Just As Well, The Women's Health Podcast - Dr Shereen on Perimenopause, Burnout & Why Women Ignore Symptoms

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Women’s health expert and GP Dr Shireen joins Gemma Atkinson and Claire Sanderson to discuss why so many women dismiss symptoms, delay seeking help and struggle to prioritise their own health. From perimenopause and hormones to burnout, stress, painful periods and pelvic health, this episode is packed with practical advice and honest conversation about the realities of women’s health today. Dr Shireen also opens up about the moment trusting her instincts as a mother saved her son’s life. A must-listen conversation about advocating for yourself, understanding your body and recognising the symptoms women should never ignore. Want more from Women’s Health? Join the Women’s Health COLLECTIVE for workouts, exclusive events and expert advice to unlock your fittest self - Train smarter. Live better. Visit www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/wh-podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And I'm Claire Sanderson. We've just recorded another episode of Just as Well. We did. So our guest today is Dr. Shireen on Instagram. She is a GP and a women's health specialist. Her full name is Dr. Shireen E-MAD. And we discussed all aspects of women's health. but we focused on why as women we do not advocate for ourselves,

why we delay reporting symptoms, we put ourselves at the bottom of the list and the potential problems that can cause now and in the future. She was a really, really lovely guest. She had a lot of knowledge. She was such a kind, caring person, won't she? You could tell she really, really cares about her patients. She's also a mother herself, she's got two young children,

so she understands the struggle of women trying to juggle it all. She had a really relaxed but very informative approach to women's health, women's intimate health, sexual health, hormonal health. So yeah, we really did cover lots of aspects in this episode. So enjoy it. Please do like us, share and subscribe. And yeah, enjoy the episode. Dr. Shereen, welcome to Just as well. Thank you for having me.

So we are here today to talk about all things women's health. You're a GP and a woman's health expert. and we want to focus on women's understanding of their bodies and why as women we tend to second-guess ailments and maybe not take symptoms as seriously as we should and seek help when we should. I'm actually going to share a personal experience I've had recently. I have mentioned it on a couple of podcasts,

so people will be familiar with this, but I've been having these tightness sensations in my chest, which has been radiating around my back, very much feeling like I'm having, a heart attack and despite chat GPT telling me to go to A&E, three times. Three times. This happened three times. I haven't.

Okay. And when I shared this story with Gemma, you said you would have been there on the first instance. Yeah, because she said it was excruciating chest pain, radiating through her back, struggling to breathe. It lasted about an hour. Then it happened again. Then it happened again. So I was like. I'm on Gemma's side.

You were going to the doctors, anyone else. But instead, Claire was like, no, if it happens again, I might do. But is that women for you? Is that really common of us women who are just struggling so much that we don't pay attention to what actually could be quite serious symptoms? Yeah, I think, I mean, I see it as a GP all of the time.

What you're experiencing, I mean, that's an A&E job, not even a GP job if it does happen again. Just putting that out there. But yeah, I think as women, we are so conditioned to dismiss our symptoms, to not want to appear dramatic hysterical, we minimize our symptoms. We don't want to take up space. And I think this starts

from just such a young age as young girls, I'll stop overreacting. Oh, you'll be fine. We're just taught to kind of push through. And I think as we get older, we start to have different responsibilities in our lives. And as women, we are the primary caregivers often for our children, for our elderly parents as they get older. And we almost feel like we can't afford to be unwell. So it's like let's just park that to the side, get everyone else sorted, and then I'll come back to that later. But there are situations like, say, for example, if this was a heart attack where you would put that to the side, actually, by not helping yourself, not only you putting yourself at harm, but then everyone that you're looking after as well will also feel the impact of that. So I think as women, I always tell my mom, I say, even if you don't want to look after yourself, for me, look after yourself because I need you. So I think that's also something else for us to be conscious of

but as people as humans we have to put ourselves first Because in reaction to that particular scenario which I've since spoken to a GP friend And I would say she's a friend She hasn't examined me She said it sounds like an esophical esophical spasm But I genuinely was saying to myself I don't have time to be ill

That's I don't have time to be ill That was the conversation I was taking place in my heart head. I don't have time to go to A&E because this is Sunday night and I have to be in the office tomorrow. And being ill is often an inconvenience. Yes. You're right. We live really busy lives and especially when we're in the prime of our lives, we've got so much going on. Who has the time to be ill, to be in hospital? But we're humans and it does happen, unfortunately. And often, if we pick these things up earlier, there are more options when it comes to treatment. And

and we can actually keep ourselves out of hospital. It's when things get left and put on the back burner and you've been suffering with it for months or years that you get to a point sometimes where it's progressed so much, whatever the condition may be, that actually treating it becomes so much harder. And had you come in the earlier days, we could have got on top of it

and sometimes even prevented that progression. And it's things like the long-term health, a lot of women postnatally. Yeah. You know, they're not told they have a prolapse or they have a weak pelvic floor and then they get to like five years postpartum and they're on the trampoline with the child

wean themselves wondering why and then they then have to go back and have more. So if things were addressed like you say at the moment they needed addressing it would save so much pressure on the NHS long term and save so many women needing help long term. And living five years with symptoms that could have been controlled so often as you say in those first five years

