They call it the Davina McCall effect.
Treatments for menopausal symptoms – once a taboo subject – are now discussed more openly thanks to pioneering documentaries from the TV presenter charting her own battle with lower hormone levels.
However, there’s still a long way to go before female health issues such as the menopause are fully in the open and treated like any other medical condition.
We speak to Ruth Strachan, who co-owns the Bio Skin and Wellness clinic in Stonehaven, to get the lowdown on those health issues that still suffer from being kept off limits, whether through embarrassment or ignorance.
Ruth also gives advice on what can be done to treat these taboo health issues for women.
1. Pelvic floor
Pelvic floor issues come top of the list of taboo health subjects, says Ruth, largely because the distress caused by incontinence.
And because it’s not just something that affects older woman, but can strike at any time.
“There’s a misconception that it’s just women who have had children that suffer from pelvic floor problems,” Ruth says. “It’s actually something that can affect any woman, often at any stage in our life, though it does gets worse over 50 as we go through menopause.”
For treatment, Ruth and the team at Bio Skin and Wellness use a high-intensity-focused electromagnetic therapy that is a step up from the electro stimulation technology used to strengthen pelvic floors for the past 20 or so years.
A session lasts 24 minutes and can be carried out fully clothed – an important feature for some, says Ruth.
“There’s no pain, there’s no discomfort and they can sit and check their emails for half an hour and have a cup of tea,” she adds.
2. Bloating
Gut health is not something people like to discuss at the dinner table. But maybe they should!
“We speak a lot about gut health and bacteria and how our microbiome plays a huge role for immunity and digestive health,” says Ruth, who adds that a healthy gut can ease issues of bloating, a common complaint from women.
She also says supplements are not always the best way to improve gut health. Simply adding diversity to your diet can make a big difference.
“A wide assortment of fruit, veg, herbs and spices – the bigger variety that you have in your diet, the better your gut health.”
Fermented foods such as kombucha, kefir and sauerkraut can also help.
And if you want to “go down the rabbit hole”, Ruth says, then you can do tests to check your microbiome and see if there are imbalances in the gut.
3. Cellulite
Ruth says cellulite brings out insecurities in the people that come to her clinic.
“We recently had a lady who was getting married,” she says. “She was an older bride and she wanted to get her cellulite done for her honeymoon. She said afterwards, she didn’t realise how much it affected her.
“The thing is, women of a certain age don’t like to complain about their cellulite, because they almost feel like they’re being vain.”
Ruth recommends a mechanical massage that combines with a vacuum to soften the fatty tissue and release the fat.
But Ruth has a warning.
“The biggest mistake people make,” she says, “is they come with three weeks to go for the holidays, when in actual fact, you really need to do this treatment for about eight weeks.”
4. Mental wellbeing
“There’s still a bit of a stigma with mental health in modern society,” says Ruth, who has a simple yet scientifically proven boost for it – walking!
“It’s free and you can do it anywhere,” she continues.
“We actually are really lucky – where we live in Aberdeenshire we’re surrounded by lots of beauty and nobody’s a long drive away from some.
“Studies have shown that actually getting out in nature has a calming effect. Your breathing slows, and it lowers your blood pressure.”
5. Menopause
Davina McCall has a lot to say about society’s silence on the menopause, which has been a motivating factor behind her crusade to raise awareness of treatments.
Davina is keen to widen access to hormone replacement therapy, while Ruth recommends supplements such as magnesium and ashwagandha.
“A lot of women I see are in that sort of perimenopause stage,” she adds. “The symptoms are so wide and varied but now we are hearing more about how it affects your mood – the anxiety, the stress and the insomnia.
“There are other things within menopause that a lot of women don’t speak about such as symptoms like vaginal atrophy and how it can affect their sex life with low libido.
“There’s definitely supplements and that you can take before trying the doctor to help with dryness and libido.”
More information about Bio Skin and Wellness can be found on its Facebook page.
