Countdown to Clarity: Breaking Down the Top 10 Myths in Women's Tech & Health

For the final episode of the first season of the podcast, I wanted to dispel some myths about Women's Digital Health and Femtech in general.

I wanted to do this because I think that some of these myths come from a desire to lessen women's concerns about technology. Throughout this series, I've tried to show you the many benefits that can come from adopting digital technology as a way to learn about and manage your health, alongside professional medical advice.

So in this episode, I lay out some of the most compelling myths about Women's Digital Health that I've heard,  and try to provide the truth for you to carry forward on your health journey.

The Women's Digital Health podcast will return in early 2024 - thank you for your support so far!

Topics include:

• Women and men both experience a wide range of emotions, so why are women's emotions viewed negatively?
• Why Femtch Solutions don't just benefit women
• How adopting digital health can empower patients and lead to richer interactions with your professional health providers 
• What to look out for with digital health solutions and my top tips for protecting your data
• Our future plans for the Women's Digital Health podcast

Listen to Women's Digital Health Ep.5: Dr. Samantha Butts on Digital Health and Fertility 
Listen to Women's Digital Health Ep.8: Adrianna Hopkins: Uterine Fibroids, Advocacy, and Uncovering the Missing Lessons in Sexual Education
Listen to Women's Digital Health Ep. 9: Innovations in Digital Healthcare and Reproductive Wellness with Dr. Lynae Brayboy
Spotlight On: FemTech Lawyer, Bethany Corbin of Nixon Gwilt Law (Women's Digital Health, February 2023) 

Sign up for the Women's Digital Health Newsletter to hear the interview with Dr. Fenwa Milhouse about Urology, Female sexual pleasure, technology, and more.

Subscribe to the Women's Digital Health Podcast wherever you're listening right now. And please share the podcast with anyone from your community who will benefit.

Disclaimer
The information in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

The personal views expressed by guests on Women's Digital Health are their own. Their inclusion here does not constitute an endorsement from Dr. Brandi, Women's Digital Health, or associated organizations.

Visit Women's Digital Health and subscribe to our newsletter.

Connect with Women's Digital Health on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Transcript

