Episode #75: Understanding Cancer Prevention For Women, with Dr. Valena Wright

Hey beautiful, it's Dr. Tabatha. I want to share something with you that I believe God is doing right now in women's health. We're in the middle of a massive movement and most people don't even know it. Every single day, 6,000 women in the U.S. enter menopause. That's over 2 million women a year, and by 2030, that's more than 1.2 billion women worldwide. So here's the thing, most of these women feel exhausted, bloated, anxious, disconnected from themselves, and the medical system is Doctors are handing out prescriptions and quick fixes, and no one is helping women heal from the root cause of their issues. That's where Fast to Faith coaches come in. As a certified coach, you'll be equipped to help midlife women balance their hormones, heal their gut, regain their energy, and reconnect their faith, the foundation that so many of us have been missing. And from a business standpoint, woo, this is one of the most lucrative untapped opportunities in the entire health coaching world. The global health coaching industry is expected to reach over $33 billion by 2023, and midlife women are the fastest-growing, highest-spending demographic in that space. Most importantly, these women stay with their coaches. They invest deeply because they are desperate for lasting transformation— body, mind, and spirit. So if you've been feeling that pull and that whisper that you're meant to do more, This is it. Now is the time to rise, to serve, and build a purpose-driven business that not only changes other women's lives but transforms your own in the process. Because when you help one woman heal, you help her family, her marriage, her faith, and her future. That's the ripple effect that we're creating with Fast to Faith. So join me, click the link to come watch this webinar. It might be the one thing that really moves the needle for you in this Next season. I can't wait to see you in there. Hi, I'm Dr. Tabatha, the Functional Gynecologist. I'm a board-certified OB-GYN and functional medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey, and I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety, insomnia, you name it, Then you've come to the right place. I want to be your functional gynecologist. So welcome. Hi ladies. So today we're going to talk about something super important, GYN cancers. Like ovaries, uterus, cervix, vulva, vagina, cancers of all the GYN parts. And more importantly, we're going to talk about the fact that there are ways to prevent it and, in some cases, diagnose it earlier. So this is just like really good information for every woman. You, every woman you know, share it, you know, give it to your friends, your sisters, your moms, your daughters, like everybody Everybody should realize what their risks are and what to be looking out for and what to think about if you're having symptoms and what you can do about it and where to look. So my guest today wrote a book called It's Time You Knew, and it's all about GYN cancers. So she is a GYN oncologist. Oncologist. That's what she does. So I'm really excited for this conversation because I don't think this stuff is talked about enough, right? I, I remember being a gynecologist, being on call one night, being called to the ER for a possible vaginal infection. And this woman explained to me that her primary doctor had given her like 3 or 4 rounds of Diflucan over the past few months for this recurrent yeast infection that just wouldn't go away. And when I talked to her more, you know, she explained that she really hadn't had an exam. It was just she had called in over the phone, they sent in the prescription, and she couldn't understand why she wasn't getting better. And she finally came into the emergency room because it was so uncomfortable. And she felt like something weird was going on. And when I examined her, she had vulvar cancer. And it was not a pretty sight. It was very aggressive. It was obvious just at first glance what was going on. And that broke my heart because this was— Oh, my goodness. Maybe not preventable, but definitely containable. It could have been caught months beforehand. And once cancer starts, it grows exponentially, so it tends to grow quicker, and the sooner you can catch it, the better, right? So I just— she would have had a different surgical procedure and a different outcome that wouldn't have been so invasive. Had she been examined earlier or had a different scenario. So that story always stuck with me, and I never wanted that for any of my other patients, and I don't want that for you. So I want you to understand that symptoms are a message from your body telling you something's wrong. And if 1+ 1 isn't equaling to 2, like, figure it out, you know? Get examined, ask someone else, go to a different doctor, read my lady's book today, Dr. Wright's book. Like, figure it out because symptoms are a warning sign. And I really want you to pay attention to your body and honor What your body's trying to say to you, because it, it is trying to be in balance and be healthy and protect you. But if something's wrong, you shouldn't need Diflucan for, you know, 5 months in a row to treat a yeast infection. That should clue you in, like, oh my goodness, I need to be examined, I need to be checked out, something's not right. So I just want you to remember that. So let me You know, do a couple of things real quick. I want to sing Dr. Wright's praises and I want to mention, I want to give a shout-out to Jen J. She gave me a 5-star review saying, excellent resource covering so many relevant health topics for women. Thank you. Yay, Jen J. So you guys, you would make my day, make my week if you would take 30 seconds to Hit the five stars. Give me a review. Hit the subscribe button so that iTunes and everybody knows that this information is important for you. Like I do this for you, and I want to know that you're finding value in it. You're getting this message, and it's impacting you. So thank you. Okay. So Dr. Valina Wright, she's a women's health. Expert. She's a board-certified gynecologic oncologist. She works at Beth Israel Lahey Health and Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, with over 25 years of experience. She's a member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, and the American College of Surgeons, and was previously president of the New England Association of Gynecologic Oncology. That's a mouthful. You would think I'd be comfortable saying those words after 20 years now. Um, Dr. Velina completed her medical training at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as well as under— as postgraduate training at Brigham and Women's Hospital, an affiliated Harvard teaching hospital. She's been recognized numerous times by Castle Connolly Regional Top Doctors list, Boston Magazine, North Shore Magazine, and as an Exceptional Women in Medicine. She teaches as an adjunct clinical associate professor of OB-GYN at Boston University School of Medicine. When her sister Debbie passed away from stage 1C ovarian cancer, it strengthened Velina's medical philosophies to encourage proactive cancer prevention in women to hopefully avoid a cancer diagnosis Altogether. So she is speaking my language. I am all about prevention. Let's not wait until we have the diagnosis. Let's get after it and prevent it. So Dr. Velina is wonderful. You're gonna love her. She's a dual US and Canadian citizen. That's probably why she's so nice. She's an empty nester and mother of 3 who lives in Charleston, Massachusetts. So let's get on with it, ladies. Make sure you share this episode and listen all the way through, and then check out Dr. Velina's links in my note— in my show notes, because she's got the 5 tips to prevent cancer and her book, It's Time You Knew. Here we go. Well, welcome, Dr. Wright, to the Functional Gynecologist Podcast.

