Women’s Healthcast

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists calls the 12 weeks after giving birth the Fourth Trimester. This can be a time of significant physical and emotional change, and also a period of time where it’s hard to prioritize your own wellbeing.   To kick off 2024, the Women’s Healthcast will air a Fourth Trimester series, with episodes about physical recovery, postpartum mood changes,...

Reproductive coercion – any behavior that interferes with someone’s ability to make decisions about their reproductive health – can happen in the context of intimate relationships, family relationships, or even in health care settings.   Laura Swan, PhD, LCSW , research scientist in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Department of Population Health Sciences and the UW...

November is Bladder Health Month. To celebrate, we’re replaying an interview with Angie Sergeant, a nurse practitioner in the UW Health Women’s Pelvic Wellness Clinic. In this interview from 2020, Angie talks about risk factors for pelvic floor disorders, pelvic floor physical therapy and other interventions, and what visits to her clinic look like.  If you’d like to learn more about pelvic floor...

Health disparities in the United States are a pressing issue – and we see gaps in health outcomes across all aspects of ob-gyn care, too. What role does the health care system have in reducing health disparities? Dr. Denise Howard sat down with the Women’s Healthcast in advance of delivering the keynote lecture “Our Greatest Challenge: Eliminating Healthcare Disparities” at the 2023 UW Women’s Hea...

Can starting a new birth control method, or changing your method, be as easy as opening an app, answering a few questions about your health, and picking up your prescription? E-visits for contraception are increasingly popular, whether offered through clinics or online-only services.  Dr. Eliza Bennett , an ob-gyn at UW Health, and Nicole Shapiro , a nurse practitioner and certified nurse midwife...

Palliative care – medical care to help relieve symptoms and improve quality of life for people with serious illnesses – is often a key component of cancer care and treatment. During Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month, Dr. Catherine Zhang joined the Women’s Healthcast to talk about palliative care, palliative care’s place in gynecologic cancer treatment, and how people can approach conversations ar...

Perineal tears, or perineal lacerations, are a very common complication that can happen during childbirth – somewhere between 60-70 percent of people who give birth experience some degree of tearing in the skin or muscles between the vagina and anus. Despite their frequency, they’re not a commonly-discussed topic. Our guest today hopes to change that. Dr. Jon Pennycuff, a Female Pelvic Medicine an...

In July 2023, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved a birth control pill for over-the-counter use, meaning most consumers could buy it from a pharmacy without a prescription. The pill will likely be available sometime in 2024. To learn more about the progestin-only birth control that’s approved for over-the-counter use, we talked with Dr. Amy Domeyer-Klenske. We discussed how the...

Vasomotor symptoms, also known as hot flashes, are one of the most common and most disruptive symptoms of the perimenopause transition. For some people, they can happen more than seven times a day. And once hot flashes start, people experience them for an average of 2 years (but sometimes as long as 10 to 12 years). On this episode of the Women’s Healthcast, Dr. Genevieve Neal-Perry joins us to ta...

In early April 2023, the World Health Organization released a new report that suggests one in six adults – or roughly 17.5% of the world’s adult population – will be affected by infertility in their lifetime. Despite how common infertility is, access to treatment in the United States is inconsistent. This week (April 23-29, 2023) is National Infertility Awareness Week. For this episode of the Wome...

There’s a lot to consider when choosing the right birth control -- what will work with your lifestyle? What are your goals? Are there other health issues you should consider before starting a method? Where can you go to find the right birth control for you? On this Back to Basics episode of the Women’s Healthcast, guest experts Dr. Ryan Luellwitz and Dr. Paula Cody answer all our common birth cont...

Sexually transmitted infections (or STIs) are incredibly common – over half of people in the U.S. will have an STI at some point in their life. Despite being so common, we still approach STIs with a lot of stigma and shame, and maybe even avoid talking about them at all! On this Back to Basics episode of the Women’s Healthcast, guest experts Dr. Ryan Luellwitz and Dr. Paula Cody talk about safe se...

