Vicky's Story: Leak-free running with the Efemia Bladder Support, in association with iMEDicare - Episode Transcript

Helen

Hi, I'm Helen, and this is Why Mums Don't Jump. Busting taboos about leaks and lumps after childbirth. All the stuff that happens to your pelvic floor that no one ever talks about: incontinence, prolapse, pelvic pain - problems that affect millions of women. One in three. I'm one of them.

I have a prolapse. My pelvic organs fell out of place after the birth of my second child. And if you had told me back then that I would be speaking about this stuff out loud, I would have told you to give your head a wobble.

Hi, how's it going? Just when you thought it was all over, I have a cheeky bonus episode just for you.

As you'll know, this past season has been sponsored by iMEDicare, which supplies easy to use, medically approved products for pelvic health. It's what has made the last few months possible and I'm really grateful to the team for supporting Why Mums Don't Jump. So, in this one off episode, we're going to hear from a couple of people. Firstly from Vicky, a keen runner who struggled for ages with stress incontinence, but says using the ephemia bladder support has changed her life.

Vicky <clip>

I wear tight Lycra now. I don't wear a pad with it. I mean, I don't wear a pad at all. It's freeing.

Helen

And then we're going to hear from Darren Breen, founder of iMEDicare.

Darren <clip>

Just making people aware that these devices exist is the great passion for me because it can transform their quality of life.

Helen

So let's get into it. Vicky Grubb is an upholsterer who lives on the south coast of England. She's a mum of two boys, now 15 and 12, and the team at iMEDicare put us in touch because Vicky has been using one of the products they supply and was so impressed that she asked if she could help spread the word. So this is the Efemia bladder support. It's a vaginal pessary designed for stress incontinence. And this is Vicky's story.

Vicky

It was really when I started to get into wanting to do some sports, some exercise, and, you know, lose a bit of that kind of mum weight around my tummy. And I thought, oh, I'll just start playing tennis. And that was when I kind of discovered that I couldn't do any kind of overexertion of running, jumping, you know, leaping without having some, some leaking.

But I think really my problem stems back from childbirth and I don't think that's unusual. I think anybody that's been through a vaginal birth has some issue of some sort. And for me, I actually, my first birth was okay, but my second birth, I gave birth very quickly and I actually had a huge three way tear and I had to be sewn up and everything. And I was in theatre for a couple of hours. And, you know, it. It was really quite traumatic, actually, when I think back to it. I mean, right now I'm, you know, I'm 15. Well, I'm 12 years on from it, so it's not so traumatic. But when I think about what I actually went through and how I sort of coped with that and then the aftermath of that, it is actually, you know, it really does change your body. It really does.

But at the time, I didn't do any exercise and I didn't really know, you know, I wasn't leaking in everyday life. So if I went down, you know, to the shops or what have you, I didn't...I didn't leak. I was absolutely fine. The real problem started when I was about 36, 37, 38, something like that. And I thought, right, I really need to, like, get out there and do some exercise and keep fit and, you know, start, you know, growing some abs or whatever.

So I joined the tennis club, and I loved tennis. I mean, I was absolutely awful at it. I still am, to be honest. Two years doing lessons! And I went along and what I would do is...so initially I was like, oh, gosh, right, okay, I'm gonna have to do something about this. Right, let's go to the shops. And I get some Tena pads, like, bulk it up down there. So I went and got every kind of product I could to try and kind of, you know. Right, it's only 1 hour, so what I'll do is I won't drink anything between the hours of eight and ten. And then I've got my lesson, ten to eleven, so I'll be dehydrated.

