For TV medic and NHS GP Dr Zoe Williams, having lots of medical knowledge can be “empowering”.
But the mum-of-one, 44, known for regular appearances on ITV’s This Morning as one of the show’s resident doctors, says there can sometimes be a flipside to this too.
“If I think about not just myself, but my friends who are doctors and nurses too, it is empowering to have more knowledge. While we don’t know everything as doctors, we are trained where to go to find good sources of information,” says Williams, a former rugby player whose TV career started when she joined Gladiators as ‘Amazon’ in 2009, just as her medical career was also taking off.
“But sometimes having too much information can be detrimental as well. Thinking about my friends who are healthcare professionals, we can tend to overreact, but we can also tend to underreact.
“We can freak out and worry unnecessarily about symptoms, because we’ve seen the worst-case scenario. Equally, we can over-reassure ourselves sometimes and be less likely to get things checked out, and I think I personally have experienced a little bit of both.”
Williams is clear on one thing, though – it’s always best to get any worries or niggles checked sooner than later.
Earlier this month, the TV personality revealed on Instagram she’d been in hospital due to her own “health blip” relating to her heart. She assured followers that she’s “OK” but wrote in her caption that experiences like this show us “just how easy it is to take our health for granted”.
It’s why raising awareness is so important for Williams, who has teamed up with Specsavers on a hearing loss campaign. A survey they commissioned of 2,000 UK adults found 49% of Brits feel they may need to get their hearing checked, yet one in ten (10%) admit they have put off getting it done because of embarrassment.
“I think there is still a lot of stigma, shame and embarrassment about hearing loss, but hearing loss is common and in most cases very treatable,” says Lancashire-born Williams, who has a three-year-old son, Lisbon, with her partner Stuart McKay. “So, it’s really important we just get talking about it, and if [people are] struggling with their hearing, please do just take the first step in getting your hearing checked.”
The doctor highlights there can be some common early signs people often experience – such as needing the TV volume much higher than everyone else, struggling to follow conversations when there’s background noise, and mishearing words (Specsavers produced a ‘Misheard Manifesto’ in a nod to this). Tinnitus, unexplained ringing in the ears, can also be an indicator.
In addition to the embarrassment factor, Williams thinks another reason people put off seeking help for hearing loss is because they don’t think it’s “severe” enough.
“There are lots of different types of hearing loss, but in most cases it tends to be a very gradual deterioration. They might think, ‘Oh, this isn’t a big enough problem to go and see my GP about’, or they don’t know else to go. You can actually just go along to a high-street audiologist, there are many pharmacies and Specsavers, for example, who offer free hearing tests, and if a problem is identified they can guide you as to what to do next.
“But people trivialise it potentially and think it’s not a big deal, and they find ways of getting around things. They might avoid certain situations, but actually what it means is that they’re not getting the best out of life, and having hearing problems is not without complications.
“It can impact your ability to do your job, it can impact your relationships. It can make you feel isolated, lonely, and stop you getting involved in doing social things, and it can affect your physical wellbeing as well. We know that untreated hearing loss is a risk factor for developing dementia. If you treat it, that risk goes away.”
Another area of health Williams is glad to see more awareness around is perimenopause and menopause – a topic that was barely talked about until recently.
“I’m definitely in that age group where that’s the next thing, the next challenge,” says the TV doc. “I wrote a book [You Grow Girl!] for girls aged nine to 13 and I talk about the four Ps – puberty, periods, pregnancy and perimenopause – and I think if you are prepared and armed with the knowledge of what to expect, it can make the journey through womanhood a lot better.
“I’m in my mid-40s, so the next thing on the horizon for me is probably perimenopause, but I do feel this is where I am in a privileged position, that I do have a lot of knowledge. I’ve already thought about the circumstances under which I might want to take HRT, and started preparing in the sense that I already make sure I’m getting plenty of calcium in my diet and thinking about my bones, because the more I can protect my bones now, the more that’s going to help me.
“I also think about it in relation to strength. I’ve always been a very strong person, and I’ve had some back issues over the last year, so it’s made it difficult to train in the way I’ve always liked to, but I feel really motivated to try and maintain my strength and my muscles, because I know once I reach menopause it will be much more difficult to do that,” says Williams, who explains she has been struggling with some stubborn disc issues.
“It affects so many people – I’ve got a lot of empathy for anyone who’s experiencing chronic pain,” she adds. “I’ve been having a few various different treatments and at the moment, it’s uncertain whether I might need to have surgery on my back or not.
“But living with pain every day just makes life just that little bit more challenging, especially when you have a toddler. I think the biggest downside to it for me is that it’s affected my ability to be the mum I want to be, because I’m a really active person.
“And I’m still active, I find ways to get through it, but I’m the sort of person who would always – if there was a big rock to jump off, I’d be the one that runs and jumps off it. Now I’m the sort of person that holds his [my son’s] hand while he jumps off it, rather than jumping off it with him. So it has affected my ability to be the mum I want to be. Hopefully we’ll get it resolved at some point.”
As for perimenopause and menopause, Williams says: “The fact that just 10 years ago, we weren’t even talking about it, it’s crazy really. I think it’s one of the areas of health where knowledge really is power.”
For more information, visit specsavers.co.uk/hearing/misheard-manifesto
