Common Women’s Reproductive Health conditions

As we started our women’s wellbeing project in partnership with Heeley Trust, we realised that people don’t have a good understanding of women’s productive health issues. We thought it would be useful to give some basic information on the 4 most common issues with some links to further information.

The project which runs until April 2025, provides help and support to women and employers on women’s workplace wellbeing. We can provide one to one advice to women who live in Sheffield and help and support SME’s who want to engage with their employees about women’s reproductive health issues that are affecting their work. If you are an employer or employee, it’s easy to get in touch us, go to our website www.sohas.co.uk and use the “can we help you” tab to send a message to our secure email address and we will get in touch with you asap.

Health Issues

PCOS: polycystic ovary syndrome is a common condition that effects a women’s ovaries work. The 3 main features of this condition are:

• Irregular periods as the ovaries don’t regularly release egg known as anovulatory in the processes of ovulation.
• Excessive androgen – high levels of the “male” hormone in the body which can result in excessive facial or body hair.
• Polycystic ovaries- ovaries get enlarged and have fluid filled sacks that surround them.

Some common symptoms of this condition that can affects some women are:

• Irregular periods / painful periods
• Difficulty getting pregnant
• Weight gain
• Thinning hair or hair loss
• Oily skin and acne
• Depression and anxiety
• Mood swings or low mood.

PCOS is also associated with an increase risk of developing health problems such as type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol. PCOS is related to abnormal hormone levels in the body including high levels of insulin as many women with PCOS have insulin resistance hence making their bodies produce higher levels to combat this. This also happens in overweight or obese patients with PCOS thus increasing the risk of the other health problems.

You can get support and guidance from http://www.verity-pcos.org.uk/

Menopause- This is a condition that occurs after women stop having their periods due to reduced hormone levels. Usually is found to happen when women reach the age of 45-55 however can sometimes occur earlier naturally, due to surgery such as hysterectomy where a women’s ovaries and uterus are removed, cancer treatment like chemo or a genetic reason however sometime the reason can be unknown.

Women can also have perimenopause this is when women have symptoms of menopause without stopping their period.

Some common symptoms of both perimenopause and menopause condition that can affects some women are:

• Anxiety
• Mood swings
• Brain fog
• Hot flushes
• Irregular periods
• changes in mood – such as low mood or irritability.
• changes in skin conditions, including dryness or increase in oiliness and onset of adult acne.
• difficulty sleeping – this may make you feel tired and irritable during the day.
• discomfort during sex.
• feelings of loss of self

You can get support and guidance from https://menopausesupport.co.uk/

Endometriosis- In this condition tissue that is similar to the lining of the womb grows in other places such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes. This condition affects women of all ages. The long-term effects of this condition can have significant impact on women’s lives however treatment is available that can help with symptoms.

Some common symptoms of this condition that can affects some women are:

• pain in the lower back and pelvis and tummy
• periods pain that stops them doing everyday task and jobs
• pain during sex
• vomiting or feeling sick
• pain peeing and opening bowls
• constipation, diarrhoea or blood in your wee and faeces
• difficulty getting pregnant
• heavy periods where you may need multiple pads, tampons or change of clothes
• depression and anxiety.

You can get support and guidance from https://www.endometriosis-uk.org/

IVF- invitro fertilisation is more of treatment rather than medical conditions. This is a treatment for women who struggle to conceive naturally due to some of the conditions mentions about. During this condition the egg from a woman and the sperm from the father are medically removed and fertilised together in a lab and placed back in the woman’s womb. This can be done with parents own egg and sperm or with donated egg and sperm.

Someone women can have the treatment on the NHS however other need to pay for it them self with cycles costing up to £5000.

The 6 stages of IVF:

1. Suppressing the natural cycle
2. Helping your ovaries produce extra eggs
3. Monitoring your progress and maturing the eggs
4. Collecting egg
5. Fertilized eggs
6. Transferring the embryos

This treatment can cause patient to have: anxiety, stress, mood swings Passing a small amount of clear or bloody fluid shortly after the procedure — due to the swabbing of the cervix before the embryo transfer, breast tenderness due to high estragon levels, mild bloating, mild cramping and constipation.

You can get support and guidance from https://fertilitynetworkuk.org/

Please note that we have no relationship with any of the websites that we given links to in the blog post.