Think #11

Proctalgia fugax

• If you’re unfamiliar with this, consider yourself #blessed.
• It’s essentially a sharp, shooting, unexpected pain in your butthole that is caused by an anal spasm. Literally a pain in the ass. It can make you flinch in your seat. It can last for less than a minute to many hours.
• Proctalgia fugax (which I will now call P. fax) has some known triggers. One of the most common is menstrual periods, because prostaglandins secreted during this time cause uterine contractions, which can lead to referred pain +/- muscle spasms in the anus. However, P. fax can happen without any trigger at all, in which case it may be more of a gut-brain axis disorder.
• Periods are how I, and many others, are acquainted with P. fax. In fact, in a survey of my college friends’ group chat, 2 out of 3 people reported that they experienced P. fax during their periods. Ideally I’d conduct larger surveys, but this is a sensitive topic (pun (or bun?? HA) intended).
• You might be thinking, “Wow, that sounds awful. Can it be cured?” NO! Unfortunately, we have not been #blessed with a cure. Instead, we have to manage this scourge with pain medications, sitz baths, ice packs, pelvic floor PT, and butthole Botox.

Being skinny vs being strong

• I used to be obsessed with thinness and wanted to be as skinny as possible. For some reason I thought that being thin made people desirable and beautiful. I wanted to be both of those things.
• There have been times in my life when I have wanted to be strong, though. The summer of 2010 was one of those because of the FIFA World Cup. I was a huge soccer fan in middle school and watched most of the World Cup games that year. The players’ speed, power, and hair (particularly Diego Forlan’s, with his little hair band) were awe-inspiring. I decided to emulate everything except the hair, because hair bands were so elementary school, and I was trying to be cool. The strength phase lasted for a few years, and then I was back to wanting to be skinny.
• In the past year, I was encouraged to start going to the gym, which I’m very thankful for. Starting to strength train and seeing my gainz has made me feel good about myself and more confident in my body. It’s also much easier to do routine activities like wrestle with negative thoughts and push a door that says “pull.” I’m going to keep this strength phase going for the rest of my life, and see how much stronger I can get. Osteoporosis, begone.

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

• This organization, abbreviated DCC, is a little culty and dictatorial, but very interesting. I just finished watching 3 seasons of a Netflix show about it.
• DCC was founded in 1961, and originally involved high school students cheerleading at Dallas Cowboys NFL home games. A few years later, the organization grew in popularity, and high school and college graduates became the bulk of the squad.
• Not only are DCC members beautiful and amazing dancers, but some of them are also women who work full-time jobs because of how woefully underpaid they are for the degree of athleticism they display in each performance, not to mention the absolute wringer they put their bodies through. However, all of them view being part of DCC as one of the great honors of their lives, which is why I think they put up with the negatives. Although I think I’d draw the line at multiple joint surgeries in my 20s.