A year ago, I went to my doctor because I was having unusual stomach-related symptoms that had progressed from annoying to painful.
He looked at my chart and started asking me questions about my anxiety. Even when I emphasized that yes, I had an anxiety disorder but it had never manifested in stomach symptoms before, he continued to ask me questions about my home life and stress levels. "Oh, you're planning your wedding? I'm sure that's very stressful."
He then asked if I was on medication for my anxiety and suggested a follow-up with my therapist.
When I pressed for any other recommendations to address my symptoms, he suggested I try a low fodmap diet and keeping a food journal for a few months to identify trigger foods.
I tried the low fodmap diet. I kept a food journal.
My symptoms got progressively worse.
When we moved to Denver, I had to wait 3 months for a new patient visit to establish care with a GP here. I explicitly requested a female doctor. When I finally got in, she was immediately concerned when I told her about the last 11 months of issues that were now actively impacting my quality of life. She didn't ask me a single question about my anxiety. She ordered a bunch of tests and referred me to a GI doc (also a woman) who ordered more tests.
Less than 24 hours after the GI doc's test results came back, I'm now on three antibiotics to treat a (what is now raging) bacterial infection. Because it's been going on for so long and my symptoms have progressively worsened, there are concerns about long term damage to my stomach and digestive tract.
But no, dude. It was probably my silly female anxiety about planning my wedding.
For those who are adventurous and don't want to wait around, I've listed all Green Rider series cover arts onto my dusty old Society6.
For the rest of you, here's a fun little compilation of all the horse heads over the years.
(The last four illustrations are being done in a smaller format to save my aging hands and time, but I like them as much if not more than the original four.)