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Riza's avatar

Cerina, this is exactly the kind of writing Substack was made for. You took something most women experience in silence and gave it language, context, and most importantly, compassion. That line, 'this isn't your body failing, it's your body recalibrating', should be on a poster somewhere. The part about modern life and environmental toxins was the section I didn't expect but couldn't stop reading. Most health writing either oversimplifies or overwhelms. This did neither. Really looking forward to the stress piece next week. 🙏

Cerina's avatar

Thanks for reading and your thoughtful input, Riza

Fatimah Ali, PhD-Lupus Health's avatar

I enjoyed reading this Cerina.

Hormonal fluctuations and stress are significant factors for diseases. No wonder 70-80% of women make up the proportion of people living with autoimmune diseases. Although the environment also is an important contributor.

Cerina's avatar

Oh @Fatimah Ali, PhD-Lupus Health , you brought up a topic very close to my heart - autoimmune disease. If I may give you a peak behind the scenes, I am warming up to an article on Autoimmune-disease. It was even more shocking when I learned that majority of these 70-80% women, are above 40!!!

Fatimah Ali, PhD-Lupus Health's avatar

And here’s the thing Cerina, because most autoimmune diseases are hard to detect (on average 3-6 years for lupus), at an older age symptoms get overlooked and mistaken for aging. Treatment is then delayed and disease severity becomes higher.

I’ve written about this topic. Let’s collaborate sometime.

Cerina's avatar

I would love that, @Fatimah Ali, PhD-Lupus Health