YAS Podcast: Free Healthcare Tips #138 Transcript
We got the chance to talk with Crystal, a registered nurse and former sex worker who’s out here saving lives and handing out Plan B with zero judgment. We covered abortion pills, pH balance, healthcare red flags, and what every in-person worker should have in their emergency kit. Crystal also shares tips for navigating sex work–friendly care, the truth about bleeding risks, and how she’s fighting for our rights behind the scenes. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by health info or ignored by providers, this one’s for you! Scroll down to see a list of resources pertaining to this episode, including a short list of things to NOT mix with abortion pills.
NOTE: This episode was edited from its previous original version for privacy reasons.
*This transcript was auto-generated and may contain minor errors.* Begin transcript after opening credits.
Daisy: Hello and welcome to YAS Podcast. We are here today with Crystal from Cupcake Girls and I am so excited to talk to her. She is a registered nurse and we have so much ground to cover today about healthcare as it pertains to sex work and occupational safety. I’m so excited.
AMD: Yes, I’m excited too to listen to her.
It’s like she, I’m [00:01:00] pretty sure she’s an expert in the field of sex work and sexual health and health overall because she’s a nurse, right? She went to school for that. So
Daisy: yes.
AMD: I just love that we’re getting like medical information from an a former sex worker.
I think that’s so cool.
Daisy: I think it’s amazing.
It’s, yeah, I love when we get information from the inside, you know?
AMD: Absolutely. Yes. Yes. And she’ll know tips and tricks and things that like, you know, your normal doctor or nurse won’t tell you because they’re afraid of us. So I’m so excited.
Daisy: Yeah, this is gonna be a good one.
AMD: Yeah. Do you wanna bring Crystal in the room?
Daisy: Yeah, let’s, let’s get Crystal in here.
Yes. Hi Crystal. How are you today?
Crystal: Good, how are you Daisy?
Daisy: I am doing awesome. So let’s, let’s start out by telling our listeners a little bit about [00:02:00] what you do and specifically more about the Cupcake Girls and what they do as an organization.
Crystal: Sure. Um, let’s see. So I did used to be a sex worker. Um, been in the industry for a while.
Uh, what I do now though, I’m, I’m just in nursing. I help out sex workers. Wherever you guys need, you come to me, tell me what you need. I try to get it for you, whether it be plan B, rather it be abortion pills or even just antibiotics. I try to help you guys get good deals on that. Um, now. Or get it for free.
Now with the Cupcake Girls, they’re so awesome. I love them as an org. So they help human trafficking survivors and also sex workers. Um, so like, let’s say you guys need a resource or you’re in like. Mississippi is somewhere. We compile resources throughout all 50 states so that you guys can have something for wherever you are.
Not to mention we offer case [00:03:00] management, uh, advocacy in different ways. Like, um, one thing I do here in Vegas. If you need a healthcare provider, I normally try to talk to them ahead of time and make sure whoever you know you do end up going to is gonna be safe because I’m not having no unsafe stuff.
Daisy: So important.
Crystal: And Cupcake Girls doesn’t do that either. They’re great about everybody too, so. Sorry.
Daisy: That’s awesome. Um, yeah, I definitely have encountered Cupcake Girls at a bunch of events and I remember hanging out at the Cupcake Girls room at AVN a few years back. It’s a really cool organization and I.
Go ahead.
Crystal: So I kind of do their mentorship program here, um, because I’ve been in so many different types of sex work and I’ve been around for a minute. I mentor sex workers and human trafficking survivors. ’cause I do have a background in both. So I enjoy actually, you know, guiding people. Again, whatever [00:04:00] you guys need, I’m here for it because I’m, at the end of the day, I feel that if you choose to go into this, it’s your life.
So you have, I, who am I to judge you? Especially since I’ve done it,
Daisy: and that’s so important. Like I feel like a lot of times the conversation specifically around human trafficking is from the outside perspective of like people who have never experienced sex work firsthand trying to save trafficking survivors.
And I think it’s so important to have someone who is. Is and has been a sex worker be able to offer that perspective and like, you’re one of us, you know?
Crystal: Yes. I’m like, yes. Even though I went through that crap, I’m still one of you guys. Like at the end of the day I still, after getting out, chose to go into that.
So, and I, I wish I could still do it, but I can’t anymore with the nursing license.
Daisy: I understand. That makes sense., So tell me a little bit more about [00:05:00] your mentorship and like what kind of things you offer to sex workers.
Crystal: Well, um, just if you guys need a listening ear, I listen in.
I’m not gonna give advice unless you guys actually want it. Um, what’ll probably be is, Hey, do you want a little bit of advice of what I used to do back in the day? If you don’t want it, I’m not gonna give it to you. I’m not, we don’t, I don’t force anything on anyone. And, um. The biggest thing I do is I am just a person that can be accountability for sex workers.
So if you tell me, Hey, I wanna go to school and get that nursing degree, I’m gonna say, okay, better yet, I’ll even tutor you, but I’m going to hold you accountable to where you can get to that goal. And that’s basically my job with the previous area, which is advocacy. They’re, you know, dealing with the acute situation of coming outta trafficking or if you’re a sex worker, whatever you’re going through, like if you’ve just been evicted and things like that, they’re gonna be the ones getting you back in housing [00:06:00] pro- rapid rehousing and things like that.
I can do that as well, but I am more so just work on, okay, I’ve gotten you in the housing now let’s make sure you keep it.