It's meant to be a happy time, a time that, you know, you can be giving the best of yourself to your family, to your children. And if you're in a position where every time you're sneezing and coughing, you're peeing yourself, that's not an ideal way to live. And you can then carry the shame and the stigma with that if you're not addressing it. And then not be living that fulfilled life that you potentially could be. Yeah. And some women, when we spoke to the, we had a GP on yesterday and she was explaining to us as well, what she wishes she could change is more. tying with patients because she said often women especially are overlooked you know perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms it's just in your head you probably just spinning a lot of plates

don't worry about it it's a phase and she's like women are struggling with these symptoms and we need to not only speak about the menopause more but raise awareness about the symptoms and that they are it's a valid point you know what I mean? Absolutely yeah I think I mean the system right now we all know NHS GP is so stretch. I've been working as a GP. This is my 10th year. And I've seen how it's changed over the last 10 years throughout COVID and then post-COVID as well. But even in the early days, 10 minutes per patient, 18 patients in the morning, 18 in the afternoon, you run two minutes late for each patient, your last patient's waiting an hour. That's just the way that it works. You have no time. And a lot of people don't realize that within those 10 minutes, that involves us opening the patient's notes,

calling their name in, them coming to the room, taking their coat off, saying hello, all of this. Yeah, it's all. And building a rapport, which is so important because you can't expect someone to just run into your room, sit down and be like, I've got blood in my poo. There has to, that human connection needs to form, but that's within those 10 minutes.

And then when we examine them, often our patients are elderly or their young children, getting them onto an examination couch, getting them undressed, redressing, explaining all of that takes, that's 10 minutes. So people often come in, and they think that they've only seen the doctor for two minutes. I just had a two-minute appointment.

They got me out. They weren't interested. They were typing while they were talking to me. But it's a system issue. It's not that the doctor doesn't care. We're just working within a system where it's so hard. And this was actually my motivator to come online because I thought I was having so many friends coming.

I've just been diagnosed with PCOS. My doctor just told me to lose weight. What does it mean? And I'd explain it to them. And they were like, why don't you put this online somewhere where it's a trusted source of information from a doctor, there's evidence-based, it's all backed by science that people could refer to and then share within their group chats and with their friends. So it gave me a platform where I could kind of bring all of that information and what I wished I could tell my patients.

Yeah. I see everyday blood sugars high, cholesterol high and I'm literally like, okay, you just need to eat healthier and walk more steps. Like it's not good, it's not good medicine, but it's all we can do right now and it's highly frustrating. This episode is sponsored by Femfresh, a skincare brand that specialises in products made for the external area of intimate skin known as the vulva. Its washes and wipes are designed to slot into your daily routine and are clinically tested for compatibility with the intimate area's natural pH range, which is between 3.8 and 4.5. All the products in the range are formulated to bring specialist care to your intimate area, an often overlooked part of skincare. There's research in that it takes women 10 times longer to convince a medical professional they are in pain

and their pain is real. Women, we feel that maybe we've been fobbed off and not heard. One of the reasons for that may be what you just described, by the way, that doctors physically don't have enough time to commit to their patients. So is it any wonder that women are not advocating for themselves in a medical environment

because it's probably informed by their... past experience and for fear of being labeled overdramatic maybe and hysterical and a lot of these terms that we get labeled with regularly. Absolutely. And the fear of being dismissed. I think if you if you felt dismissed in the past by a GP, it's a really horrible feeling. And I think then you're having some different symptoms and you're like, I don't want that feeling again of being dismissed. So I think it's, you know, it's a multi-pronged approach. It's yes, it's our culture and conditioning from a young age about kind of

not being over dramatic is the fact that we carry so many plates and it's also the fact that the healthcare system probably isn't providing adequate care all of these factors together lead to a really poor experience for women's health because there's a lot of changes during perimenopause and menopause

that women often we just say it's normal it's part of it, don't worry and we shouldn't really have to suffer them. I mean, growing up, I just thought it was your period stop and you get hot. Yeah. But now because of people like yourself online, I know I could have palpitations. My hair could fall out. I could have mood swings. But that access isn't available everywhere. Absolutely. I actually often look back at my mom and her journey through perimenopause and menopause. And it was absolutely that. There was no conversations. And back then, things like

HRT were so out of reach for women. And we often, think about menopause. The word perimenopause, I really think in the last few years, is having its moment and it's on the tip of people's tongues. We, even in medical school, when I was learning about menopause, there wasn't much about perimenopause. It was like, right, menopause is when you've not had a bleed for a year. It's one day. So that's the one day after a year of no bleed. And then you're postmenopausal. And that was basically it. So there was nothing about this run up to menopause, which actually so many people don't realize can start 15 years before menopause comes.

