Ida Tin’s “Dear Men” Series: Part 7 of 29 – About the unexpected issues
Post 7/29 for Men. About the unexpected issues a vulva, vagina, uterus and other nearby areas may have.
Many, many women encounter really annoying conditions. Let me mention three top candidates though there are many contenders: PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), endometriosis and cysts.
1: The first, PCOS is a hormonal imbalance with high levels of androgens which makes ovulation irregular (and hence conception more challenging), causes excessive facial hair growth and a lot of other symptoms. 7-10 % of women have it.
2: Endometriosis is a little understood condition where cells that should only live in the uterus starts growing at inappropriate place inside the body, all over. This causes pain that is enhanced through the menstrual cycle. About 5-10% of women are plagued by these growths that comes with a whole list of symptoms like serious pain, infertility and pain during sex. On top of that getting diagnosed is for many a decade long walk of misdiagnosis, being gaslighted while enduring unbearable pain.
3: Cysts that haunt women of color (see link in comments) more than others are painful growths that wreak havoc around the reproductive organs. It can cause heavy bleeding, fertility problems and pain, plus many more nasty things. 10-30% of women will have a cycst in their lives.
On top of that we all have our fun share of vaginal infections (bacteria that makes the mucus smell bad), vaginal yeast infections (makes the vulva and vagina itchy and produces a white cottage cheese like discharge. 75% have some type of vagina infection at least once) and bladder infections (UTI, urinary tract infection which 60% of women will try) which can be so, so painful and makes you pee blood and can cause a kidney infection. Or a dryness or heavy bleeding (25% of women) which maybe sounds harmless, but it’s no walk in the park at all.
So.. you get the picture. Women have a lot of stuff going on that is invisible on the outside and take a LOT of attention on the inside. What do these things feel like?
It causes some women to lie in fetal position several days per cycle in pain
It drives people through long and expensive fertility treatments
It makes daily life hard
Some want their uterus removed to escape the pain
People eat hormones to prevent the pain
It makes people feel not taken seriously by their doctors
It makes sex painful
A cyst can burst, which is an emergency
It influences your mood
You have to spend resources on getting medical care that might still not help
What has been your experience?
-This post by Ida Tin is shared on LinkedIn and is republished here with her permission. The SheSight Team has not made any changes to the content.
