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Oh, the (male) medical establishment doesn't listen to women? 🫠
I wish I could be surprised....there's literally hundreds of comments with women telling their horror stories underneath the article. Be careful while reading if you're easily triggered by this topic because a lot of it is really upsetting.
Excerpt:
“I was told I knew too much, that I was working too hard, that I was stressed out, that I was anxious,” said Ilene Ruhoy, a 53-year-old neurologist from Seattle, who had head pain and pounding in her ears.
Despite having a medical degree, Ruhoy said she struggled to get doctors to order a brain scan. By the time she got it in 2015, a tennis ball-sized tumor was pushing her brain to one side. She needed surgery, but first, she rushed home, hugged her 11-year-old daughter and wrote her a letter to tell her goodbye.
Ruhoy did not die on the operating table, but her tumor had grown so large it could not be entirely removed. Now, she has several smaller tumors that require radiation treatment.
She said many of her female patients have had experiences similar to hers. “They’re not validated with regards to their concerns; they’re gaslit; they’re not understood,” she said. “They feel like no one is listening to them.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/interactive/2022/women-pain-gender-bias-doctors/
I was repeatedly told I had depression. I was exhausted and emotional from the pain of endometriosis scarring. I cheered right up after I had surgery. I’m a pretty upbeat person when I’m not in agony.
Ah yes. Reminds me of the time I had extreme pain every period with my IUD to the point where I would have to stop what I was doing until it passed and KNEW something wasn't right. Two doctors checked the strings and said it was in place and that the pain and heavy bleeding I was experiencing was normal with the copper IUD. I wondered how they could tell the actual device was situated in my uterus by just looking at the strings, but they are medical professionals so they must know what they're doing right? Two years later I get an ultrasound done only to discover that the arm of the device has been implanted in the wall of my uterus the entire time.... Worst part is that the doctors telling me that the pain and heavy bleeding was normal were both women.
When I broke my neck and jaw, I also tore all of the ligaments in my neck that hold my head onto my body. I could not hold up my own head even after the bones healed. My head was pinned to the left side of my chest. I had to use my arm to grab my hair and pull my head on and off of the pillow to lie down. I was telling the doctors that my ligaments were obviously torn in my neck, and they'd say, "You don't know that." or "I'm a Neurologist and can't comment on your ligaments." For 20 years I told the Army and VA doctors that my neck ligaments were torn, and they refused to listen. I finally found a doctor this year who ordered the DMX that proves my neck ligaments are torn. 20 FUCKING years of begging and pleading and being told I was depressed, emotional, and hysterical. I told one shrink, "Would you be happy if you were me? If you couldn't hold up your own head and have to wear a neck brace constantly to sleep, drive, stand up, go for a walk, etc.? Wouldn't I truly be insane if I were actually happy in this state? I'm perfectly sane given the nature of the situation. Do you want me to be giddy and happy when there are vetebrae lodged against my spinal cord?"
I have to change careers and am currently unemployed thanks to incompetent doctors. I'm unlikely to be able to work in the office due to some chronic conditions now. Mental health also went down the drain due to the history of trauma. Before that I was kinda going places (have some amazing diplomas collecting dust, had some nice work experience). I still cannot believe my current situation
After a lifetime of experiencing not being taken seriously myself - which we are unfortunately used to by now - it got even worse when I became my father's caretaker and had to deal with his doctors, too. I have never been condescended to and belittled like this in my life. And we had a diagnosis. Confirmed by experts and all. I had the fucking paperwork. I have a PhD. I did my research and know all the terms. I'm not an idiot or some naive old lady who doesn't really understand what's happening. And still not a single new doctor believed me when I told them that that condition was the cause of my father's symptoms and what we needed - again all confirmed by an expert in the field in writing - and every single one tried to put him through completely unnecessary, invasive tests to "rule out" all the other things they could imagine as the cause. Ultimately, the nurses in one hospital fucking up his medication and dosages cost him his life. The meds were wrong several times before, which I had noticed and pointed out and complained about again and again while being treated like a nuisance for it. My father being sick was bad and painful. Having to fight to be believed and triple check everything in every single appointment instead of just being able to trust the medical personnel was worse.
It honestly made me lose all trust in the medical system and it's employees. Among all the people we met I can count the doctors and nurses who were actually competent, responsible and caring on one hand. I always do my own research, I always take notes of who exactly claimed what, double and triple check every medication and dosage and I never just take some doctor's or nurse's word for it. Not doing all that can kill you or your loved ones.
Quite literally I was told today that my (female) doctor won't give me antifungal medicine despite having a positive swab test for a specific fungal infection with plenty of symptoms, which I ordered privately because the tests she ordered of course didn't come up positive.
The healthcare system where I live is a shitshow, else I would have switched the doctor faster than my chewing gum. I also had to repeat myself like 5 times for her to hear what I was asking and then she again went off a tangent on something completely different. I have to collect a few more labs and things and I'm off to another doctor even though that will take some more bureaucracy again (you can only switch primary care docs here every 6 months or if there's some other "grave" reason).
I could write books about this. Pages and pages of positive labs for stuff and no one giving you antibiotics or whatever medicine you need, so you go and try to get the medicine yourself somewhere else privately without insurance covering it and when you do and it works, they bitch at you for "treating yourself".