Good Girl Gone Geek

late capitalism nightmare

Epic

This scans like one of those Cracked photo manipulation contests

being gay is a constant battle between “i wish to sit on a window bench with my lover, our legs tangling as we listen to the birds” and “hey let’s go throw rocks at fascists” and i think that’s very sexy of us

if the window’s open and you time it right you can do both

katy perry means nothing to me but teenage dream is always gonna slap

The medical community on literally every female specific health issue ever: “very common condition” “no known cause” “no known cure” :))))))

What the fuck is tumblr? Like honestly what is this? Do you guys pull shit out of the inner most depths of your rectum and then just throw it on your keyboard and have it turn into a post???? This site is something else what the fuck is wrong with you people????!?!?

Endemetriosis

Vaginal Thrush

Menorrhagia

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Fibroids

Very common conditions, causes are unknown or only speculated, long term cures have not been found. Most can cause chronic pain or discomfort, all can seriously impact your quality of life.

Men are so damn privileged they can’t even imagine female bodies have different healthcare needs than theirs and that our healthcare needs are important even if they can’t be affected by one of these conditions.

Endometriosis causes excruciating pain and is a leading cause of infertility. Thrush is extremely uncomfortable, and expensive to treat repeatedly; over-the-counter preparations rarely completely eradicate it. Menorrhagia, which I have, makes you anæmic. PCOS causes hormonal symptoms that are socially difficult (facial hair, acne, hair loss, weight gain). Fibroids are so common, and are often treated with a hysterectomy.

Add in fibromylgia, which affects 8x as many women as men, as well as lupus (and almost any other autoimmune condition), systemic exertion intolerance disorder (SEID), iron deficiency anæmia (all of which affect more women than men), and you have well over 25% of childbearing-age women globally living with chronic pain and tiredness.

Chronic pain is overwhelmingly experienced by women, and women are less likely to be taken seriously or given treatment by medical professionals. I went through two years of diagnostics to finally find out I had occipital neuralgia; I felt doubted when I described my pain at every step of the way, but was lucky to have a partner who was persistent in helping me get treatment.

Basically, this is a huge problem, and also one of the reasons I have been considering medical school.

Don’t forget that most pharmaceuticals go to market without ever having been tested on people with a uterus, lest someone get pregnant… seriously that is the whole rationale behind not testing >50% of the population. This has been legislated against in some countries, but still persists in the of majority drug development because of other regulations, and traditions and laziness. The use of a drug is of course monitored in the population after release, but the people “trying” it in this capacity get none of the insurance, close and regular medical examination or monetary benefit of essentially being in a late stage drug trial. Drugs that are pulled from market after release are sometimes done so on the basis that the dosage is just too high for females/afab people and this is, of course, after they’ve experienced the adverse affects. 

This is why if you get pregnant your doctor will take you off basically any and all medication you’re taking (including mental health medication, can’t imagine any implications/dire consequences there), not because they know it will have an adverse affect on the foetus but because they have no idea. How wonderfully kind of them to prioritise the health and life of an unborn foetus over that of a living person, let’s just hope they don’t become ill whilst pregnant. How charmingly logical it is that they wouldn’t even bother to test drugs in people with a uterus because it’s all too difficult and gosh, darn what an ethical conundrum we’ve been faced with, let’s just not! Which is so in the spirit of capital S, Science!  

Sources: Nature, Nature, Medscape, Biomedcentral.

Indeed, the issue is so severe that, in many cases, folks with uteruses are routinely told that their diseases and disorders are not, in fact, disorders at all, and are just a normal part of having a uterus.

Take menstrual cramps, for example. Everybody knows that cramps are a normal part of menstruation, and that virtually all people who menstruate experience them throughout their lives, right?

Except that’s not right at all.

Yes, it’s true that about two-thirds of individuals who menstruate begin to experience menstrual pain during adolescence, but it’s basically a side effect of puberty, and normally subsides by your late teens. Only about 20-40% of menstruating adults experience menstrual pain on a regular basis - and according to some estimates, as much as 80% of that figure is due to undiagnosed endometriosis or some other underlying medical condition.

Yeah, roll those numbers around in your head: if you’re an adult who experiences menstrual cramps, it’s overwhelmingly likely that your pain is a symptom of some potentially serious medical condition.

And yet we tell folks it’s just a normal thing that everybody has to deal with.

Bonus round: Look up PCOS and gender identity.

Then look up PCOS and diabetes.

Ok, to show how incredibly important this post fucking is, I just looked up endometriosis and I match just about every sympton, and it would explain not just my incredibly painful periods but many other things as well. I had no idea this existed. Please, read this post and reblog this so others can learn.

