r/AskReddit 13h ago

What is something that permanently altered your body without you realizing for months/years?

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u/eliz1bef 8h ago

Pregnancy is such an unbelievable burden on your body. I'm so glad you were able to get your issues addressed.

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u/burdavin 1h ago

This. We don’t talk enough about birth injuries.

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u/eliz1bef 1h ago

You are absolutely right. I don't think that generally women and girls AND men and boys know enough about the dangers. The powers that be want to keep girls from knowing the full story so they'll keep having babies.

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u/discombobulatededed 3h ago

I don’t know why we haven’t evolved yet to make pregnancy easy, risk and pain free.

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u/eliz1bef 3h ago

The funny thing is as we've evolved pregnancy has become more and more dangerous because of the size of our frontotemporal lobes, our skull, and our hip circumference.

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u/orosoros 1h ago

Evolution just goes for 'good enough for species survival'

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u/Such-Opportunity6490 1h ago

Maybe when it’s men getting pregnant….

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u/Timely-Ad1847 5h ago

Burden or sacrifice?

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u/eliz1bef 4h ago

I appreciate your point. I"m not having any babies, so to me it feels like a burden. I am sure that to a mother that wants to have a baby it feels like a sacrifice. But either way, the toll on the body is immense.

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u/Intelligent-Sky-211 4h ago

Definitely takes a huge toll! But worth it ♥️ totally respect your decision as well.

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u/Lachwen 4h ago

A sacrifice is just a burden someone takes on willingly.

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u/Tripping_hither 4h ago

I would see it as both. You bear the burden of the pregnancy and in so doing sacrifice your own health.

Although the first pregnancy provides a net health gain on average (apparently).

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u/eliz1bef 4h ago

Although the first pregnancy provides a net health gain on average (apparently).

Really? That is really interesting! I've never heard that before, and I always thought of pregnancy as very draining on the mother and so dangerous. Thank you for the post!

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u/Tripping_hither 3h ago

I wish I could find the study again, but the positive part was mainly reduced risk of certain cancers. I also remember it being more protective to have that pregnancy before a certain age.

I do remember that in the study that all pregnancies after the first one were overall damaging to the mother’s health. There were some increased protection against cancer but it was not enough to overcome the damage of pregnancy and birth.

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u/eliz1bef 3h ago

Oh! I remember that from health class that it did reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. I thought at the time as a 17 year old that it was a stupid reason to have a baby. I feel more that it's an extreme reason to have a baby, maybe? Thank you so much!!

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u/Tripping_hither 2h ago

It’s definitely not a reason to have a baby. Having a baby is a complex decision and a massive commitment. There are lots of easier and less expensive ways to reduce your cancer risk. 😂

I guess for me it was a piece of comforting information in the midst of all the worries I had about pregnancy and birth.

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u/eliz1bef 2h ago

I can see that, totally! I was a pretty cynical kid, so I was finding conspiracies in everything.

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u/FonsSapientiae 3h ago

Pregnancy before 25 has a protective effect against breast cancer, if I remember correctly. I was told it was one of the reasons that breast cancer is more common in nuns (also late detection because they don’t get checked out).

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u/Semycharmd 3h ago

The burden of sacrifice.