Dr.Brandi : Welcome back, welcome back to the final episode of season one of Women's Digital Health, where we dispel a lot of myths about women's health and technology made for women's health. And in preparation for this particular episode, you know, I've been reading a lot and the books I've been reading was first, actually I'm right now reading uh, worthy by Jada Pinkett Smith. And I would love, love, love to hear your feedback. If you've started reading this book, definitely, uh, email me, you know, you can definitely check me out on all our social media, LinkedIn, um, TikTok, YouTube, wherever, if you read this book, let me know, let me know how you feel about this book. But I thought it was really appropriate to talk about, uh, the compare and contrast, because I also just finished reading Will. I literally just finished reading Will Smith's book, Autobiography, about four or five hours ago. And then I jumped right into Worthy by Jada Pinkett. And I thought that using that particular model, these two different people, was a great way to introduce some of the myths that I'm going to dispel. about women's health, as well as technology. And so in this particular episode, we're going to dispel some myths about women's mental health. We're also going to talk about femtech and some of the myths around menstrual health. We'll talk about how to go, how to use your gynecologist, when should you go to the gynecologist. We're going to talk about some myths around women's sexual desire and some of the safety and regulatory things that rumors that are out there about FinTech. So I think this episode is a great conversation starter as we get into the holidays. It's a great way to spread information, truthful information about women's health with friends and family as you're, you know, talking about different things that you want to see as we prepare for the new year. So check out this episode and feel free to share it with those that you think might be interested in learning some new tips and tricks and becoming a lot more empowered around women's health. I know you're going to love this episode. All right, so myth number one. So as I was saying, you know, I've been reading this book about Will Smith, and, you know, he's talking about how he had challenges really expressing who Will Willard really is. And I thought that was very interesting because for him, he could not, he felt as if sometimes he felt trapped in expressing a wide array of emotions because of his image. And this is in contrast to Jada Pinkett Smith, where she opens with emotions. And I thought about this a lot because one of the myths that I commonly hear about mental health with women is that women are more emotional than men. And that they're more emotional because they are hormonal. And the reality is that both men and women have emotional experiences. And they may express those emotions differently, but they both experience an array of emotions. And there are multiple factors that contribute to this. It can be genetics, environmental, biological. It can be affected by stress. It could be affected by peers. And that hormonal fluctuations occur not just in women, but they also occur in men. And these fluctuations may sometimes impact mood and emotions, but they don't necessarily lead to some mental health disorder that commonly seems to be associated with saying that a woman is more emotional. There's a negative connotation that's associated with saying that a woman is more emotional because she's hormonal. All humans, both men and women, are impacted by hormones. All humans are impacted by both testosterone and estrogen, and those hormones can influence mood. But those hormone fluctuations are not unique to women, and they don't always certainly impact or lead to a mental health disorder. And so I want to make sure we dispel this idea that hormones and emotions impact women more than they do men. Now, many of us may need, you know, support when we are having a challenge in our life. And that is where mental health professionals, qualified professionals, become very, very important. And so I want to make sure that we are clear that when someone has an emotional challenge, that you can only determine whether or not someone has a mental health disorder when they are diagnosed by a qualified mental health professional and I'm saying this because I often hear things like well she's mental and things like that that is not within the context of getting a diagnosis from a qualified mental health professional and so I want to make sure we understand that Diagnosing someone or determining whether or not someone has a mental health challenge is in the realm of a qualified mental health professional. And lastly, I would like to discuss resilience and coping. So men and women both have the ability to be resilient and cope and deal with the challenges of life. There's no difference in their ability. Now their resources may be different, but they are both just as capable of handling some of the challenges of life equally. And so that is not a gendered specific ability or talent or advantage that one gender has over another. Okay, myth number two is that The femtech or the female technology mental health solutions can replace professional mental health therapy. And so the reality is that these femtech mental health solutions, they were never intended to replace professional therapy or treatment if you need it. It's exciting to actually see the growth of these mental health solutions because one, they're greatly needed. And number two, it's very telling that people are becoming a lot more comfortable talking about their challenges with life. And the fact that there are a lot of solutions specifically tailored towards women, I'm incredibly excited about. And it's the reason why I interviewed Dr. Allison Smith, who is the founder of Rogalife, which is an app that is designed to reduce stress and burnout and support those with mild to moderate anxiety using this non-invasive brain stimulation. But I think that an app like Rogalife should be used on top of other forms of treatment like exercise, examining your diet, looking