Hi, I'm Jen, lay nuclear physicist. I just returned from the gynecologist and I am so pissed off.
I went for a routine annual visit and exam and I am completely fed up with the way that gynecologists pathologize menstruation.
Here's what happened:
As soon as I got into the exam room, the nurse asked me when was the first day of my last menstrual period. I couldn't give her an exact date because I've only had my period 5 times in the last year (just a variation of normal).
After my pelvic exam (which was totally unnecessary since it turned out to be fine) the gynecologist started in with all sorts of scare tactics. Instead of accepting that periods are not library books -- they're not due on a certain day, he insists that I am at risk for something called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). That's right; I'm supposed to believe that my body is defective!
This is the difference between the medical model of menstruation and the lay menstrual midwifery model. Menstrual midwives are trained in holistic care and they know that women are PERFECTLY DESIGNED to menstruate. Sure, I only get 4 or 5 periods a year, but my body is just as perfectly designed as the next woman. Women have been having periods without the help of gynecologists for thousands of years and we are still here.
And yes, I do have
The doctor wants me to have blood drawn for hormone tests, but I refused. I know what would happen if the results came back abnormal; I'd have to have more blood tests and maybe even interventions into my menstrual cycle. Once you let gynecologists start the cascade of interventions, who knows where it will end? If I don't let him do the test, then he can't tell me my hormone levels are abnormal.
Even though I refused the testing, the gynecologist wouldn't let it drop. You are not going to believe what he said next. He actually commented on the amount of body hair that I have. At first I thought I hadn't heard him correctly. All I could think was: My GYN said WHAT??!!
And that's not the worst of it. I know I am overweight, but he actually pointed it out and claimed that PCOS can lead to excessive weight gain.
Then he started in with the typical scare tactics claiming that women with PCOS are at greater risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, and endometrial cancer. But the worst was when he played the "no baby card." If I don't diagnose and treat PCOS, I might be unable to conceive and end up with no baby! He thinks he can scare me but I know better.
First of all, I could have periods every 28 days if I wanted to. All I have to do is practice menstrual affirmations (I will get my period; I am made for menstruation; My body is not broken.) and get a cranio-sacral adjustment. Oh, and I could eat more kale.
Second, I have a friend whose gynecologist told her that she might have PCOS, but when the blood tests came back, they were normal. He made her worry for nothing. I don't want to go through that.
Third, my gynecologist, like all gynecologists, is in the pocket of Big Pharma. He just wants to prescribe some sort of medication like birth control pills to regulate my period. I bet he makes a thousand dollars every time he writes a prescription for the Pill.
Fourth, my gynecologist wants to regulate my period for his own convenience. It's easier for him if I have regular periods and he doesn't want to be bothered by my extremely heavy cycles, my persistent anemia and by the fact that I complained that I have been trying to conceive for three years without success.
Well, I'll show him! I'll get pregnant even though I have only 4 or 5 periods a year. Then I'll be able to relax. Surely even gynecologists know that women are perfectly designed for pregnancy and no one has ever had a miscarriage.
This piece is satire.
As someone with PCOS who took two years to conceive (without meds I might add, as doctors wouLdn't help me, and also claimed it did not effect weight gain) I'm actually pretty annoyed you've used this so called satire to work to your own gain. I told docs ten years ago that I thought I had PCOS due to various sypmtoms and they refused to test until I started trying to conceive years later. Then they wouldn't treat it, denied it influenced weight and left me with no alternative but for me and my husband to give up hope of a baby. As it was, the month I sent off for adoption information I did actually conceive, with no medical help at all.
ReplyDeleteYou want to show that natural birth advocates and natural menstruation advocates are nutters who willfully rebel against medical advice,but really most are not. Most do a great deal of research before deciding upon their methods, some have had previous negative experience of the medical profession. And I am not a natural birth activist, there's interventions I would rather avoid but there are medications I'll accept too. You would have everyone who questions a doctor painted as a ignorant fool. And yet questioning doctors is the reason I am a) alive and b) managed to finally get a PCOS diagnosis.
Plus, quite frankly, doctors do hide menstural issues behind the pill and the pill can cause its own problems. PCOS causes me have 5-8 week cycles, coming of the pill caused my body not to bleed for 8 months when I first wanted to conceive. The pill also caused weight gain and migraines (which my doc denied, but it's funny I've only had 3 migraines in 3.5 years since coming off the pill and all coincide with conception where my horones wre changing).
It's bad enough that you misrepresent statistics and science to promote your agenda, as well as using womens losses to promote your cause without ever giving the flip side of the coin and discussing hospital mistakes. But to then write this 'satire' puposefully exaggrating and mis-representing a type of women and using a condition which causes a great deal of distress is disgusting.
You are disgusting.
Also - sat·ire/ˈsaˌtī(ə)r/
Noun:
1) The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of...
2) A play, novel, film, or other work that uses satire
It is a great shame you don't understamd humour and irony, and only use exaggeration and ridicule, especially as the only person's stupidity you manage to show is your own. Of course you take exaggeration to a level where it's almost an outright lie about the type of people you want to demonise. You ridicule loss, you ridicule mothers trying to educate themselves, you ridicule scenarios that are not accurate representations of your opponents beliefs. That doesn't help your cause. These sorts of post destroy what little credibility you may have had.
Stop twistng reality.