3 Things I Learned Today

Diagnosis: Who knows? ??‍♀️

I used to find it unbelievable when I’d hear stories about how it took someone years to get properly diagnosed with a medical issue. I thought about this today when I realized I’m shopping for food so I can try to figure out what my migraine triggers are. If I even have vestibular migraines or food triggers that cause it that is. Meanwhile, my ear has been ringing for two years for who the fuck knows what reason.

Now I am more surprised when anything is ever properly diagnosed.

Are you a thin man?

The challenge of getting a correct diagnosis starts to make even more sense since:

  1. I’m a woman. As I am beginning to learn, the vast majority of medical data uses men’s bodies as the default for study. And wouldn’t you just know that my body is different from a man’s!
    Also, isn’t it just SUPER weird that certain people care so much about what happens with a woman’s body except for when it comes to the actual medical care and protection of said body!? Perhaps I digress…
  2. I’m fat. As mentioned yesterday, doctors have a hard time looking past fat. If you are fat, most likely your problem will be perceived as a symptom of being fat. Which can make it even harder to get a diagnosis that doesn’t center weight as the issue. See Aubrey Gordon’s book What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat for more info.

Provocateur!

I learned that a person who suffers from migraines is called a migraineur. Which makes it sound like there is the potential for something super sexy to happen. I can confirm there is nothing sexy about it.