How to Self Advocate with Gynae Geek

Fertility Life Raft

I had the pleasure of chatting to Dr. Anita Mitra, Gynae Geek, in this episode How to Self Advocate. It was so great to hear her perspective on the doctor/patient relationship and hear what we can do to advocate for ourselves even in the middle of everything. I hope this episode will be helpful to you and give you the tools and empowerment to self advocate for the treatment that you need and want!

Dr Anita Mitra is an NHS doctor specialising in Obstetrics & Gynaecology who also appears online as 'The Gynae Geek', and has been described as 'A trusted source of knowledge in an era of self-proclaimed gurus & internet-experts'. She has a PhD from Imperial College London for her research into cervical cancer & the vaginal microbiome. She has published her research in clinical & scientific journals and is an internationally renowned expert in the vaginal microbiome and is often invited to present her research & as a keynote speaker at various learned societies in Europe & America.

She continues to work full-time as a doctor in the NHS. During her time in the hospital, Anita realised there were so many myths & misconceptions about Women's Health, often complicated by inaccurate information & false claims online. She, therefore, embarked on her mission to provide reliable yet engaging healthcare information, educate and empower women about how their bodies work & cut through the nonsense about Women's health.

In this episode, we speak about:

• The importance of a two-way street of communication between doctors and their patients

• The difficulty of finding great engaging sources of reliable healthcare information

• Tips for self-advocating in medical consultation

• How powerful it can be writing a letter to your doctor which may provoke them to reflect on what they do and might help them to change their practice

• Retaining dignity and ownership during vulnerable experiences

• Recommendation for apps to aid with tracking your cycle

• and more!

Powerful Quotes:

“When you can use information and improve someone’s experience, you can’t put a value on that.”

“I think we have to sit a little bit uncomfortable with the truth that unfortunately there are lots of people who are finding it really difficult to get the medical help that they need, and we really have to do something about it.”

“Having a blue tick doesn’t always mean you’re putting reliable information out on social media.”

“You have to make somebody feel comfortable enough to make themselves vulnerable in that consultation and say, ‘Can you explain that again because I don’t understand.’”

Connect with Dr. Anita:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/gynaegeek

Website - https://www.gynaegeek.com/

Thank you for listening to the Fertility Life Raft! I would love for you to share this episode and let me know what you think! Join our Instagram community for more support: www.instagram.com/thisisalicerose . As always please take a moment to rate and review right now or half way through or at the end - it makes the world of difference!! Thank you so much to everyone who has already.

I’m running a free live event, Reclaiming You, on 21 April and 22 April for anyone trying to bring home a baby and finding themselves feeling lost; stuck in a ‘left behind’ mentality; exhausted and in comparison mode. Read more about it, to see if it’s suitable for you and join me by saving your space here.

About Alice Rose

Hi! I'm Alice and I am on a mission to support and empower anyone trying to grow their family (and while I’m at it, changing the social narrative we see around fertility too...) Learn more about me at www.thisisalicerose.com

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