Ashley Webb, Democratic candidate for the Maine Senate, is intersex and transgender. And according to what she herself recounted in a Reddit post, her body handles menstruation in a way that few doctors were able to identify in time.
Webb explained that her monthly pain appears on her right side, near where the appendix is, and above the bladder. When it is more intense, the discomfort also extends to the left side. The reason, according to her testimony, is that her outlet connection formed with the colon, and that is where the blood comes out every month.
According to Webb, many intersex people like her are not diagnosed until after their 20s, because they are not born with additional openings that make it easier to detect the condition. In her case, she said she spent years dealing with doctors who chose to prescribe opioids rather than investigate the real cause of the pain. Today, she is seeking a seat in the state Senate.