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Speaker 1: You're listening to a Muma Mea podcast. Mumma Mea acknowledges

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Speaker 1: the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast

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Speaker 1: is recorded on.

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Speaker 2: Hey, I'm Taylor Strano. This is Mumma MIA's twice daily

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Speaker 2: news podcast. The Quickie March is Endometriosis Awareness Months, a

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Speaker 2: time when the spotlight turns to a condition affecting one

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Speaker 2: in seven Australian women, and after decades of being overlooked,

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Speaker 2: there's finally been major breakthroughs for people with ENDO. Not one,

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Speaker 2: but two new medications have been added to the PBS,

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Speaker 2: slashing costs for thousands of patients. Before we unpack what

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Speaker 2: this means for the nearly one million ozsies living with ENDO,

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Speaker 2: is Clere Murphy with the latest from the QUICKI newsroom

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Speaker 2: for Friday March twenty.

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Speaker 1: One, Thanks Taylor. The parents of Lily James, a young

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Speaker 1: water polo coach killed by her ex in the bathrooms

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Speaker 1: of the school where they both worked, have delivered a

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Speaker 1: plea about the dangers of failing to teach young men

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Speaker 1: to respect women as the inquest in their daughter's death

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Speaker 1: came to a close yesterday. James was killed when her

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Speaker 1: ex boyfriend Paul Tyson, who she had a brief two

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Speaker 1: month relationship with and who she'd broken up with five

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Speaker 1: days prior, hit her in the head with a hammer

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Speaker 1: no less than twenty five times in the bathrooms of

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Speaker 1: Saint Andrew's Cathedral School in October twenty twenty five. The

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Speaker 1: inquest was shown footage showing Tyson outside the bathroom moments

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Speaker 1: before he would kill twenty one year old Miss James,

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Speaker 1: holding a hammer that he would use to beat her

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Speaker 1: to death. Police explained how when they initially found her body,

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Speaker 1: they didn't know her hair was blonde as it was

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Speaker 1: covered in so much blood. Before identifying the body, they

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Speaker 1: thought that Miss James had perhaps been kidnapped by Tyson

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Speaker 1: because he'd taken her phone, which was pinging towers, alongside

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Speaker 1: his as he traveled to a park in Sydney where

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Speaker 1: he would ultimately take his own life. Hours earlier, Tyson

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Speaker 1: had practiced the murder. Footage from the CCTV cameras showing

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Speaker 1: him passing the hammer from one hand to another outside

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Speaker 1: the bathrooms before rehearsing how he would rush the door.

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Speaker 1: At one stage, he clearly looks up right into the

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Speaker 1: camera lens he'd already blocked off access to one of

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Speaker 1: the other bathrooms so she would be forced to use

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Speaker 1: the disabled facilities. After the attack, Tyson sent a message

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Speaker 1: to her father, pretending to be Miss James from her phone,

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Speaker 1: asking him to come and pick her up. He would

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Speaker 1: also call Triple O from the park before he jumped

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Speaker 1: from a cliff. The call played to the inquest heard

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Speaker 1: an unemotional Tyson advising there was a body in the

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Speaker 1: school bathrooms and someone should probably find it before people

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Speaker 1: arrived the next day. When asked to identify himself, he

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Speaker 1: said he'd prefer not to. The inquest also heard how

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Speaker 1: Tyson used coercive controlling behavior not just with Miss James,

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Speaker 1: but also another ex girlfriend, who described a pattern of

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Speaker 1: abusive language, threats, and stalking after she broke up with

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Speaker 1: him several years prior, the abuse only ending when her

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Speaker 1: father stepped in. When Miss James had previously tried to

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Speaker 1: break off the two month relationship, he used degrading, derogatory,

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Speaker 1: and gas lighting language to erode her autonomy, his emotionally

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Speaker 1: abusive behavior escalating as he shared an intimate image of

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Speaker 1: her with friends and stalked her, turning up outside her

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Speaker 1: home and taking photos of other cars in the street.

