LADYPARTS: taking a wide view on women's health
11 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 5 years ago - ★★★★ - 21 ratingsTo make informed decisions about our health, we have to break taboos against publicly discussing our basic bodily functions - and most perplexing symptoms. Ladyparts takes a wide view, attempting to bridge the divide between mainstream medicine and holistic healthcare, and consider all of our options.
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Episodes
Womb Massage
June 25, 2019 23:35 - 29 minutes - 25.8 MBMegan Assaf had extremely painful periods from the beginning. In her late 20s, she found out her uterus was upside down, folded in half, off to the left and stuck behind her colon. She didn’t learn this from a doctor, but from a holistic healer working in a tradition that comes from the Maya people of Belize. What’s more, Megan got her uterus repositioned, and learned how to do this very hands-on work herself. Megan Assaf is a massage therapist who works with women, and has moved hu...
Healing Justice
May 19, 2019 17:00 - 36 minutes - 42.2 MBThis episode is a conversation with Hanifa Nayo Washington and Thema Haida, two women healers who recently opened a holistic healing center in New Haven, Connecticut. The center is called One Village Healing and it’s a bit different from other holistic health spaces you may have been to - it runs on the values of Healing Justice. That means collective healing from injustice and systems of oppression. Ladyparts takes a wide view on women’s health, and we’re not going to focus on repr...
Midwifery and Maternal Health
April 21, 2019 07:00 - 59 minutes - 62.7 MBMidwives are specialists in normal physiologic birth, but only about 12 percent of babies in the US are delivered by midwives. In this episode, two midwives make the case for how better integration of midwifery into the US medical system could help lower this country's high rate of maternal mortality, cut down on unnecessary interventions, and make birth a more dignified, healthier experience for moms. First, Joan Combellick, puts midwifery and US maternal health outcomes in a globa...
Bonus Interview: Libby Hopton on the Origins of Endometriosis
March 19, 2019 15:00 - 12 minutes - 9.48 MBEndometriosis was identified almost 100 years ago. Over the years, multiple theories have been developed to explain how tissue similar to that of the uterine lining comes to implant in other parts of the pelvis. The origin of the disease is still a matter of disagreement at medical conferences and on social media alike. Libby Hopton is a research consultant in endometriosis and the founder of the Facebook support and information group Endometropolis, and a patient. While not a ph...
One in Ten: Taking a Wide View on Endometriosis
March 17, 2019 12:00 - 51 minutes - 52.9 MBMarch is endometriosis awareness month. But here’s the thing about these months: they tend to highlight something we should be paying more attention to all the time. Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue similar to the lining inside the uterus (called “the endometrium”), is found outside the uterus, where it causes a chronic inflammatory reaction. Symptoms include painful periods, painful ovulation, painful sex, heavy bleeding, chronic pelvic pain, and fatigue. It’s also a...
Expanding Gender, Love and Sex
February 17, 2019 12:00 - 50 minutes - 52.5 MBGuest Ariel Vegosen is a gender inclusivity trainer and sex educator who is proud to be kinky, queer, and genderblended. No matter your gender identity, Ariel says expanding your understanding of gender benefits everyone. Andrea and Ariel discuss life beyond the gender binary, femininity, polyamory, self-love, strap-on sex and more. Learn more about Ariel Vegosen’s work at genderillumination.com and polyexcellent.com. Support Ladyparts on Patreon and get access to extended cuts o...
Mind/Body
January 21, 2019 02:37 - 53 minutes - 49.5 MBThis episode explores the mind-body connection from two very different angles. We hear Functional Medicine doctor and OBGYN Jessica Wei on how stress, hormones and the gut affect mental health and mood in women in particular. Psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster speaks about how women diagnosed with hysteria changed the way we treat mental illness, and why that seemingly outdated diagnosis still matters today. Jamieson's new book is Conversion Disorder: Listening to the Body in Psychoana...
Bleeding Room
December 17, 2018 15:26 - 48 minutes - 44.9 MBNo-one wants to be in pain. In previous episodes we’ve discussed ways to help alleviate menstrual pain with medication, acupressure, herbs, and even surgery. But aside from not being in pain, if you bleed, when you bleed, what do you want? In this episode, we explore the concept of creating a special place in time and space for menstruation. Sometimes this happens by choice, as in the practice of “conscious menstruation,” and sometimes it’s enforced, as under cultural or religious ...
Going with the Flow: Chinese Medicine for Women's Health
November 19, 2018 03:14 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBTraditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) presents a completely different framework for understanding the body, and can be used on its own or in concert with conventional medicine. Guest Erik Harris is a holistic healing practitioner based in Connecticut. He holds a certificate in TCM from the Wu Healing Center in West Hartford, Connecticut, and he also has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Springfield College. Erik explains the TCM concepts of yin and yang, energy meridians and more....
A New Drug for Endometriosis
October 22, 2018 00:35 - 49 minutes - 45.3 MBTo make informed decisions about our health, we have to break taboos against publicly discussing our basic bodily functions - and most perplexing symptoms. Ladyparts takes a wide view, attempting to bridge the divide between mainstream medicine and holistic healthcare, and consider all of our options. The reproductive disorder endometriosis affects one in ten women. It can cause debilitating periods, pelvic pain and infertility. Endometriosis is most often treated with birth contro...
Listen to a preview of Ladyparts!
October 04, 2018 23:09 - 1 minute - 1.49 MBTo make informed decisions about our health, women have to break taboos against publicly discussing our basic bodily functions - and most perplexing symptoms. Ladyparts takes a wide view. We're attempting to ford the river dividing mainstream medicine and holistic healthcare, and consider all of our options. This podcast is also about the decisions we make as a society that impact women’s bodies, minds, and wellbeing. We’ll look at where the healthcare system supports us, and where...