Hello everybody. Welcome to a very special bite size episode from Vet Chat as part of the webinarett's new initiative to support and empower women in the veterinary profession. We'll have very open and honest conversations with ladies from the profession who really want to share their experiences with us to help to make a difference.
We hope you enjoy. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for joining us for today's episode of Bet chat.
Today we're very excited to be joined by Alex Taylor. Alex qualifies as a veterinary nurse in 1997 and has worked both in first opinion and referral small animal practise. Alex is especially interested in feline nursing and has completed both the ISFM nursing certificate, diploma, and advanced certificate in feline behaviour with distinction.
Alex joined the BVNA council in 2018, where she is currently president and her key theme for the year is building resilience, which, after a very tough 18 months or so for the profession, sounds like just the focus that we all need. So welcome, Alex, and thank you so much for joining us today. Hello hello.
So in today's podcast, we are going to look at, two conditions, so endometriosis and adenomyosis, which are very common, within women, both of which I have to say I knew very little about before we decided to have this, chat. And I know Alex, you unfortunately suffer from both, so would you mind just telling us a little bit about these conditions, please, just to let everybody know what they are. Endometriosis and adenomyosis are relatively similar, but I will sort of obviously explain the difference.
So endometriosis is when tissues or, or cells, that would normally be found on the. Inside of, of the womb, inside of the uterus, deposit elsewhere in the body. So they can literally go anywhere, but the most common place for them to to deposit is around the ovaries and uterus or any of the organs in the sort of abdominal cavity.
And what happens is, these cells or this tissue acts a bit like the, the, the tissue in the womb, so that when a woman has her cycle, they flare up. But of course, unlike, the tissue in the womb, they've got nowhere to go, like when a woman has a, a normal sort of period. So they just flare up and become really, really painful, really sore, and, and uncomfortable and can cause a lot of inflammation and scarring in those areas.
Adenomyosis is, is kind of the same thing, so you still have those cells and that tissue that is flaring up, but instead of being on the outside of the, sort of, uterus and ovaries or in the abdominal cavity, it's actually in the myometrium, in the muscle of the uterus, and that can be super painful because, it flares up sort of lodged within the muscle. So it, it's kind of similar but slightly different. Very, very painful and something that you unfortunately have to go through every single month.
Yeah. And so how, how does it, how do you get diagnosed with these sorts of things? Is it a case of going to the doctors or how did you get diagnosed?
So, I was diagnosed when I was about 35, so women can get endometriosis at any age, or, or, or sort of start to show symptoms at any age. Adenomyosis does tend to affect women, more so when they're in their sort of 40s and 50s. But, for me, I didn't get diagnosed till I was 35, but I, I, I'd been on the pill for quite a long time, and I think that that was, masking my symptoms.
But I had actually been backwards and forwards to the doctors with various different issues which I now know in hindsight were related to endometriosis. So diagnosis usually involves, a proper diagnosis, having a laparoscopy, where they'll actually have a look inside your abdomen and see if they can see the, endometrial lesions there. And, and then they'll treat them, treat them at the same time.
But of course, there are sort of common clinical signs that, that women get when they have endo, and adenomyosis, but these can sometimes be. Misinterpreted as just being, you know, bad period pains, and that's where I think a lot of the problems lie because sometimes women do get kind of brush, brushed off as it just being, oh, you know, it's just a bad period, period, it's not anything serious, and that's obviously not always the case. Yeah, absolutely.
I guess a lot of people, you know, they've just kind of had it that way their whole lives. They've had really heavy and painful periods and they just kind of accept that that's the norm. I don't really think to get it looked into any further.
No, that's, that's right. Yeah, and is it, is it common for women to suffer from both as you do? Yes, they can do.
So, both adenomyosis and endometriosis can affect, 1 in 10 women. But, I was actually looking at, a paper on this a few weeks ago, and it, it was saying that, it's common for, it's about 80 or 90% of women with adenomyosis or endometriosis will have the, have the other one as well, if you like. So it is quite common.