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Speaker 1: A forensic psychologist explain how Tyson had felt growing anger

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Speaker 1: and resentment that he could no longer control the perfectly

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Speaker 1: curated version of a life with Miss James that he'd

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Speaker 1: created to cover up feelings of inadequacy, so he used

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Speaker 1: a cage of well honed manipulative tactics to try and

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Speaker 1: regain that control. The psychologist also explained that Tyson had

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Speaker 1: no history of aggression and no obvious warning signs or

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Speaker 1: indicators of violence to predict the final tragic outcome, saying

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Speaker 1: he committed the murder because he was terrified this breakup

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Speaker 1: would unravel that facide of perfection he'd created. She also

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Speaker 1: explained that he probably had a very fragile sense of self,

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Speaker 1: seeing himself as unworthy, which led him to lie to

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Speaker 1: people about who he really was. Miss James's parents, Peter

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Speaker 1: and Jamie, both stressed the need for cultural change to

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Speaker 1: prevent more women being killed, saying, as parents, if we're

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Speaker 1: not teaching our sons how to respect women's opinions and

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Speaker 1: choices and accept rejection, we could be setting our daughters

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Speaker 1: up for failure. Missus James went on to say, in

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Speaker 1: our case, a moment in time we'll never recover from missus.

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Speaker 1: James apologized to her daughter, saying, Lily, Sweetpee, I'm so

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Speaker 1: sorry we couldn't protect you from what happened that night.

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Speaker 1: The guilt that I will feel will stay with us forever.

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Speaker 1: Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan thanked the James family for their powerful

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Speaker 1: presence throughout the inquest, saying she was sure their participation

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Speaker 1: would save lives. Opposition leader Peter Dutton has revealed that

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Speaker 1: seeking a meeting with US President Donald Trump would be

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Speaker 1: one of the top on his agenda should he become

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Speaker 1: the next Prime minister. Mister Dutton delivered his major policy

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Speaker 1: speech yesterday, revealing he wants to strengthen ties with the

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Speaker 1: US while also promising to stand up to mister Trump

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Speaker 1: on issues that are affecting Australians, saying they remain our

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Speaker 1: most important military partner and that there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: repair work to do in that relationship. He explained that

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Speaker 1: it is Missis Trump's job to put America first and

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Speaker 1: his job to put Australia first. Mister Dutton also said

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Speaker 1: Australia needs to strengthen defense in response to growing threats

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Speaker 1: in the region, calling out the imperialistic Putin, whom mister

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Speaker 1: Dutton says seems to be determined to swallow up Ukraine,

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Speaker 1: and the Chinese Communist Party, who he says is asserting

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Speaker 1: itself militarily in our region and across the world. Despite

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Speaker 1: the comments, he also said he would seek to foster

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Speaker 1: better ties with China, our biggest trading partner. The speech

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Speaker 1: was interrupted by protesters from the climate group Rising Tide,

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Speaker 1: who asked mister Dutton why he was lying to Australians

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Speaker 1: about the cost of nuclear power. Israel has resumed air

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Speaker 1: strikes and ground operations in Gaza, with Palestinians again having

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Speaker 1: to flee for their lives. After Israel effectively abandoned the ceasefire,

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Speaker 1: the IDF dropped leaflets on several residential neighborhoods ordering people

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Speaker 1: to leave towns in the northeast and south of the enclave.

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Speaker 1: Hamas had not retaliated during the first forty eight hours

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Speaker 1: of the renewed Israeli assault, but began firing rockets into Israel,

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Speaker 1: the Israeli military responding by sending tanks into the region.

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Speaker 1: Hamas was attempting to rebuild its administration during phase one

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Speaker 1: of the ceasefire with this week's strikes, which have killed

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Speaker 1: hundreds of Palestinians, have also killed some of the group's

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Speaker 1: top figures. Legendary country singer Dolly Parton has said she's

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Speaker 1: coping better than she thought she would after the death

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Speaker 1: of her husband of nearly sixty years, Carl Dein died

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Speaker 1: at age eighty two on March three. Part In telling

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Speaker 1: Knox News that she has to relearn some of the

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Speaker 1: things that she's done with her husband over such a

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Speaker 1: long time and explain how it was hard to see

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Speaker 1: him suffer so much before he died, but that she's

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Speaker 1: now at peace knowing that he's at peace. She said

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Speaker 1: there's now a hole in her heart, but that she's

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Speaker 1: planning on filling it up with good stuff and knows

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Speaker 1: that he'll always be with her.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Clare. Next, the game changing medications that are finally