So the normal, if you're going to have a normal menopause, it's between 49 to 51. It's that period. But from 35, you might start experiencing symptoms. And again, exactly what you said, hot flushes. Everyone thinks that's all it is. That's what it is. You just start feeling hot in meetings. But there is like a hundred different symptoms of perimenopause.

And ones that are commonly overlooked would be anxiety, stress, brain fog, sleep deprivation. And if we think about now when people are having children, many women are having children in their 30s. So they're postpartum and going through perimenopause and they're putting their symptoms down to the fact they've got a newborn baby and they're stressed and they're not sleeping. But actually it might be those hormonal changes of perimenopause that are starting to creep in. So I think having that knowledge of what the symptoms could be, which again, there's so much now on social media, which is amazing. Pages and platforms where people can really lean on for that evidence-based information. No one's trying to sell anyone anything. We just want to give that information out so people know.

And knowing that when things do start changing, it's okay and there is help available and we can help you. And things like HRT, we don't have to wait for menopause. So many people don't realize we can start HRT during perimenopause. I get women coming in and they're like, I'm having all these symptoms. I think it's perimenopause. I treat them clinically. Blood tests are often, we can do hormonal profiles, but everything's so up and down. I wouldn't treat the blood tests. I would treat the person. And I say, you know, okay, yeah, this does sound like it. Let's try HRT. If it works great. If it doesn't, back to the drawing board. But for many women, for many years and generations, this was never an option. They spent 15 prime years of life just suffering with all these symptoms of brain fog and not feeling themselves impacting work, impacting relationships. I think it's really. important to not only us being open talking about it but within your relationship your partner often notices the changes in you before you notice the change yourself and for them to be like

no babe you're not quite yourself lately is everything okay and being able to ask that without fear of you then snap in snap which is shut up yeah exactly but having those conversations early maybe even before it started I speak to my husband now and I'm trying to Even, I'm trying to educate him on women's health, on the menstrual cycle, even month to month. And he will now be like, if I, if I'm a bit short with him about something, he's like, he, like, he knows. And because that understanding is there that he knows, okay, in my luteal phase, I am a little bit, my tolerance is a little bit less to get annoyed. It's helped our relationship because he's not thinking that I'm just being, you know, unreasonable. He's like, okay, there is something that there's a cause for it.

It's not completely just. Hormones are so powerful, aren't they, and how the effect and everything. Everything from your confidence to your libido, your sleep. It's a wild ride literally from when you start. Yeah, and when you, you know, when you're a teenager, you know, going through much. Everyone says teenagers go through that grumpy phase. And it's clearly hormones. It's hormones, yeah.

And we, as you say, it's monthly. Men are kind of like this. We're like this. And I think just having insight into your cycle, I'm so much more in tune with my cycle now than I was in my 20s. And I really, I know. And sometimes I'll even dress based on,

like if I'm feeling very confident around my ovulatory phase, I'll dress very differently. In my luteal phase, I want to be a bit more baggy clothes, a bit more comfy. And I'm conscious now even of my wardrobe choices based on my cycle. You're absolutely right. In two weeks' time, I'm in a photo shoot.

And by that, I mean, pictures being taken of me which is not my comfort zone because normally I'd be sort of behind the camera taking pictures of people like Gemma and I'm just hoping that it's at a point in my cycle

where my hormones are not absolutely overtaking my body confidence because there are points in the month where I feel awful where I just want to hide away wear body clothes and then literally the following week

I can get up and feel wonderful and four stone lighter and confident and want to show off. Exactly. It's incredible that hormones, even at my age, I'm 48, the journey that I go on on a monthly basis. But it's incredible that you're so in tune with it. And I think that's what's really important as women

that we recognize our bodies. You recognize what's normal for us. And if it's something we can work with, like it sounds like what you're doing, that's great. We just work with it. Like I'm going on a holiday in a couple of weeks. I know if I'm not going to be on my period, I'm going to be in my luteal phase and I'm not going to look and feel great.

So I'm thinking about what I'm going to pack. And it would be very different to if I was going two weeks after. But it's half term and I can't really. I can't make them move half term for my cycle. But yeah, it's just as women, I think being in tune with our body. And that will then in turn then help your confidence because you're dressing for how you're feeling and what you're comfortable in. But how do we tell the difference between stress and burnout and hormonal changes?

Because as women, we're multitasking. We are taking on the load of our families, the disproportionate load of our families, if we're completely honest, if you're in a heterosexual relationship. We have jobs. We all have jobs here. You know, we have parents. We're carers at and down in all directions.

Yeah. I'm stressed and I know I'm stressed. Is that being made worse by the hormonal journey that I'm on at the moment? or do they exist separately? Actually, I think a lot of the time, hormonal changes, stress, burnout, they coexist. And they are actually linked with each other. So with regards to stress and cortisol,

which is our stress hormone, we know for a fact. So cortisol, firstly, is often demonized on social media, but it's actually a hormone that saves our lives. If we were being chased by a bear, it's our cortisol that would initiate that fight or flight response to get us away. but then typically we would then be hiding and the cortisol levels would come down.

