Stuff I'm thinking about.
Jun. 16th, 2010 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serynI had a lot more on yesterday's post than just the link to the Turley article, but even though my opinions are rational, I don't feel comfortable sharing them since many people who have similar opinions are accused of being unthinking idiots. Some of them are unthinking idiots. I want to make sure I am not being an unthinking idiot, preferably not even looking like one, before I explain.
Maintenance is coming around tomorrow, so I've been trying to finish the cleaning that I thought wasn't "due" until next week. I was going to do laundry but there's a queue and there's nothing I need cleaned, I just want the dirty baskets to be empty so it looks like I keep up with things.
My Thursdays are already full because I have knitting and have to go to the gym early. It's hard to squeeze laundry into that day.
I should be making bread and thinking about what to make for supper, but what I'm actually thinking about is whether I can justify going out for lunch two days in a row.
I don't like talking about menstrual problems in public. I don't like buying feminine hygiene problems during the period. I don't want something that's a very personal business to be advertised in any way. I'm female, I'm pretty sure you all assume it happens. But there's a reason commercials for feminine hygiene products use blue tinted water--- that's already gross enough.
I'm kind of disturbed when other women talk about their periods every month so the entire world can see their body's schedule.
I hate to admit why I find that disturbing because it makes me feel like a sicko. If I were the villain, (and I do often play one in my imagination) I would want to know when my victim is fertile. I'm not sure whether I would want to avoid that time or exploit it while being my moustache twirling villainous imaginary self. But because I thought of it that way, I assume all real life villains want that information so they can choose the optimal time to rape someone.
I would like to know why though, something that so many women find debilitating (and there are things one can do personally, including vitamins, exercise, and diet which help, but biology does not favor everyone) has not been seriously addressed by the medical profession. It's a stupid and wasteful process, both biologically and environmentally. No one seems to even be researching why this exists and there aren't really any effective long-term treatments.
One of the few things which helps minimize menstrual problems, oral contraceptive pills (and the shot form of similar medications) have been increasingly more difficult to obtain. There are actual doctors who will not write prescriptions for them--- philosophical objections, not that the patient is ineligible for health reasons-- there are pharmacies who will not stock them or order them or fill the prescriptions. It doesn't matter why a woman is taking the pills, it's "wrong". I don't understand why anyone can refuse to fill a prescription on philosophical grounds and retain their pharmacist license. If I'm a bus driver and I decide to become Amish, I'm going to have to give up my career. If I'm Amish and I decide to become a bus driver, my employer is going to expect me to actually drive even if it's in violation of my philosophical outlook. If you don't want to sell contraceptives, don't become a pharmacist.
Maintenance is coming around tomorrow, so I've been trying to finish the cleaning that I thought wasn't "due" until next week. I was going to do laundry but there's a queue and there's nothing I need cleaned, I just want the dirty baskets to be empty so it looks like I keep up with things.
My Thursdays are already full because I have knitting and have to go to the gym early. It's hard to squeeze laundry into that day.
I should be making bread and thinking about what to make for supper, but what I'm actually thinking about is whether I can justify going out for lunch two days in a row.
I don't like talking about menstrual problems in public. I don't like buying feminine hygiene problems during the period. I don't want something that's a very personal business to be advertised in any way. I'm female, I'm pretty sure you all assume it happens. But there's a reason commercials for feminine hygiene products use blue tinted water--- that's already gross enough.
I'm kind of disturbed when other women talk about their periods every month so the entire world can see their body's schedule.
I hate to admit why I find that disturbing because it makes me feel like a sicko. If I were the villain, (and I do often play one in my imagination) I would want to know when my victim is fertile. I'm not sure whether I would want to avoid that time or exploit it while being my moustache twirling villainous imaginary self. But because I thought of it that way, I assume all real life villains want that information so they can choose the optimal time to rape someone.
I would like to know why though, something that so many women find debilitating (and there are things one can do personally, including vitamins, exercise, and diet which help, but biology does not favor everyone) has not been seriously addressed by the medical profession. It's a stupid and wasteful process, both biologically and environmentally. No one seems to even be researching why this exists and there aren't really any effective long-term treatments.
One of the few things which helps minimize menstrual problems, oral contraceptive pills (and the shot form of similar medications) have been increasingly more difficult to obtain. There are actual doctors who will not write prescriptions for them--- philosophical objections, not that the patient is ineligible for health reasons-- there are pharmacies who will not stock them or order them or fill the prescriptions. It doesn't matter why a woman is taking the pills, it's "wrong". I don't understand why anyone can refuse to fill a prescription on philosophical grounds and retain their pharmacist license. If I'm a bus driver and I decide to become Amish, I'm going to have to give up my career. If I'm Amish and I decide to become a bus driver, my employer is going to expect me to actually drive even if it's in violation of my philosophical outlook. If you don't want to sell contraceptives, don't become a pharmacist.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-17 09:14 am (UTC)I'm sure there's probably a good compromise somewhere between "shut up" and "take out a billboard", and I hate to use the word "awareness" (mostly because "breast cancer awareness" gives me terminal eye-roll) but I think part of the reason we don't have better options for menstrual troubles is that women have been quietly slinking off to the fainting couch with "I just don't feel well" for years and it gets lost in the background noise. If we'd been saying "I need to go home because I'm having food-poisoning-level unwellness" or "My woman parts are spitting out blue fluid faster than my truck's windshield washer, and I don't want to ruin my $50 work pants" the whole time, maybe things would be different?
"No one seems to even be researching why this exists and there aren't really any effective long-term treatments."
I'm kind of fascinated by that too. If modern medical professionals truly believe that a normal menstrual cycle is not a medical issue, then why don't we have more solutions to turn "my period is horrible, messy, and agonizing" into "my period is a little messy but normal" instead of "I have no period" or "I'm drugged out of my skull every month"?
no subject
Date: 2010-06-17 03:40 pm (UTC)Food-poisoning level unwellness should get medical attention. It would for me. I would be demanding a hysterectomy if I had the kinds of problems you do. But there's a common belief that doctors have zero interest in addressing any issues. I don't know whether that's true or merely true of mediocre doctors.
I have the "normal" kind, where even a bad month requires like 4 ibuprofen (that's total, spread out at recommended intervals). It was worse when I was younger and not taking better care of myself. Then it was 6-8 pills and most months were that bad. But I really have nothing to complain about. Because I consider mine an acceptable inconvenience, I haven't asked my doctor about it.
You certainly should have sought medical intervention several times in the past.