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Speaker 2: affordable for endometriosa's patients. Endometriosis it's a condition that affects

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Speaker 2: roughly one in seven Aussie women. I'm one of those

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Speaker 2: one in seven women who lives with ENDO, and I

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Speaker 2: can tell you, while symptoms vary from person to person,

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Speaker 2: they're no joke. I've seen people with endo, doubled over

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Speaker 2: in pain, unable to work or attend social activities, and

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Speaker 2: suffering both loudly but also in silence, all while treatment

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Speaker 2: options for a condition with no cure have been limited

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Speaker 2: or costly. For those who don't know, Endometriosis occurs when

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Speaker 2: tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows in

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Speaker 2: other parts of your body. This tissue bleeds each month

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Speaker 2: during your period, but unlike normal period blood, it hasn't

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Speaker 2: got anywhere to go, causing inflammation, pain, and sometimes debilitating symptoms.

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Speaker 2: In some of the worst cases, I'm talking not getting

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Speaker 2: out of bed for three days straight and literally being

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Speaker 2: unable to attend work and potentially losing out on money.

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Speaker 2: It results in around forty thousand hospital admissions every year,

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Speaker 2: with that number increasing by about forty percent in the

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Speaker 2: last decade alone. Yet despite its prevalence, it takes an

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Speaker 2: average of six and a half years for patients to

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Speaker 2: receive a diagnosis. That's six and a half years of

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Speaker 2: unexplained pain, sometimes being told it's just bad period pain,

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Speaker 2: or being dismissed entirely. But in December last year, there

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Speaker 2: was finally some good news when Bizan, also known by

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Speaker 2: its generic name dynagest was listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme,

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Speaker 2: and now, in another win for those of us with ENDO,

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Speaker 2: a second medication, Ryoquo, has also been added to the PBS,

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Speaker 2: giving patients more options to manage their symptoms. These listings

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Speaker 2: mark the first new endometriosis medications to be subsidized by

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Speaker 2: the federal government in three decades. The annual cost of

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Speaker 2: Vasan has been slashed from more than eight hundred bucks

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Speaker 2: to three hundred and eighty or just ninety clams for

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Speaker 2: pensioners and concession card holders. So what are these medications

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Speaker 2: actually do. Bizan works by releasing a hormone that inhibits

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Speaker 2: ovulation and menstruation, essentially shrinking and suppressing the growth of

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Speaker 2: abnormal tissue. Gynecologists have described this medication as literally miraculous,

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Speaker 2: working for over eighty percent of patients and also being

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Speaker 2: suitable for long term use. And then there's Ryquo, the

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Speaker 2: newer addition to the PBS. It combines three active ingredients

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Speaker 2: to manage both endometriosis pain and heavy menstrual bleeding, offering

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Speaker 2: another treatment pathway for those who don't respond. World of

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Speaker 2: asan for many women who've been paying the full price

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Speaker 2: or simply going without. This is life changing news. The

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Speaker 2: PBS listings come as part of a broader focus on

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Speaker 2: women's health by the federal government. In addition to the

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Speaker 2: medication subsidies, from July twenty twenty five, two new Medicare

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Speaker 2: benefits schedule items will also roll out, enabling extended consultations

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Speaker 2: for those living with endometriosis and complex gynecological conditions. But

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Speaker 2: while these developments are significant steps forward, advocates say there's

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Speaker 2: still much more work to be done, particularly around education

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Speaker 2: and awareness reduce the extraordinary diagnosis delay. Some hope comes

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Speaker 2: from recent developments in testing, with researchers developing a new

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Speaker 2: blood test that could significantly reduce the time it takes

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Speaker 2: to diagnose endometriosis. Instead of waiting years for answers, this

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Speaker 2: test could provide them in days. So what does this

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Speaker 2: all mean for people living with ENDO? Doctor A Nushiazdani

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Speaker 2: is the medical director at Endometriosis Australia. Doctor Azdani just

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Speaker 2: how significant are the PBS listings of both bizar and

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Speaker 2: ryoquo for people with endometriosis?

