Something that absolutely makes me want to tear people to shreds with my teeth is thinking about how women's health is just not a priority in medicine.
1 in 10 women of childbearing age have PCOS.
Yet it's not considered important at all. It's hardly researched. Many women who suffer from this go undiagnosed for years. They are brushed off, ignored, not heard, or just put on birth control as if that's a cure-all. Even if someone with PCOS does get diagnosed the doctors don't even know everything there is to know about it.
Did you know that more than half of women with PCOS develop Type 2 Diabetes by the age of 40? Women with PCOS are often insulin resistant. Furthermore, many women with PCOS also have trouble with vitamin deficiencies, like vitamin D. And did you know that many women with PCOS also suffer from crippling fatigue?
Heart disease?
High blood pressure?
Again, one in ten women.
Can you imagine if one in ten men had PCOS? It would be the most well-researched condition on earth. Going to the doctor would mean that testing for PCOS is one of the first things they do. There would be awareness for PCOS. Treatments would be readily available and covered by health insurance. And so on.
But women are left to suffer because, why? The female body is just not considered important in medicine, yet it's the one people want to control the most. Almost half of the earth's population is female, yet our health is not a priority. If that doesn't make anyone want to go crazy, then I don't know what will.
