(MIS)Treated

When a story about one woman's search for care sparked a flood of messages, we began investigating Ontario's healthcare system and the possible obstacles facing people with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), especially those with craniocervical instability (CCI).
For patients living with EDS, getting a diagnosis can take years. And when complex spinal conditions enter the picture, some patients and their families say they have been forced to look to the United States for help because they believe there is no surgeon in Canada able to provide the care they need. In this special episode of (Mis)Treated, we meet patients whose lives have been upended, families fighting for answers, and doctors who disagree about how these conditions should be treated.
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According to the Canadian Cancer Society, 1 in 8 women in Canada will develop breast cancer during their lifetime and in 2010, Canadian Broadcaster Cynthia Mulligan announced her diagnosis.
In 2020, days before Christmas, she found out that she had Stage 4 breast cancer. We speak to her about why she chose to go public with her diagnosis, how she navigated treatment as a forward facing person and we reminisce about our friend and former colleague, Mark Dailey.
Got a question or comment? Email us at: mistreatedpodcast@tvo.org
If you, or someone you know, is struggling with mental health, visit any of the following resources for support: Canada.ca/mental-health Kids Help Phone Call 1-800-668-6868 (toll-free) or text CONNECT to 686868.
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Autoimmune disease is complicated. For one, there is no exact number of how many autoimmune conditions there are. We know that at least 80 of them exist and that globally, autoimmune impacts 1 in 10 people. While men also get autoimmune disease, women make up approximately 80% of patients. According to a 2021 study, women make up 75% of patients with MS. an autoimmune disease. And global cases of autoimmune disease are rising.
We speak to Dr. Gabor Maté who wrote more than 20 years ago about his observations on how autoimmune disease was impacting more women than men. We also speak to a neuroimmunologist on the connection of the Epstein-Barr virus and why women with some autoimmune diseases were once advised to not have children. Plus we talk to an epidemiologist who studies women's health on why autoimmune disease impacts women at such a staggering rate and we speak to a young woman with multiple sclerosis.
Got a question or comment? Email us at: mistreatedpodcast@tvo.org
If you, or someone you know, is struggling with mental health, visit any of the following resources for support: Canada.ca/mental-health Kids Help Phone Call 1-800-668-6868 (toll-free) or text CONNECT to 686868.
Research Links:
Incidence, prevalence, and co-occurrence of autoimmune disorders over time and by age, sex, and socioeconomic status: a population-based cohort study of 22 million individuals in the UK: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00457-9/abstract
What Can We Learn from Sex Differences in MS?: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8537319/
Embodiment of structural racism and multiple sclerosis risk and outcomes in the USA: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41582-025-01096-5
How Is Céline Dion’s Health? What She’s Shared About Stiff Person Syndrome Battle: https://www.today.com/health/celine-dion-health-rcna98154
Celebrities and Medical Awareness—The Case of Celine Dion and Stiff-Person Syndrome: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9914970/
National study shows Indigenous patients with autoimmune liver disease face worse symptoms and outcomes: https://www.ualberta.ca/en/folio/2023/02/national-study-indigenous-patients-autoimmune-liver-disease.html
Indigenous people more prone to rare autoimmune liver disease, often misdiagnosed: https://globalnews.ca/video/9353047/indigenous-people-more-prone-to-rare-autoimmune-liver-disease-often-misdiagnosed-research/
Meet Dr. Dalia Rotstein, the St. Michael’s neurologist dedicated to improving care for women during pregnancy: https://unityhealth.to/2026/03/meet-the-neurologist-dedicated-to-improving-care-for-women-during-pregnancy/
Researcher studying link between pregnancy complications and autoimmune diseases with prestigious fellowship: https://utsc.utoronto.ca/news-events/our-community/researcher-studying-link-between-pregnancy-complications-and-autoimmune-diseases
An MS Diagnosis Led This Top Yogi to Evolve Her Practice: https://www.healthcentral.com/condition/multiple-sclerosis/an-ms-diagnosis-led-this-top-yoga-instructor-to-evolve-her-practice
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(MIS)Treated is back for season 2. Join host Nam Kiwanuka as she continues explores how medicine has – and still is – failing women and speaks to the people looking to make a difference.
This season we explore why women make up 80% of autoimmune patients, what it's like to access care for Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and we speak to award winning journalist Cynthia Mulligan about why she chose to reveal her breast cancer diagnosis and how its impacted her career. We also have conversations with Dr. Gabor Maté, Clara Hughes and speak to Dr. Mathew Leonardi about adenomyosis and the advances being made in endometriosis awareness.
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Unlike a broken arm, you can't see chronic pain. This makes it complicated to treat or diagnose because it's subjective. This has led chronic pain to be called a "silent epidemic" and while 70% of chronic pain sufferers are women, historically the majority of pain studies have been done on men or male mice. Many people with conditions like endometriosis, PMOS, migraines, fibroids and painful periods, live with chronic pain. And the World Health Organization officially classified it as a disease in 2022.
On the final episode of season 1, Nam Kiwanuka take a deeper dive on the history of pain research, what it is, the implicit bias towards women in medicine, and the research that's being done to combat that right here in Canada.
Nam speaks with Dr. Tania Di Renna, the president of the Canadian Pain Society (CPS) and Medical Director of the Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute (TAPMI) and Jennifer Daly-Cyr who has lived with chronic pain for more than a decade and is also co-chair of the Person with Lived Experience committee at the CPS.
Research links
Being A Woman Doesn’t Have To Be A (Chronic) Pain https://www.forbes.com/sites/evaepker/2023/04/05/why-is-being-a-woman-a-chronic-pain/
Women and pain: Disparities in experience and treatment: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/women-and-pain-disparities-in-experience-and-treatment-2017100912562
Mi'kmaw nurse explains how Indigenous pain often misunderstood: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/mi-kmaw-nurse-1.5130067
Myths about physical racial differences were used to justify slavery — and are still believed by doctors today: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/racial-differences-doctors.html
Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1516047113
Sex differences in the transition to chronic pain: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12126234/
“Brave Men” and “Emotional Women”: A Theory-Guided Literature Review on Gender Bias in Health Care and Gendered Norms towards Patients with Chronic Pain: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1155/2018/6358624
Yale psychologists find that adults take girls’ pain less seriously: https://news.yale.edu/2019/01/24/yale-psychologists-find-adults-take-girls-pain-less-seriously
Pain medication finally recommended in U.S. for IUD use. What about Canada?: https://globalnews.ca/news/10687785/iud-insertion-pain-management-guidance/
The science that changed how we study pain: https://www.mcgill.ca/science/channels/news/science-changed-how-we-study-pain-372651
Action On Pain podcast takes a closer look at the implementation of An Action Plan for Pain in Canada: https://redcircle.com/shows/action-on-pain
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