What Is Middle Age?

I’m in middle age.

That’s a strange new way of thinking about myself, like wearing new shoes I haven’t broken in yet.

In some practical ways, I’m still ‘young.’ I still pass as being younger than my chronological age with minimal effort and, as a cis woman, I’m still biologically capable of getting pregnant. Those things will go away with time.

Well, maybe I’ll continue to pass as younger than my age for the rest of my life, just like my dad, who looks like he’s 20+ years younger than his chronological age. I seem to have picked up his genes, and nowadays I can even pass as being 20 years younger (which is wild).

They Don’t Tell You How to Exit a Chronic Illness

I fear that by writing this post, I’m putting a jinx on myself and I’ll get a bad flare.

Then I hear my mother’s voice telling me that jinxes aren’t real, and that talking about this won’t change my biological outcome.

That’s the thing nobody told me about chronic illness: it can be hard to know when it ends.

Tribalism in Antivax vs. Anti-Antivax Helps Nobody

Most people’s understanding of vaccines is: if you get the vaccine, you won’t get sick with that disease.

Most people’s reasoning for getting a vaccine is: their doctor made them do it.

When regulators meticulously screen vaccines for safety and whether they work, and are completely honest about lapses (because perfect vaccines are impossible) and no organized group opposes vaccines, this works well.

But when a group organizes against vaccines, the less the public understands about vaccines, the more likely the anti-vax group will sway them.

In my personal experience, some people who refuse vaccines for their children change their minds when they get a more detailed explanation of vaccines. But only someone who understands vaccines can explain it. And they must be honest and truthful, for if they are caught in a mistake, it might make the person listening to them even more opposed to vaccines.

I Know More About the Immune System Than Most Doctors, and I’m Shocked

I’ve been aware for a long time that some doctors aren’t good at their jobs, and even good doctors are imperfect. It was only when I began reading about the immune system a few months ago that I learned just how ignorant most are of the immune system. After reading 1.5 books about the immune system (note: I’ve read How the Immune System Works by Lauren Sompayrac about 3 times now) I understand it much better than most doctors. How do I know? First, I can easily answer immune system related practice questions for the MCAT exam. Second, now when I see and hear the comments most doctors make about the immune system, I can tell they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Naively, I thought epidemiologists might have a good understanding, but an epidemiologist online told me that need to learn nothing about the immune system to get their degrees.

I understand the immune system worse than immunologists or rheumatologists. I can tell from the comments those specialists make. So I don’t have the same level of knowledge as specialists.

How can it be that the modest study I’ve done is enough to get me to understand the immune system better than most doctors? It’s a few things: