PCOS - Embarrassing?

[the-fee-fairy.livejournal.com]

So, i don't know if anyone else has been watching it, but tonight, on UKTV Style, there was a program entitled 'Embarrassing Illnesses'.

There was a couple on there, and the woman had PCOS, Endometriosis and an Underactive Thyroid.

Am i the only one who feels that none of these illnesses is embarrassing?
I have PCOS and i don't find it embarrassing.

They said that they found it embarrassing to tell people that that's why they didn't have children...

I don't have a problem with it, i come right out with it.

I suppose i just wanted to know whether i was the only one annoyed by this concept - the idea that an infertility problem is 'embarrassing', and as it is a women's health issue, and i know that some people in this community also suffer (i hate that word!!) with it too, i wanted to canvas opinion.

So:
PCOS - Embarrassing? Discuss
Endometriosis - Embarrassing? Discuss
Underactive Thyroid (or indeed, any thyroid problem) - Embarrassing? Discuss

I really would like to know others' views and know whether i am overrreacting by being annoyed.

Comments

[preternatural.livejournal.com]

A lot of commenters seem to interpret "embarrassing" as "a disease that causes effects by which I am embarrassed," e.g. weight gain, acne, etc. This is interesting, because I always saw the concept of "embarrassing diseases" as meaning diseases you don't want to talk about because the reaction of others will be negative. (e.g. "Ew, I don't want to hear about your anal fistula, that's gross," "I don't want to hear about your infertility trouble because I'm intensely uncomfortable discussing genitalia and/or menstruation," or "Actually, I DO want to hear about your STI so I can gossip all over the place about what you've been up to!")

I think both interpretations make sense, but I don't think that encouraging people to be embarrassed is healthy, either way!

One of my sisters has Hashimoto's, so I know about the weight struggles and such through her experience - I'm sorry to hear of your struggle with it. I have depression, and that I would definitely call an embarrassing illness, if I didn't take issue with that label ;) Between the misunderstanding of depression (no, I can't just snap out of it, no, I'm not making it up) and the external indicators (I have a long history of self-injury, and if you want something embarrassing to explain, try SI scars :P), it's something I don't really like to discuss often.

I have no idea where I was going with that...oh, well.