Thank you.

It's a pleasure to speak with you today. I'm excited to have a conversation.

Yeah, I'm excited to talk about your book. It's time you knew, because women do need to know about what we're going to talk about today. Such good information. So I would love for you to share, like, what made you write this book?

So I was really inspired by my personal experience as an observer of my sister's health with the background I have as a gynecologic oncologist. So my personal story is my older sister passed from ovarian cancer. And obviously that's devastating to have your sister die of a disease that you specialize in treating. I learned so much. Information that we receive may not be always the most up to date. And I think it's critical for women to understand the changes that have, or the improvements in women's health that have occurred and what we've learned in cancer prevention, because there's such little focus on cancer prevention. We often are waiting for disease to develop before we intervene. And so it was very fortunate that I had the background and training that I did, because I knew that genetic testing was really important. For ovarian cancer. And I also know from treating patients over the years that risk-reducing surgery, when indicated, can save people's lives. And so my older sister's diagnosis actually saved my youngest sister Shirley's life, 'cause she had risk-reducing removal of fallopian tubes and ovaries and was diagnosed with the earliest stage of fallopian tube cancer.

Wow.

So I think a lot of your listeners may not be aware that— yeah, a lot of listeners may not be aware that we no longer tie tubes for birth control. We do salpingectomies, and that medical term just means we remove the tube, because research on women with genetic predisposition to cancer led to the discovery that a lot of ovarian cancer actually starts in the end of the fallopian tube. And it can be a microscopic lesion, meaning we can't see it in the end of the tube, and cells end up spilling out onto the ovary, creating a growth that eventually gets diagnosed as ovarian cancer. So knowing that, and if you're going to have your tubes tied— it's not really the right lingo anymore. We don't have tubes tied, we have them removed. And it's also important that having just your tubes tied or removed doesn't change when you go through menopause. We have enough research now from women having undergone salpingectomy, or removal of the fallopian tubes for birth control, that we know that it will not predispose to early menopause, which is so important for many women.

Yeah.

So, you know, the motivation of the book was just to honor my sisters and make sure that not just my sisters and my patients have the information they need, that hopefully they can learn from these other amazing women who allowed me to participate in their care and share their story. You know, as a surgeon in training, I always, I always was trying to learn from my mentors and the attendings because it's okay— it's never okay to have a bad complication. But when you see things happen or a certain pathway of events occur, if you can only learn from that so you can change the pathway so that you don't make the same mistakes, right?

