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Whether it’s heart disease misdiagnosed as anxiety, an autoimmune disorder attributed to depression, or ovarian cysts labeled as “normal period pain,” too many women know how it feels to be dismissed by a doctor. The scientific studies back up the fact that it’s not all just in your head. For example, this study from Academic Emergency Medicine discovered that women who went to the ER with severe stomach pain had to wait for a whopping 33% longer than male patients with the same symptoms.
This woman who shared a horrifying experience she had in the ER on the subreddit r/TwoXChromosomes is one of many female patients who have been gaslighted. Coming in with incredibly alarming symptoms, the author u/anon2217 said her male doctor not only completely dismissed her, he was very reluctant to do relevant tests as the woman pushed to be tested. Read her full story below.
Many women in the thread found it a safe place to speak up and share their own stories of being gaslighted by male doctors. It seems like there’s a serious health risk of being a woman in the ER, as if there weren't enough things we were told to suck up and carry on in this paternal society. It’s time to be heard.
This woman has recently shared a harrowing story of how a male ER doctor dismissed her alarming symptoms and was reluctant to test her
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#1
I collapsed on the street. The paramedics told me I was having an anxiety attack and told me to calm down. I told them I've had anxiety attacks before, this wasn't that. It felt like something was crushing my chest. They told me oxygen is doing so I need to take bigger breath. I told them I couldn't. They laughed me off. Got to the ER and they told the receiving nurse I was there for anxiety. I waited 4 hours before the ER Dr suggested testing for pulmonary embolism. And he only did that because a nurse had to literally carry me to my chair after my 11 year old couldn't hold me up as I tried to go to the bathroom. Turns out my lungs were filled with blood clots and I was dying.
Rachknits 4 years ago
Yep. Especially nowadays. If you ever think women have gained equality look at healthcare to see if this is true
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Mamabear76 4 years ago
Mine wasn't as severe as this but on a night I had to call for paramedic help, symptoms apparently mimicking anxiety attack according to them and they didn't see a "real reason" to transport me to ER, only after my daughter pushed the issue and she was 12yrs old at time I'm glad I went because apparently as a side effect of some intestinal issues I suffer with my body does not absorb nutrients correctly and at this time my potassium was so low it was causing my heart to literally begin to stop working. I was of course admitted for several days treated for that among an infection in my blood that was related to my intestines issues. We joke now about how my 12yr provided better medical care for me vs the trained techs that came to supposedly help me. Now, I don't hesitate to advocate for myself which has saved my life on 3 different occasions due to my intestines. Sorry so long.
Mazer 4 years ago
I’m sorry you and your child had to experience this. Situations like this erode trust so fast
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Cecily Holland 4 years ago
Dr fobbed off my headaches as womens problems. That womens problem at 1cm exploded in my head causing a seizure and a massive stroke. An aneurysm that could have been picked up with a simple cat scan. I fired him over the phone from the ICU a day after surgery
Rissie 4 years ago (edited)
My mom was admitted for advanced heart failure. A few days in she was moved from cardiac high care to a normal room and was given too much lasix, lost too much water and went into cardiogenic shock. The nurse kept giving her more oxygen (doesn't work when there's not enough blood volume) and insisted nothing was wrong because her oxygen levels were fine. She called in an ICU nurse that told my mom to calm down and how it was most likely just anxiety. I know my mom, I took her apart, the ICU nurse, and explained how whatever she is doing is not helping and was very insiatend she would at that moment get a doctor. She needed fluids and they just kept draining her and telling her to just caln down (you become anxious and feel like you can't breath and what not). Stupid, stupid people. I'm glad I got some defense against the stupid mastered at that point and that I was able to stand up for her. It still maddens me to this day and it's been a few years.
XOnlyX WickrMe 4 years ago
Attempted gender genocide as far as I'm concerned. Willfully ignore a person and sometimes left to die simply because they're some foreign entity called woman.
Mazer 4 years ago (edited)
Why the f**k these arrogant pieces of s**t are in the field of health CARE blows me away. I’m sorry you had to go through that. These incidents are truly very disturbing to say the least🤬🤬🤬🤬really pisses me off. People asking for help, feeling vulnerable should not have to try and convince anyone of their suffering. IMHO (never humble) in many cases people could get better care from a veterinarian
Mazer 4 years ago
My neighbors husband, full cardiac event and died in the ER waiting room. 100% preventable
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Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
I've had a PE. When I initially went to the ER complaining of severe, stabbing chest pain with every breath, the first thing they did was a CT. I was diagnosed within the hour. The way this person was treated is unconscionable.
Lena Flising 4 years ago
At least LISTEN to people before you dismiss them! This makes me almost grateful that I've usually come to the ER after epilepsy seizures, observed by others. Ambulance and ER staff have been very kind to me and believed in me.