So in that situation, cortisol is a fantastic hormone. Unfortunately, in 2026, we're living a life where we've got a million bears chasing us and they're not going away. So our cortisol is up. We're constantly in this fight or flight modes and it's not coming down. So it's chronically elevated. And chronically elevated cortisol, which is linked to chronic stress, we know that can really impact other hormones. it actually, we say it steals from the other hormones, particularly about, particularly hormones around reproductive health.

So when people are chronically stressed, sometimes their periods completely stop. It affects our digestive system. Because obviously if you're being chased by a bear, the last thing your body is focusing on its digestion, is that fight or flight. So where they can coexist, they can actually also impact each other.

So chronic stress can really impact your hormonal balance that's going on in your body. And could hormones and, you know, perimenopause, it's intimate health as well, that things can change intimately during your perimenopause and menopause? Yeah, absolutely. So obviously during perimenopause, our hormones are constantly fluctuating. So if we think about period health, for example, you go from like a 28-day cycle, maybe to a 23-day cycle, that's one of the initial changes that you might see.

And periods might become heavier. irregular. It's almost like, I always think of it as like if you've got a tube of toothpaste, some months you'll squeeze the tooth, sometimes you'll squeeze a toothpaste and loads comes out. Some months you squeeze it, nothing comes out. And it's like that with your cycles and your periods during perimenopause. So what does a healthy intimate care routine actually look like? If we think about ourselves holistically rather than just our intimate area, stress management really, really important for all the reasons that we've just talked about, that stress can impact our hormones and then in turn, our intimate health, our diet, our

lifestyle, movement, exercise, sleep, all of these things that when we think about, we might be thinking maybe aesthetically or energy levels, but actually there's so much research to show that that also helps our intimate health. So I think when we think about intimate health, not over-complicating it and thinking of ourselves as the bigger picture, we'll in turn have a positive impact. What would you say to any women in their 20s now? Yeah. What they could be focusing on when it comes to understanding their bodies

because I'm 42 this year. And when I was in my 20s, there was no talk of wellness and perimenopause. It was you were out Friday, Saturday night, McDonald's on a Sunday. Yeah. You know, had I known then what I know now, I probably would have done things differently. So to anyone who's younger now, thinking,

oh, we've got ages till that starts, what would you say to them? I mean, I would say have fun and enjoy your 20s because I think I'm a similar age to you and we lived a very different life in our 20s than what 20-something year olds are living now. I think already that health consciousness is there from what I understand,

a lot of the London clubs are closing, a lot of the Gensie don't drink. and they're very conscious of their health. And all of that is positive, it's good. I would say in terms of as a woman, really understanding your cycle, it took me so many years to understand my cycle. And I never, it wasn't really until I started trying for a baby that I thought about how many days is my cycle and when am I ovulating and this is my luteal phase.

And I really became in tune with my body much later on. I think in your 20s, if you learn you're normal because the chances are if you're going to get any kind of like gynecological issues is going to happen later as you go through different hormonal transitions and like postpartum pregnancy, fertility, all of that. So knowing what's normal when things are kind of stable in yourself is really important. Understanding the menstrual cycle. I would want and hope all girls to be taught from school, you know, in their teenage years when they're doing sex education to be taught what the menstrual cycle is, what the follicular

phases, what the Luteal phase is, we teach them so often, don't get pregnant, don't get pregnant, but actually learning about how can your fertility and what kind of lifestyle you should live to try and like help and support your fertility. And in your 20s, that is still really, really important. I think also in your 20s building habits. For me now, the habits that I built in my 20s are still paying off. And back then, I had no responsibilities. I had no kids. I was a student. My biggest thing was let me just get through these exams. There was no job, no financial pressure. Whereas now I don't have the time to sit and build my habits. But because I did that in my 20s, with regards to my nutrition, with regards to exercise, I'm training again now with a PT and the muscle

memory and just the memory of the form of everything. It's just there. So it means you can just hit the ground running. When life is busy, you've set yourself up. So your 20s are like you're building gears of your foundations. And I think it will always. pay itself off over and over as you hit your 30s or 40s and beyond. So what are some signs women shouldn't ignore when it comes to intimate health changes? So there are a few things that I often as a GP I will see women kind of dismiss or ignore, but they can be signs of something quite serious. So I would say, again, this comes down to knowing you're normal.

So anything related to period changing. So postpartum we know periods can become heavier and we give that a little bit of time often for that to settle down. But sometimes women, for no reason at all, their periods might change. They might start becoming a bit heavier, more painful. Again, painful periods is one that often gets, women will either ignore it and live with it or they will feel dismissed by their GP. We know that endometriosis takes almost eight years on average to diagnose. So that means eight years of women living with debilitating pelvic period pain. It's just, it's really not acceptable. And I often think if men had periods.

I think that would be much shorter. Yeah. And it comes down again to women, like you said earlier, that not taken seriously being portrayed as being hysterical or overexaggerating. It's all in your mind. Yeah. So I would say period, tracking your periods, knowing what's normal and when things start changing.