Daisy: That’s beautiful. That’s beautiful and so important. That’s so important. Um, so let’s talk about sexual health because it’s a big occupational concern. Um, a lot of sex workers are underinsured. Yeah. Um, what kind of resources are available for people that need like sexual healthcare or birth control or testing, things like that and may not have insurance?
Crystal: So I would say, uh, this is a multi-tiered situation. Um, the first thing I would say is, um, where are they located? If they are in Las Vegas, Florida, or Texas, they can use [00:07:00] a service called, which I’m gonna pull it up. CAN Community, the one here in Las Vegas. I know the physician, she is very safe. Like she knows all about talent testing.
She even said she will do you guys’ testing there for free and send it to pass.
Daisy: Oh, that’s awesome. Really.
Crystal: So yeah, she was fine with that.
Daisy: That’s huge.
Crystal: Yeah. She’s a hundred percent, uh, sex worker friendly. I’ve never met someone so friendly as a physician.
Daisy: That’s amazing. And talent testing can, can get quite expensive, especially how
Crystal: often.
I remember when I was in, it was like 250, like every two weeks. Right. I don’t know if it’s higher than that now, but
Daisy: Yeah, that sounds about right.
Crystal: So, um, can community, my bad. CAN Community. It’s in Arlington, Texas, Dallas, Texas. So we have people, I know there’s a lot of, um, performers in Texas. Mm-hmm. Um, oh, I didn’t know they were in South Carolina, so that’s cool.
Um, oh, Florida. You guys are completely [00:08:00] covered. They got Fort Lauderdale, downtown, Fort Lauderdale, uh, Daytona Beach, Fort Myers whole area. You guys are covered. Um, of course I said Las Vegas, they have Miami as well. They’re covered. Um, Orlando, so Florida. You guys are good.
Daisy: Cool.
Crystal: Phoenix, you’re good there too.
Norfolk, Virginia. So that’s kind of where you guys can go for that. Yeah, they take care a wide range of things so that not only do they do HIV STD care, they have a pharmacy there too. You guys.
Daisy: That’s great .
Crystal: If you’re here in Las Vegas and you give my name to CAN. Just tell them you’re coming in for um, testing and if you need something else, she’ll fill it too.
Daisy: So that’s awesome.
Crystal: And you can go to their pharmacy. So it’s not like you guys would be out of a lot of money and in fact you might not be outta any, if anything, maybe five bucks. Um,
Daisy: that’s amazing.
Crystal: That’s because they get Title X funding. Um, so Title X is kind of what you’re wanting to know about the birth [00:09:00] control and things like that.
Even though I’m gonna go ahead and say this, even though the Tangerine tried to stop the funding, he didn’t completely stop it. He only stopped Planned Parenthood. Mm-hmm. So, um, here’s another resource you guys can do. It’s called Trust Her If You’re in the Dallas area. Um.
Daisy: Cool.
Crystal: You can go there and they actually give you everything you need from a birth control to even abortion care.
Um, you’re not in that area though, ’cause I know everyone’s not. And I’m going for Texas specifically, ’cause I’ve seen a lot of performers down there. You can go to everybody, uh, texas.org. Um, that one, which I want you to know it’s safe, like person of color is the CEO. And you can go there. She’s safe. And not to mention you guys, they do everything for women’s healthcare.
When I say everything, I mean everything.
Daisy: That’s awesome.
Crystal: Um, so if you need to get an [00:10:00] abortion, you need to get healthcare, you need to get, um, just anything. But there is one thing I want to say about abor- You know what, we’ll get there. We’ll get there. You’re asking me probably later.
Daisy: Yes. We’re we’re definitely gonna touch on abortion today.
Crystal: Yeah. Um, another thing, um, just for testing. Mm-hmm. There’s a lot of free clinics. You guys can also look up. Uh, let me actually give you a resource for that. So this is what I use in the hospital when I’m given to people. This hasn’t been touched yet, but it is the Office of Population Affairs. You can put in your city and state and it will give you like-…
So, of course this is for Las Vegas. Did you see how many clinics they have on here?
Daisy: Oh, that’s amazing.
Crystal: So it tells you all the clinics that do, you know, reproductive [00:11:00] health and um, let me put in like another kind of weird spot.
This one has even more for Houston, Texas, and none. None of these places are gonna be affected by like any of the Trump stuff or Texas stuff. They’re still all safe. So you go there, all you need to do is say, I need to get care. They’ll help you.
Daisy: That’s amazing. I know in today’s world it’s so complicated with all sorts of changing legislation around our healthcare and the funding.
Crystal: Yes.
Daisy: So there’s lots of changing laws around abortion.
Crystal: Yes.
Daisy: Um, and I know that there are. A lot of states that have tried to outlaw abortion, what kind of options are available for people in those states?
Crystal: Well, first I actually wanna talk about what abortion is and because a lot of [00:12:00] people don’t actually know truly what abortion is.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: So, of course we know it’s getting rid of a baby and people think of it as the, you know, routine surgical or doing pills, but actually a miscarriage. It is an abortion that is medically when we’re talking about miscarriages we call it spontaneous abortions.
Daisy: Hmm.
Crystal: So you could literally have one and not even intentionally have one.
And you should not be criminalized for that. ’cause I know South Carolina tried that crap and there’s nothing to do about that. Like, you cannot stop your body from doing that. Um, now what I also wanna go over is there’s something called a molar pregnancy. That’s a tumor, so you have to get an abortion to get rid of that.
So,
Daisy: oh,
Crystal: and that’s a DNC. We have a DNC that’s dilating the cervix and letting you know, and there are all types of other ways too, but you have to, that’s the only way you’re gonna survive it. [00:13:00] You don’t survive a molar pregnancy without getting an abortion. The reason again, I wanted, sorry, go ahead.