RELATED:
#2
I found being pregnant means that any and all physical ailments are pregnancy related and not really concerning as long as baby is doing ok. It took me 6 doctor visits over a month's time before a doctor ordered an x-ray for my elbow after I fell in the shower and complained I couldn't use my arm. They insisted that sore joints are normal in pregnancy and I really REALLY don't want to risk my baby's health by getting an unnecessary x-ray, right?
Nope. Busted elbow.
I have anatomy besides reproductive that can need care, and not everything that goes wrong is attached to my uterus!
LuckyL 4 years ago
And even if it's related to the pregnancy, I got send back to my gyn when I had problems with tendinitis - she said they would send women with a broken arm back to her, as long as shes pregnant
Tamra Stiffler 4 years ago
I worked for OB/GYNs for a long time, and this is pretty standard. Other doctors are hesitant to prescribe meds or treatments to a pregnant woman, and instead defer treatment to the OB.
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BluEyedSeoulite 4 years ago
I had to go in for dental xrays during both of my pregnancies. Infected gum because I'm not brushing my teeth well, seriously without mention of more sensitive gums during pregnancy, and TMJ issues during my second. They always covered my abdomen and assured me the amount of exposure was very low. Honestly, lower than going for a commercial flight. We are more than incubators and should be treated so.
BluEyedSeoulite 4 years ago
Should have added quotes around the brushing bit. Every time I've had gum issues it's because I decided to floss really thoroughly instead of quickly.
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Little king trash mouth 4 years ago
I still remember dragging myself to the ER while pregnant but clearly throwing up my guts (and out the other end too!) due to a stomach bug. I had morning sickness throughout my entire pregnancy. This was not the same. Diagnosis on my discharge papers? "Pregnancy" - like wtf. I didn't come because I was pregnant!
Dorothy Reiser 4 years ago
7 doctors wouldn't touch me for tinnitus during pregnancy. After the birth, found I have Meniere's disease.
DelvianBlue 4 years ago
Unfortunately there is a reason why my country (USA) has the highest death rate among pregnant woman of any developed country.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
In Canada we have some doctors who have a rule one ailment per visit - If your left butt cheek hurts don't mention the right butt cheek! This is done because they are paid by how many patients they see in a day not by the ailment. If you think this isn't true call OHIP.
Katherine Boag 4 years ago
Get the lead apron out! Its their ARM u need to xray not their abdomen!
#3
I came in crying and holding my abdomen due to severe pain. I was also puking due to the pain, so not my best moment. By the time I was in triage I’d stopped crying but was still hurting and the male nurse suggested that it could be acid reflux. Dude, I know what reflux is like and it’s not about to make me cry . They took my blood and urine and sent me back out to the lobby.
Hours later he finds me in the waiting room and says “you’ll never believe this, it’s pancreatitis!”
Uh, yes I do believe that. I came in here crying but since I’m a woman you decided I’m just being dramatic . I was hospitalized for 3 days.
If we don’t advocate for ourselves we get sh*t treatment. Sooo frustrating.
Jo Choto 4 years ago
It's like male medical professionals are trained to treat women like idiots. Or maybe it's got nothing to do with their profession?
Paula Marowsky 4 years ago
They are only traied to treat men. Every model, picture, desease description is about average male. Female body is only seen for pregnant issues. It is like women never get ill only pregnant.
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La Kalypso 4 years ago
Patriarchy literally kills women. Even with a 8 to 12 years of medical education, an imbecile remains an imbecile. And as in this case, this sad state of our society could have cost this woman her life. Enough, already.
Bexxxxx 4 years ago
I love how confidently Damon tried to shut you down below 😂 you’re right, patriarchy isn’t just a matter of opinion, it’s legitimately life-threatening sometimes :(
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Sheila Stamey 4 years ago
Then when we do advocate for ourselves.. We're drug seeking... Every damn time. I have, to a lesser degree, the disease that the cute little guy asks for money for Shriners hospitals about, osteogenesis imperfecta,a rare form of brittle bones. It's much rarer in males, but I guess they make better tv, but nonetheless, in my 54 years, I've had so many broken bones, dislocated joints, sudden and near catastrophic blood count changes etc etc that I just have none left to give, feel me? So last time I broke and dislocated a hip, I started screaming from the pain, because, I hurt like hell from the car accident and the injuries! The Dr, who KNOWS me, told me to "shut up, I was disturbing the other er patients, and they was no need for my screams." I told him I would yell until it stopped hurting because it fn hurt like hell because broken hips hurt. He of course didn't believe until x-ray. My husband , he of the three stitches in his head, was floating on morphine in the cubicle next to me
Lena Flising 4 years ago
Why don't they realize that most women have menstrual pain each and every month. We are USED to having pain, and some are even used to fainting and vomiting from the pain. If a regular woman (someone without a history of complaining of this, that and the other all the time (but even a hypochondriac CAN get really sick)) comes in crying due to pain, it's really, really, REALLY painful!
Bexxxxx 4 years ago
Exactly! Pain/blood and being female go hand-in-hand. If we say something isn’t right, believe us god dang it!