Yeah.

So sometimes when I— my older sister, you know, I miss her dearly, but she would get in trouble all the time. And I would learn from that. I wouldn't ask my mom and dad the same thing that my sister asked and got in trouble for or do things. So we learn so much in different ways. And I think we need to go to medical doctors with our eyes wide open and make sure that our voices are heard and we understand the conversation that we have with our doctors so that, you know, we get the outcome and better health that we seek, not just showing up when we have a problem or an issue, because prevention is just so important and it's really not addressed in a disease-based model of care.

Yeah, you made so many good points. Oh my goodness, so many important points. I think that women need to realize that cancer doesn't just turn on overnight. You know, you're not healthy one day and having cancer the next, and you need to listen to your body and be an advocate and ask questions if it doesn't make sense, right? You know, That was a big reason I shifted into functional medicine. Like I was explaining to you before we started the podcast, is women are being told that it's normal for their bodies to betray them and to be hormonally imbalanced and to have crazy heavy periods. And, you know, and you just have this risk of cancer, and it kind of is like defeating because it You're losing your power. You're being told like, this is just going to happen to you and good luck, when really that's not the case. And so, you know, the fact that you helped your sister get proactive and, you know, learn from your other sister's experience, you saved her life. Like, that's amazing. So I want to talk about that with you. Like, how can we empower women to be proactive, to intervene and not end up with these cancer diagnoses?

So I think the most important thing is, like you mentioned, cancer doesn't happen overnight. You know, there's precursors to many cancers that we recognize. And the best example for the cancers that I treat, which include most commonly uterine cancer, fallopian tube ovarian cancers, cervix cancer, vaginal, vulvar cancers. That's what I specialize in, not breast cancer, but in the gynecologic organs. So a lot of women don't have knowledge about those cancers and cancer risk. Of those 5 organs, the only one that has an effective screening test is cervix cancer.

So I think it's really important that women understand the risk for cervix cancer.

And there's a lot of stigma about cervix cancer because in the past it was linked to different sexually transmitted diseases or infections and behaviors. Whereas now today, we know it's really linked to the presence of a virus called human papillomavirus. And our practice of medicine is changing so that instead of just getting a Pap test, many countries, and now the American Cancer Society as well, recommends primary screening for the presence of HPV. Because that's really the risk. It's not necessarily Some of these other things you get asked when you go to the gynecologist. It's whether or not you've been exposed to the virus.

You can draw an analogy to COVID.

If you've been exposed to COVID, you're at risk, as opposed— or if you're vaccinated, your risk is dramatically decreased. Knowing your risk by knowing whether you've been exposed to HPV high-risk types, which are associated not just with cervix cancer, but with other cancers of what we call lower genital tract, cervix, vagina, vulva, and in men, oral and back of the throat, oropharyngeal cancers. So knowing that there's a screening test, and HPV and/or Pap smears, the combination as we transition into primary screening over time, and knowing that if your test is abnormal and you go for treatment, it's very unlikely you're going to develop a cancer. The people that develop cancers are people who don't go for screening, don't know their risk, and haven't been vaccinated. And large studies support that. There was a large study that came out recently to show that the most effective time for HPV vaccination is, is in women before age 17. There's some protection as you get older if you're vaccinated, but having the pediatrician do those childhood vaccinations is key to preventing cancer later in life. That's the one that we can prevent.

And if we're taking care of ourselves, know our risk, and, you know, get those things done, it's very unlikely we would develop cervix cancer.

Yeah. And, you know, I feel like our medical societies did patients a disservice when they changed those cervical screening cancer. You know, it used to be you'd have it every year, and then every couple years, and now it's pushing out to 5 with this HPV testing. And that is giving patients the misunderstanding of, I don't need to see a doctor at all for anything for 5 years. And so their uterus and ovaries aren't being palpated, they're not having their breast exams. Like, I just feel like that really sent patients the wrong message. And, you know, so I'm always reeducating, like, the cervix is one small portion, the Pap smear is only one part of your exam. You know, it's important, but that doesn't mean that we need to neglect everything else, right? So I just want patients to be careful when they hear those recommendations, right? So—

And that's like actually one of the myths in my book, because people will come in and say, oh, I've had my Pap smear, when in fact all they had was a pelvic exam. So having a pelvic exam doesn't mean you had screening for cervix cancer.

