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DRUGGED AND DELUDED
| The recent news
about the importance of ovaries to the health of women was staggering.
For some years now, women were encouraged by the medical profession to
have their ovaries removed along with their uterus "to prevent cancer."
It seemed that little thought was given to what dosages of exogenous estrogen might do to women's organs. Physicians prescribed and pharmacies dispensed it to women on the basis of its efficacy for preventing hot flashes. Same sloppy way they touted the first birth control pill which was all estrogen. Because it stopped pregnancies from forming it seems no one looked beyond. When women started dying they decreased the estrogen and added progesterone to the Pill. Historically, medicine has not paid much attention to women. Man was the template for human beings and all medication was based on the dose given "the average adult male," so women and children were given percentage doses in proportion to their weight. Not too many years ago, research on women was largely non existent as scientists decided that the menstrual cycle made it impossible to ascertain any valid results. This too has been proven false as more women entered colleges and medical schools and more men of science got their heads out of their ass. But by then the huge drug and insurance companies and HMOs were running the whole medical show. They saw a massive market opening to bilk women out of their common sense and cash. The advertising industry quickly got on board with scare ads. Suddenly every part of a woman's body was a source of potential danger which necessitated a pill or a potion that resulted in dependency -- a great new market of people hooked for life on "legal" drugs. The crime here is that instead of studying why many women did/do not collapse at menopause with a myriad of deadly symptoms, the medical funding supported research into drugs that only served as band-aids. They afforded temporary relief while they damaged the bodies of the women they hooked. Precedent for medicine's caviler attitude toward women has long been set in stone. Medical tomes feature the male to demonstrate all systems of the body with a few extra pages devoted to women's reproductive organs and functions. But even here, the female is downplayed by the use of derogatory and deprecating language in some descriptive passages. For example where a cessation of function in the organ of a male is called "cessation of function"; in the female it is called "a failure of the organ" -- notably the ovaries at menopause. It was only a short time ago that we were warned over and over about the dangers in X-rays; specifically that they can cause cancer. So X-ray machines were taken out of shoe stores and limited for use by medical personnel. We have chest X-rays and bone injury X-rays and tooth X-rays etc for diagnosis. Yet another X-ray has been hidden under the harmless sounding name of "Mammogram." Mammography nukes each woman's breast two or three times, twice or more a year. Beneath the mammary glands lies the blood forming tissue in the ribs as well as many lymph nodes. In all these years, no one has bothered to come up with a non-invasive, non-cancer causing, and inexpensive test for cancer of the breast. Different story for prostate cancer -- a simple blood test. It's not too late for women to understand how they have been deceived and forced onto drugs because of the prevailing attitude. Certainly huge numbers of women have learned to cope with the usually minor irritation of menopause by limiting caffeine, increasing exercise and changing their diet. But by far the most important way a woman can avoid drugs and deception is with self education and acceptance of her whole body. She must throw out the crappy critiques of her reproductive organs and her worth that the culture has lumbered her with throughout her life. "There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them." -- unknown author.
2005-032 Copyright 2005 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: gapperserve@peoplepc.com. G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M |
Now
some sharp eyes have noted that these ovary-deprived women are more apt
to develop stroke, heart disease and diabetes as well as other debilitating
health problems. Just one more miscue like the estrogen fiasco.