Helen

Oh Gosh

Vicky

But if that's the case. It means that I won't...I'll be less likely to wet myself. And I'll also wear this huge Tena pad. And with that came very baggy kind of, you know, tracksuit bottoms and things like that. So you had to kind of mitigate all of the problems. And that, I suppose went on for a fair few months and then the thing that kind of changed it was when I had a private lesson and it was an afternoon. Like, the only time he could do was an afternoon. And it was a shared location. So there's lots of different tennis courts and lots of people playing. And I did okay up to about 45 minutes in, and then I just literally...there was no toilets anywhere close....and, you know, at least when I was playing tennis in the club, you know, I knew where the toilet was. But this was outside and it was in the middle...you know, there's no toilets nearby. And, you know, I just wet through my leggings and I was wearing grey leggings. Because that's the other thing you do is mitigate by wearing all black, you know, just in case you, you get any kind of leaks. So there's lots of things that you do to kind of hide it, if you like. And so I was wearing grey leggings and, you know, I mean, I just couldn't hide it. It was just all there.

I just sort of, like, crept off the tennis court and I thought, I have got to do something about this because what I'm doing isn't really working. I mean, you know, so I thought, right, I'll go and see a physio. Yeah, that would be the best thing for me to do.

So I booked in with a woman who, you know, basically said, right, you need to start doing your exercises. And I think with that, I thought, oh, well, this will just solve it. This will just solve the problem. And I don't know if any listeners have ever been to a physio for the pelvic floor issue, but I didn't look it up or anything. I didn't know what to expect. And it's actually quite invasive. Yeah. I mean, you start there with, you know, thinking, oh, it's just, she's going to teach me how to do these exercises and it's going to be really great and I'm going to just be able to, you know, clench up and then we're...

Helen

Going to be problem solved.

Vicky

Yeah, yeah, problem solved. But what actually happens is you go in and she, well, my particular physio actually inserted her fingers into my vagina. And for then for a good half an hour, I had to clench my vagina and then unclench it, and she would tell me where I was clenching wrong, or, you know, which part was clenching, which wasn't. And, you know, sometimes I go along and she'd be like, oh, no, you've over tightened it. And I'd be like, oh, for God's sake, I can't do. I can't do anything right. One minute I'm under clenching, the next minute I'm overtightening.

Helen

It's so confusing.

Vicky

Yeah. And I think, you know, I would talk to my friends about this, who had had...mostly my friends had c sections, actually, and they didn't really have any problems. But I did have one friend who she was like, oh, gosh, I do...I do my pelvic floor exercises all the time. All the time. And I was like, really? She was like, yeah, every time I'm at the traffic lights, you know, I'm in the car, I'm doing them. And she never has a problem. And she really is good at keeping up with the exercises. But for me, I just a.) I just forgot all about doing them. And, you know, by the time you remember, you kind of...it's like late at night, and I just never got into the. You know, I mean, it's my fault, really.

Helen

No, you're not on your own. I mean, first of all, you're right. We don't know enough about any of this stuff. Who even knew that pelvic floor physiotherapists, you know, existed before we needed to see one? And then when you do, you've got this vague idea that, yeah, just doing some squeezes at the traffic lights is going to sort out all of your problems. But it's not the same for everyone because everyone's problems are different. And, yeah, some people, it's overly tight. And actually, what you really need to address is to relax the pelvic floor. And for some people, you know, actually, something else is going on. So it's just another one of these things because we don't talk about it. We don't know enough about how to address it. So I'm not surprised. And don't blame yourself, because we're all in the same boat.

Vicky

Yeah. Okay, well, that's good. You don't really know who else is suffering through it, as I say, because people don't like to sort of talk about this issue. But after that, I thought to myself, you know, it's six months. It hadn't really worked. So I thought, right, what else can I do? And I. You know, I have to be honest with you. I have tried everything. I literally have tried everything. So the next thing I did was the Kegel weights. And to a certain extent, I felt like that did work a little bit, but it wasn't really giving me....I wanted it to be cured. I just wanted to not be able to wear a Tena pad when I went to tennis, you know, that's all I wanted.

So after that, I went online and there was a woman, and I really should have just double checked what her name was because I can't actually remember, but I think her name was Shannon and she is Australian and she does a course, an online course. And I did that course. I paid for it. I think that was about maybe $70 or something like that. And it was an exercise programme and it was quite a commitment again. And again, to an extent, that did work. But at this point, you know, I'm doing, I'm spending hundreds of pounds on physio, I've got tens of pounds on Kegel weights, and now I'm spending this money on these online courses. And it's still not curing this problem, to be honest.

