Silenced Symptoms

Patient activists seek movement in diagnosis, treatment of FND or functional neurological disorder

Functional neurological disorder (FND) is often described as an invisible illness.

The condition affects how the brain processes information and communicates with the body, resulting in a wide range of physical and neurological symptoms that differ from person to person. Unlike structural brain issues — such as tumours, strokes or lesions — functional neurological disorder (FND) symptoms don’t show up in conventional diagnostic testing and imaging.

This common, gendered disorder traces its roots to hysteria; yet, centuries later, its causes and mechanisms remain largely unknown.

Winnipeg academic Jen Sebring is among those working to make this invisible illness more visible in Canada.

Seen as a ‘women’s condition,’ migraine disorder often misunderstood, disregarded

Migraine disorder can negatively impact interpersonal relationships, mental health, physical well-being and financial security. But the gendered prevalence and invisible nature of migraine has led to underdiagnosis and undertreatment.

More than 20,000 Manitobans suffer from ME/CFS, a long-term chronic disease

The debilitating condition ME/CFS is characterized by an overwhelming lassitude, extreme tiredness that can see patients confined to their bed for hours on end or housebound for an indefinite period.

Rare condition triggers potentially deadly allergic reaction to temperature changes

For Manitobans who live with cold urticaria or CU, the end of winter signals the beginning of a more liberating time. Those with the disorder are able to leave their homes safe in the knowledge that exposure to the air outside will not affect their skin or their breathing.

The rare condition, which affects approximately 0.1 per cent of Canadians, is triggered by an abrupt change in temperature.

Symptoms are wide-ranging and can be life-threatening, from hives — an itchy rash with redness and swelling — to low blood pressure, shortness of breath, fainting and seizures.

Rapid exposure to the cold may also result in anaphylaxis, the most severe allergic reaction.

Decreased blood circulation leads to frozen extremities for people with Raynaud’s

Maylee Jacob has had “frozen fingers” for as long as she can remember.

In the wintertime, or even in an overly air conditioned room, the tips of her fingers would turn white and go numb.

“I never knew what it was,” Jacob says. “I eventually figured out from Google that it was Raynaud’s.”

Raynaud’s is a neurovascular condition that causes small blood vessels supplying the extremities to temporarily constrict in reaction to cold or stress. It commonly affects circulation in the fingers and toes — causing the digits to turn white or blue — but can also occur in the ears, nose, chin, tongue and elsewhere.

Hope for clarity, relief in dense-breast screening

Manitoba’s health minister is open to the possibility of expanded cancer screening for women who have dense breast tissue.

Uzoma Asagwara said in an interview that while the province relies on the expertise of CancerCare Manitoba, it is prepared to factor in emerging research to guide decision-making. The comments come in the wake of a Free Press report that raised questions on whether some women with dense breast tissue are falling through screening cracks.

“(CancerCare has) experts and researchers that inform and guide the way that they roll out policies and provide care to Manitobans,” Asagwara said. “I also have our department looking at research nationally and beyond to help inform decisions that I make as minister.

“We want to make sure that we are staying on top of the science and the best information that is available to us.”

Dense breast tissue raises cancer risk, complicates screening

Despite doing everything by the book, kindergarten teacher Heather Brister, 48, feels she has been failed by Manitoba’s policies for breast-cancer screening.

Wide range of symptoms makes lupus difficult to diagnose

Georgia Lefas had been feeling exhausted for more than year.

The mornings were especially hard. It was taking Lefas, an obstetrician-gynecologist, longer to recover from her nighttime call-outs to deliver babies. The marathon runner found herself taking 20 minutes to get up and moving in the morning, something she wasn’t used to.

The fatigue was overwhelming, but Lefas, 40, powered through. Being tired was part and parcel of her busy life as a medical professional and family caregiver.

Then mysterious things began happening to her body.

No cure for osteoporosis, but medication, lifestyle choices help

Silenced symptomsDownplayed. Dismissed. Devalued. In this monthly Free Press series, we’ll explore underdiagnosed, underrecognized and undertreated health issues disproportionately affecting the lives of women, nonbinary and trans people. We will share stories and lived experiences, while also raising awareness. In this instalment, we look at osteoporosis.

It’s a disease that affects 2.3 million Canadians and is most common among those aged 50 and older.

Often referred to as the “silent thief, owing to its insidious nature, osteoporosis is caused by a loss of bone mass or changes to bone structure resulting in an increased risk of fractures due to falls and even coughs or sneezes.

According to Osteoporosis Canada, at least one in three women and one in five men will break a bone because of osteoporosis in their lifetime.

Conference offers hope for women grieving pregnancy, infant loss

Kathryn Flatt and Malinda Lee share a painful connection.

Both are bereaved mothers who lost children during pregnancy and struggled to find adequate mental-health care to cope with their grief.

“I had a pretty traumatic experience,” says Flatt, whose son Oliver died in 2018 when she was six months pregnant. “We left the hospital with a beautiful painted box, but no support.”

Lee’s experience was similar. Her son Roy died two years ago, hours before a scheduled C-section. Staff at the hospital were caring and attentive, but it was near impossible to find grief counselling in Winnipeg that specialized in pregnancy loss.