CRAMPED

Your ears are pretty far away from your uterus, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THEY'RE NOT LISTENING.
Dr. Natalie Crossland, an audiologist who specializes in tinnitus management (and also has endometriosis), explains the surprising ways that hormones, hearing, and the nervous system are all in conversation with each other. Like why estrogen levels affect your ability to hear in background noise, why tinnitus might pop up during hormonal shifts, and what you can actually do about it besides being told to ignore it.

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CRAMPED episodes are intended for informational and entertainment purposes only, and are not medical advice.

Dr. Natalie Crossland: https://www.newyorkhearingdoctors.com/team/natalie-crossland-au-d/
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Severe period pain doesn't care who you work for. Diana Falzone is a journalist and current host of EndoTV, whose endo story is tangled up with a breaking news story, an NDA, and a near-kidney failure seven months after giving birth. Kate researches the backstory she can't tell us, and then Diana joins Kate to talk about 18 years of dismissed pain, an infertility diagnosis at 32, and how her journalism skills became her most useful medical tool.
CRAMPED episodes are intended for informational and entertainment purposes only, and are not medical advice.
Join the CRAMPED Patreon: https://patreon.com/cramped
Jane Myer's 2019 New Yorker story: https://archive.ph/cW3jr

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pelvic floor physical therapist Caroline Gamwell experienced a strange constellation of symptoms from the time she was 4. After decades of misdiagnoses, unnecessary surgery, and overmedication, she brought her search to an AI chatbot.
Is it possible to use AI well in this situation? How do you protect yourself from potential AI hallucinations? Can someone with no medical background use AI to help get to a diagnosis?
The New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/well/live/ai-illness-claude-chatgpt.html?smid=url-share
CRAMPED episodes are intended for informational and entertainment purposes only, and are not medical advice.
Join the CRAMPED Patreon: https://patreon.com/cramped
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

PATREON-ONLY EPISODE TEASER
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I started research for a totally normal episode about spiral arteries in the uterine lining, and SHIT GOT WEIRD.
Get ready for a deep dive into where period blood comes from, all the new organs and tissue you grow every month, and how science got the info on how it all works.
CRAMPED episodes are intended for informational and entertainment purposes only, and are not medical advice.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Riven first got her period at age 10, the debilitating cramps weren't even the worst part. Instead, she felt completely out of control for the first day or two of her period, sometimes sobbing for hours, sometimes losing time. But the scariest symptom was the intrusive thoughts of harming herself that came with her period pain. It took over 10 years, but after an incident involving her kid brother, she got a diagnosis of PMDD and a medication that she says saved her life.

CRISIS SUPPORT:
Call 988 anywhere in the US for free, 24/7 mental health crisis support
Text HOME to 741741

PMDD Support (not Crisis Support): International Association for Premenstrual Disorders - IAPMD.org

Studies mentioned in the episode:
Prevalence of depression in women vs men: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5532074/
Female-specific pharmacotherapy in ADHD: premenstrual adjustment of psychostimulant dosage: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10751335/

CRAMPED episodes are intended for informational and entertainment purposes only, and are not medical advice.
Join the CRAMPED Patreon (even at the free tier!) for ad-free & bonus episodes, plus the discord community and online ClamBakes! https://patreon.com/cramped
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.