Today, the NIH spends proportionally LESS studying women's health than in 2013. A damning new study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, maps it out. With receipts.
Done and sent. This issue has plagued the practice of medicine forever, and now we have the money & equipment to change it. Even mouse research is done mostly on male mice because “hormones complicate results.”
Keep writing about this. My daughter is pregnant and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The drug metformin, which was introduced as a medication in France in 1957, is what they are treating her with. But, she was told, there is no data on the women and the drug crossing the placenta so it could be detrimental to the baby , or maybe not. Absolutely ridiculous that nobody has done that research. In talking with a diabetes researcher, my daughter in laws brother, he stated he never does studies on women because it’s too hard! We are 50% of the population and the only ones having babies. Please keep bringing these topics into the light. Bless you for all the work you’ve done so far.
Deborah -- just when I was thinking what should I do, as I was reading your article, you provided the next step: write our representative. Yes, I will but..... I feel like you have a great forum here for further marching orders, if not a movement, to keep this in the spotlight, especially given the nationwide movement to control women's bodies and the further controls the incoming administration undoubtedly has up their conservative sleeves. Ideas please.
I'm not a good community organizer. I'm more of a loudmouth who loves to research. But hey, if you can figure out a way forward, please, let's do this. I just think the next four years are gonna be all about backsliding, women's health-wise.
I don’t have senators or reps in the US anymore, but have sent the info on to my sister, sisters-in-law, and nieces— as well as the men in their lives. Because, 🤬
This post is going to make one of those items on my mental to-do list so easy! It's been a while now that I've meant to write the letter. Thanks for this and always for shining light on women's health and the many ways in which it needs much improvement! I'll be forwarding this post to a family member whose dismissive reaction at Thanksgiving to my chosen interest in women's health came from his uninformed sentiment that knowledge on the topic was surely already sufficient and therefore what I was drawing attention to was unnecessary and redundant. 🙄
I contacted my Rep, who is a woman--Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip. Thank you for this. I have women in my family and women among my friends, and they are all very valuable to me. I don't understand the men who stand in the way of more research money being devoted to women's health!
And my own mother was an amazing woman. I recently had a memory of her from when I was 7--something I'd forgotten for years, and then remembered out of the blue. The year I was 7 was the year JFK was elected president. My mother took me to vote with her that year. I remember going into this large, fairly dark room with her, and asking her who she was going to vote for (I knew damn well she was voting for JFK, but I wasn't sure about the down-ballot people). She told me it was something one couldn't talk about at the polls, because people weren't supposed to influence each other there, or something to that effect.
Being there with my mother had the feeling of a powerful ritual, and I think that contributed to my being politically very aware in my life, and the importance I put on voting.
After that, I asked my siblings if she'd done the same with them--my slightly older brother, and my much younger sister (my mother has been gone since 2000). She had. I was not surprised. Her maternal uncle had been head of the Colorado Democratic Party for most of the first half of the 20th century.
When my mother and I got home from the polls, my parents were preparing to go out for the evening. They told us we could watch the TV until the election was decided. I trundled off to bed at 10. My brother, age 10, was still up--blearing eyed--when they got home at 3AM. (This was Seattle; it was 6AM eastern time.)
Done and sent. This issue has plagued the practice of medicine forever, and now we have the money & equipment to change it. Even mouse research is done mostly on male mice because “hormones complicate results.”
Exactly. It's so insane. Thank you.
Keep writing about this. My daughter is pregnant and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The drug metformin, which was introduced as a medication in France in 1957, is what they are treating her with. But, she was told, there is no data on the women and the drug crossing the placenta so it could be detrimental to the baby , or maybe not. Absolutely ridiculous that nobody has done that research. In talking with a diabetes researcher, my daughter in laws brother, he stated he never does studies on women because it’s too hard! We are 50% of the population and the only ones having babies. Please keep bringing these topics into the light. Bless you for all the work you’ve done so far.
Thanks, Pat. The more I learn about the less they know, the angrier I get. I'll keep writing until the situation changes. xx
Deborah -- just when I was thinking what should I do, as I was reading your article, you provided the next step: write our representative. Yes, I will but..... I feel like you have a great forum here for further marching orders, if not a movement, to keep this in the spotlight, especially given the nationwide movement to control women's bodies and the further controls the incoming administration undoubtedly has up their conservative sleeves. Ideas please.
I'm not a good community organizer. I'm more of a loudmouth who loves to research. But hey, if you can figure out a way forward, please, let's do this. I just think the next four years are gonna be all about backsliding, women's health-wise.
Thank you for your focus on women's health, and especially crone health. Love that you dig into these resources.
Thanks, Stella. Crone health: love it.
Done! Thanks for keeping us informed
I don’t have senators or reps in the US anymore, but have sent the info on to my sister, sisters-in-law, and nieces— as well as the men in their lives. Because, 🤬
This post is going to make one of those items on my mental to-do list so easy! It's been a while now that I've meant to write the letter. Thanks for this and always for shining light on women's health and the many ways in which it needs much improvement! I'll be forwarding this post to a family member whose dismissive reaction at Thanksgiving to my chosen interest in women's health came from his uninformed sentiment that knowledge on the topic was surely already sufficient and therefore what I was drawing attention to was unnecessary and redundant. 🙄
Deborah,
I contacted my Rep, who is a woman--Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip. Thank you for this. I have women in my family and women among my friends, and they are all very valuable to me. I don't understand the men who stand in the way of more research money being devoted to women's health!
And my own mother was an amazing woman. I recently had a memory of her from when I was 7--something I'd forgotten for years, and then remembered out of the blue. The year I was 7 was the year JFK was elected president. My mother took me to vote with her that year. I remember going into this large, fairly dark room with her, and asking her who she was going to vote for (I knew damn well she was voting for JFK, but I wasn't sure about the down-ballot people). She told me it was something one couldn't talk about at the polls, because people weren't supposed to influence each other there, or something to that effect.
Being there with my mother had the feeling of a powerful ritual, and I think that contributed to my being politically very aware in my life, and the importance I put on voting.
After that, I asked my siblings if she'd done the same with them--my slightly older brother, and my much younger sister (my mother has been gone since 2000). She had. I was not surprised. Her maternal uncle had been head of the Colorado Democratic Party for most of the first half of the 20th century.
When my mother and I got home from the polls, my parents were preparing to go out for the evening. They told us we could watch the TV until the election was decided. I trundled off to bed at 10. My brother, age 10, was still up--blearing eyed--when they got home at 3AM. (This was Seattle; it was 6AM eastern time.)
Done! Thanks for summarizing the report and providing a template.