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Speaker 3: Taylor look, I think these are really important mildstones in

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Speaker 3: the management of endometriosis. Endometriosis and pelvic pain are diseases

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Speaker 3: that affect at least one in seven women we now

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Speaker 3: know by the age of fifty that will have a diagnose,

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Speaker 3: and we know that particularly women in rural and remote

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Speaker 3: areas where affordability is more of an issue, are really

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Speaker 3: affected by this. Urban populations who have access to healthcare,

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Speaker 3: who have access to treatment are often more likely to

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Speaker 3: be diagnosed, have less of an impact, though it's still significant,

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Speaker 3: but particularly for those people in those environments, in those subsets,

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Speaker 3: the cost of having appropriate treatment is a really, really

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Speaker 3: significant component to access to those medications, and so having

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Speaker 3: PBS listing means that these medications that have actually been

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Speaker 3: TGA approved for quite jump town now can be applied

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Speaker 3: for those women who need it and they're not punished

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Speaker 3: by excessive costs.

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Speaker 2: So cost is often a barrier for people accessing these

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Speaker 2: kinds of medications. Then coming on to the PBS will

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Speaker 2: help to alleviate that pressure on people who are maybe

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Speaker 2: opting to go months without accessing their medication. You might

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Speaker 2: not use these words, but I'm going to ask the question,

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Speaker 2: and would we consider medications like these a slam dunk

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Speaker 2: solution when it comes to people managing the endometriosis.

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Speaker 3: None of these medications are a slam dunk solution for endometriosis.

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Speaker 3: And that's really really important that when your listeners are

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Speaker 3: thinking about, hey, is this the solution for me? Do

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Speaker 3: I just get my GP to prescribe this now that

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Speaker 3: it's accessible, The answer to that is no, it is not.

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Speaker 3: They need to be seen in a framework that is

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Speaker 3: around the needs of the woman and her expectations and

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Speaker 3: what she wants out of her treatment and her very

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Speaker 3: specific circumstance, and they need to fit within that. So

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Speaker 3: the very first things are making sure that lifestyle is okay,

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Speaker 3: nutrition is okay. There are physical therapies such as physiotherapy

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Speaker 3: we know now has a huge role in this, as

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Speaker 3: do complementary treatments. The first line is still the oral

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Speaker 3: contraceptives if the chosen pathway is pharmacological, meaning that women

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Speaker 3: want to have some support hormonally, and the government has

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Speaker 3: also as part of this, announced a release of other

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Speaker 3: oral contraceptives that have been around for some time, such

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Speaker 3: as Slender, Yasmin and Yazz that are now available on

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Speaker 3: PBS listing as well, and again this reduces the overall

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Speaker 3: cost for those who are already affected by endometriosis in

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Speaker 3: terms of their management. The next step after that then

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Speaker 3: involves assessment and there may be some definitive treatments such

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Speaker 3: as surgery. Medications such as visign and in particular Rayequo

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Speaker 3: are second and third line drugs. They are not slamm

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Speaker 3: dunk solutions and they're not a single cure all. Unfortunately

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Speaker 3: we don't have that for endometriosis.

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Speaker 2: As the medical director at Endometriosis Australia, what does it

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Speaker 2: tell you as the government continues to add more of

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Speaker 2: these treatments to things like the PBS and also announcing

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Speaker 2: other measures as well. We know that they've put some

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Speaker 2: extended consultation types as part of medicare too. What do

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Speaker 2: all these signs tell you about how we are starting

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Speaker 2: to really talk about and change the conversation around endo.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, we've been campaigning for this for the last

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Speaker 3: decades to finally get the government and those who are

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Speaker 3: in charge to finally change the rules and make these

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Speaker 3: medications more accessible. In the end, one in two of

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Speaker 3: the population aren't specifically affected by menstrual dysfunction at some

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Speaker 3: stage in their life. It has a massive economic burden

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Speaker 3: for everybody, and we know that women's health often takes

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Speaker 3: a backseat to other areas of policy. Part of this

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Speaker 3: is now the realization that the loss of income the

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Speaker 3: medical expenses, that all those poor women who've been affected

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Speaker 3: by this over the last few decades actually have a

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Speaker 3: long term overflow under total cost of medical health. Get

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Speaker 3: We know that pain in women is under reported, undertreated,

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Speaker 3: under investigated, and it's been like that for decades. But

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Speaker 3: through the advocacy that we've had, we've at least brought

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Speaker 3: the time to diagnosis and now to treatment down from

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Speaker 3: over twenty years to still five years. So it's still

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Speaker 3: a very long time until people actually have treatments and management.

