Once you stack up all of this evidence, it begins to seem entirely reasonable – inevitable, even – that women would experience a much higher degree of health anxiety. So much about the way women’s bodies operate is still unknown. Women’s pain, especially that of Black women and women of colour, is routinely underestimated. When you go into every medical appointment expecting to be dismissed or even hurt, a heightened level of anxiety about illness is surely to be expected.

In the case of my sudden and bizarre hair loss while on the train, I did eventually find a doctor who could explain why it might be happening. It was likely a symptom of a hormonal imbalance, exacerbated by the prescription contraceptive I was taking to relieve my extreme period pains. My choice, she said, was to slowly lose all my hair while experiencing a slew of other hormonal symptoms or go back to barely being able to move for two days of every month. And so, like generations of women before me, I chose the pain.

Image: Jamie Drew

“It’s no wonder women experience such a high degree of health anxiety – here’s why”