There are certain signs that are more common with one than the other, just because of where it is, and also treatment, can be different and actually adenomyosis is a bit, as easy is the right word, but a bit more straightforward to manage than endometriosis. OK, that makes sense. And I guess it's it's something that you know you kind of live with each month and how do you kind of like, does it affect your work a lot?
Do you find that you, you have you know the kind of support around you where you can talk about it at work and you know things, or is it something that you struggle to to talk to people about? Well, I think at the moment for me, it's, I'm, I'm, I'm probably in the the best place I've been in for quite a while, so I'll just explain briefly, what happened with, with me, so it kind of makes a bit more sense really. So I, I was diagnosed with both endometriosis and adenomyosis, I'd had a few laparoscopies, but I was suffering so badly with the pain and the fatigue that kind of comes along with that, that I was having discussions with my doctor about having a hysterectomy, which they didn't want to do, because at the time, I think I was about 39, .
But the issue had been that I actually had my symptoms masked by being on the pill for quite a while, and it had kind of all that inflammation and scarring had affected my ovaries, and as it turned out, I couldn't have children anyway. So I did have a hysterectomy. So at the moment, my symptoms are minimum because most of my pain came from the adenomyosis, which was essentially cured by the hysterectomy that I had.
But when I was at my worst, so before I had a hysterectomy, and that isn't, that isn't always a, a, a, a treatment for, for everyone, because, if you've got endometriosis as well, then you can still obviously get problems after you've had a hysterectomy. So, going back to how it affected me at work, when I was at my worst, I used to really suffer badly with fatigue. So being on my feet all day and, doing long hours was really difficult for me.
That was a real struggle. It also makes it quite difficult to concentrate when you've got chronic fatigue. So I'd worry about my sort of decision making at work, and, you know, I'd worry about making mistakes.
I did, as I said, I, I struggled with the, the long shifts, any out of hours work was really difficult for me. But mentally, I used to feel quite anxious, and a large part of that was I would worry that people would think that I wasn't pulling my weight at work, so I, but stupidly, I, I'd work even harder just to try and prove that actually I was fine, which, you know, in hindsight wasn't the right thing to do. I probably should have been a bit kinder to myself.
Yeah, absolutely. I think one thing that I did notice when I was looking into it a little bit more before the chat is, you know, there's a lot of things now that people are bringing into workplaces like they're encouraging people to have endometriosis friendly employers so that you know there's a kind of Open this now where, you know, these conversations are starting and we're trying to create, you know, an open environment that teams, I guess have the confidence to speak up and ask for the support that they might need, you know, moving forward. So hopefully the fact that, you know, these conversations have been starting to have now will make a huge difference for people in a similar situation to what you were.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's, it's. Important to have that initial conversation, and that can be really difficult if you're suffering from a chronic illness, especially an invisible one.
So one that people can't see, and, and they might, people worry that they're gonna get judged or that people are gonna think, you know, they're making it up or that kind of thing, but it it is so important to try and find somebody that you trust and have that initial conversation and actually go in. Sort of prepared, saying, you know, OK, this is what's happening to me, but this is what I need to be able to work each day and sort of fulfil my job role, and if you go in with some ideas, and talk about any reasonable adjustments that might be necessary for you, that conversation is quite a lot more sort of, straightforward I think. Yeah, absolutely.
So that would be your advice to, to other women, you know, if they wanted to have these conversations with their teams, you know, to talk about the problems that they were going through. It just very much be have these conversations and, you know, just ask for support and advice from people. Definitely, and, and, and have that conversation quite early.
Don't, don't wait until you're so exhausted and burnt out that you're, that you're really struggling because that, those sort of having that sort of conversation when you feel like that is, is not easy. You're actually better off going in, you know, speak to your GP, speak to a professional, get, get the advice that you need there as well, and then go in and have that conversation and, and telling people what you need is easier than telling them they need to work out what you need, if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely.