at your peer group to see where support is, increasing your social interactions, as well as considering guidance from a qualified mental health professional. I think that the layering of all of these different tools is the key to success. Oftentimes, I hear people say, well, I tried this particular mental health solution, and they only tried one, And it didn't work. As someone who has personally dealt with stress and burnout, I can tell you that when I sought out therapy from a mental health professional, and I was doing all of the other things, I found it to be incredibly effective, rather than just relying on just one of those things. So I hope that that helps dispel a myth about these solutions. And we're going to move on to myth number three. All right, next myth is that femtech is only for women. So just for clarity, femtech is an abbreviated term for female technology. It was coined by the woman Ida B. Tinn to describe technologies that are exclusively designed for women's health. And the reality of femtech, only being for women, is that while, yes, it primarily addresses women's health, when you solve these health problems for women, you help both men and women. If the quality of a life of a woman goes up because her health is better, everybody wins. And so I specifically, you know, use the term women's digital health because digital health describes all technologies that improve health and wellness for everyone. So Women's Digital Health, we are exploring all technologies to answer the question, how might this technology improve the life of a woman? I think the best example is electronic medical records. They don't have any gender-specific way of trying to improve the life of any particular gender. But the question women's digital health might ask is, how might we improve getting information about women using electronic medical records? How might we improve communication about women's health using the electronic medical record? All right, moving on to myth number four, and that is that Femtech or women's digital health is just about menstrual tracking and pregnancy apps. So the truth is that while yes, we talk a lot about menstrual tracking and pregnancy, that's definitely a part of Femtech. FemTech, digital health solutions for women, include a wide array of different products and services, not just for fertility, certainly for menopause and breast health and autoimmune disease and sexual health. And while I have to admit the most recent episodes I've done have focused on fertility, The point of those episodes was not just to talk about, you know, pregnancy, but it was really to inform you about your reproductive health and how it will teach you about your overall health. And it's the foundation of understanding your personal health, because if you understand your menstrual health, you can have a lot more meaningful conversation about your quality of life regardless of whether or not you're trying to have a family. Uterine fibroids, endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, these conditions can impact you every day, whether or not you're trying to plant a family or not. And so please check out my conversations with Dr. Samantha Butts, Adriana Hopkins, and Dr. Lynae Brayboy to understand you know, that these conditions and your overall reproductive health has a huge role in your overall quality of life. These those episodes will give you a lot more clarity. Okay. Okay. Halfway mark. We're on myth number five. And this one has to do with gynecology visits. So this one is one that I found pretty interesting because this is not what I was taught going. I'll tell you the myth and you, I'll be curious to know what you guys were taught. So the myth is that you, you only go to the gynecologist when you become sexually active and you only go when you need a pelvic exam. So according to the American College of Gynecology, they actually recommend that teenagers start seeing their obstetrician and gynecologist between the ages of 13 and 15. And you can schedule those visits like just because. The reason they want you to start having those conversations earlier is because you need to get clarity on what a normal period is. So you can go decades with having these debilitating, painful periods and think that it's normal. But if you have these educational conversations much earlier in life and you start to have the health education and the vocab and the rapport and trust with your gynecologist much earlier, you can kind of hedge off some of these issues and really, you know, get into the nitty gritty of solving these problems much earlier in your life. Now, other people may come to their gynecologist at this age because they may not have a period yet. They may be sexually active and they have questions about that. They may have questions about gender identity. But all of those things, you know, should be happening, you know, at the age of 13 and 15, between the ages of 13 and 15. The other part of this is that, you know, most people associate their gynecology visit with a pelvic exam. And really that first visit is actually a get to know you, it's not a pelvic exam. So, you know, in my mind, as we were talking a lot about, you know, reproductive health, I think that this was a great way to help people understand that the earlier you have this relationship with your gynecologist means that you're having health education conversations much sooner, which can really start helping you with your overall quality of life much earlier in your life, regardless of your family planning goals later in life. Okay, myth number six. So there's a lot of conversations about low sexual desire or low libido in women. And oftentimes I've heard women be told that, well, you should just kind of have a glass of wine and chill out, just relax. And so. The reality of this myth is that there are many, many reasons for low libido or low sexual desire in women. Hormones, including those associated with breastfeeding and menopause, can contribute to that. The relationship itself, including the stress or trust of that relationship. Fatigue can contribute to low sexual desire. Different