Episode #19
Women’s Health Prevention: The Checks Mothers Put Last
Mothers are notoriously good at managing everyone else's health appointments, schedules and needs. But when it comes to their own health, they often wait until something is wrong, until symptoms become impossible to ignore, or until they finally have a moment to stop and think. In this episode of Things Nobody Tells You, Emmy sits down with Dr. Michela Sorensen, GP, mother of two and founder of Elme Health, for a conversation about why women put their health last, the guilt that stops us from prioritising ourselves, and why preventative care is not a luxury but a necessity. Dr. Michela shares her deeply personal story of losing her mother to stomach cancer at just 49, after three years of vague symptoms being dismissed, and how that experience shaped the way she practices medicine and the reason she founded Elme Health. She talks about the emotional female trope that still exists in healthcare, the challenges of advocating for yourself when symptoms are nonspecific, and why continuity of care matters more than we realise. This episode is for any woman who has cancelled her own appointment to take her child to theirs, dismissed her symptoms as just stress or just hormones, or quietly wondered if what she's feeling is worth speaking up about. Because your health matters. And waiting until something goes wrong is not the only option.