Daisy: Just to clarify that, that’s not a fetus.
That’s just a tumor.
Crystal: Yeah, it’s just a tumor. So what it does is it gives off a hormone that we attest for and once we see it, we know it’s not a baby, it that a baby cannot give off a specific hormone. So it tells us it’s a tumor. And the reason I’m going over this is ’cause a lot of people don’t know that these are pregnancies that happen and
Daisy: Yeah,
Crystal: you know.
They have to have care for these. And then you have your atopic pregnancies, which we all know about. Um mm-hmm. So, all right, we got over that. All right, so in order to get care, I really wanted to go into Texas. Texas is an issue.
Daisy: Yeah.
Crystal: You can still go to Trust Her. They’ll help you for everybody. Also gives abortion care.
So some of these same sites that I [00:14:00] gave you guys before will be able to help. Now if you can’t get that done. Mm-hmm. Here’s something called the Texas Fund, and it’s been working for 11 years.
Daisy: Okay
Crystal: And they actually pay for you to leave and go get your abortion, and they find you people to help you along the way.
So if you need transportation, you need somewhere to stay. They do this type of work. So another one. Now I wanna give a caution before I give this one. This one used to be rooted in a faith based, but they have now disconnected as of 2022.
Daisy: Okay.
Crystal: Um, they are very well funded and they have been around for 45 years.
So they are,
Daisy: what’s it called?
Crystal: faithrootsandrepo.org.
Daisy: Okay.
Crystal: Reproduction action. So they will help you also get access. They have an abortion fund, a [00:15:00] very well funded one ’cause I’ve actually sent people to them. Um, very awesome. And then they also do policy advocacy and they’ve been trying to get abortions re legalized everywhere.
Daisy: Yeah. It’s basic healthcare at this point.
Crystal: Yeah. Like. As you as, as I’ve already told you, like there’s so many different ways that basically our body can fuck us.
So another thing I wanna, um, talk about is if we’re gonna talk about abortion, we gotta talk about the self-managed abortions through our appeals.
Daisy: Yes.
Crystal: The reason I bring this up is because. There is one serious side effect that happens with taking these pills and it is extreme bleeding.
Daisy: Mm.
Crystal: So my advice to anyone getting an abortion just in case, the reason I’m saying this, just in case [00:16:00] something could be wrong with your platelets, that’s what makes your blood clot something.
Something could be wrong. Have someone there with you when you take your pills for the first 48 hours, that is when you have the greatest chance of bleeding out. So go ahead, take the, take your medicine, but also don’t take things that are blood thinners. So don’t take any aspirin. I know this sounds crazy, but yeah, don’t take aspirin.
It’s gonna make you bleed more. Stay away from that. Um, another thing I really wanna touch on is after you get it done, it’s a, you really need to go see a provider. If you’re in Las Vegas, go see that woman I just talked about. If you guys need other. Um, providers, you can reach out to me personally. I know plenty of ’em, but you have to go check and make sure the fetus was fully removed.
If not, you can still get an infection and die. And I, I’m sorry I said it that rough, but I need to let you guys know the gravity [00:17:00] of, you gotta make sure.
Daisy: Yeah,
Crystal: I know. A girl from back in 2019, she had taken the abortion pills and then she got a gnarly infection and went sepsic. It was. Like, what the hell’s going on?
Come to find out the fetus didn’t fully pass, and that is something that can happen. Luckily, guys, to the hospital, she’s okay now. She lived just, uh, tell another story.
Daisy: Good,
Crystal: but go get checked out you guys afterwards. Please go do it. Within 14 days of taking those pills and finishing your last dose, if you take two doses of it.
Go to the doctor, make sure, ’cause if you keep that fetus in you and it hasn’t fully passed, you might not be able to have children again as well.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: So if you’re in Las Vegas, reach out to me. If you are in California, I have people I know over there as well. And Oregon. I’m working on Texas. So hold off with you guys.
Daisy: Huge. Um, [00:18:00] what kind of side effects should people be looking out for in those first, first 48 hours?
Crystal: Um, the extreme bleeding. Um, if you start getting super dizzy, just super, super dizzy. Sit down, check your bleeding. The biggest thing I would say is take one of those, um, this is gonna sound funny. Take a doggy pad and just kind of sit on it and see how long it takes to fill up.
If your doggy pad is fully heavy within three hours, you, you might be bleeding a little bit too much.
Daisy: Yeah,
Crystal: take one of those and also look at the characteristics of the blood. Like is it bright red? Is it dark red? Just write that down because when you go and see your practitioner, that’s something that they would like to know.
And another thing, you guys wanna be taken seriously. Write down everything you are experiencing. Give it to us because we take that more seriously. When you’re talking to us about it, we’re like, well, she could be lying, but if you took the [00:19:00] time to write it down, we’re gonna believe you. That’s the one way to
Daisy: That’s good advice.
Yeah. Um, another thing to look out for is, um, the, like I said, the dizziness. Um, if you feel super faint and lightheaded, um, and if you have serious, unusually serious pain. Now while you have, while you’re taking the pills, you’re gonna have a little bit of pain during the abortion. Sorry. Mm-hmm. Some people do, but if it is unmanageable, go to the er.
Yeah.
Crystal: Don’t, don’t take any aspirin. Don’t take any ibuprofen either. You’re gonna take,
Daisy: what’s the best way to manage the pain?
Crystal: Naproxen. Okay. Um, naproxen sodium. It comes in 500 milligrams. And again, if you guys have questions, reach out to me. ’cause I can give you all this information or I probably have the drug myself and I’ll just give it to you.
