Moody Study, Really?

In the world of medical research do you think that doctors are trolling the Internet looking for candidates for their studies?  If someone wrote on Facebook that they laughed so hard they almost peed in their pants, is that person then targeted for an incontinence study?  If someone tweeted they had a hard on for the pizza they ate last night will some researcher send them an invite for a sex study?

Today I received a personal invitation from the Women’s Mood Disorders Team for a study on the beneficial effects of hormones on mood and health.  The invitation was more like a greeting card and although it was from two doctors there was no mention of how they got my name, address or knew that I was actually perimenopausal.

If you are a regular reader of this blog you might be able to piece together enough information about me to infer that I could use some beneficial hormones, but you would have a hard time knowing if I had or had not already gone through menopause.  Since I just wrote my blog about anger yesterday they could not have read that and mailed my invitation to get here today.

I am intrigued with the general idea of the study but terrifically put off by the name of the group doing the study, “The UNC Center for Women’s Mood Disorders.”  Yes, women have moods, and some are in disarray, but I wonder if there is a corresponding “Men’s Mood Disorders” group?   I can think of quite a few moody men who could probably benefit from some beneficial hormones to help them out too.

I wonder how much my diet might affect my mood?  Is it possible I am nicer when I am not going through any sugar spikes or could I get generally cranky because I have not eaten any chocolate in months?  I probably am a good test subject since I have almost two years of daily documentation on my mood in this blog.

There was one post a few months ago when I got really angry about something, what I can’t remember now, but one reader who does not actually know me well read me the riot act for expressing my bad mood.  If ever I write something that pisses you off so much that you feel the need to write me a few dozen times and tell me, please just stop reading what I am writing.  I am not trying to put you in a mood.

I find the appearance of this invitation confirmation that women are moody and therefore let me off the hook for ever being in a bad mood.  If you are female and have not been in a bad mood then I want to know what you are on and I actually don’t want to know you.  How dull it must be to just be flat all the time and how in the world do you ever keep your family on their toes if they always think you are going to be happy?  Moody has some side benefits, but please don’t call it a disorder if you want people to join your study.