So then I think it was at that point, I started to get into running and I stopped with the tennis. And I thought tennis was bad, but running was actually about ten times worse for me personally. Yes. So, I mean, at the beginning, because you don't, when you start running, you're not that great, so you don't have the cardio, so you're only kind of running maybe around the block. So I could dehydrate myself and it meant that I could still wear Lycra and I could be okay for that.

So I thought, right, well, I'll start doing that. And then I thought, well, after a while, I started to want to do Park Run and event runs because I quite liked doing down here, there's the Maverick Runs and things. And then again, I was like, no, I've got to find something.

Because I was into running. I started to follow runners and set up a little running site on Instagram, actually, called Vicky runs, and I started to follow runners. And that's when I saw Sophie Power.

Helen

Sophie Power, friend of the podcast. Yeah.

Vicky

Yeah, and I can't even remember how I saw it. But she, incidentally, just started talking about wearing a pessary. And I was like, what's a pessary? I have no idea. Absolutely no idea what a pessary was. So then I started looking for passeries and, well, what I found was there aren't really any, there weren't at the time in the UK.

So I found one in Canada. And I spoke to the inventor of that one, and I can't remember the name because it's a while ago. And she was like, oh, no, we don't export to the UK because Brexit. It's too expensive, charges, import, export, so we don't bother. And I thought, oh, right, okay, so you know, how do I get this amazing product you've invented? And they were the ones that put me in contact with iMEDicare and they said that they do a product and I can't remember who I emailed or I just random emailed. I said, I'm desperate, I need something, and that's where I found this incredible product. And I call it Efemia, but I don't know. Do you call it Efemia?

Helen

I have been calling it Efemia.

Vicky

Um, I've always called it Efemia, but I think that's maybe how I...

Helen

E-F-E-M-I-A

Vicky

Efemia. And it has been life changing. And, you know, I don't say that about many products. And, you know, I was just bowled over the first time I used it. So I bought from them - and it came in three sizes, small, medium, large - I thought, well, I'll try the medium. And I have never looked back. I literally put that product in and I've...I don't think I've ever leaked when I've had had it in for running. And I'm now at the stage of running, so I'm a bit, you know, I've got the cardio now and I'm running slightly longer distances and I'm up to 32 kilometres now. And so I could run 32 kilometres and I can drink before I run and drink during the run, because you actually have to hydrate when you're running that distance. And no leakage. No leakage.

And the thing is about...so what I tend to do is I'll take it with me on a run and I will pop it in right before the run. Now, you don't really feel the product. The product kind of sits in that zone, like a tampon does, where you don't actually feel, you know, you don't feel the tampon unless it starts to move out, you don't really feel it. And so that...

Helen

And it's a really, like, soft silicone thing. It's like a floppy soft silicone, isn't it, as well?

Vicky

That's right, yeah. Yeah. So it's like a sort of soft, plasticky feel. It looks a bit. Well, I guess it's like a sort of rounded dummy, if you like.

Helen

Yeah, that's a good way to describe it.

Vicky

Yeah. It's got a little kind of hook, like...

Helen

A little handle.

Vicky

A little handle, yeah. And you face that bit towards your anus, you know. And then you just forget about it whilst you're doing your exercise or for me anyway. And then what I tend to do is I, when I finished my run, I will take it out immediately. But in all honesty, you can still go to the toilet with it in. You can still wear tampons with it in, because obviously I still have my monthly cycle and I still want to run during those times. To clean it, I just use a bit of soap and water afterwards, you know, and it's just a really easy product that you can reuse. So you only, the outlay cost I think is around 50 pounds and you can use it for quite some time. I mean, for me, I don't wear it every day because I only wear it for exercise. So mine obviously will go on and on. I think the recommended timeframe is about three months for it. Yes, it is if you're using it every day.