Um, but naproxen is a good [00:20:00] way. Um, and I also say non-pharmacological, like arnica gel on you. You really don’t wanna take too many medications where you’re taking your abortion pills.
Daisy: Okay, that makes sense. So just heat and pad, NaPro, naproxen. Keep an eye on the bleeding.
Crystal: Yeah. Um, yeah, that’s about it.
’cause the other situations don’t happen too often. So those are the ones we normally see.
Daisy: Okay. And then, so if someone is in one of these states, like say for instance Texas and they have complications, is there a risk going to receive healthcare?
Crystal: So, I’m gonna be honest with you. Legally we have to give you healthcare.
Daisy: Okay
Crystal: But we are also mandated reporters. So depending on the nurse you have, like me, I’m not reporting shit. I’m sorry I’m not, but [00:21:00] some nurses will
Daisy: Thank you for your service.
Crystal: You’re welcome. Yeah. Um, the best thing I can say is look, go on this website I gave you. Um, let me take a quick look again for the, uh, family planning.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: Go on this website, it’s gonna tell you which clinics are. The abortion clinics, sorry, I’m trying to make sure you can see it.
Daisy: The Office of Population Affairs?
Crystal: Yes.
Daisy: Okay.
Crystal: And, and find their family planning clinic.
Daisy: Okay.
Crystal: And type in your, uh, city and state, or if you wanna put in your address you can, but I just say city and state.
Don’t give them extra information. But go through there and all those abortion clinics will be able to give you service and you won’t have to worry about, um, repercussions. ’cause again,
Daisy: okay.
Crystal: Even though we are mandated reporters when we’re outside the hospital, we have a little bit more autonomy.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
And it really [00:22:00] depends on who you go to, it seems like.
Crystal: Yeah. Um. Mississippi, I’ve heard some pretty rough stuff, so if you’re there, just don’t even go there. You guys. Please don’t, I, I don’t, I do not have anything for you there yet. We’re working on it within the Cupcake Girls so of course once updates are available, they will be given.
And if you guys are ever in a pension, you need something for us. Call or send an email and say you need to get information from the National Crisis document. Then they’ll give you something specifically that will be sex workers safe, and that will take a, just take you in and not ask questions. So if you wanna do a search on your own, I gave you the website.
If you wanna come to us, come to us and ask for the national crisis document. I’m telling you that for a specific reason.
Daisy: Okay. Interesting. Oh, it’s, it’s a wild time. We’re living [00:23:00] in that. Healthcare is such a controversial thing.
Crystal: Honestly, I feel like I’m fighting the administration senators my own freaking governor sometimes because of.
What’s going on. I’m like, I signed up to be a nurse. Not to be a political fallout,
Daisy: but you are really doing some important work these days. Yeah, it’s, it’s huge and I, I personally appreciate everything that you’re doing. Like it’s, it’s such a scary time. And then like adding the extra layer of being a sex worker and dealing with discrimination, it’s, it’s hard,
Crystal: which,
I’m working on that. You guys, I also, uh, do things in politics to try to help sex workers ’cause I realize that they don’t listen to us. But I have two letters behind my name, which says registered nurse, that they have to listen to me ’cause I’m a public servant, so it makes it a little bit easier for me to go in and actually push things to get things [00:24:00] done.
Mm-hmm. Like decriminalization. I’m all for that. Just so you guys know. I’ve been pushing things here in Nevada trying to make that decriminalized because it’s also a healthcare problem.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: If you guys don’t feel safe to come to us, then what the hell are we doing?
Daisy: For real.
[00:25:00]
Daisy: What kind of advice would you offer to someone looking for like a sex work friendly or at least moderately understanding healthcare provider?
Crystal: Like maybe a primary care physician or like a gynecologist or something? I do if you, um, look at my, um, handle at thtscece on Instagram, I do have a few providers that in Las Vegas, they’re are tagged that service us.
Daisy: Cool.
Crystal: You can go to them again, you can come to the Cupcake Girls. But the biggest thing I’m gonna say, if you’re on your own and you don’t want any of those options, go to the, uh, website of whoever you’re gonna go to and look at their about us.
If it says anything about religion, any in there or you’re seeing like kind of [00:26:00] covert language, don’t even go there. Now if they’re saying that they accept everyone, you see, oh, here’s the biggest tip. Go to anywhere that does HIV testing, that’s always gonna be a safe spot for sex workers. So if you’re somewhere and you see an AHF, a CAM is a good, another good one.
Wherever you are, if you have a AHF go there. All HIV places are 2000% gonna be sex worker friendly. ’cause they’re, they’re already dealing with a marginalized population.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: So for sex workers, if you guys don’t wanna use Cupcake Girls you don’t wanna use me. Look for whatever provider is dealing with marginalized populations.
If you see LGBTQ, you see disabled, you’re gonna be safe. I guarantee you, because I have not yet ran into any provider that sees marginalized, um, populations be mean to sex workers ever.
Daisy: Cool. That’s awesome. So are [00:27:00] the faith-based healthcare institutions, do they not even offer HIV testing? Is that what-
Crystal: Yeah, they don’t.
One of the ones here that I can, well, I’m not gonna say the name because I don’t wanna get sued, but, um, one of the ones here in Las Vegas been around for a very long time and does not offer HIV testing. They do abstinent classes, but they don’t offer the testing. And I have been criticizing them for a while and they told me they did not care.
Daisy: That did, like, I don’t, I can’t even wrap my head around that. It’s basic healthcare once again, and like testing for a condition shouldn’t be controversial at all.
