How To Recognize And Treat Colorectal Cancer In Women 

A familiar story about familiar symptoms: women go to their doctors asking for help with vaginal discomfort and are dismissed in their concerns and/or receive a misdiagnosis.  

 FemmePharma listens to these stories, which we hear from our clients, friends, colleagues, and family members. These disappointing interactions with healthcare practitioners tend to lead women away from the “medical system” and instead to social media platforms, like Reddit, or good ole’ Google for answers. 

Crowdsourcing solutions for our (bodily) concerns is not new, but it highlights the research gap in women’s health, and, in particular, women’s intimate health. A major part of the challenge lies in the foundational education of healthcare practitioners. Medical school curricula are historically based on the “default male.” This means symptom evaluation and treatment protocol stem from male, not female, physiology. As Northwell Health writes, racism and ageism are additional barriers to women receiving the care they need: “Black women are frequently believed to simply not feel as much pain as white women and, thus, are made to suffer needlessly. Older women are made to endure perimenopause and menopause symptoms that could be managed.” 

It’s a systematic oversight that leaves many women feeling dismissed, misunderstood, and ultimately unable to get accurate diagnoses and effective treatment. There is also an emotional toll to receiving repeated misdiagnoses and feeling unheard. In addition, a recent Deloitte study identifies that women’s access to medical appointments and their affordability present roadblocks to women actually making it to their doctor’s offices.  

While some social media forums are useful and include research-backed information (we have one!), other sources are not as reliable. As with all social media, careful checking of sources is imperative, so you understand where the information you are reading is coming from.  

This is why, as a pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare company focused on women’s health, we aim to publish helpful content about these issues (e.g. perimenopause, menstruation, menopause, and vaginal discomfort, to name a few areas we discuss). Informed women are empowered women! Our mission is bridging the knowledge gap in medicine by providing expansive, accurate perspectives on women’s health based on our real experiences. FemmePharma wants to support women in understanding their bodies, so they become advocates for their health and others around them. 

Vaginal mucosal health, for example, is crucial for protecting against STIs, which are more transmissible if there are tears in the vaginal area. Keeping genitals well-hydrated and intact is an important way to safeguard yourself against these tears—and, this critical information is not only for women over 50. Women at every age deserve to know how they can treat their bodies better and what to expect as they age, so we know how to continue respecting and caring for ourselves. Caroline Criado Perez’s Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men is a great read that talks about the gender research gap in medicine, offering solutions as to how we can begin to close it.  

Our commitment to women’s growth is why we are so excited to have Dr. Juliana Hauser chime in! In her words, Dr. Juliana’s goal in working with patients is to “connect people with their essence – their truest self – through uncovering, demystifying, and reclaiming their unique sexuality.”  

 
As a woman-founded and women-staffed team, we understand firsthand the challenges and frustrations women face in healthcare. We will continue to provide content that reflects our mission to serve you! Let us know in the comments what you have been wondering about—what questions do you want answered? What do you want our next blog topic to cover? Our listening ears are on. Improving all women’s lives is the aim of everything we do.  

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been around a long time. Beginning in 1887, the institute is known today for being the largest source of funding for medical research, worldwide. It is also the Federal focal point for medical research conducted in the U.S. The NIH has many parts to it—27 Institutes and Centers—and is one of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ eight Public Health Service agencies.  

In their words, the institute’s goal is “to acquire new knowledge to help prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability, from the rarest genetic disorder to the common cold [and their mission] is to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone.” 

The NIH—being such a robust organization—works on multiple research projects at once. A glance at their website in early May shows the release of new data centering on cancer immunotherapy, Alzheimer’s Disease, inherited blinding diseases, and healthy eating in midlife.  

One of its studies—also the first and largest study undertaken, ever, focused on the health needs of women—is a long-term, national health study called the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). In late April, the U.S. government cut funding, or a cancellation of contracts, for the WHI and then reversed these funding cuts days later.  

What we know about the funding cuts reversal is this: public criticism from senators, scientists, and celebrities seemed to influence the Department of Health and Human Services to make its decision. The reversal seems to imply the study will continue to be funded as it has been, but the exact details are not confirmed yet.  

What stands to be silenced if the study ends—which involves, in its first phase, 42,000 women giving data on themselves for 30 years ongoing—would be a loss of critical information on women’s health and health solutions. The study’s goal is preventing heart disease, colorectal and breast cancer, and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population. The study involves clinical trials of hormones and other medications and has already produced the most cumulative data set ever collected on women in their 80s and 90s.  

Given that policies were in place discouraging the inclusion of women in clinical trials until 1993, the importance of the WHI continuing through completion cannot be emphasized enough. We all stand to learn—all we can—about women’s health and how to support it for the benefit of everyone living in our society.  

Our team at FemmePharma has been asking ourselves, what can we learn from this situation and the way it unfolded (and is unfolding)? At the end of the day, we know the power that knowledge collection and sharing within our communities has—it takes place in our friendships, through conversation with colleagues, neighbors, and people around us, and in formal places of learning like schools, continuing education, and (ideally) our doctor’s offices.

Importantly, it starts with us—one woman, with one question, who uses their voice to speak up, ask, get informed, and then shares out that knowledge. This type of woman-women exchange becomes extra important when, at the federal level, knowledge about areas critical to the wellness of our world community are being seemingly played with, back and forth.  

In other words: if what we receive is inconsistent, then we need to create consistency, in the most efficient and informed way we can. In previous blogs, we have spoken about the importance of women-focused collectives, which emphasize data building and self- and other-care.  

Are you part of a group that focuses on individual and social-advocacy around women’s health? What makes you want to share with others? (And, ‘others’ includes men, too—because being informed about women’s health and women’s issues makes us all better equipped to care for one another.) What are the qualities of communities you feel you can trust and share in? We would love to hear from you! Let us know by emailing us at [email protected].