Helen

It's also, in a lot of areas, it is available on NHS prescription as well. So if it's something people want to try, that's another way that they could get hold of it. Go see your GP.

Vicky

I wish I was told that because it spent a hundreds of pounds and lots of my time researching to find it.

Helen

And I think that's one of the things that's come out of doing this podcast that I really want to be the case. It's like, there are ways and means that different people can manage their symptoms, but if we don't talk about it and we don't know about it, then we're never going to come across them. So being able to share these stories and just give someone a little bit of something, oh, I can relate to that. Maybe that is the answer to me, for me. And maybe I can even get it through my GP, like, yes, brilliant. Why wouldn't we do more of this?

So, yeah, I think it's, it's great and I'm, I'm excited. It's always nice to have positive stories as well because oftentimes it is a really long journey and, you know, people, it's hard to find a solution that works for people.

And how are you, how are you doing now then? I mean, it feels, it feels very positive. Like this has kind of just been the thing that helps you to manage your symptoms, get on with life, really.

Vicky

Essentially this is...I am just a normal gal, you know, a mum, a working mum, and I just love running. I like to do a little bit exercise. I'm doing running a couple of times a week and this just allows me not to have to think about the thing that I just desperately wanted to solve. I wear, you know, tight, Lycra now, I don't wear a pad with it. I mean, I don't wear a pad at all. I don't need to wear a pad anymore. It's freeing. It's so freeing. And that's the one thing that you want when you want to exercise, is you just want to feel that you can just whack on your Lycra and get out the door.

Helen

Vicky Grubb, who's on Instagram as @the_upholstery_cabin. I will link it in the show notes along with more information about Efemia and a discount code. And if you want to know more about pessaries more generally, either for stress incontinence or for prolapse, I have a couple of episodes which will help, I think, and I'll link those in the show notes as well as one about what you can expect from a physio appointment.

Next up, let's hear from Darren Breen, founder and managing director of iMEDicare. We had a really nice chat about his background, his passion for pelvic health and some of the other products that are helping people to manage their symptoms.

Darren

So my name is Darren Breen. I'm originally a long time ago from Northern Ireland via university in Scotland, and then I've lived actually in the London area since about 1996.

So I studied medical sciences. I wasn't sure what to do after university and got a job, literally to pay the bills as a medical device rep in the field of urology and very quickly realised that actually I really enjoyed it. I was able to use my medical knowledge, it's a very sociable job and you're promoting awareness of products that help change people's lives for the better.

So eventually I thought, well, you know, why not set up my own company? And I noticed there was, you could call it a gap in the market, but it was more that I actually really liked urology, decided to focus on urological devices initially andrology, which is male sexual dysfunction, but that later grew into incontinence devices and now more recently even faecal incontinence devices. So the remit nowadays is pelvic health. We deal with anything that links to pelvic health conditions and the devices that can be used to assist those generally patient home-use, devices patients can either buy or get on prescription through the NHS for home use to manage a problem and just make it easier to live with or in some cases, treat a problem. So that was 20 years ago next week.

Helen

Oh, happy birthday!

Darren

On the 4 September, we celebrate our 20th anniversary, which I'd completely forgotten until someone reminded me, me yesterday. But it is a very significant milestone because we've actually been working really hard in the UK. We have a great team of medical reps all over the country, a great customer services team, and we're actually very busy and the NHS loves our products and we love the NHS and we love helping people.

Helen

We've spoken before and it comes across so clearly that you are passionate about this industry or this...it's very niche, isn't it? Like, there aren't many companies who are in this field. Where does that passion come from for you?

Darren

Well, it's a combination of things. It's a fascination with medical science and clinical disease processes, a fascination with gadgets. The idea that actually devices have come a long way in the last 20 or 30 years. They're now very sophisticated and can work extremely well, and they're really sustainable in the sense that you can wash and reuse most of the devices many times, which, of course is good for the environment.