medications like antidepressants and cancer treatment medical conditions themselves like diabetes and high blood pressure, you know, all of these things can contribute to low sexual desire. One conversation that we definitely had with Dr. Milhouse was about the pelvic floor and painful sex. And if you want to hear from an expert who treats low libido in women, on a regular basis, please subscribe to my newsletter and listen to the May 2023 interview with Dr. Milhouse, who is an expert urogynecologist. who talks a lot about this and really helps women navigate how to address low sexual desire. And I promise to make a podcast episode of that soon, but if you want to hear it right now, definitely subscribe to my newsletter and you will hear all about Dr. Milhouse's approach to addressing this common condition. All right, so myth number seven is that doctors or my health providers, they're the only ones that are responsible for tracking my health. So when I get that one blood pressure in the clinic, that's the only one that matters. And so I'm going to answer that myth by telling a personal story. So I had a friend who had fibroids. And she is like in her late 30s. And she wasn't really sure if she was done having children. She had three children, but she's in a serious relationship. And she wasn't sure if she wanted to explore something like a hysterectomy as a solution, because that was so permanent. And so we were starting to explore what her options were. counseled her on the importance of tracking her periods because when she was going to her next health care clinic visit, I explained that it was really important that she described what was happening to her, you know, during her ovulation window, you know, a couple weeks before that she was having a lot of this pain even before her period started that she through her tracking was able to note that when she did have a period, they were really, really heavy and they were getting heavier. And that she also noticed that she was gaining a lot of weight very quickly. And so the moral story of that is that, you know, when she was able to track her health, when she was able to track her periods, she was able to have probably one of the most productive and meaningful deep conversations with her doctor that she had ever had. And she also learned a lot more about herself because now she was driving the conversations. And it was very telling how much she had been going, experiencing this for several months, maybe even a couple of years. And after she was able to track and use that information in her healthcare visit, she had a much better experience with her doctor. On top of this, it also will help drive things like whether to have surgery or not to have surgery. Because now that she knew what this condition was having on her impact of life, she now realized that maybe considering a myomectomy versus a hysterectomy is a difference between the quality of life that she might have. And we talked about what that might look like surgically if she considered either one of those things. The big picture is that tracking beyond just what you get at the doctor's visit is so empowering. If you collaborate with your health care provider, I promise you'll get a much better experience with feeling like you have some control over your health. All right, the next one is you might not like me for this one because you're going to be like, Dr. Brandi, I thought you just told me to track. So what what are you trying to say? The myth is that, you know, when you do track and you use some health app to track your data, that it's covered by HIPAA or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that says that, hey, listen, if this is health data, it's supposed to be private. The reality is that not all health apps are covered by HIPAA. So more specifically, health data apps The only ones that are covered by HIPAA are those that are regulated by covered entities. In other words, like doctors, nurse practitioners, health insurance plans, or the business associates that handle this data as a third party on behalf of a health insurance company or a health care provider. So if you don't meet any of those those characteristics as a covered entity, you do not have to use HIPAA. And this is the workaround for a lot of health apps, is that because they do not define themselves as covered entities, they do not adhere to HIPAA. And so I understand that how confusing it must feel for Dr. Brandi to say, You should track, track, track using these health app data when the distrust, because there is no protection, exists. And this is one of the reasons why I've been having numerous conversations with health privacy attorneys like Bethany Corbin to talk about where do we stand in terms of data protection specifically for women. I'm going to give you a few points in terms of protecting yourselves. if you continue to track. Because overwhelmingly, if you use tracking as an approach to improve your health, you will have a better understanding of your health. That is without a doubt. If you track, you're going to have a lot more benefits. But because of this distrust, it is making a lot of women hesitant, and rightfully so. So here's a couple of tips to help you with that. When you are, number one, if you are looking for a health data app, if it's free, beware. The reason that's important is because if you are not paying for that app, you are paying for that app with your data. And many of these health apps are sharing and selling your data to data brokers. And the way that they get paid is that they share your data and you know, the risk of there being a data privacy breach is much, much greater. So, try to pick the paid ones because, you know, they have an interest in trying to protect your data. They have a much greater interest in doing that. It's not to say that they're fault-proof, but they have more of an interest because they are not making their money through sharing and selling your data. Number two, only give the data that you need. So if they're asking for your geolocation, if they want you to socially share, do not use those options. Only give them the