Nobody knows with certainty how endometriosis works. Nobody knows what causes it, either. Patiently, politely, I had participated in months of reckless, hopeful subservience: of lying down while doctors tested and palpated and examined and queried, but never wholly explained their method -- or my disease.

Across the internet this subplot has been dismissed as inscrutable and interminable, but The Toast is made of sterner stuff. At a moment when the funding of the National Health Service in Britain is under constant debate, and junior doctors are demonstrating in the streets and talking about strike action, it’s worth taking Downton’s invitation to think about the history of paying for medical care.

First, your body must comply by having an ongoing issue that is not easily solved with a round of brutal antibiotics. Then you must prove that is not Just Depression or Just Anxiety or Just Your Questionable Life Choices that are making you ill or think you are ill. This is harder than it sounds. Find doctors through personal referrals, your ears perking up when you hear, “These are the doctors doctors use.” Apologize for…

In my first year of college I took a fair number of psychology classes. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I knew I wanted to avoid all of the math and science I could in the process of figuring it out. So psychology (of the non BSc variety) seemed like a great fit.

It was in one of those early classes that an instructor told

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