67: Putting Women Back into Women's Health with Kate Powe

Welcome to another great episode of Unclassified Woman! Today,
I'm speaking to the lovely Kate Powe.


Many people make assumptions about others without even realising
it. We see a woman in her 40’s without children and assume she is
selfish or too career-oriented to take time to raise children.
Often there are circumstances playing out behind the scenes that
we just aren’t aware of. Today’s show focuses on the problems
that endometriosis can cause in terms of fertility and
family-building and the need for women to have the knowledge
about their bodies to make empowered choices. Imagine if we
learnt about these subjects in school....


Kate Powe is an amazing naturopath based on the Northern Beaches
area of Sydney, Australia. Kate has a passion for helping women
balance their hormones and create happy, powerful lives. By
integrating evidence-based medicine with mind-body principles and
addressing underlying causes of cycle and hormonal disruption,
Kate aims to support women mentally, emotionally, and physically
to feel balanced and in control of their bodies, moods, and
energy.


Kate holds a BA in English from the University of Sydney, an
Advanced Diploma of Naturopathy from Nature Care College, and a
Diploma of Advanced Metaphysics from Chiara College. Kate’s a
member of the Australian Traditional Medicine Society (ATMS) and
regularly furthers her education in naturopathic medicine,
particularly in women’s endocrinology, including thyroid disease,
endometriosis, and PCOS. She has contributed to many podcasts on
endometriosis and written articles on the topic for numerous
magazines. She has an obsession with all things Italian and
sneaks to Italy and the UK as often as possible. Who can
blame her! 


What you’ll hear in this episode:


How both circumstances and choice played into Kate’s not
having children. As one of six kids, she always assumed she’d
meet a partner and have children---but it just didn’t happen

How she suffered from endometriosis and adenomyosis during
her reproductive years, which complicated matters and impacted
her fertility.

The factors involved when your life doesn’t follow the
assumed “pattern” and the judgments that people make about you
about being selfish and career-driven.

Endometriosis is a real issue and taboo topic as a condition
that impacts fertility and causes painful periods. Lesions, scar
tissue, and inflammation impact the reproductive organs.

Adenomyosis affects the muscle wall of the uterus and
contributes to painful flooding periods.

These conditions can take 7-13 years to correctly diagnose
because everyone assumes having painful periods is completely
normal. It isn't....and women should not suffer in silence.

Both endometriosis and adenomyosis are not isolated
conditions, but part of a larger inflammatory process in the body
that can have a genetic component.

Women in the past dealt with these conditions in silence, not
knowing how to treat them. They weren’t aware of what was
happening in their bodies and their doctors
weren’t concerned.

The cost of treating endometriosis can be higher than
treating diabetes!

Two keys to know about endometriosis:

The only way to accurately diagnose it is with
surgery--not a scan;

It’s a moveable disease with sometimes silent and
inconsistent symptoms.



Endometriosis presents a wide variety of symptoms, including
heavy and long, painful periods, pain in legs, discomfort after
sex, and a connection with yeast infections.

Now we know that endometriosis is a systemic inflammatory
condition around an immune disregulation in the peritoneal fluid
and much more than simply a reproductive issue.

Naturopaths look at diet and lifestyle approaches to remove
inflammation, detox the liver, and keep regular bowel function

A key in endometriosis treatment is to guard against toxins
in personal care products.

How education can revolutionise women’s health, especially
now that the driving force behind the push for more information
is coming from women

The old treatments for endo included “go on the pill” or “get
pregnant”. Not very helpful is your endometriosis is causing
infertility!

The way Kate deals with grief now in her 40’s differently
than in her 20’s and 30’s when there were lots of questions,
suffering, symptoms, and surgeries.

Dealing with the implication from others that “something must
be wrong with you if you don’t have children”.

How Kate has dealt with awkward social scenarios and the
crazy assumptions people make about your personal life.

How women can assume many different roles in life around
caring and nurturing that don’t involve having a biological
child.

The added challenges for Kate in not having a partner and not
feeling supported in that way.

Statistics show that by 2030 in Australia, there will be more
family units without kids, a changing family dynamic, and more
global consciousness around “community”.

Why “the pill” is not a good choice because it shuts down the
female cycle, but women aren’t taught to question its use.

Most of Kate’s clients are having post-pill problems and
hormonal imbalances.

How Kate shows creativity in her passion with women’s health,
her energy medicine, and cycle essences to help women connect
with their cycles.



Find out more about Kate and her work at
www.katepowe.com


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I would love to hear what you found most helpful about
this interview. Thank you.