Bleeding between your periods is not normal. Bleeding after sex is not normal. So these are the sorts of things that I would urge women. to keep an eye on and if it does occur then to speak to their GP and making sure in line with that that they're up to date with their smear tests. I think vaginal discharge is one that quite often gets ignored. Some vaginal discharge is normal. So a common misconception is that all vaginal discharge is abnormal, but it's not.

Anyone that's been trying to conceive will know during ovulation you get something called egg white discharge, so your discharge changes. And that is all just to have an environment that is more friendly for the sperm to fertilise the egg and create an embryo, but any new discharge. And again, back to knowing your body and knowing what's normal for you. So a discharge which is a different colour, a discharge that's very foul smelling, things like bacterial vaginosis or BV. We know you get very strong fish-like smelling discharge.

Very easily treated with antibiotics, but so often dismissed. And then I would say in terms of sexual health, again, a topic that's so stigmatised that people still don't feel comfortable to talk about with their doctors. And particularly I see it in different cultures, even then they won't speak with their own husband about their sexual health. I've had patients come to me and say to me, I want to talk to my husband about something that's going on during sex, but I can't because they just, culturally, they just can't say that word in front of their husbands. So with regard to sexual health, something that many women struggle with is pain. And it can be, we call it disparinia. It can be superficial.

so that's pain on going in or it can be deep. So that's during intercourse. You feel like a deep pelvic pain. Both of them have different causes. Again, they're things that we can help women with, but we need them to come to us for us to be able to examine them and to offer that help. When you said about tracking your period,

when I was younger, my mum used to always say to me, whenever my period starts, just put a little pee in your diary. And I still to this day do that because she said any doctor, any, well, the first thing they'll say to you as a female is, when was your last period. And they always, they always do. And I remember going in once and thinking, oh, I don't know when it was.

And I was a bit embarrassed. I was trying to do period math. And my mum said, put it in your diary. So now when they say, where's your last period? I just say one minute. And I just flip through and just show them. And you don't need an app. And a lot of the time when it comes to tracking cycles, people think that, oh, I need an app.

I need to do it. I need a symptom. You don't need to do all of that. Exactly what your mom said. What a great bit of advice. I might start doing that tea. Yeah. Just to look, whenever I see a peeve, the circle in my diary, I think, oh, it was then.

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It's really tricky and I think it really comes down to the woman. The great thing about Instagram posts and about us creating medical content is that there are things that you can share. So there might be a topic that you might feel. I feel embarrassed to talk to your partner about, but it might be easier to forward a post about it to them. That's a good idea. And let that do the talking for you. Yeah.

And kind of break the topic, breach a topic like that. With regards to your doctor, I think it's really hard in this current situation. Every time you go, it's a different GP. It's not like it used to be where you would have your family doctor and they would know you from childhood all the way through to adulthood. I would say preparing for your appointments is helpful, tracking your symptoms, and just understanding that your doctor is there to help you. I always think of, as a doctor, the human body for me is like a car.

And if I'm examining a patient and they're feeling embarrassed, although I'm so embarrassed. You know, I'm so sorry I haven't shaved. I'm like, I'm literally just thinking like of you as a function. A function. Yeah, we're not thinking about that. And I would just, I'd love for everyone to know that doctors don't think about, you know, have you shaved or have you not? Or there to judge you. We don't know you personally.

We're not here to judge you. We're just here to offer you practical advice, reassure you, offer you investigations if needed, treat you. And we're on your side. Yeah. I remember panicking when my water's broke that I hadn't shaved because my waters broke early with Mia. Yeah. And I said to court, I can't go to the hospital. Yeah.

I said you need to tidy me up. Who was like, what? I said, I can't let them see me like. this and when I the mid when she was here and I speaking to the midwife after I said to her I was a bit worried I said I'm so sorry and she said for what she wouldn't have seen her she said that I said for that area and she said oh she's the last thing I'm thinking oh she's left in about 15 already yeah today she was but I was so worked up about it thinking she'd be going oh she didn't shave a pubes before coming in like that should be done no no we honestly we wouldn't even

notice it it's not even like oh she hasn't shaved her pubs oh it's fine we don't even notice it. You're so focused on what you're looking for that it's just, that's just, it's just the periphery. It's not, it's not important at all. And I think if, if people understood that more, they might then feel more open to go and see their doctor about things and not worry about little things like that. Yeah. Why do you think as women, we do struggle to prioritise ourselves, especially during our caregiving years, we haven't got the time or we do have the time, but it's on something else. Yeah. Like you, I'll see if it happens for the fourth time before.

I'll wait to I'm on the floor. Yeah, I'll wait until someone finds me. But it's even like we were talking yesterday how you do your emails while on the sideline watching your song play rugby. Because that's when you've got a free time. But it's not free time. It should be, you know, I'm sure you'd like to be focusing more on the game, but you've got so much to do.

