Why is there such a stigma?
I was extremely tired yesterday. I was on self-imposed standby for work, as I didn’t know yet whether miss H. had made it back from NJ yet. I hoped she was ok. I slept too little friday night, and as a result was completely unmotivated Saturday to do anything I was supposed to do. I finally got up early afternoon and rushed to get my stuff done. After the circus was over (which did not impress my kiddo in the least), I had to grocery shop. So I’m at Kroger, and flitting through the aisles, my mind drifting as it always does.
Why is this such a difficult thing, this hormone issue we suffer from? I had to call Tim and ask him to write something down because of course I didn’t have my recorder with me. Fat lot of good a voice activated recorder does if I never carry it around. *rolls eyes* Anyway, as I was driving back I kept thinking of the things Doctors say to their patients, some of the horror stories I’ve heard about and read on other patient websites.
“You’re just getting older.”
“Everyone gets this way when they age.”
“Females can be a bit emotional, and overly sensitive.”
Why? Why does it have to mean we’re emotional, overly sensitive, hypochondriacs? We get told not to worry “our pretty, silly female heads” over it, that the doc knows what he’s doing, and if we question it, are told we’re being hysterical and prove their point that we’re obviously depressed and need Lexapro, or Prozac, or Paxil, Klonopin, etc.
And God forbid a man step up and admit he has difficulties handling stress (due to undiagnosed Hypopituitarism, Addison’s or plain Adrenal Fatigue). He gets called weak, sissified, and medical professionals sympathetically (and condescendingly) cluck their tongues and think “repressed homosexuality” which, to me, is the height of a perverted discrimination, both against real medical issues, as well as disrespectful to the gay and lesbian community in general.
There is no weakness in being sick, or admitting being sick. People call us obsessed but why shouldn’t we be obsessed with feeling better? We’re not getting high, drunk, or cutting people into slivers to serve with our bangers and mash. So what makes us such pariahs?
Because we question. We have the temerity to question the medical ‘establishment’. The unmitigated gall to speak up and say, “Hey, this is wrong. I don’t care what the laboratory tests show. I still feel crummy. NO I don’t want to take another anti-depressant. I want to fix the problem, not put a band-aid on the symptom.”
And for that, we get labeled. Labeled trouble makers, fanatics, eccentrics, and a host of other, less pleasant epithets.