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Speaker 3: But this is all part of making a total armamentarium

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Speaker 3: available for women in the way that it suits them

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Speaker 3: and their goals rather than some middle aged male and

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Speaker 3: I mean that in the nicest possible way making decisions

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Speaker 3: about women's reproductive health.

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Speaker 2: I love that you mentioned there about the time to diagnose.

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Speaker 2: We keep hearing that the time that it takes to

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Speaker 2: diagnose someone within demetriosis has reduced, but it is still

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Speaker 2: quite significantly, looking at like around six and a half.

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Speaker 2: Issuears on average.

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Speaker 3: That's correct. So we have managed through education, making our

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Speaker 3: medical practitioners more aware, adding all of the elements to

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Speaker 3: the diagnostic and the treatment arsenal. We've managed to reduce

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Speaker 3: the time from the first presentation until the diagnosis. Have

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Speaker 3: made from seventeen years down to three. But what we

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Speaker 3: have not been able to change is the time frame

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Speaker 3: from the first onset of symptom until women present but

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Speaker 3: from the time that she consults a general practitioner, a

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Speaker 3: healthcare provider. We've managed to shift that. We think with

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Speaker 3: the education programs and with increased awareness that we have

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Speaker 3: and the increased empowerment of women, that we're going to

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Speaker 3: see a shift in this as well. Women should not

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Speaker 3: be putting up with this and it's time that we

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Speaker 3: make that at forefront. There is no such thing as

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Speaker 3: just period paint.

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Speaker 2: You have done it before I let you go. Something

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Speaker 2: that links into that nicely is we've been hearing and

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Speaker 2: reading about these blood tests that could potentially expedite the

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Speaker 2: process of diagnosing someone with endometriosis. Can you talk to

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Speaker 2: us a little bit about what the pro market ENDO

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Speaker 2: test is.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So, part of the problem with the diagnosis delay

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Speaker 3: has been that until very recently, this required someone to

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Speaker 3: have a laparoscopy, so surgical intervention to make that diagnosis.

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Speaker 3: We've been working on new guidelines, and in fact, two

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Speaker 3: years ago we were producing new guidelines that suggested we

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Speaker 3: don't need to do that anymore. And so the newest guidelines,

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Speaker 3: which are going to come out in about two months,

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Speaker 3: completely dispel that. And we now have a whole new

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Speaker 3: set of diagnostic criteria and a whole new set of

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Speaker 3: diagnostic tools available for us. So easily accessible at the

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Speaker 3: moment to your listeners are things like advanced ultrasounds cans

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Speaker 3: that can make the diagnosis very reliably, and we can

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Speaker 3: start at treatment without having to wait for a surgical intervention.

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Speaker 3: How wonderful is it if you can just go and

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Speaker 3: have a blood test done, maybe combine it with an

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Speaker 3: ultrasound scamp, and you can say hello to your endometriosis

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Speaker 3: and go, let's make a plan that's specific to me,

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Speaker 3: that addresses what my needs are, rather than having a

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Speaker 3: standard blanket thrown on you that is sometimes just a

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Speaker 3: bit of oral contraceptive pill and you go. The launch

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Speaker 3: of these is going to happen between March and June

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Speaker 3: of this year.

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Speaker 2: How good is that the concept of you take a

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Speaker 2: blood test, you maybe get an ultrasound done, and then

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Speaker 2: you get your diagnosis, which in itself can be so

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Speaker 2: affirming just to have an answer to what your pain

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Speaker 2: may have been for the last few years. And then

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Speaker 2: on top of that, you are able to go and

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Speaker 2: get yourself some riot quo or some bizan and not

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Speaker 2: pay through the nose for it exactly.

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Speaker 3: So, finally, thirty years later, we're finally getting somewhere that

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Speaker 3: allows us to appropriately address what women have been dealing

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Speaker 3: with for decades and centuries.

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Speaker 2: Oh well, I feel like saying happy and Demetriosis Awareness

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Speaker 2: Month too. I feel you've just delivered us so much good.

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Speaker 1: Need you.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for taking some time to feed your mind with

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Speaker 2: in the show notes to sign up today. The Quickie

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Speaker 2: is produced by me Taylorstrano, and Claire Murphy, with audio

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