and consider all of our options.

The reproductive disorder endometriosis affects one in ten women. It can cause debilitating periods, pelvic pain and infertility. Endometriosis is most often treated with birth control pills or surgery. But this summer, the FDA approved the first ever medication formulated specifically to treat this disease. Elagolix, or Orilissa, suppresses the estrogen that fuels endometriosis, without putting the body into a full-blown menopausal state, as older drugs did. Yet expert disagree on its efficacy. And with a price tag of $1000 a month, is Orilissa worth it?

Guests:

Caitlin McDonough, endometriosis patient and advocate

Hugh Taylor, MD, reproductive endocrinologist, chief of OBGYN at Yale- New Haven Hospital and endometriosis researcher

David Redwine, MD, founder of the Oregon Institute of Endometriosis at St. Charles Medical Center, Bend, Oregon and expert in endometriosis surgery

Resources:

Report from phase III elagolix trials, New England Journal of Medicine

ICER report on clinical and economic effectiveness of elagolix, full text

ICER report, at-a-glance version

Endowhat documentary

Endometriosis patient information and advocacy:

endopaedia.info (Dr. Redwine’s website)

Endowhat.org

Bad-periods.com

[Endometropolis Facebook group] (this is a private patient group, you must request access)

Credits:

Ladyparts is hosted and produced by Andrea Muraskin, with editing help this week from Jenn Stanley. Special thanks to Casey Berna and Lucy Gellman. The Ladyparts logo is by Jamie Squire. Our theme song is by Adam Ragusea. Other music in this episode was provided by Blue Dot Sessions.

Get in touch/share:

Website: ladypartspod.com

Twitter: @Andrea_Muraskin

IG: @andreamuraskin

Email: [email protected]

Please rate and review!