Crystal: At all. And it’s somehow, it’s not. Somehow it has become controversial because we have a bunch idiots up there that pit us against each other, and instead we need to be looking at class consciousness because it’s us against them.[00:28:00]
Daisy: But man, we’re living in wild times. I can’t get over it.
Crystal: Oh, um, I believe it’s called the Wild West Access Fund. So you can also talk with them. They’re a nonprofit and they fund abortion care here in Nevada. ’cause I, I know it gets expensive, you guys. This is not cheap.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: So go to them, they’ll help you too.
Daisy: Okay.
Crystal: I have abortion pills.
Daisy: Oh, that’s awesome. So people could just hit you up directly.
Crystal: Yeah, because I mean, I’m a nurse. I’m friends with a lot of pharmaceutical reps, so they leave me with samples or other things. So I literally have a full pharmacy just sitting at home because I’m friends with so many pharmaceutical reps.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: So if you guys need something now, I don’t give out controlled substances.
Don’t ask for that.
Daisy: Yeah.
Crystal: But, um, like ibuprofen, um, plan B. Um, abortion pills or even if you need certain antibiotics and you already told me that [00:29:00] you have gone to the doctor or you went to one of my friends, one of my doctor friends, then yeah, I’ll just give you the medicine. ’cause I already know you went somewhere, but I’m not gonna give it to you unless we kind of know what’s going on.
Daisy: Yeah, totally. That makes sense. Um, there’s also a site that I’ve heard of
Crystal: Plan C
Daisy: called Plan C. Yeah. Do you recommend going through them?
Crystal: I do, but I don’t, so I do. Okay. Because it gives you so many choices, but I don’t mm-hmm. Because it gives you so many choices. Hmm. The reason I say that is it can be overwhelming.
Okay. So you need to know exactly, you know, what are you looking for? Are you trying to get abortion pills before you need them? If so, you wanna push 13 weeks or less so that you can get them and, um. Again, so many options. Some of ’em take insurance, some of them don’t. And it’s hard to qualify to get free pills sometimes.
Not all the time, but it is.
Daisy: Yeah.
Crystal: So if you need help with [00:30:00] that, you can also reach out to me. I don’t mind helping, ’cause I’ve helped a few people go through it. But it’s a good site to use. Just be careful with how much you’re taking in. It can overwhelm you.
Daisy: Yeah. And I’ve also heard that you can order them, order the pills before you need them.
Crystal: Yeah.
Daisy: So you can just have them, you, I think that’s pretty great that you can just, just in case it’s there.
Crystal: And there’s multiple types of, uh, birth control pills. I mean birth control, of course we know that. Um, abortion pills too. Um, do you know the different types?
Daisy: I am not super familiar.
Crystal: So everyone knows about mifepristone. I probably just butchered the hell out of that. I am so sorry. But there’s another drug that we also use. Um, I’m trying to pull out the name so I can get it for you. So we use, uh, mifepristone and um, the other one, which is [00:31:00] misoprostol. They’re going on after only one of them, but there are two of them that you should use.
The one that I always say be careful about the bleeding is the one that ends with the STOL.
Daisy: Okay,
Crystal: I’m putting that up here so you guys can kind of see what the ending is. Um, s the STOL one, that’s, um, that’s the one that’ll make you bleed out, but you need it to finish passing the baby. You technically need both of them.
You can do it with just the top one. But you might not completely pass the baby, so
Daisy: I can never pronounce it. Mipr.
Crystal: You’re fine. .
Daisy: Is that, is that the one that dilates you?
Crystal: Yeah. So miso- So one of them is going to dilate and expel the other one blocks the hormone. You need both.
Daisy: Okay.
Crystal: Yeah. So most people only know about, you know, blocking the hormone, which is.
If you are early enough in your pregnancy, you can block the hormone and it’ll just [00:32:00] pass on its own. But if you are like, let’s say 12 weeks, 13 weeks, you’re gonna need the other one. ’cause you now have matter there that you are gonna need the help push out.
Daisy: Okay. , And then other than things like ibuprofen, are there any other like drug interactions that people should know about before?
Crystal: There are a lot. Um, let me actually pull up my notes. There’s a lot of them. Um, the biggest thing I’m gonna say, don’t drink alcohol. Um
Daisy: mm-hmm.
Crystal: Be careful if you’re on, uh, prednisone, because it can counteract with prednisone. That’s a steroid. Um, let’s see, what else? If you’re on any, um, HIV drugs, be careful with it.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: This one’s gonna make you laugh. Grapefruit juice. Don’t drink it.
Daisy: Oh yeah.
Crystal: Make it while you’re on this. It can make, um, what it’ll do is it’ll [00:33:00] rise the levels of it in your blood and it can cause serious side effects, like extreme bleeding. So do not drink
Daisy: grapefruit juice interacts with everything.
Crystal: It does.
It does. Oh, Tums don’t take Toms. Um. If you take Toms while you’re doing this, it’s gonna make you have diarrhea.
Daisy: That’s good to know.
Crystal: Do not take Tums. I don’t want y’all going through that and, um,
Daisy: make a rough situation worse.
Crystal: Yes. And do not take magnesium eater. That will also send you to the toilet.
Daisy: Oh.
Crystal: A
few things.
I know it’s a lot. I’m sorry you guys, but I’d rather you just not go through that. ’cause I’m serious. I’ve seen people take it, come in with hemorrhoids because of how much they’re shitting. Like it’s bad.
Daisy: Oh my God. Oh no, that’s horrible.
