Are you listening to what your body is telling you?
We wanted to spend some time thinking about what are bodies might or might not be telling us. This is why we're focusing on health this April!
This month is filled to the brim with health-related themes and days, such as IBS Awareness Month, Stress Awareness Month, DNA Day and World Health Day!
This is why we are asking you to take some time every day to pause, breathe and just check in with yourself.
It is increasingly difficult to find time in our lives to just be with ourselves when we are being bombarded with information and sensations 24/7.
Yet, as we know, the symptoms of pancreatic cancer are subtle and difficult to discover without keenly keeping an eye out for them. Therefore, this month, we want to get you practising a little self-care and a little self-love every day to check-in, and understand what your body is telling you!
IBS Awareness Month
One of the flagship messages that we want to run this month is about IBS and its common misdiagnosis before pancreatic cancer.
Through our ‘Share your Story’ campaign, we have seen that many people have opened up about similar experiences in their journey through pancreatic cancer as our Founder & CEO, Ali Stunt did. From experiencing stomach issues, changes in bowel habits and other common symptoms of IBS, many within our community have been falsely diagnosed with this illness. This is often critically extending the amount of time it takes to receive the diagnosis they needed to be seen in time for life-saving surgery and treatment.
To raise awareness of some of these recollections and to highlight the lessons our PC community has learned, we will be sharing some familiar stories every. On top of this, we will be releasing some helpful wellness tips and advice every Wednesday as a part of our #WellnessWednesdays IBS takeover. From navigating diet changes to the mental health effects of experiencing symptoms, to being ok with your body catching up to you, we hope that these valuable nuggets of wellness advice will lift you up this month!
Keep an eye out for Tuesday 19th April as that is IBS Awareness day! We have some extra special things going on throughout the day!
Awareness Days:
#Pharmacy24 Day:
On Thursday 7th April, we took to the Twittersphere to join a chorus of other charities, NHS staff and most importantly, pharmacy workers, to promote the hard graft and excellence that these teams exhibit every single day to see you get better!
Pharmacies are a vital first point of contact for many who seek advice and help when they begin to feel changes in their health and wellbeing. As a charity, we have campaigned for the uplifting and promotion of pharmacies as a more established first point of contact for people on their journeys to diagnosis.
To find out more about who took to this Twitter campaign, just type in the hashtag #Pharmacy24 and scroll through to see!
Remember that you can always give your pharmacy a leg up in the fight against pancreatic cancer by ordering our resource pack and dropping them off at your local pharmacist!
World Health Day:
Also on Thursday 7th April, we turned our attention to the World Health Organisation’s (The WHO) World Health Day! With this year’s theme being ‘Our planet, Our Health’, we had our marvellous Health Policy and Projects Manager Joe Kirwin write a blog for us on “The widening inequality gap in cancer survival rates between affluent and deprived communities.“
To take a look at the blog, just click here!
To find out more on the WHO’s website click here!
DNA Day:
Our DNA is the database where our body keeps all the information we need to think, breathe, walk and even pet our cat! DNA day is led by the National Human Genome Research Institute, where every year, the scientific community come together to celebrate the completion of the human genome project (2003) and the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA (Pictured above).
This year, our CEO and Founder Ali Stunt will join the educators, professors and thinkers across the world by writing a blog about gene mutations and the context of genetics around pancreatic cancer! One not to be missed!
Stress Awareness Month:
Now, last but certainly not least, Stress Awareness Month. Touted as a modern epidemic, stress is something that we are all familiar with (often too familiar with!). This year, the Stress Management Society has brought together a 30-day challenge to help you bring stress-reducing actions into your daily routine to improve your long term health and capacity to deal with stress! Take a look at their page here for more information on how you can start your 30-days!
We are thinking about the symptoms of stress and if stress is masking pancreatic cancer-related symptoms such as fatigue and losing weight without trying.
Keep a symptoms diary just to help rule out underlying health issues during periods of stress. Download or order your free printed diary here.