Right, exactly. Oh, I got that all the time where they'd go to the ER for some complaint, and then in the office they would say, Oh, well, I've already had an exam. I'm like, no, no, no, that's completely different. That doesn't count. You know, so just understanding the different testing that we're doing and, you know, why we're doing it, I think is super important. So thanks for bringing that part up. So yeah, we can do testing and screening. And you talked about your sister having ovarian cancer. There's not great screening for that, right?

No.

Right, that's another myth that people have is that if they have— the most common tests we do or that's been researched is the use of pelvic ultrasound and a blood test called CA-125. And we do do that in women at high risk, but it's really never been proven to decrease mortality, even in women who have a gene mutation. So if you're getting a CA-125 and an ultrasound even every 6 months, that doesn't protect you from developing ovarian cancer, unfortunately. We just don't understand the natural history and biology of the disease well enough. So in that situation, it's really important to know your family history. And if you have family members with ovarian or breast cancer, then there's models that can predict your risk and whether or not you should undergo genetic testing. But a lot of the time, you know, it's to take a family history and do a good job and understand your cancer risk probably is best done with a genetic counselor if you have positive family history. And that way you can understand what gene testing is indicated and if it applies to you. Sometimes genetic testing will lead to a gene mutation, but just because you have the gene mutation and it's identified, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to develop cancer. because there's a lot of modifiable risk factors around that. But by having the testing, you can better quantify your risk and know what actions you can take to prevent cancer.

Okay.

So for example, in my family's case, there's other cancers that can be associated with breast and ovarian cancer besides that. And we had some in our family history. So my sister, when she had, went to her primary care doctor, he said, no, no, no, you don't need to have this done for whatever reason, right? And so for a while she didn't have it done because she was just nervous about menopause. But when she did, we were so relieved that, and surprised really, that she got diagnosed with this fallopian tube cancer. So for ovarian and fallopian tube cancers, they're different parts of the body. They sit right next to each other, obviously, but They're treated the same, pretty much. With ovarian, fallopian tube cancer, on average, when you look at the literature on this, it's 18 months of symptoms before women get diagnosed. And the reason for that is the symptoms can be vague. There's a mnemonic used called BEAT, which is bloating, eating, meaning indigestion and, you know, symptoms you get when you try to eat, Abdominal pain and tinkling for the T, tinkling meaning frequent urination. So those constellation of symptoms, they make you think about a gastro, a GI or gastroenterology, like bowel type symptoms. So many women will have had a consult with a gastroenterologist, a colonoscopy, and when you have those tests done, they're looking at the inside of those organs, not the outside, and you can sometimes get symptoms when something's pressing, pushing or pressing from the outside or growing adjacent to those organs internally. So it's not always thought of. It's really common. I, you know, many women will have seen the doctor many times and it's hard because we don't think of ovarian cancer. So if you have symptoms that persist more than 2 weeks with a, you know, change in urination frequency, getting up at night, and that's not your normal, or if you're having bloating, Typically early satiety, which is a medical term, it just means if you eat a small amount yet you feel full. So maybe you have a few bites of your sandwich and you can't finish it because you feel full. Sometimes that's a symptom of ovarian cancer. We all can have some of these symptoms intermittently, but when they're persistent over a period of more than 2 weeks and otherwise unexplained, It's something just to keep in your mind. And you can ask your doctor when you go and see them, you can always ask and say, do you think there's any possibility this could be ovarian cancer? And if you have symptoms, then diagnostic testing will help exclude it. The use of ultrasound and CA-125 just hasn't been proven in asymptomatic patients for screening, but it is useful for evaluating symptoms.

Yeah, definitely. And there are benign issues that you can identify too that cause those symptoms, but you want to get an answer for sure. I love that you are, you know, saying like, listen to your body. Those symptoms are a warning sign that something is going on. Something's growing and pushing on your other organs that shouldn't be. I don't know about you, but I feel like it's a really common myth that once I'm in menopause, I don't have to worry about ovarian cancer. I mean, that is what I have heard for the past decade from my older ladies is, oh, well, I don't need an exam. I'm done with all that. I'm done with having babies. And can you please just enlighten the listeners? Like, that's the majority of women who have ovarian cancer are in menopause. They are after childbearing years, correct?

