Breaking the TABOO

As anew year begins, it’s time to stop being embarrassed about women’s health

Painful periods, vaginal dryness, incontinence, prolapse. Just reading the words is enough to make many of us recoil in embarrassment or descend into polite awkwardness. 

But these are serious ailments many women suffer from – and often in silence. Almost 40% of women are incontinent, 19% struggle with vaginal dryness and over 85% have suffered from painful periods.

Yet, if spoken about at all, these conditions are often discussed in hushed tones between mothers and daughters or friend to friend. And sadly, very few women seek medical help.

Only in recent years have high-profile women started to share their experiences, from Kate Thornton and Davina McCall openly discussing the menopause, to Kate Winslet referencing her stress incontinence on national TV.

As we begin 2023, and many of us embark on a health kick, let's encourage women everywhere to seek help, find solutions and be honest about their suffering.

We talk to three women about their health experiences.

‘I THOUGHT IT WOULD RUIN MY BUSINESS’

Grace Lillywhite, 38, runs her own Pelvic Floor Confidence plan at centredmums.com and lives in St Albans with her husband Jamie, 42, and their two daughters. 

As a pre- and postnatal Pilates teacher, I was aware of pelvic organ prolapse. It was my biggest fear during pregnancy.

Then, in early 2014, just months after giving birth to my first daughter, a visit to a women’s health physiotherapist revealed it had happened to me. I’d suffered some urine leakage and a feeling of heaviness and dragging, but no pain.