You're tired, I'm tired, we're all tired

(just a note about midlife & women's health)

First order of business: Substack is a completely new thing for me. I have a website with a blog, but I’m not sure I want to keep it. I’m exploring other options right now and this is one of them.

Now the important part: I’m tired. I know, I know: we all are. Women, especially mothers, were tired before the pandemic started. Or we thought we were. We didn’t know how tired we could really get. Over the last several months, however, I realized I wasn’t only tired, I was in pain. I chalked it up to midlife. Expected aches and pains in my mid-40s. But after a while of being tired and being in pain I made the dreaded appointment with the doctor. If you are around my age, you might be able to guess what he thinks the problem is; if you guessed fibromyalgia, you win. Unless you feel like I do, then nobody wins.

I knew this diagnosis was coming but it still made me mad. Not at my doctor, but at healthcare in general. So many women I know are tired and in pain. Why aren’t we trying to figure out why?

Women seem to receive generic diagnoses often, ailments that are really umbrellas that cover a wide range of symptoms. Syndromes that don’t have any definitive tests to confirm them. Conditions that aren’t settled on for years after the first complaint. I just want to know why this doesn’t seem to be a priority for anyone. Why are we as a society so complacent about the health of our women, many of whom are relied upon for the nurturing and care-giving of others?

This is just a note to say I am one of the women who has been given the umbrella diagnosis of fibromyalgia. It is now official. Let the prescriptions begin!