Correct. Yes, that's a common myth. And I think, I don't know, I see a lot of women who once they've had their children, they, you know, they completely neglect their gynecologic care. They just think that, you know, I've had my last child, and that's the last time I'm going to see the gynecologist. And that's the last time they've even had a pelvic exam or Pap smear.

Yes.

And our gynecologic health is really important, whether we're sexually active or not, you know, being healthy and sexually active and paying attention to the symptoms, abnormal discharge, abnormal pain, can really lead to a diagnosis. And if you have those symptoms, they're not normal.

And so many women just say, oh, it's menopause.

My doctor told me it was menopause, or it's hormonal. And they don't follow through because they accept it as normal.

Right, exactly. So another important issue you touched on was the genetics So I hear that myth a lot, like, oh, well, I had my genes tested. I don't have a mutation, so I'm good. So can you clarify for listeners, cancer's not always genetic, right?

Right.

The majority of cancer, especially ovarian cancer, depending on the study, it's only 10 to maybe 15% of the cancers that are genetic. And the rest, we really don't understand fully the risk factors.

For ovarian cancer, being nulliparous, never having had a child, is a risk factor.

Interestingly, birth control pills protect us against ovarian cancer and uterine cancer. So there's obviously a hormonal component to the risk. It's been very controversial, but talc has been there in the media forever about dusting powder or perineal powder, because this powder that some women will use is found in the peritoneal cavity. And whether it's associated with cancer or not is, is a little controversial. The studies have— it's not a strong risk factor, but some studies have.

And other than that, it's just family history, really, and a gene mutation.

We don't understand really what causes ovarian cancer.

So it's important though, family history is not always reliable. About 30% of the time people will have a gene mutation with no family history. Some of that obviously can be adoption related. Some people don't realize that your paternal history is as important as your maternal history.

Right.

So, you know, sometimes that's where people don't accurately consider their risk. But Mary-Claire King, a geneticist who discovered the BRCA genes, had an article published in one of the medical journals, JAMA, advocating that everyone be tested, every woman be tested at age 30. And if they have a positive gene test, be followed in a specialized center because of that not knowing, you know, that it's inaccurate 30% of the time, just family history. And so if we know you're— if we know, again, it's about knowing your risks. So if you know you're at higher risk, then there's things you can do proactively to decrease your risk, such as birth control pills or having your tubes removed after you've had your children, making sure you maintain ideal body weight because, you know, hormones and body weight all interact and modify your risk.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, we know that our fat cells make estrone, right? And we don't like too much estrone floating around. It's not good. So I think that's where some women feel maybe frustrated going to the doctor. They're told they need to lose weight and they're not really given an explanation of how, how or why, you know, they can do that and what the benefit actually is going to be. And so if sit down and have that conversation like, hey, that type of estrogen is actually driving uterine and ovarian proliferation, inflammation, sugar issues, like that's why we want to get control of it, then I think that women are more apt to think, okay, let me work on some lifestyle changes, right? As opposed to just shaming. I just hear that over and over, like, oh, I went to my doctor, he told me to lose 30 pounds again, and here I am. And so I think just, could you speak on that a little bit?

Yeah, no, I think it's super important we understand the risk associated with obesity. And obesity is a medical diagnosis. It shouldn't be a stigma, which unfortunately we know that in the US it is. In most of the world, it can be a stigma. And being able to talk to our patients about it in the right way with Their support is is really key. So our our most common or the most common cancer I treat is uterine cancer, and more than half of those cancers are obesity related, and most women are unaware of that. The risk increases linearly, so even fifteen pounds over your ideal body weight increases your risk, and as your BMI is over thirty, over forty, over fifty, it really increases. Increases. In my book, It's Time You Knew, there's also a chapter on a very young woman. Most uterine cancer is diagnosed after menopause, and the most common symptom is postmenopausal bleeding. So people recognize that and come in and get evaluated. But with the obesity epidemic in the United States, the group of women with the highest increase in incidence, meaning more people being diagnosed per year, is in the younger women between 25 and 40. And that's really a shame because before they've had their children and the treatment for uterine cancer is often hysterectomy.

Yeah.