I will reblog this every time because my cousin (a cis girl) went through seven years of pain without being taken seriously until SHE suggested it was endometriosis. And that’s not even unusual - that’s the average amount of time it takes between first symptoms and a diagnosis of endometriosis.

Only 20-40% of menstruating adults experience cramps???? Fuuuuuck >:[

For those who don’t look it up - PCOS isn’t just symptoms that are “socially difficult.” PCOS is, like endometriosis, one of the leading causes of female infertility. It can lead to heart disease, diabetes (due to insulin resistance in the body because your hormones are completely out of whack), inflammation, irregular and painful menstraul cycles, and the development of cysts in ovaries which can rupter and cause such extreme pain most people need to be hospitalized. Where they’ll be told to lose weight, or (most common in young people being diagnosed) take a hormonal contraceptive.

When I was diagnosed I was only told it was “very common” (1 in 10 women) and I was handed a prescription for hormonal birth control pills. The rest of the symptoms I had to figure out on my own, doing my own research.

Doctors will only tell you about the visible symptoms that prevent women with PCOS from reaching ideal beauty standards, because society doesn’t care about women’s pain, only the ways they aren’t conforming to what they are expected to be.

Also, there are other conditions that are largely undiagnosed or misdiagnosed and have hurt women immensely. PMDD is a severe form of PMS that can monthly lead women to depression, anxiety, and suicide (about a 3-8% occurrence in women). Antidepressants can be used to treat it, yes, but the diagnosis usually ignores the cyclical nature of the condition, so women don’t always know what’s actually going on and it’s just attributed to a general mental illness. It is so much more than that and should be taken JUST as seriously as a regular mental illness, as any menstrual issues seem to be disregarded just because PMS and PMDD involve hormones (and sometimes a vagina).

Likewise, pelvic floor dysfunction and vaginal pain is widely ignored by most people (and sometimes general physicians) because not only is women’s pain not usually taken seriously, but people underestimate how much conditions such as vaginismus and hypo/hypertonic pelvic floors can affect a woman’s personal life as well as her sexual gratification and her relationship with her partner. Because PEOPLE DONT CARE if women enjoy sex! It’s always the male’s pleasure that matters more, and that in general infuriates me.

More education needs to be provided on these particular conditions, as many people I talk to about my issues have absolutely no clue what they are and why they exist, and why I garner little to no sympathy or understanding from people when I try to explain how I feel— how miserable it is to feel so helpless during horrible mood swings and how much pain I’m in all the time because I have dysfunctional pelvic muscles that take a lot of time and work to fix and aren’t always covered by health insurance.

#TeamFitzSimmons

“makeup actually expires!!!” not if it costs more than $5 it doesnt

It expires when its empty

Fitzs may not say he loves Deke, but he showed it tonight when he was the first to run to his grandson to help him after he was nearly choked to death

i felt that.

HIS PROTECTIVENESS OF HIM

I AM: CRYINGGGG

The 180 from last season is so wonderful.  But I also have a feeling that Izel knowing he is their Grandchild is going to bite us all in the rear at some point soon.

stranger things is an amazing show coz only women show signs of genius level brain activity and every man in it is useless except for dustin and i fucking love that

Thoughts on Agents of SHIELD 7-12-19.

Smarter people than I probably already figured this out, but I just realized why Deke calls Fitz “Bobo.” Jemma said, “That’s what you wanted to be called.” That’s what older time loop Fitz, grandpa to actual baby Deke, wanted to be called. We never saw this version of Fitz, but they said that Mack was one of the first to die in that time loop timeline. So Fitz was missing Mack, who always called him “Turbo,” so he asked for his grandson to call him that. Bobo = Grandpa Turbo. *cries*

I think that Mack and Yoyo reconciling in this episode was not a coincidence in timing. It was done on purpose to be just after Fitzsimmons (and right before that, Daisy) got home. Mack didn’t feel that he could be vulnerable until all his ducklings were home safe. *cries*

This show is giving me crying-induced dehydration.

Turbo = Bobo in kidspeak awwwww 😭😭😭

I officially accept Bobo as Baby Deke’s version of Turbo and I LOVE IT

stacey’s dad ♪

is getting really sad ♪

#if s1 fitzsimmons could see themselves now (via @agentmanatee)

Can we talk about how she’s playing with his ring here because I...

Me: *tells a “completely normal” and “kinda funny” annecdote from my childhood that totally wasn’t traumatic at all and probably happens to everyone at some point*

My Therapist: *winces*

I honestly can’t tell if he’s really struggling with this or if he’s just messing with her

#high quality television right here