EP 124: Lena Dunham has written in Vogue about her hysterectomy

Emma Cox is the CEO of Endometriosis UK and we’ve spoken on this podcast before which you can have a listen to here as I also spoke to Claire who tweets as @EndoLady about her challenges living with the disease. I’m delighted to say, Claire is now pregnant after dealing with Endometriosis and Andenomyosis for years.

Lena Dunham ( from her twitter account)

Ahead of our chat, Emma had been busy speaking in the National Press about the Lena Dunham article in Vogue. I love Lena, I’ve watched all six series of Girls and was so saddened to hear that she had chosen to have a hysterectomy having battled with Endometriosis and previously endured eight surgeries.

You can read Lena’s piece in Vogue here and Emma and I discuss the impact which Emma was keen to stress, it’s always a positive thing to have someone as high profile as Lena speak out about this disease that affects 1 in 10 women – a hysterectomy isn’t an absolute cure, although it can be for Andenomyosis. If you want to understand more about it, you can hear my chat with specialist Dr Vamsee Thallurli here Lena wrote in her article “I know that a hysterectomy isn’t the right choice for everyone”…“That it’s not a guarantee that this pain will disappear. . . .” Here’s a comment piece from Vogue on Lena’s piece that I thought you might find interesting also

Emma hopes that people start to understand more about the symptoms of Endometriosis, that a heavy period and severe pelvic pain isn’t normal. Despite 1 in 5 women having a medically heavy bleed, they aren’t aware of it and should visit a doctor. Most importantly that we talk more about it.

Emma is also keen to raise awareness of the charities petition to get ‘Menstrual Wellbeing’ taught in schools which you can find out more details here

If you have any questions email natalie@thefertilitypodcast.com or contact Emma via twitter

Looking forward to a day discussing menstrual education with @chellaquint. Squeamish talking about periods? Exactly why menstrual wellbeing should be taught is schools https://t.co/i2tTNWcgeZ #endometriosis #periods

— Emma Cox (@msemmacox) February 5, 2018