And so we're seeing women in their 30s being diagnosed with uterine cancer. One of the other risk factors when we see uterine cancer in young women is polycystic ovarian disease. And that again, it can predispose to heart disease, diabetes, what we call metabolic syndrome. What a lot of women don't know is that the underlying risk factors for obesity-related uterine cancer are exactly the same as for heart disease. So, you know, the number one cause of death in America is heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and number 2 is cancer. And they have the same shared risk factors. If someone has obesity-related uterine cancer, they're 4 times more likely to die of a heart attack than they are of uterine cancer. But more importantly, if we don't focus on our diseases, just the ability to really enjoy your life and live a healthy, vibrant life, it's being impacted by these chronic diseases over time. So a lot of the patients I treat with uterine cancer, often they've already had a cholecystectomy or removal of their gallbladder, often in their 40s, women, right? Because it's the same profile of risk factors for gallbladder— gallstones and gallbladder disease. Many of them develop arthritis, osteoarthritis in the knees because of the excess weight and wear and tear on those joints, and then sleep apnea because the weight makes the work of breathing harder, and diabetes is strongly associated with increasing weight. And so What we do every day as far as modifiable lifestyle changes can make such a huge impact in your quality of life, especially over time. I kind of compare it to interest in the bank, in your savings account or in your investments, right? It starts out small, but when years go by, your quality of life is just so, so much impacted by your daily habits.

Yeah, definitely. I, I see that all the time with PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome. Like, getting control of your sugar and your insulin production is key to reversing all of that. And like you, I've seen women in their 30s, I've diagnosed them with uterine cancer, and it's heartbreaking. And just to know that there is a way to get control of all of this, you know, I want women to feel empowered. Like, You know, this is changeable, but the problem is they don't have the tools. They're not being told the right things. So, I love that you're getting this message out there that it's not just wait until your diagnosis and then have this surgery. It's like, get control now, shift your diet, change your lifestyle, move your body, manage your stressors, you know, like take care of yourself. That's That's kind of all what we're saying right now.

That's really, yeah, such an important message. If we don't care about our own health, how can we really expect other people to care for it?

Well, in addition, right?

I mean, we have family and friends that care about us, but we really should have the most interest in our own health because it's our bodies and we should You know, be proactive because there's payoffs.

When, you know, another risk factor for cancer a lot of people are unaware of is just sitting for 6 hours a day, independent of your weight, is a risk factor.

Mm-hmm.

And for our, our bodies to be healthy, we have to be active. Like, if we put someone in a surgical ICU that requires intubation and, and, you know, be on a breathing machine, basically they lose 3% of their muscle mass per day. If we're just sitting and we're not moving, our muscles do get weak and atrophied and can cause misalignment and hip pain and all these other issues. By being proactive and doing a little bit of exercise every day, you don't have to be like a superstar athlete, you just put your sneakers on and go outside for a walk. It changes your physiology, it changes your endorphins or good feeling hormones from, you know, a workout. It can improve your sleep, your mood, so many benefits to some exercise. The key, I think, is getting to a point where women are enjoying what they do. So the exercise, you know, it has to be sort of an internal motivation.

And women, when they're asked, you know, why they want to lose weight, often they, they're too focused on the weight or appearance.

They want to lose weight for an occasion like a wedding or something like that. And we all obviously want to look good, but I think it's more important not just to look good, but to feel good.

Yeah.

Because how we feel is often what motivates our behavior. And so if we find something that we can do to be more active and we do it consistently and are able to stick to it, then we're more likely to see an impact of what we do on our behavior, because it does take time. And it's one of the most challenging things, as you know, for weight loss or diabetes, because there's no immediate impact. It's not like brushing our teeth where we like feel better and our breath is fresh. And like, if we don't brush our teeth, people don't want to talk to us. But for some of these other things, it's just, it has to be internally motivated and you are going to feel better, so much better, but it takes time to get that habit in place. to see the benefits.

Yeah, definitely. And so you just have to keep reminding yourself of your why, like why you're doing this. And I just can't, you know, emphasize that enough, that women should take control of their health. They need to, you know, speak up if they feel like something's not making sense, if they're not feeling heard from their doctor, or they're not getting answers that make sense. Keep looking, keep asking, go somewhere else, you know, like read your book. Like, that's awesome that people have those resources now so that they don't have to just say okay and, you know, just not deal with it, because I think that's what happens most often.