Yeah. It's just, I think we have to give ourselves start points and end points, And we've had guests, we had the CEO of YouTube in, didn't we? And she said, she now, Saturday and Sunday, nothing. Boundaries. She's like, even if people are like, it's really important. She says it's not as important as my time at home with my family. Yeah.

But it's women allowing themselves the permission to do that. Not all of us do. It's so hard. It's so hard to do that. And I think where we have, we're all trying to live a life where we want to be perfect at everything. And I was actually speaking about this recently because, People often ask me, how do you do it all? I'm working as an NHSGP.

I've got a two-year-old and a five-year-old. I'm doing all of the content stuff on the side. And I'm like, look, on any given week, I'm not great at everything. I'll have weeks where I'm a brilliant mom. Like I'm going to all of their performances, sports days, parents' evening. I'm doing all of the homework is like bang, I'm brilliant. I'm so present. But I'm probably not great at content.

You might not see much on Instagram from me. There'll be other weeks where I'm away with work. And on those weeks, I'm probably not, if you ask my kids, they'll be angry with me that I'm not there. But I give myself grace on the days that I can, on the weeks that I can be present, I'll try and be as present as I can. And then on the weeks that I can't, I try and tell myself what, at least last week I was. But as women, we are constantly living with this guilt. Guilt. That's the guilt.

Yeah. And it doesn't go. And even now, when I speak to my mom, like, she'll sometimes be like bringing up things from like years ago. And I'm like, you're still, like, even now as like helping me, my teacher, like I'm so sorry, I can't help you the kids today. I'm like, why are you feeling bad for that? They're my kids. Like, you're helping me help my kids.

It just never, it just never stops. And I think as women, when we've got all these plates that we're juggling, then when it comes down to self-care and our own health and well-being, that just falls right to the bottom. But like we would prioritize our children, our work, our jobs, we have to prioritize our bodies and our well-being as well. to find time within a week that we can do that. Yeah, because I was two years late for my smear recently.

I'm late for mine right now. And I didn't realize it was two years. I know, and I cancelled it about four times. Yeah. Every single time for work. Something was put in my diary that I felt I had to prioritise over it. And when I finally went, she said, well, no, it would have been two years in September. Yeah, and it's so easy for the years just go back.

Yeah, you just flies. Mine's true now. and it's on my mind. And now we said, I'm like, it's again a reminder, oh, I better book that in. But again, it's something that we have to find that time. But to get an appointment to go,

it's, okay, it's like a 10, 15 minute appointment, but the reality is you need to block a morning off. Yeah, yeah, you have to, you're looking for half that day. Yeah. So you need to find somewhere in the week where you can give half a day

to go for something that, you know, hopefully we'll come back as being normal, but it's just part and parcel of looking after your health. But it is really important to do that because, you know, if God forbid it wasn't normal, it's something that you could, it's there for a reason. It really helps, you know, prevent something worse from forming.

I was speaking to another senior woman in our industry. She's the VP of a big company. And as part of her healthcare, she was offered health screening tests, which I know is a luxury that's not afforded to everyone, but she was able to go off and have this health screening done. And the mammogram part of it was in a different, building. So she went for all the other bits and bobs that you have done in one building. And then

she left and thought, I really need to get back to the office. But something in her said, no, go for that mammogram. It's booked. You need to go for it. So she had to go in the opposite direction to book the mammogram. And they found cancer. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Breast cancer. And she's now had treatment and hopefully is out the other end and seems to be doing okay. Almost like a sliding doors moment. Isn't it? On that decision, should I go? Should I not? Was she prioritise?

And she said she very nearly didn't go. She was driving, having that in a dialogue. Do I have time? Yeah. To go for a mammogram and she did. Yeah. And they found cancer. Wow.

Health is your wealth. But there's fears as well around smear tests and there shouldn't be. But before my first one, I was so frightened. I was thinking it's going to be horrible. And all it did and all it still does, make me sneeze. I don't really. I always sneeze. Always makes me feel like I need to sneeze when I have a smell.

I don't know by sneezing, but I don't think it's a drama. No, it's not. And there are things you can do to kind of make it a bit more comfortable for yourself as well. And, you know, there's different size speculums that we use. So I always ask them for the smaller one because I just know that'll be a bit more comfortable. Physicians you can lie in, putting your hands behind your bottom. There are little tips and things that can make it. Look, it's not, I wouldn't say it's like, it feels great.

But it's also, as you say, it's not the drama. It's not. It's just something that needs to be done. And it's once every three years. It's not that often. and if everything's okay. It's worth it. It could save your life.

Yeah. And if you are a little bit embarrassed, the woman doing it has been sat there all day. All day. It is much like me writing a sentence to her. You know, it is what she does all day. You know, she's not judging whether you've had your wax or what knickers you're wearing or whether you've shaved your legs.

Or if in my case, again, postnatally, when I had a check, I sell out a pile. And I said, I'm really sorry. I said, I've still got a pile from when I had kids. And she said, I'm a grandma and I've still got piles. She went, don't worry about it. So I was out in that case. There you go.

