Jaded Issue #13

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If you’re a woman and your doctor doesn’t take the time to learn your entire story — your life, your patterns, your pain, your past — they’re not the doctor for you.

And let me tell you why.

The 76% Truth

Did you know that 76% of all medical diagnoses are made simply from your health history? Seventy-six percent. That’s wild. It means if a doctor actually listens to your story — your full, messy, human story — they can figure out what’s “wrong” with you before even running a single test. (“Wrong” in quotes because, let’s be real, sometimes nothing’s wrong — your body’s just speaking in the only language it knows: symptoms, but sometimes something is legit wrong)

But that’s not how most of Western medicine works, is it? Usually, your health history becomes a quick checklist. You say you have joint pain? They ask if your mom or grandma had it. And that’s the end of the conversation.

Except… that’s not the end.
Because your story — your entire story — holds much more information than that.

Storytelling Is the Most Underrated Medicine

I’m currently studying under Dr. Aviva Romm, one of my biggest inspirations in women’s health. She’s spent her life studying women’s truths — not just their symptoms. And the first thing she teaches every student? Create a timeline of your client’s life.

Because stories heal. We are wired to tell them. To remember them. To find meaning inside them. (You know when a random song comes on and suddenly you’re emotionally back with your ex from 11th grade? That ache in your gut? That’s your body remembering. That’s what I’m talking about here)

“The story of my life” isn’t just a saying — it’s biology.

Humans have a primal need to connect. Not just with others (though loneliness is one of the top predictors of poor health), but to connect the dots of our own lives. We crave understanding. We need the “why.” (sometime shit just happens though and you gotta move on) (anyway…)

And when no one listens to that story — especially women — we suffer.

Why Women Are Overlooked (and Overprescribed)

Let’s look at the reality:

• Women are prescribed 70% of all medications.
• The top five most common surgeries in the U.S. are obstetric or gynecologic.
• 1 in 8 women seek fertility treatment.
• Girls as young as 14 are prescribed birth control to “control” their cycles — before their bodies have even matured.
• And 1 in 4 women are on antidepressants.

We believe we need all this because we’ve been conditioned to. Even when our gut — our ancient intuition — knows “this doesn’t feel right.”

The Web Within You

In functional medicine, there’s a tool called “the matrix.” It’s a web that connects every part of your health — your environment, your diet, your sleep, your stress, your emotions, your relationships.

And do you know what is right damn in the center of that web? ✨ The soul. ✨

Because at the end of the day, your soul knows best. Your story is more than symptoms.
It’s context. It’s wisdom. It’s medicine.

Your story holds your external exposures — your environment, diet, toxins, infections, even the climate you live in. It also holds your internal exposures — your hormones, metabolism, microbiome, and genetics. It includes your job, relationships, heartbreaks, grief, joy, and the home you live in.

(Yes, even “sick house syndrome” — when your body reacts to moving into a new environment — is part of it. Dr. Romm talks about this often.)

Everything is connected. And your story is the thread.

Don’t Let the White Coat Write Your Story

If you’ve been searching for answers, feeling unheard, or sensing that something’s off — start here.

Write your story down. From the very beginning — even before you were born (your mother’s pregnancy, family history, all of it).

Map out your timeline. Include the moves, the relationships, the heartbreaks, the diets, the medications, the sicknesses, the grief, the burnout, the parasites, the joy — all of it.

Because your life isn’t made of sickness, molecules, or symptoms.
It’s made of stories.

Your story holds answers medicine hasn’t even caught up to yet.

(PSA: if you’ve got the flu and your doctor’s like ‘take this,’ that’s not the time to go full holistic mode and be like “but wait my story.” Take the medicine, go home, and take a nap. Your story can be paused for a bit. Time and place ladies. Time and place.)

The takeaway:
Healing doesn’t start in an office. Or a lab. It starts with a story. And that story is yours.

Hope this gets your thoughts running a bit.

xoxo

Olivia Jade