I think that's very true because women, we, we take care of our children, we take care of our husbands, we take care of our You know, we do all of this caretaking as women. We're so strongly socialized to do that. And so it's really important in our busy lives with all our different hats we wear to make sure that we do take time to eat well, to make sure we sleep and, you know, exercise. It's common sense, but it just makes your life so much better if you have good health.

You know, without good health—

health is our most important asset.

And so it deserves some investment of time and energy.

Yeah, exactly. So I love that you're sharing your patients' stories, and I just think there's so much knowledge to gain from hearing other people's stories and journeys because then you might see yourself in that situation. You know, I want women to listen to their body and, you know, listen to the symptoms they're having. So I really want them to check out your book and, and see, like, do I need to go see a different doctor? Do I need to be checked out? Because I don't want women to ignore things anymore. That's, that's where you get the bad diagnosis. You know, I remember being in the ER too many times for a woman who couldn't poop for 2 weeks, and she finally came in and she had ovarian cancer, or Or she can't stop leaking and she thinks she has a bladder infection. You'd be surprised at how things are diagnosed. It's just you got to pay attention.

I also think sometimes fear limits people's presentation. More than 80% of what people fear never comes to fruition.

Most of it is the fear of the unknown.

Just going in and getting a diagnosis, even if it's a cancer diagnosis, people feel relief in that, in that their symptoms are explained and then they're not dismissed. They were heard, a diagnosis, you know, was made, and then you can make a treatment plan about, you know, even if it is a cancer diagnosis and you need to have chemo or radiation or surgery, at least you have a diagnosis and you can plan your future, like whether it means medical care and cancer treatment It's much more important to have some knowledge about the future and what you can do to deal with the diagnosis, right? And if it's a cancer diagnosis, lots of people get second opinions too. You should never be, you should never be, you know, reluctant to get a second opinion about a cancer diagnosis. Some cancers are very common and straightforward, like uterine cancer, but, you know, some of them can be more difficult to treat and It's always better to treat cancer right the first time around than to try and play catch-up.

Yeah.

So it's really important to get the right care. And for gynecologic cancers, you know, your primary care doctor is great, and so are obstetrician-gynecologists in making diagnosis, but you really want to see someone that treats the cancer you're being— that you're diagnosed with on a regular basis. Because it's the context of care. It's like having the expertise of someone that really knows that cancer inside and out. So that's sometimes, you know, people, people don't want to travel from their community hospital perhaps, but we know for ovarian cancer in particular, that's a difficult cancer to treat. And people have a better prognosis if they're managed by a gynecologic oncologist and often what we refer to as the tertiary care center or not a small community hospital, but a hospital that has teams of surgeons that work together on difficult cancer cases. Yeah, that can make a big difference in, in your outcome. So if you do get a cancer diagnosis, make sure that you're being treated in a— and by someone that specializes in that cancer and obviously, hopefully, is board certified.

Yeah, I mean, that's a super important point, is you want someone who's dealing with it on a regular basis, who's up to date, and You know, knows all the latest research so that you can have the best options and get the best outcome. I'm, I'm thinking of so many patients as you're talking. I mean, fear comes up so much, you know. Um, I remember one patient who had just constant postmenopausal bleeding, but she was so afraid of having chemo and dying from chemo because she had You know, a family member that happened to, that she didn't want to get that diagnosis. And it turned out all she needed was surgery and that was it. And she put herself through so much hell because—

So much anguish. Right.

And it's like, just, you know, figure out what's going on, get the diagnosis, don't live in fear. Like, that just breaks my heart. So much.

Yeah. And especially like for postmenopausal bleeding, if you take all comers with postmenopausal bleeding, it's only 10% of women that end up with a cancer diagnosis. There's so many benign things that can cause that. Well, the most common—

yeah, the precancer, right? Like the hyperplasia that you can intervene and do something with before you get to that cancerous point.

And not even precancer, like probably one of the most common causes that women suffer from is just vaginal atrophy, where the lining becomes very thin and they sort of get this brownish discharge that doesn't go away. And it's just from lack of estrogen and like it's solved. And then you're, you're not spotting, you're not wearing pads. It can impact your sex life because you're not having pain with sex and you stayed home because you were worried you might have a diagnosis of cancer. So that's, from our perspective, you know, we, we, I feel for those patients because they could just be enjoying their life so much more if they came and sorted out what the problem was rather than stay away in fear. And I think COVID's made that worse, right? Where people are afraid to a certain extent to come to the hospital. Hopefully their fears start to dissipate, start to resolve now that so many more people have been vaccinated. And pretty much the entire hospital's population of workers has been vaccinated at this point. Your risk is much higher outside of the hospital than in the hospital.