Crystal: A few other drugs I wanna just kind of go over. [00:34:00] Um, don’t take Valium on this.
Um, it’s really a bad idea. What it’ll basically do is make you overdose on Valium. And remember, that’s one of our, um, benzos. So we really don’t wanna diag- we don’t wanna do that because if you do that and you’re on Valium and you take your, um, abortion pills, you’re gonna, you’re gonna come see me because you’re gonna need an antidote for your overdose.
Daisy: Oh, man. Okay.
Crystal: Yeah. Now, I’m not gonna say it happens all the time. But it definitely can happen. So just be careful. You need to get an adjustment. If you need to go have an abortion, take the abortion pills. Contact your mental health provider so they can adjust your medication so you don’t overdose.
Daisy: Hmm.
Okay.
Crystal: That’s the only one. If you’re on Xanax or any other stuff, you’re fine.
Daisy: Okay. [00:35:00] Good to know.
Crystal: Gonna shock you guys, but Zofran. You can’t take Zofran on this. It’s,
Daisy: oh,
Crystal: so let me explain why you take Zofran on. Um, the, let me give you, mifepristone not the other one. Only mifepristone, you will have a heart attack.
Daisy: Oh no.
Crystal: You will have a heart attack, so don’t take Zofran. I know these are a lot meds. I don’t mind giving you guys like a list, so maybe you can leave on your page or something so people know. Um, but yeah, that can definitely cause a heart attack. And if you don’t believe me, you can go on drugs.com yourself and look at it.
Daisy: Yeah. I always recommend anytime you take anything new, just looking it up. Because even if your, you went over it with your prescriber and your pharmacist and everything, sometimes they miss something that you were like, oh yeah, I take this random vitamin that has a problem, or grapefruit juice.
Crystal: Yeah. See, [00:36:00] one thing I do when I’m like discharging or talking to someone, I’m like, Hey.
What vitamins, minerals, and juices have you been taking along with medications?
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: A lot of provider don’t do that. Um, so again, if you guys need help, my handle is at thtscece on, uh, Instagram. Reach out to me. I will help you. I will not diagnose you, I will not prescribe anything, but I will direct you where you need to go.
’cause I can’t diagnose and treat yet. I’m not a nurse practitioner.
Daisy: Yeah. Interesting. Um, so. Speaking to the general population of sex workers here, what like, one thing would you want to everyone to know related to healthcare and like occupational health? Like what is something that you wish more sex workers knew?
Crystal: Female condoms. I wish there were more that had female condoms. Um, and I’m speaking for [00:37:00] full service sex workers here. ’cause that’s what I do see a lot. And that’s what I, I mean, I was every type of sex worker, but I was full service.
Daisy: Yeah.
Crystal: We don’t have access to female condoms like that. And they helped so much more.
Like you don’t have to worry about getting HPV and warts and things. Mm-hmm. Because you’re wearing those outer protection Cupcake Girls has them. So if you need them, come to our free store every first Friday from two to 4:00 PM you can RSVP. I always have it on my Instagram page, but I als um, Cupcake Girls also has it on theirs.
Um, always RSVP, so we can make sure we have someone there to open the door for you. But, um, that’s one big thing. Oh, and another thing, um. All right. This is one of my secrets, you guys. I’m helping y’all out for free. It’s some free game.
Daisy: Alright.
Crystal: All right, so there’s talc free baby powder. So strippers, when y’all going on [00:38:00] stage, when you’re putting on your deodorant, put baby powder on afterwards.
It’s gonna seal it in. It’s gonna keep you from sweating. Keeps you from sweating.
Daisy: Oh,
Crystal: and on top of that, it makes your scent smell really good. And again, there are baby powder. Well they call it body powder Now. That are talc free so you don’t have to worry about that toxic stuff, so
Daisy: mm-hmm.
Crystal: That’s one thing I’ll say, no matter what occupation you’re in from Camgirl.
’cause I’m, come on now. Y’all know it gets hot in there. Um, yeah. See stripper to full service girlies. Do not put that, also, don’t put it in your vaginal area. They’ll throw off your pH.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: But you can put it like on your thighs, your armpits. I put it under my boobs and that’s what I used to do to keep from sweating and smell really good in the strip club also with customers.
Um, they would love the smell of me when I was, when they came in. Yes, of course I showered afterwards, you guys, but that’s a little tip that can help you guys. And if you [00:39:00] wear, um, perfume, It boosts your, um, scent.
So instead of it being like a five mile radius, it might go to like a 10 mile radius or something like that. And your sent will go from being only eight hours to about 12 hours. So also use it for that reason. I gave y’all one. I’m not giving you any more.
Daisy: Thank you. Do you do So I know when I first started as a sex worker, I really struggled with like keeping vaginal pH in balance and like dealing with all the toys and fingers and
Crystal: mm-hmm.
Daisy: Everything that happens being a sex worker. Do you have any advice for like, really protecting your pH balance?
Crystal: I do. Um, the first thing, y’all gonna hate this. Less baths. Take less baths, take more showers. You’re sitting in a, when you’re sitting in that water, if you put, you know, bath bombs and all these other things that’s messing with your [00:40:00] pH.
This is something I used to do. Pineapples and strawberries eat. A good serving, I’d say at least a cup every morning. So when you’re going throughout your day, for me, I saw that it kept my pH fine and I used to work in a brothel, you guys, so if it kept my pH fine, I think it should be okay for you guys as well.
Daisy: Yeah.
