January is a bit of a blur, after catching COVID early in the new year. It was that space in between Christmas and New Year. I’d had a booster in November, in anticipation of this probably happening. I had quite a queer response – I lost my sense of smell gradually, and surprisingly all my perimenopausal aches and pains lifted. My sense of smell has now returned, but not the pains. I am not complaining! I checked the internet, and this seems to be a needle in a haystack case, usually COVID19 increases peri/ menopausal or chronic pains. I had a couple of days of wanting to bottle my blood for medical science to tap it for antibodies or similar, that could provide the backbone for generating ‘natural’ pain killers, that could be of use to drug addicts, and folks with chronic pain. The problem with science, is that it rarely looks at n=1 or n=3, outliers rarely make it into the literature. An n=1 is usually a subpopulation. Until I find others, that’s it I guess.
Long story short – January, I worked super slowly, cautiously and collaboratively. Consequently a grant bid with colleagues was prepared, I prepared for my first external examiner board meeting on a Scottish online MSc, a series of conference abstracts were crafted for the Patterns in Practice project, and I met a new potential PhD student, who recently submitted their proposal.
What I learned:-
- I am not an island, folks can and are supportive, if and when you need support.
- Sleep and listening to your body is so important.
- Meditation has been a constant through the pandemic, long may it continue.
- Putting on an out of office to prioritise was a great idea, it meant I could stop worrying about getting back to people.
- I have a bit of a bottle neck around this week, and next, having pushed a lot of things into new year.
- A little writing happened, but I am behind and need to prioritise it.
- The book series proposal got accepted \o/
- Prepping for things like probation review, takes 7-10 days to be in the right headspace for it.
- Whilst I am still fascinated by the idea that a virus can affect cognition, the senses and felt like menopausal symptoms, no-one else in my circles is very interested such things. What role do oestrogen and progesterone play in protecting folk from COVID19?
- Studies show that high oestrogen levels indicate a lower risk of severe symptoms and death
- Oestrogen enhances the local immune response in the nose and upper respiratory tract
- It triggers a local immune response that reduces the viral load
- Progesterone has a combined effect with oestrogen, enhancing oestrogens actions.
- Many of the studies consider biological sex rather than gender identity. Medical science has a cucked up long way to go. Studies exist on ‘women’ on HRT and the reduced risk of mortality from COVID19, but some studies considering trans perspectives, are more nuanced, taking into account structural factors – socioeconomic status, job, incarceration, transphobic treatment within hospitals.
- It is never as simple as thinking about hormones alone, as public health data collection presents a binary model of biological sex, which erases trans and non-binary folk.
- I remember why I am in the arts and humanities and not in biology.
everyoneandeverything 