information that they need. Number three, and I know this one's a tough one, but we're going to talk more about looking at the data privacy policy. If there's not any other question that you ask, it is, where does my data go? If there's no discussion in that data privacy policy about third-party sharing, in other words, a chance that your data is being shared or sold to a third-party entity, that's a bad sign. Because if they're not even talking about it, you already know that they're probably sharing and selling your data. So those are three tips I would highly recommend if you decide to use a health data app, a health app to track your data, because Dr. Brandi said, hey, you should track. Those are definitely ways to protect yourself. And lastly, if you want to know more about this, check out my interview with Bethany Corbin. It's the October 22 newsletter, where we talk in a lot more detail about approaches and how data privacy was impacted post Roe v. Wade and other things that are affecting the way in which women trust or distrust health data apps. Alright, so that was myth number eight. Myth number nine is all about pregnancy. So one of the things that I've heard is that you can get pregnant anytime. And so therefore, if you're trying to get pregnant, you can you should be having sex every day because anytime of the your menstrual cycle, you can get pregnant. So the truth of this is that getting pregnant really comes down to your ovulation time. So if you're trying to increase the odds of becoming pregnant, you want to be paying attention to when you ovulate or when the ovary releases an egg. And so ovulation typically is like roughly about 14 days before your period actually starts. And the way that you can tell that you're ovulating is that the cervical mucus or the vaginal discharge, it becomes very sticky and thin and stretchy. It's like a clear vaginal discharge that you'll see on your panties. And that happens like one or two days before ovulation. And so, you know, maybe 15 to 16 days before your period starts you want to be paying attention to this window because maybe a couple days after that you see that clear vaginal discharge is your ovulation window which increases the odds of you becoming pregnant if the egg is released during that time. Now again The female component is not the only factor that contributes to optimal fertility. You also have to consider sperm quality. And so, although ovulation windows are important and it's a conversation that you may have with your fertility physician, you also need to examine your male component, the quality of sperm, as you make plans around your ovulation window. Okay, myth number 10. So I've heard people say, well, after the age of 40, since you, you know, your fertility declines, you don't have to worry about getting pregnant. Whoo, this one is false. So as more women are choosing to wait to start their family, you know, after they've completed their education, they find a stable partner, they have job stability, you know, the prevalence or the rate of pregnancy for women or those of us who have uteruses over the age of 40 is increasing, and it's increasing nationally as well as globally. With this becoming more prevalent, having these conversations with experts becomes very important in order to increase the rates of success. And so the reality of getting pregnant after 40 is absolutely you can totally get pregnant after the age of 40. There's a few things you want to consider. Certainly, yes, we have a fixed number of eggs that we're all born with, and it does decline with age. You reach this peak fertility in your 20s, and by 30, it starts to decline, and by 35, it starts to rapidly decline. But you're still releasing eggs, so it's possible for you to become pregnant after the age of 40 without assisted reproductive technology. In addition to understanding that there's a possibility of becoming pregnant, know, just keep in mind that, you know, you, more and more women are seeking assisted reproductive technology to help support them with this, with fertility success. And Dr. Brayboy's interview was very enlightening because she's also talking about how artificial intelligence and other techniques are now being introduced to even improve the success rates for fertility even further than what we already are experiencing. I think that in addition to talking about success, we also begin to have more conversations about some of the risks. So in addition to increasing the success rates of fertility after the age of 40, it's important to know that there are risks of abnormalities in children having congenital malformations in women who are having children over the age of 40. And this is where embryologists and fertility experts really shine because they can tell you a lot more about those risks by examining the embryos before they are implanted. making sure that you're on the same page with what you're getting into, I think is important for setting yourself up for success. The other part of this is the risk of things like gestational diabetes, hypertension, and preeclampsia, which are more common in women who choose to have children over the age of 40. And just offering more support, having more conversations and dialogue about how ways we can better support women I think will improve the outcomes and improve the quality of life of everyone who's choosing to wait until they are psychologically and financially ready to grow and start and grow their family. I have two bonus myths that I want to dispel. The first one is My grandmother had nine children and she had her ninth child when she was 48. So if grandma can have her ninth kid at 48 I can have my first at 48. So this one's a little complicated because it's sort of true. you absolutely can have your first child over the age of 40. And I think, you know, certainly using celebrities like Iman and Janet Jackson, who definitely had their child over the age of 40, are common examples of, yes, you can certainly have your first child after the age of 40. Now, I don't know as much about Iman, but I know for sure that Janet Jackson did use assisted reproductive technology to support her first pregnancy. But if we're talking about the chances of having a successful pregnancy over the age of 40 without assisted reproductive technology, the answer is still yeah, you can still possibly, you know, have a baby your first baby over the age of 40 without ART. Here's where it gets tricky. If you are deciding to have your first child over 40, there is some evidence that the chances of you having that first pregnancy. is much lower than if you had had a pregnancy before the age of 40. And the reason is because there may have been something structural, like maybe some challenges within the fallopian tubes or in the uterus or in the cervix, or some hormonal challenge that wasn't discovered until much later. And so as we know, our ovarian reserve has declined. And if you add anything like a hormonal or structural challenge, it decreases our chances even more with age. Having said that, if you're working with a fertility expert who can really uncover some of these challenges much earlier, your success rate definitely increases. So it's totally possible to have your first child at 45 or 48. And I think that, you know, the celebrities are evidence of that. Just keep in mind that having these conversations much earlier in your life, whether or not you're trying to have a family much earlier than that, will most definitely set you up for greater success of having a successful pregnancy when you're ready to start your family. Only additional thing I'll add to this is that the opportunity to actually excel in the women's digital health space is to offer more support for things like gestational diabetes, pregnancy associated or induced hypertension, and preeclampsia. As the number of women who choose to become pregnant over the age of 40 increases, conditions like those also increase. And so we need more innovation in this space to support an ever-changing population of women who deserve the support to have the healthiest pregnancy that they can possibly have. Okay, last and final myth, myth number 12, our bonus myth is that wearing bras can cause cancer. And so the truth of this myth is that that is false. There was this theory that if you wore a bra, you were putting pressure on the lymphatic drainage system. That's the system that is responsible for removing toxins from your lymph nodes. But there was a study from the Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention journal that came out like almost 10 years ago that said absolutely not, there is no evidence that bras can cause breast cancer, that no, it's not compressing the lymphatic drainage system. And so no, there's no risk that bras can cause breast cancer. The other one I heard is that bras can cause sagging, right, because it's lifting the breasts up, and so you're not using those muscles, and so, therefore, bras can make your breasts sag more. That is also false. Certainly the size and the weight of the breast can actually cause more stretching of the ligaments. There's certain ligaments called the cuber ligaments that are responsible for the lift of the breast. So the size does impact the risk of sagginess and smoking. Smoking also reduces kind of that rubber band effect, that elasticity, that pulling effect that the cupra ligaments have. So those things can certainly reduce the ability of the lift of the breasts. If your breasts are causing like back pain or you know just severe discomfort, okay so that's an opportunity to have a conversation with your health care provider about you know either non-surgical options including bras that can offer even better support or even surgical options to help you know improve your back pain. But no bras can't cause breast cancer and no bras do not cause sagging. And with that, that concludes the final episode of season one of Women's Digital Health. Guys, this has been so much fun. I've learned so much and I just want to shout out my team who's made this first season such a success. Ashley Vaughn, who's helped me with writing. Emily Ma and Maria Haile Selassie, who have also helped me with a lot of the video and just ideas for the show. Jasmine Villamanca, who handles my social media, and Steve Woodard, who does a lot of the podcast episode editing for me. Thank you guys so much for making this first season a success. In addition to I want to definitely thank my listeners. Oh, my gosh, I've only had this podcast for not even six months, but I have heard I've seen that I've had listeners from all over the world. Certainly the United States has represented multiple states, California, definitely Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, New York, Minnesota, Texas. Kentucky, New Jersey, North Carolina, Michigan, New Hampshire, you know, all of these cities, all of these states and cities have tuned into my podcast, and I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate the support as I build and grow Women's Digital Health. Internationally, there have been a surprising number of listeners from all over the world, United Kingdom, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, Colombia, the Philippines, Barbados, Japan, Sweden, Morocco, Portugal, Taiwan, Italy, Kenya, Canada, and Greece. You all, thank you so much for your support. I really, I really appreciate it. And if you enjoy this episode, please share this with a friend. I hope that you take home some of these myths and share them over the holidays with friends and families and, you know, just kind of put it to them. Hey, did you know that this particular myth was was false? This is what we grew up with. These are these are the facts. Please share that. If you think this podcast could help somebody, Please share us. We're on LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. We're on threads. Please share, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform. We'll be seeing you guys after the holidays. Probably, I would say probably the latest is February, beginning of the 2024 new year with new content, new episodes. I certainly enjoy all the support. Thank you guys so much and have a wonderful, wonderful holiday. Take care of yourselves. Bye bye.