But it's starting where I'm really sorry. And so many times women come in and they start with an apology. I'm so sorry if I'm wasting your time. I'm so sorry, I haven't she? We're constantly apologising. And it's like we don't need to. That service is there for us. Doctors are there to help you.

You going in actually, for me, as I said, it makes things easier when people go in earlier. either I'm going to offer reassurance and it's fine or it's something we're going to monitor or it's something that we're going to treat but the best thing you can do is come in early so that we can actually figure it out and it might be something that will just completely reassure you and you can then get on with the rest of your life

and it's not something that's nagging you know sometimes you might have something that's just nagging on your mind and it still causes stress yeah it steals from your mind your well-being what are the non-negotiables of self-care for a busy woman. So yes, in an ideal world,

we'd be on top of every single thing. But what are the non-negotiables? Like a smear, I'm assuming, is it really should be a non-negotiable. What are the other things, the tests you need to stay on top of or symptoms that you absolutely shouldn't ignore? Oh, wow.

Okay, so I think, yeah, smear tests, 100%, that's mandatory. You have to do that. I think often as women, our bodies speak to us. So they will tell us that something's not right. And all you need to do is look in the mirror. Your skin is an organ.

It's our largest organ. And it talks to us if it's inflamed. If that organ is inflamed, there's a chance that internally there's also inflammation going on. Our hair talks to us. If our hair starts bawling out, often it's something internally going on. Our digestive system, if you've got diarrhea constipation, it's not, it's there or it's not there. So changes in your bowel habit. These things are so important.

So when we think about self-care, again, it's about being in tune with your body and picking out what's normal and what's not. In terms of bloods and things, I would say if you are, for example, losing your hair, if you're feeling fatigued, if there's a change in your bowel habit, any kind of symptom, the first port of call with your GP is always a blood test. Like, we're always going to do a blood and a blood test. And it's not always the same things that we're looking for. But I would say in women, one, there's two things that are always low pretty much when I test

women. One is iron, ferretin levels, and one is vitamin D. And again, it comes down to us putting ourselves on the back burner. So if you've gone through pregnancy and then you've gone through either labor, like a natural vaginal, normal vaginal delivery or a C-section, you will have lost iron, either through the pregnancy or the way you've birthed your baby. Our iron levels drop. We go home with the baby and then no one checks our bloods. And we're tired because our iron levels are low, but we've also got this baby, so we'll put our tiredness to that. We'll start losing our hair. Okay, this is hormonal postpartum hair loss.

It could be that, but it could be the iron as well. Yeah. And it takes years for a woman to then come to me and be like, you know what, I've been feeling really tired. How long for five years my kids in school now. Okay, let's do your bloods, your ions in your boots. We replace it and they're just a different person. Simple, yeah. They come back, the colors back in their cheeks.

They're energized and they're so used to feeling fatigued. And again, it's those prime years. vitamin D. So many people don't know this. We have to take vitamin D. Everyone does from October to March because we simply don't see enough sunlight during those months. But if you work indoors all the time during daylight hours, if you cover religiously, culturally, and your skin isn't being exposed to the sun, you have to take vitamin D all year round. Low vitamin D will affect your immune system.

It will affect your hair, your bone health, again for women, which is so important, your energy level. all of these things are impacted. So I would say, again, when it comes down to the fundamentals of self-care, is staying on top of these really basic tests. So a blood test, the smear test. And again, checking in with yourself with your mental well-being because as women, we do go through perimenopause. It affects everyone differently.

But in so many women, again, it's just, oh, I'm a bit anxious. Things that never used to stress me out, like not finding a parking space. suddenly it's like really really stressing me out. These small subtle changes, staying on top of them, I think is the best form of self-care because you're setting yourself up for the future if you're staying on top of them. You're not allowing yourself to fall off this cliff

and then being really, really lost. I would add checking your breast too. Oh, absolutely. And doing it properly. Look on line how you do it properly. Absolutely, yeah, once a month at least. And again, knowing what's normal for you because then the second a lump or an abnormality

or a skin change, nipple change happens, you're so on it and we know with that that early detection safe lives. From the vegan friendly sensitive wash to the daily wash with 94% natural origin ingredients. Femfresh's projects are dermatologist tested to help confirm that they are gentle and suitable for use on intimate skin.

Whether it's a wash used in your daily shower or a wipe kept in your bag for on-the-go freshness, the focus on bringing specialist care to external intimate skin remains the same. It's been lovely to have you in. One last question before you go and then we've got some quickfire questions. The last question would be, what would you say is the most empowering lesson you've learnt through your own experiences, not just as a doctor, but also as a mother?

Okay, so I have had the biggest lesson of my life. So when my son was born, everything was fine, everything was normal. When he was five days old, he became extremely unwell. But we couldn't tell he was unwell. There was just something that happened. And I haven't gone into detail again. I'm still really traumatized by everything that happened with it. But there was something that I saw and I was like, this isn't quite right.

