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Can you think of any other groups that deal with extra bias in healthcare? So far I've got: People who have/are - women - not the dominant race - mental health conditions - complex, invisible or rare conditions - different body shapes, thin/fat - disabled - age, old/young - lgbtqa+ #NEISvoid

I would actually suggest "complex" and "invisible" are the wrong terms. Such conditions as ME/CFS, POTS, Ehlers Danlos, Sjogrens and Long Covid are very, very visible and painfully obvious to patiens and their families, friends and colleagues.🧵

These diseases are made medically invisible by a lack of research funding, a lack of medical school teaching, a lack of specialists and care pathways, a lack of knowledge among doctors and nurses. As for "complex," they are not more complex than cancer, multiple sclerosis or Alzheimers.

And all these diseases are common, not rare. I'd suggest we should call these diseases "medically neglected".

But I am definitely with you that conditions are never really invisible and 'complex' is really not a helpful word to mean 'multi-systemic'.

Oh, in the list, those are three different options: complex, invisible or rare. Not three different ways to describe the one set of conditions. I was referring to conditions that really are rare - people who have them face a lot of disbelief and have a really difficult time getting a diagnosis. 🌻