I hope you are all keeping as upbeat as possible. My post isn’t necessarily helpful from an advice perspective but more so a request from you all! I have PCOS and endo, and recently underwent fertility care (due to misinformation). I am an amateur artist and I’m starting a project based on the findings of Medical Misogyny in the NHS, the report (published last year) flagged that female care is sorely undermined (no surprise there then).
In order to create the most relevant work, I’d be grateful to hear of any images, words, descriptions etc that you would like to see in art form. One aspect is self-portraiture, but I’d like to work outside that too and try and create work that reflects all of our experiences.
✨Many thanks in advance to anyone who replies xx ✨
Written by
BlueVelvet94
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Hi i think fear would be a good topic to cover, as my experience left me in so much fear, and depression too, actually if I'm being honest and i hope this is not to much information or triggering, my apologies if it is. But i basically didn't want to be here anymore at one point. Hope you have a peaceful day sending safe hugs 🤗❤️
Hi Rainbow2468, thank you for responding to my post, that is very kind - and brave - of you. And personally not triggering for me, I can really resonate with your feelings and how you felt at that point - a lot of my posts from last year were along similar lines but thankfully, we are both here and trying our best. Thank you so much, and wishing you a great day and lots of luck and happiness 🥰✨
Hallo there! What a wonderful idea yet how challenging!
For me, it’s a colour that overwhelms everything else: red. For all the blood, so much so that I became phobic of my own period.
Black too, from the pain. This looks like squiggles/scribbles to me, or dots when the pain got particularly intense.
Things would go fuzzy around the edges when the painkillers finally kicked in and they would make me feel a bit spaced out.
And finally, because I’m on zoladex, I picture the massive needle used (luckily only once every 3 months) and the lovely purple bruise it leaves on my tummy every time. I see them as battle scars, necessary for a treatment that has dramatically improved my life and set me free from my periods.
Hi Moonglo, thank you so much for replying to my post, really kind of you! And such great ideas, you’ve given me heaps and heaps to work with, thank you ☺️ 🙏 You’ve really encapsulated what I’ve felt - and I feel what others will have felt/do feel- with endometriosis. It’s going to be a slow project but I will keep you posted. Have a great day 🥰✨
I came to say the same thing. I have PTSD from the amount of blood I would lose regularly. Also being anaemic feels like being trapped behind a glass with the world on the other side x
I’d go with ‘Gaslighting’ - I was told my problems were in my head from 7 years old - repeatedly. They put me on so many different meds for depression and anxiety, I was taking ridiculous amounts of cocodamol at 13, and was told UTIs were ’bladder Colds’ and was literally given any med that the doctor had a new mug for on his desk that week (I’m not joking).
I had two ultrasound/ (one private) and one x ray by the time I was 21. That’s how seriously they took it before handing me off to shrinks.
Nothing against psychology but being told stomach agony is all psychological and barely any adequate tests being run…
Nearly 40 and having being going back and querying every few years finally my symptoms are ‘physical’ enough to take seriously. I’m bleeding constantly, so many UTIs (actually taken seriously now I had a kidney infection) and one doctor who FINALLY sent me for urgent scans and ONE ultrasound nurse who recognised my symptoms when I didn’t. So some of my organs are glued together.
At the gynae appt I was offered: coil, depo, progesterone, laparoscopy or a HYSTERECTOMY. And I was given around three minutes to choose.
So yeah. Plenty of misogyny and gaslighting. There’s a paper by an Ivy League university written by two male docs published in the last two years which seemed to refer to women as chattel in my eyes. Their conclusion ‘it won’t kill them and they can still probably have kids, so that’s that.’ That’s what I garnered from it.
So, after years of thinking that a lot of women are being over sensitive and we are equal and what not… I no longer believe thy at AT ALL.
Gaslit, angry for how the little girl I was was treated, sad for the possibilities taken away from me, resentful over the near constant bypassing by a care system that is supposed to heal and protect us. And determined. Cause it won’t beat me, and we will make our voices heard - hopeful that things will get better.
A slang term for the female uterus is ‘box’ - well Pandora’s box let loose all of the misery in the world… the thing left in it was hope. And that’s what we have. Hope.
Thank you so much for replying, and thank you for sharing your experience- gaslighting is sadly such a perfect word. And I will definitely look into the paper you’ve mentioned.
I can really relate to your suffering, especially from a young age all the way to adulthood, this really has to change for the next generation of women - fingers crossed, there is hope (as you rightly said).
I’m wishing you the very best, and thank you again for sharing, I’m very grateful ✨☺️🙏
I feel like alot of endo is grey , because so much of it is a grey area ! People at work and at home ask questions or make comments about the condition and want a clear black and white answer and so much of it is a grey, unpredictable, ever changing, not clear cut and yes very grey! Shadowy , lurking type thing that can creep up on you or can lunge dramatically! Sorry now I'm being dramatic
Thank you so much for your reply! You are not being dramatic at all! I really appreciate your insight, I can really resonate with the colour grey for all the reasons you’ve mentioned. I will definitely incorporate grey.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Medical Treatment VS Lap
Hysterectomy in 3 days
How long is the wait?
Medical Negligence?
Refused for laparoscopy Disappointed and sad
