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This week's episode is a special crossover with another women's health podcast - Cramped, which is hosted by the wonderful Kate Helen Downey. Kate and I recorded an episode about the language of pain, and talked about how women's pain is so often dismissed. We covered: -The difference between peripheral pain and visceral pain. -Gender differences in describing pain. -Two studies: The Girl Who Cried Pain, and Pain Language and Gender Differences. -The imperfect tools at our disposal: the pain scale, AI, and how they are double-edged swords in helping us advocate for ourselves.
Kate and I spent some time talking about visceral pain, and she told me about her experience too, trying to describe a lifetime of period pain and endometriosis. Her description, of barbed wire gloves, will stay with me for a long time. What about you? What words or analogies did you choose to describe your own pain when you had to explain it to a doctor? Email me the words you used (hello@overlookedpod.com) or send me a voice memo and tell me more. Overlooked has an entire playlist of episodes about women's pain here in case you want to binge. And you can listen to Cramped at the link below - by the way, Cramped's theme music is one of the best I've ever heard.
What else is going on: I made a 3 minute audio story about my kids' pajamas. Random, I know. Creating this work was so different from all the women's health and podcasting material I generally do, and it was nice to take on another kind of challenge for a change. I made the piece for a competition called Audio Flux, and a couple of weeks ago, it was selected as one of four winners screened at the Tribeca Audio Festival. What a privilege it was to be at Tribeca, and to listen to some of the other gorgeous 'Fluxworks' during that event, which focused on climate stories. I loved hearing that the piece resonated with other people like me - about to wave their kids off to college and sitting with those big, mixed emotions. You can listen to 'Stripey Pajmas' and the other selects here:
I'm learning that there's a fine line between grief and joy, and tip-toeing this line is what I'm working on at the moment. One foot in front of the other. Wishing you the best of health, Golda
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Overlooked is an award-winning women's health podcast that features the topics nobody talks about, and the stories that make you feel understood. The show is hosted by Golda Arthur, who writes this newsletter - subscribe for behind-the-scenes access to every episode, plus the resources and information that go deeper on the health issues the episodes tackle.
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