We had a really good meeting with Lavinia. She shared statistics of women suffering from vaginal/sexual side effects after treatment and also her own intimate health journey with the knowledge she has gained from liaising with Health Care Professionals, and addressing customer’s sexual health issues over the last nine years. As a patient representative, Lavinia’s experience of a mis-diagnosed vulval condition many years ago, through to recent Endometrial Cancer diagnosis and a total hysterectomy, give her valuable insights into certain aspects of sexual dysfunction and sexual survivorship after cancer.

Lavinia also went through the different types of YES products. YES water based is available on prescription in the UK

Everyone who attended were given samples to try. One lady fedback that the water based YES VM caused burning so may not suit everyone.

YS DG (dual glide) recommended by Lavinia for dyspareunia.

We were advised to look out for the following ingredients in lubricants which can cause thrush, burning, irritation – petrochemical ingredients, parabens, known skin irritants, grapefruit seed extract, glycerin, hormones,  silicone or propylene glycol.

Recommend to contact YES for friendly help and information. Sign up to the newsletter as there are 25% discount offers every 2 months or so.

Some sources of information by Lavinia and many thanks to Sandie and Linda for the links and further information

Typically 10 micrograms Vagifem for ladies who have regular cystitis.

Antihistamine can help with some cases. Please seek advice from qualified medical professional.

My Menopausal Vagina by Jane Lewis (if ordered from here a donation goes to cancer research uk)

Liz O’Riordan, a Consultant Breast Surgeon with breast cancer. She co-authored ‘The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control’with Professor Trisha Greenhalgh. It covers everything you need to know to empower you during treatment, and is packed full of all the tips and tricks we learned along the way.  You can buy a signed copy here.

Click here to see Liz O’Riordan’s TED talk. TED is a non-profit organisation for spreading ideas, in the form of short, powerful talks of 18 minutes or less.

Gynae Geek – Dr Anita Mitra, London, UK

Group announcements:

1. Register for fun event at Longstock Water Gardens on 27 June 1pm in member area. Password was given to the mailing list.
2. Dates for Moving Forward Courses in Southampton and Winchester
3. Those who missed this meeting can still see Lavinia at the Winchester Health and Wellbeing Event on 24 April 2019 at Weeke Community Centre,Taplings Road, Weeke,Winchester SO22 6HG from 9am-12.30pm
4. Please volunteer to help with refreshments at the following links
   • Volunteer for Winchester meetings
   • Volunteer for Eastleigh meetings
5. Next meeting is on 7 May 2019 – Winchester Chill and Chat MeetingPlease feel free to bring unwanted gifts, homemade card, etc to sell and donate 10% of sales to the group