Here’s my experience. I’m a trans woman, with compound homozygous haemochromatosis. My sister is compound heterozygous, and we both have genetic haemochromatosis. Mine was diagnosed in my 20s years before I transitioned, and fortunately my symptoms were recognised. In my case I have been remarkably lucky.

However, my sister was medically gaslit for 18 years, and told her haemochromatosis was not severe. My sister was also told it only affects men, that it was her anxiety, that she just had “the genes”. We’re in our 50s and, due to swift treatment, I am healthy. My sister, on the other hand, has heart and pancreatic failure caused by iron overload.

Doctors are finally taking her seriously and her current phlebotomist is a godsend. However, the unwillingness to take my sister seriously over the years has effectively signed her death warrant. Their ignorance has cut her life short. It’s all very well and good pretending to listen to women, but we must also take their medical concerns seriously. Not everything is ‘anxiety’.