Mind Over Matter
Urogynecologist Dr. Heidi Brown is on a mission to help women reclaim their lives. She sees patients every day who suffer in silence from conditions that are taboo to talk about and largely misunderstood by the medical community: bowel and bladder incontinence (leakage).
Her patients often describe humiliation, sadness, and even trauma that come from limiting physical and social activities because of these conditions. As one 56-year-old woman described: “I would be horrified – I mean, horrified – to get older. I don't want to get older because I feel I've got nowhere to go but downhill with this condition.”
Groundbreaking research at UW shows that over 61% of adult women – over 78 million women nationwide – experience incontinence, and these numbers are projected to increase as our population ages. The team of specialists at UW’s Women’s Pelvic Wellness Clinic, nationally respected for their expert research, clinical care, and community outreach, are ready to meet the needs of affected women.
Dr. Brown and her research team created a community-based program, “Mind Over Matter: Healthy Bowels, Healthy Bladder” that empowers women to improve their pelvic health on their own. The program improves bladder symptoms in over 70% of women and improves bowel symptoms in 55% of women! Mind Over Matter also provides resources about how to connect with healthcare providers who can help if women do not get the results they’re looking for through the community-based program. In the last 3 years over 700 Wisconsin women have completed the Mind Over Matter program in-person or online.
Women travel from throughout the Midwest to Madison to access the specialty clinical care available at UW’s remarkable Women’s Pelvic Wellness Program. Their team has a clear vision for advancing the future of care by expanding clinical trials and state-of-the-art clinical interventions, and by recruiting and training outstanding physicians in urogynecology.
“Too many women are told that incontinence is inevitable as we age or following childbirth. We know it doesn’t have to be this way, and our mission is to share that message broadly and connect those who are experiencing these symptoms with solutions that work for them,” Dr. Brown says. “Women need us now more than ever, and we are changing the storyline.”
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