I seeked advice from a few different friends, got mixed messages, but I said to my husband, there's something in me that's telling me he needs to get checked. And I remember my husband saying, I'm sure it's fine, but to reassure you, let's just go. Had we not gone, he would have died that night. And my husband, to this day, says, if I, I was day five postpartum, I was sleep deprived. He could have easily said to me, let's not go, it's fine. And I would have been like, yeah, but that instinct, and it was against all of my medical knowledge, I didn't know what was going on. At that point, even the doctors, when we went to the hospital, they didn't know what was going.

No one knew what was going on. The only thing that took me there was my instincts and my intuition. And I have always said, you know, listen to moms. When a mom comes in, don't look at the child, look at the mother. If you think the child's fine, ask the mom. why are you worried about this child? I can't see anything, but what is it that's making you worried? Because they know their child.

You've only seen them for a few minutes. They know what's normal for them. So it's the mother often that can really tell the doctor what the issue is. And I always had that in my mind. But until I'd lived through it in that period, I was like, wow, this mother instinct, intuition, it's the most powerful thing. It goes beyond medicine. It goes beyond common sense, medical knowledge, textbooks. It's just something that, for me, it saved my son's life.

We had two hours left, they said. Wow. I would have died, yeah. My sister had similar, her middle child Tyler, who's 24 now, when he was very, very young, around nine weeks, he became very unwell. And she took him, and they gave him paracetamol, said he was a temp, go home, check him. Yeah. And she just said, I knew it wasn't just that. She said, I just knew.

And she rang my mom and my mum went down and straight away. My mum said, just take him to A&E. Yeah. And then within a few hours, it was a puff of fish, yellow meningitis. It was in the ICU. Wow. And he was in the ICU for two weeks. And she said, I mean, he's fine now, touch wood.

Everything's fine. And he's, but had she not second, she just was like. And at first, the whole, the doctor, They said it's nothing, but I just feel. And it was my mum. She said, get him there now. And then, thankfully, he's here. Yeah.

But it's that whole trust your instincts. Trust yourself. Exactly. And my friend who's a GP, she says, we will never ever fault a mother for caring too much about the kid. Absolutely. She said, so when they come in and go, I've been back already this week.

So I do a, she said, we will never question that. We'll say, good, you're doing the right thing. The best thing is, we hope not to see you again. but if I see you're in three days because you're still worried, that's better. Absolutely fine. You'll never, ever get told, don't come. You're overreacting. For me, providing reassurance is also providing treatment.

So if there is literally nothing wrong and the mother just needs that reassurance, if that means she's going to go away and feel more confident as a mother, provide better care for her child, that's a win. You don't need to always give medicine. No. So, yeah. So instinct in yourself but also in your children as well, I think it's massive. Well, Dr. Shereen, thank you for coming in to Jess as well.

Before we let you go, we have our quickfire questions. So our first one is Deborah. Deborah. She brings fog. Who is Deborah? Deborah. Deborah. I'm so random.

Sorry, Dads. The first one, Gemma and I are stacking up our dinner invitations and we are coming to your house. What are you going to cook us? Oh, wow. Okay, I make a really good curry. Oh, lovely. And we're not South Asia. I'm Iranian, so in Middle Eastern.

So we actually are much more into like saffron and these kind of like mild herbs. But I love a spicy curry. I do. So I'd be making you. Do you eat red meat? I don't. You do? I do.

Chicken. Chicken. Chicken. And I can make a nice chicken curry. So that's my go-to. And my husband comes down, he's like curry again. So good for you, though, isn't it? And yeah, you can make it as healthy or unhealthy as you want.

But yeah, I make it really healthily. A few spices, tomato, tin tomatoes, bit of chicken. And it's really nice. That's the, yeah. Before to that. Question two, what is the one thing, apart from your children, that you would take to a desert island for a year? You're on your own on the island.

You can only take your children. Oh, I can't take your children. Oh, I can't take my children. They're banned. A phone to FaceTime them. Or SPF. I mean, if it's for me, actually, you know, that would also be for me because I would need to speak to them too. So, yeah, a phone to FaceTime them if there was reception.

But if not, SPF on that island or, yeah, I wouldn't need my vitamin D. I'll be getting that from the island. You can drink one thing for the rest of your life, coffee or wine. Oh, coffee. Yeah, that's what we said. What was the last thing that made you belly laugh? Oh, gosh. Yeah, I don't know if I can say it.

Well, you can now. Just someone opening a Christmas present that was just really inappropriate. In front of the whole family. Yeah, literally. And me and my husband just looking at each other and just, and you know when you're like not meant to laugh? Yeah.

And we're laughing and then I just have to walk out and I'm like, I'm just, this is not an appropriate time. What's one thing someone listening or watching today can do to make themselves feel that little bit better. Oh, I would say take five, ten minutes away from everything, everyone, no phone, nothing and sit in a room and close your eyes and just empty your brain. Oh, I like that one. Lovely.

That's what I, that would be my choice. Dump everything out. Yeah. Oh, well, thank you so much for joining us. It's been lovely. Thank you for having me. Yeah, hope everyone's enjoyed this episode. Thank you.

You know,