In honor of #PrideMonth2025, I just wanted to take a moment to discuss the crucial role of intersectionality, gender and inclusion in research, specifically as it relates to our research involving #LongCOVID, #MECFS, chronic #lyme and other complex chronic illnesses. As we 1/ - ThreadSky

putrinolab.bsky.social • 1 day ago

In honor of #PrideMonth2025, I just wanted to take a moment to discuss the crucial role of intersectionality, gender and inclusion in research, specifically as it relates to our research involving #LongCOVID, #MECFS, chronic #lyme and other complex chronic illnesses. As we 1/

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putrinolab.bsky.social•1 day ago

work to understand these illnesses, we must often contend with the fact that they are characterized by a diverse array of symptoms that cause dynamic disability (fluctuating severity of symptoms that can lead to fluctuating levels of disability). As we've learned, so many 2/

putrinolab.bsky.social•1 day ago

different things can cause symptom changes: exertion, temperature fluctuations, dietary and hydration changes, chemical, mold and pathogen exposures and many other variables. Attempting to track all the variables that can influence someone's day-to-day health when they live 3/

putrinolab.bsky.social•1 day ago

with these conditions can be challenging, but when we approach it with curiosity and an open mind, that's when we learn the most. As an example, let's dig into hormones and how they can influence symptoms in conditions like #LongCOVID, #MECFS and chronic #lyme. For the longest 4/

putrinolab.bsky.social•1 day ago

time, we were told that diagnoses of this kind were over-represented by women, but we were not given good reasons as to why that may be - in fact, we were given bad ones (erroneously and foolishly linking the higher prevalence rate to higher rates of mental health diagnoses). 5/

putrinolab.bsky.social•1 day ago

In short, despite these differences in prevalence being an important physiological clue, many scientists and clinicians chose 'othering' and oversimplification over curiosity and exploration. Now before we go any further, let's not create any misunderstanding: men also get 6/

putrinolab.bsky.social•1 day ago

diagnosed with these conditions, and as we're learning, they are diagnosed with more frequency than we previously thought. But what we're also learning is that hormonal fluctuations not only influence symptom presentation, but these fluctuations can be highly individualized. 7/

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