Crystal: Um, the last thing I would say is at night, if you guys can just kind of not wear underwear and let it breathe. Let everything breathe.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: You can use the boric acid pills, but I don’t always recommend those because some people are just too sensitive for it. But if it works for you, then use it.
Um, and the last thing I would say, everyone thinks this only helps with yeast infections and stuff, but cranberry juice also just overall would help with your pH. So if you can’t do the, um, pineapple and strawberry every morning, do some cranberry juice every morning, that’ll [00:41:00] help.
Daisy: Nice. I, I like putting it in smoothies.
It’s really nice. Yeah. But it’s, it’s so hard being a sex worker trying to like, maintain the balance there.
Crystal: Another thing I’ll say, only use water-based lubes.
Daisy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Crystal: After you finish doing everything, go pee. I’m serious.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: Don’t sit around. Go pee. Because you wanna get all that stuff out. And I know some people know this, but some people go pee
Daisy: yes.
Right after
Crystal: Don’t, don’t after, don’t collect $200. Like No, just go ahead.
Daisy: And I’m, I’m gonna add my own 2 cents in here. One thing that changed the game for me is not wearing synthetic panties all day. ’cause I know sometimes our cute little outfits that we order online are like little synthetic panties that don’t have, you need like a cotton layer.[00:42:00]
Crystal: Yes, probably.
Daisy: Or something that breathes if you’re gonna be wearing underwear all day.
Crystal: That’s why I’m like, let it breathe at night sleep with no underwear on you guys. No pants either. Let it breathe.
Daisy: Yes.
Crystal: Oh, another thing that’ll help your pH cut back on fried food that’s gonna help your pH Oh. Because you are what you eat.
Yeah. A lot of people don’t believe this, but I know personally, um, when I cut back on fried food and processed food, that really helped my pH. Um, so I would recommend doing that if, you know you have a really intensive day coming up, take like a 72 hour break from your processed foods. Your, um, fried foods, you should be fine.
Daisy: Mm-hmm. Yep. Such good advice. Um, so is there anything else that you wanna share with us today?
Crystal: Hmm, let’s see. The only other thing I really wanna [00:43:00] share with you guys is just you guys, please, if you need help, reach out to us. This is a rough time. I know what’s going on in the, uh, community. Trying my best here in Vegas to help you guys ’cause I’m working in politics as well.
But reach out if you need help. Okay? We are here to help you. Cupcake girls. There are other orgs that help you like SWOP Um, reach out to them. You’re not alone. Okay?
Daisy: Huge
Crystal: And mental health. If you guys need mental health providers, please reach out to me. I see a provider myself. I know plenty that used to be sex workers that are now providers in mental health.
So if you need a list, reach out to me here in Vegas. I got you.
Daisy: Awesome. Yeah, that’s really, really important to have somebody to talk to. Thank you so much.
Crystal: Cupcake Girls. We do have, um, [00:44:00] support groups too, if you guys wanna join that.
Daisy: Cool. And then what’s the Cupcake Girls website?
Crystal: It’s the cupcake girls org.
Okay. I’ll pull it up so you can, I need to have a better way of showing this to you guys.
Daisy: It’s all good. A lot of our listeners are doing audio only, so it’s good to say it too.
Crystal: Okay. Um, the, the cupcake girls org, if you guys can’t see, well see us. And if you need support, just push, get support here or. If our support is closed again, just reach out to us.
Uh, contact us and we’ll help you.
Daisy: Cool. Yeah. And Cupcake Girls has all sorts of amazing resources for sex workers , it’s a really cool organization
Crystal: and if you guys have like any personal problems, like if you need your blood pressure taken or something, or if you need something medical, reach out to me.
I can do that. I can come by and take your blood pressure and I can take the information. Take it to a provider [00:45:00] and get you help too if you really need it.
Daisy: Amazing.
Crystal: Let me know.
Daisy: Amazing. You are. You are such an angel. You are truly an angel. You’re out there fighting for legislation, you’re helping people in real time.
Amazing. I so much appreciate what you’re doing and thank you so much for coming to talk to us today. Um, where can people find more about you?
Crystal: Uh, let’s see. And I talked, I talked to you guys’ ear off. I’m sorry, I talk too much. Y’all can go ahead and say it.
Daisy: No, shut up. We’re here to talk..
So it at
Crystal: thtscece, so it’s T-H-T-S-C-E-C-E. Uh, that’s my Instagram. And you’ll see in my header, I literally say in there, I’m the resources lead for Cupcake Girls and I’m stationed here in Nevada. And if you look at my stories right here, the first story I have, um, recommendations like The Cupcake [00:46:00] Girls is in here.
Just different.
Daisy: Awesome.
Crystal: I have a lawyer in here for you guys. Um,
Daisy: oh, great.
Crystal: So many different, um, people you can go to many different nurses that do yoga and different things. Um. This is a provider that does, uh, beauty. So I have many different things in there for you guys. This is a family practice nurse practitioner that also does beauty.
Um, she also does reproductive health, so if you guys wanna go somewhere to safe, go to Nursing Cosmetics, she does everything. She even does telehealth, so you can’t
Daisy: Amazing.
Crystal: She’s licensed in multiple states. So if you guys like are in Illinois. Or you’re in Florida or somewhere like that and you wanna reach out to her.
She got you.
Daisy: Amazing. Oh, and one more thing I wanted to ask. Um, where is a good place for people to find, uh, like preventative HIV treatment? [00:47:00]
Crystal: Like so you’re gonna wanna go prep that sort of thing? So, CAM, uh, AHF, they’re gonna be great places to go. So you’re of course your HIV, um, testing centers. I’m gonna be honest, if you do not have insurance, that’s where you’re gonna wanna go.