Yeah, yeah. I think it's such an important point. Like, it's most likely not going to be cancer, but if it is, you want to know sooner than later. So don't ignore your symptoms. Go get evaluated by the appropriate person. Get it checked out. But in the meantime, You know, do what you need to do to prevent it. So where can my listeners find your book and follow you, Dr. Wright?

Um, so I have a website called velinawrightmd.com, and it links to where you can buy the book. It's sort of structured that way. Um, so that's the best place. And Amazon has it on its website as well. So you can buy it on any of the online distributors as Awesome.

I'll have all those links in my show notes so people can just connect with you. Are you on social media at all?

Um, yes, I'm sort of just starting with this.

Um, so Instagram and Facebook.

Awesome.

Well, you can direct message at Instagram if you have questions or you want to reach me. And then also on my website, there's The top 5 ways to prevent women's cancer. If you sign up for the email list, you can get sent those, sort of a written top 5 ways to prevent women's cancer.

Perfect.

Your inbox.

Yeah, I would encourage everybody to get that at the very least. That's good, great information. So thank you so much. This has been really helpful. I hope that I hope that somebody resonated with it and is going to, like, take action because of you.

Yeah, that's the whole reason I wrote the book. I just want people to have a better life and better women's health.

Yeah. Oh, well, thank you so much for all you do and stay in touch, okay?

All right, great.

Thanks for having me as a guest.

It was really a pleasure.

Okay, so I hope you got something out of that episode. Such important information. You know, we need to be proactive as women. We need to take back our power, take back our voice, and be in control of what happens to our bodies. So much of cancer is preventable. Like, just if we can get our body in a healing mode where we have, you know, our immune system responding appropriately. Appropriately. We have our antioxidants working to get rid of free radicals and cellular damage and DNA damage, and we can like heal our bodies. We know that like our cells turn over all of the time. You know, this— there's evidence that we're an entirely new person or body every 7 years because of cell And so the key is to get your cells to turn over in a healthy manner, as opposed to hanging around and going rogue and growing cancer. And so that requires, like, eating healthy, bright-colored fruits and vegetables with lots of antioxidants, making your glutathione and all that good stuff that heals you, getting rid of the bad for hydroxyestrone that feeds the uterus and the breast tissue and all that bad stuff. You know, there are ways to really decrease your risk of cancer, and it's not just about knowing your genetic makeup. You know, like Dr. Wright said, that's like 10% or less of it. And for people who have that, that's 100% of their Right? But for most people, that's not our issue. Our issue is that we eat the standard American diet. We eat highly processed, inflammatory foods that feed crazy cellular destruction. And so we need to get off of the SAD diet. We need to return to eating clean, whole foods that haven't been, you know, GMO'd and full of pesticides. We need to manage our stressors and not live in this constant high cortisol state. We need to love our bodies and feed our minds healthy, beautiful, positive thoughts that don't feed into, you know, cell-producing cancer. So, so many things that you can do. I hope you got something from this episode. Like, if nothing else, I hope you got the fact that you need to take control of your health and your body and don't leave it in the hands of somebody else. And don't live in fear and ignore your symptoms. Like, pay attention and be like, you know, an investigator and figure it out because the outcome is so much better if you don't ignore it and you just deal with it head on. I promise you. So I hope you got value out of this. I would love to hear what your little golden nugget is, what your takeaway is that you're gonna go do. And then come back next week and join me because I do this for you. I'm trying to like help you be the best woman that you can possibly be. I know you have it in you. We all do. God put us on this earth for a purpose. We might not know what that is necessarily, but if we keep on striving and acting right and putting ourselves in that loving, positive situation and putting ourselves first and caring about ourselves, our, our amazing life will reveal itself, right? I truly believe that with all of my heart. So I want that for all of you ladies. So go out and have a kick-ass week and hit me up on Instagram, Facebook at Dr. Tabatha, T-A-B-A-T-H-A, and shoot me a note and let me know how you're feeling, what you're thinking. All right, bye ladies!