But I think the most important thing is to be able to help people. And just making people aware that these devices exist is the great passion for me, because it can transform their quality of life. So in incontinence, there's what we call the mix and match approach. There's no one particular device that can manage every single problem, but some devices are better in different types of social or exercise scenarios. So just knowing what they are, how to use them, can really transform the quality of life of an individual.

Helen

And that's something that has really stood out to me about iMEDicare...is this option for people to access product training or just to get a bit of help, a bit of support, to find devices that might work for them and then you know how, how to use them, because I think you said it there, like, people just aren't aware that these products exist.

Darren

The truth is that getting a device is only the start of the process. You have to know how to use it properly. And of course you can read the instructions, but they're often quite complicated and difficult to follow. So we have a team of reps that can provide one to one training, and that can be by telephone, online Zoom call, which is probably the best way of doing it. Or if you're really struggling, they can actually come and visit you at home and talk you through the whole process so that you've got a much better chance of being successful.

Helen

I've spoken to Vicky about the bladder support of Efemia, but that's obviously, just one of the pelvic floor devices you stock. Let's run through a couple more.

Darren

Yes. So we started off with washable incontinence underwear called Wearever, which is now supplied by the NHS. Actually, the hospitals order them and the continence nurses can supply them. Then we branched onto Efemia, which you've discussed already in great detail, which is an amazing device to help manage stress incontinence. Inserted, like a tampon, just above the pelvic floor into the vaginal corridor, and it literally pinches the urethra in a very gentle manner, so that when you're coughing or sneezing or you're jumping around with exercise, when the abdominal weight content presses on the bladder, which would ordinarily cause leakage, it literally just blocks the leakage, so you don't leak. After that, we took on a device called Enna Ball, which looks like a large pink sperm.

Helen

Yeah, I've seen this.

Darren

Yeah. So the head of it is like an egg - pink in colour, and then attached to that is a long ribbed tail. So the idea is that it can be positioned inside the vaginal corridor, and inside the ball is a weighted diamond device that bounces around with the tiniest of movements and that provides a vibrational sensation. That is what we call proprioception. It allows the brain to understand where the weight is so that you know where to focus your pelvic floor contraction when you're doing your kegels, to try to treat your stress incontinence. So we recommend patients who follow the normal NHS protocol of Kegel exercises. This just makes it much easier for them to know where to squeeze, which is often the dilemma.

And we've also got, very recently, a wonderful set of active sportwear called Lumana. So they're like leggings and shorts with modern designs and colours, but they have a reinforced pelvic area, so there's a thickened pad underneath the pelvic region that has polyester on the top surface to wick the moisture from a urine leakage or a menstrual leak straight into the cotton pad segment, so that when you're doing your Zumba class or your CrossFit session, you can be a little bit more confident that visible leakage is not going to be a problem.

Helen

I mean, there's just more and more things coming onto the market since I've been talking about this for the last five, six, seven, I don't know how long now. Quite a number of years. All the time I'm coming across these products that I haven't heard of before. And all of them work in a slightly different way. And I guess some work better for some people and others work better for others. But where do you see the future of this heading? Because it sort of feels to me like it's quite an exciting space, isn't it?

Darren

Yeah, of course, medical science is exciting as we learn more about how the human body works and engineers get involved and they improve product quality and design and make it more specific and customizable to the individual. So innovation will not stop. And in fact, I think the pace of innovation is growing. And of course our job is to make sure that people know these things exist.

Helen

Darren Breen, founder of iMEDicare - Pelvic Health Naturally. You can find the products mentioned as well as a discount code via the affiliate shop on my website. I will link them and iMEDicare in the show notes for this episode.

You've been listening to Why Mums Don't Jump with me Helen Ledwick. If you enjoyed it, please spread the word, tell a friend, leave a review. It all helps others to find it. You can find me online at whymumumsdontjump.com and on socials @whymumsdontjump.

And don't forget there's a book. It's based on my own experience of prolapse as well as some of the stories and experts from the podcast. It's called Why Mums Don't Jump. You can find it wherever you buy your books or through my website. Thank you to everyone who's done that. I put my heart and soul into it, so it means a lot. That's it from me. Bye for now.