It’s gonna be too expensive for you to go anywhere else because dumb fuck defunded everything.
Daisy: Yeah.
Crystal: Excuse my language.
Daisy: We, we know it’s, it’s, it’s such a weird time. So just go to your definitive medication should also not be controversial.
Crystal: Agreed. So, um, it, I am not sure about manpower in Atlanta. I’m still finding out more information about them, you guys, but I’ve heard there’s safe to go to for testing.
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: So you can go there. Um, but preventative stick with AHF and stick with CAN Community. Those two [00:48:00] have pharmacies there so you can get your stuff cheap. ’cause even if you go to the doctor and get a cheap doctor’s visit, you’re gonna get smacked in the face when you go to the pharmacy. So go to one affiliated with those places.
Daisy: Okay, cool. That’s good to know. Well thank you so much. It’s been amazing talking to you and Oh, so much good information. I really appreciate it. And thank you for all the work that you do. Like you are a huge resource for our community.
Crystal: I try and you guys, if there’s something you have going on and you are in Nevada, reach out to me and tell me your story.
I talk to our Legislatives branch. I talk to multiple different people who can do something, speak up, especially right now with housing speak up I am literally trying to help push bills through our Congress right now to fix this eviction problem. Speak up.
Daisy: Yes.
Crystal: Tell me. I can’t help you if I don’t know.
AMD: Um, [00:49:00] Crystal, that was amazing. I just learned so much. You just blew my mind with all of that information. Like the stuff about abortion stuff and like the pregnancy thing, like I’m just like blown away with this information. I’m so excited for people to hear this episode. Thank you so much for all the work you’re doing and for coming on the show and sharing it with our audience and with us.
I mean, I learned so much, so thank you.
Crystal: Yeah, I’m here if you guys ever have any other questions or if you’re in Vegas and you wanna talk to me, um, just reach out. And I do teach a lot of classes you guys, so if you like, wanna learn about street medic stuff, come to me. So like, if you have street, um, like strokes or let’s say like you, you’re worried about your diabetes stuff, come to me. I do that type of stuff too, and I’m not charging you guys. I’m not sitting here saying, come to me and I’ll charge. No. If you’re a sex worker, tell me you’re a sex worker and I’ll do it for free.
AMD: Awesome.
Daisy: That’s something I’m [00:50:00] using to give back to you guys.
AMD: Awesome. Thank you.
Daisy: It’s amazing.
AMD: You’re amazing. You are an angel. Awesome.
Daisy: Oh, you know what? I have one more question.
If specifically for in-person sex workers, what things would you recommend in-person sex workers have in an emergency medical kit?
Crystal: Oh, thank God you asked. Um, I definitely say have some ibuprofen. Um, that’s okay to have. Um, of course bandaids and stuff like that. Plan B, this is gonna sound a little bit weird, but, um.
So you can take diaper rash cream and you can, if you have like, um, a rash on your face or anything, or really bad breakouts, you can also use it on your face. Um, or you, I know that sounds weird. Um, also
Daisy: I’ve heard it used for under eye bags before
Crystal: You can. You can also use it if you get like a really, really [00:51:00] bad cut, you can put it around the cut to keep it from getting infected.
Now don’t put it in the cut, but put it around the cut.
Daisy: Oh,
Crystal: you’ll keep it also from swelling as much.
Daisy: Oh.
Crystal: So you can use that. Um, actually I have my sex worker survivor kit. Let me see. Um, if you’re around me,
Daisy: I love that you have it with you.
Crystal: Yeah. You’re around me. I always say saline. Now I know you guys can’t get prepackaged like this, but if you come to me, I can give you some.
The reason I say saline, if you do cocaine or anything like that, or you buy weed from on the street, you know?
Daisy: Mm-hmm.
Crystal: You’re gonna need those Xylazine and fentanyl test strips, which I have those Cupcake Girls have them reach out to me, I’ll give them to you. But you’re gonna want saline because the water is nasty.
So saline will actually give you a real answer. ’cause you might get a false positive, especially here in Vegas.
Daisy: Oh, that makes [00:52:00] sense.
Crystal: So I always say have, if anything, if you, if you guys were, get anything, I’m saying female condoms, saline and mace. Those and mace, that’s it. Um, just bare basics. But if you wanna build a bigger kit, which I can teach a class on this if you guys want.
Um, like I said, first daycare care, like band-aids and stuff like that, the diaper rash cream, um, lube. Um, I, I wouldn’t give that to you guys and shoelaces. So, I know this is gonna sound a bit weird. So let’s say you go into a situation where you’ve been stabbed or something that does happen unfortunately, with our street based workers, um, you can tie the shoe laces around you to stop the bleeding.
Daisy: Okay.
Crystal: So if you can’t get, if you don’t feel safe going to a doctor or something, you can do that. And you can, if you’re here in Vegas, literally reach [00:53:00] out to me and I’ll probably have what you need to get patched back up. And I know plenty of er doctors, they’ll do it. They’ll just patch you back up. So
Daisy: amazing.
Crystal: That’s about it. Um, ’cause everything else is a little bit higher level, so I would honestly rather teach a class about that. Again, it would be free. So that you guys know what you should have in your kits. ’cause I used to walk, well my whole kit’s downstairs in the car, but I used to walk around with it.
Daisy: Yeah. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thanks again. This has been amazing and really informative.
Crystal: You are welcome. And I’m, I’m just happy to answer questions you guys. I went to school for this so let me give you the information I got I have to pay for.
Daisy: Thank you. We really appreciate you.