No, that sounds, sounds great advice. Thank you. And did it have, did it have a big effect on your, mental health as well as your, you know, obviously your physical health?
Yeah, it does. I think anything that sort of causes you to have, chronic pain and fatigue does affect you mentally. For me, it was mostly anxiety, but I know for some women that can be, depression as well.
A lot of my anxious feelings were around work, but for lots of women with endometriosis, so, I think it's about 1 in about 30% of women with endometriosis will have fertility problems. And I, I, I did fall into that category. So I had to kind of deal with not being able to have children, which I think I kind of managed, I did manage it quite well, but I know for some women, .
That can be, that, that news that I'm sorry, you know, you can't have children, that can be absolutely devastating, and that can play, really play on someone's sort of mental health as well. Yeah, absolutely. It's, I mean, to be going through, you know, the actual physical pain of, of everything, you know, each month, but then to be told that as well.
I mean, it could be absolutely devastating, couldn't it for people. So I think your advice, you know, to, to talk about it as openly as, as possible, I think, you know, is, is fantastic and you know, reach out to anybody who you can, whether that's in work or at home, you know, the more people that you speak to, I guess, the better. Yeah, absolutely, and, you know, it's important for, I think, line managers and employers to understand that even though women may be managing their symptoms for endometriosis, whilst there's a cure for adenomyosis, which is a hysterectomy, endometriosis doesn't actually have a cure.
There's no cure for that yet, so it very much is about managing symptoms, which may flare up sort of intermittently. So it's kind of ongoing support that that women need, not just a kind of one off, oh, you know. There you go, that, that's it.
That's you, that's you sorted for the next sort of few weeks or something. Yeah, no, absolutely. So obviously, you know, chronic illness can take, you know, a lot away from us.
Would, would you say that there's been any, you know, sort of positives that you've gained sort of throughout this whole process? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think because my symptoms are managed a lot better now, because of my surgery, and I, as I said, I do still get some pain, but it's not anywhere near the same scale that I, that I had before.
It means that I can, I can share my story, like, like I'm doing now, with others and help others. And, I did recently spearhead a campaign for the Britishery Nursing Association, a chronic illness campaign, which ran over a couple of months, and we've now, at the end of the campaign, got a toolkit that's available to help support veterinary nurses and employees of veterinary nurses that are affected by chronic illness or, or chronic conditions. So it does mean a lot to me to be able to help other people, .
It can be really tough working in the veterinary profession if you have a chronic illness. So I think, I've managed to get some positive things, you know, out of, out of having this chronic condition. Absolutely.
I wasn't aware of the, toolkit, but that sounds fantastic. And I think if, you know, I'm sure when we, you know, release this podcast, we can definitely maybe put it on our blog and link it up to that toolkit as well so that if people are, you know, struggling or would like to find out more, they can find that, you know, all in one place with the podcast as well. Yeah, that would, that would be great.
Brilliant, thank you. And is there any sort of general tips you would say for employees, you know, if they had, some of their team who were struggling, you know, with these conditions, is there any sort of tips or advice that you would give them, how best to support and manage them? Yeah, I think it's all about sitting down and having that initial conversation and finding what they need.
Also having a look on the, Endometriosis UK website, there's lots of really, really good reliable information on there. It talks about all the different symptoms that women get with, with Endo, treatment, diagnosis, but there's also, as you said, the, endometriosis Friendly employer scheme. Which, which could be a really useful tool for, for people that are, either managers or employers of, of women with endometriosis or adenomyosis.
Brilliant. That sounds great, Alex. Thank you so much.
It's, it's been so lovely to chat to you and, you know, thank you for sharing your thoughts and your experiences. You know, I'm sure, that everybody who's been listening, you know, will really appreciate that and it will definitely help to raise awareness of both conditions. And I think it is so important that we, you know, look after ourselves and support each other, you know, physically, mentally and emotionally to, you know, build resilience.
And I'm sure that, you know, your story today will really help with that. So thank you again for, for taking the time to speak to us and we will speak to you soon. You're welcome.
