Anne Whalley, with Dr Denise Powell from Bundaberg

by Donna Wells, Director-at-Large, New Zealand

Dr Denise Powell, a GP from Bundaberg, addressed the group with an overview on our perception of the big issues for health in Australia and what would we do if we had lots of money, citing the following areas of concern:

HRT, Breast Cancer, Facial Hair Removal, Contraception, HIV vaccine, Athriitis, Iron Deficiency/Depression/Mental Health, Obesity, Heart Disease/Stroke, Cancer, Diabetes and Osteoporosis.

Dr Powell spoke to the group on menopause – giving lots of information re ways to maintain good health at the time, extolling the virtues of exercise, diet, sleep and nutrition and the advantages of using a product called Remifemin, a natural formula which assists with symptoms of short term memory loss, weight gain, metabolism, mood changes, concentration and hot flushes.

15% of women have virtually no symptoms, with 15% being plagued by all symptoms and 70% in the middle being affected for between 2 – 5 years.

Dr Powell also spoke of breast cancer and MRI on hair analysis, as a means of detection; Vanqua cream for the treatment of facial hair (prescription required; contraception and modern forms of this including Neuvo-Ring; advising that by the age of 15, 30 – 50% are sexually active.; depression, hysterectomy, pneumonia, cancer of the cervix and pancreas and chronic fatigue.