Tag: Endometriosis
-
A brief history of menstruation
Fangzhou LuoPortland, Oregon, United States After a few failed attempts to redirect a flirtatious student to “higher pleasures” like music, the Ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Hypatia resorted to revealing where she was in her menstrual cycle to deter him. The philosopher who recorded this—Damascius—does not specify if this student was Orestes,1 who remained a…
-
Seeking medicalization: chronic illness without diagnosed disease
Camille KrollChicago, Illinois, United States I was wheeled into the bright lights of the operating room with the symptom-based diagnoses of chronic pelvic pain and irritable bowel syndrome. When I groggily emerged several hours later, I had a new label: someone with a disease. Endometriosis is a notoriously tricky disease to diagnose because often only…
-
Fratricide
Hemal Sampat No bleeding this month.It is how I announced myself.A child arrivedAnd Mom and Dad were overjoyed. Years pass.One day, no more bleeding.No more children to come. Then, bleeding again.It is how he announced himself.A different child arrivedBorn of Mom alone. Tan-colored, like meBut unwelcome. He grows where I grew:In the endometrium.He feeds off…