Understanding bodily autonomy and consent can be crucial tools for navigating healthy relationships of all kinds, including romantic relationships. But helping young people build a strong sense of self and understand boundaries and autonomy should start when kids are as young as possible, well before romantic relationships are on the horizon. On this Back to Basics episode of the Women’s Healthcas...

Our understanding of gender identity, gender expression, sexuality, and sexual orientation has expanded so much over time. On this Back to Basics episode of the Women’s Healthcast, guest experts Dr. Ryan Luellwitz and Dr. Paula Cody make sure we have a solid foundation to understand the nuances of biological sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and more. They also offer resourc...

Just about half the world’s population has had or will have a period at some point. But despite how common menstruation is, there can still be some confusion or even stigma around period products like pads, tampons, menstrual cups, and more. And that’s not even getting into the huge industry around so-called feminine hygiene products that can often do more harm than good.   On this bonus episode o...

Welcome to Back to Basics, a new series from the Women’s Healthcast answering some of the most common questions about sexual and reproductive health. Guest experts Dr. Ryan Luellwitz and Dr. Paula Cody will bring us back to the basics of anatomy, gender, sexuality, the menstrual cycle, safe sex, sexually transmitted infections, birth control, bodily autonomy, and so much more. In our second episod...

Welcome to Back to Basics, a new series from the Women’s Healthcast! Over the next several episodes, we will answer some of the most common questions about sexual and reproductive health and provide resources for parents and supportive adults who may want to start having these conversations with the kids in their lives. Guest experts Dr. Ryan Luellwitz and Dr. Paula Cody will bring us back to the...

Starting in January 2023, the Women’s Healthcast will air a Back To Basics series with the aim of answering some of the most common questions about sexual and reproductive health and providing resources for parents and supportive adults who may want to start having these conversations with the kids in their lives. Guest experts Dr. Ryan Luellwitz and Dr. Paula Cody will bring us back to the basics...

Since the spring of 2022, ob-gyn clinics around the U.S. have reported an increase in questions about tubal ligation, also known as surgical sterilization or salpingectomy. Dr. Laura Hanks joined the Women’s Healthcast to talk about why those requests are up, and tell us more about surgical sterilization: what happens during the procedure, why people might be interested in permanent birth control,...

Dr. Laura Hanks joined the Women’s Healthcast to tell us more about how robotic surgery works, what kinds of procedures in the ob-gyn world can and can’t be performed with this method, and how to weigh the risks and benefits when deciding whether robotic-assisted surgery is right for you. Dr. Hanks is an obstetrician-gynecologist in the UW Department of Ob-Gyn.

Over the last few months, Google searches about vasectomy – the procedure for male sterilization – have skyrocketed. Dr. David Paolone joined the Women's Healthcast to tell us more about how vasectomy works. He discussed what preparation and recovery for vasectomy look like, cleared up some common vasectomy myths, and talked about how he counsels patients to make sure the procedure is the right ch...

Lots of questions about menstrual tracking or cycle tracking apps popped up after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022. Questions like: are these apps secure? Could data tracked in these apps be used to criminalize people who seek abortion care? Should people be concerned about using cycle tracking apps? Dr. Jenna Nobles joined the Women’s Healthc...

Vaginal moisturizers, lubricants, and vaginal estrogen can be helpful tools for improving sexual wellbeing, but how many of us know how to choose the right ones? Dr. Jon Pennycuff joined the Women’s Healthcast to discuss why people use vaginal moisturizers and lubricants, the variety of available products, and what we should consider when choosing a moisturizer or lubricant. He also talked about v...

We’re releasing this episode on June 1, 2022, and sometime in the next few weeks, the United States Supreme Court will issue a decision in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Their decision in this case could have huge effects on abortion legality and abortion access across the country. Dr. Jenny Higgins joined the Women's Healthcast to talk about today’s landscape of abortion a...

Uterine fibroids are incredibly common – between 20 and 70 percent of people with uteruses will develop fibroids during their lifetimes. And while they’re often benign, they can still cause some troublesome symptoms. Dr. Bala Bhagavath joined the Women’s Healthcast to talk about common symptoms of uterine fibroids, the broad variety of treatment options, and whether all fibroids need to be treated...