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Helenium 4 years ago
Had an eating disorder lost a butt load of weight over exercises and had gall stones. Agonising pain was told it was either attention seeking, not wanting to go to college or hormones. Six years I had this until some genius scanned me and said gall stones. No body ever said eating disorder. I had to get myself out of that.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Sometimes, I think the words medical and professional should not be used together! They my be book smart but no where people smart. We know our own bodies - why do they think we are making things up - it's not the same for men!
Ella Blackwood 4 years ago (edited)
I got similar treatment when I was rushed to the hospital w/ symptoms of appendicitis. I was vomiting and collapsing from the pain and even looked up the symptoms myself and thought it might have been appendicitis (pain went from center of abdomen to lower right quadrant). A bunch of male interns who might has well have been the Keystone Kops thought I might be pregnant (even after I told them I had been going through a very long period of celibacy, they still wanted to test like I could somehow be pregnant w/ out my knowledge) or something and it took them forever to finally test me for A, after I insisted, which of course it was. Thank god I had a female surgeon or I might have not gotten out of there alive.
Imogene Cargeaux 4 years ago
Women have higher pain tolerances than men.... yet we're still treated like dramatic babies. My husband had a heir-line fracture in his rib and you'd have thought that he was shot.... I walked around with a broken foot for 3 weeks before it got so bad that I had to go to the doctor (s**t insurance, during the pandemic, didn't want to go to the ER when they were already overwhelmed) and I have to have 3 surgeries to fix it. I never shed a tear, never got emotional or let it affect my daily life other than being uncomfortable. they gave him OxyContin for his barely fractured rib ( it was nothing, I broke 3 ribs in high school, completely broken I couldn't really breath enough to be dramatic but still.) and then they told me to take Tylenol for my foot In Between the visit n waiting for surgery. They had to re break one of my bones and everything... no pain meds. Men are babies. Have you ever seen a man with a common cold? You'd think they were dying. Yet we're the dramatic ones? Lol.
Bored Panda reached out to Redditor Ownthesea who shared her own very disturbing experience of being dismissed by a male doctor during a medical emergency. Horrifyingly, this was not the only time Ownthesea became a victim of gaslighting. “The second experience was when I went to my GI doctor about pain in my upper abdomen that felt like it was radiating from my back. He did some testing but eventually gave up and told me it’s surgery IBS, endometriosis, or a ‘psychological issue,’” the woman recounted.
She continued: “I was very distraught but went to my OBGYN to see about endometriosis and she said it didn’t fit the symptoms at all and it’s clearly GI issue. She wanted me to go back to him and get more testing done but at that point, I was frustrated and had spent a ton of money on testing. Three weeks later I ended up in the ER from the pain and found it was my gallbladder that needed to be removed ASAP,” Ownthesea said and added that “so no, it was not a woman’s problem and not a psychological issue.”
#4
I won't go to the ER nearest my house anymore. I went there because I could tell I had a kidney stone. I was also on my period. The doctor came in and lectured me about how I wasn't allowed to go to the ER just because I didn't like my period, and that I was wasting his time. I was literally vomiting from the pain as he was yelling at me. I left and had to go straight to a different hospital, where I actually got treatment.
A few months later, my husband ate a huge dinner and had upper abdominal pain. We went to the hospital near the house because he didn't feel he could go further. They immediately gave him morphine and ordered a CT scan. He turned out to be constipated.
I had another problem, when I had an allergic reaction to a blood transfusion, and the young male doctor kept telling me loudly that it was just what blood transfusions feel like and to get over it. I had tried to explain that I have a disease that makes me have allergic reactions to lots of things, and that I needed a higher dose of antihistamines to treat a reaction than most people, but he yelled that he was the doctor and he'd make the diagnosis. I ended up getting my rescue meds out of my purse and taking them because I could feel my throat closing.
I was at that hospital again a year later and my doctor was a female who was actually listening. I was explaining what I have, how it affects me, and what treatment works. The young male doctor I'd seen the year before was walking past and stopped to listen, and was really interested in what I was saying. He didn't recognize me from the previous year. It was like he could listen because the other doctor was taking me seriously.
Jo Choto 4 years ago
This experience pretty much sums up what it's like being a woman in the medical system.
Summer Mason 4 years ago
I have a female doctor not much older than me. And this is why. My last doctor almost killed me. My gulbladder is actually bad and could of caused cancer.
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Mel 4 years ago
A doctor should never lecture a patient or judge them for coming in to seek treatment whatever the issue. That is just bad bedside manner, unprofessional!
Mel 4 years ago
(had it happen to me once. I WAS there for a panic attack but was feeling completely helpless because my panic attacks were lasting days, not minutes. I felt so helpless and I did not know what to do)
Load More Replies... Elli Rahim 4 years ago
These are trauma stories from going to the ER. I am so very sorry to hear this and that you had to go through that horrible experience.
Mz Phit 4 years ago
Sounds like they might have MCAS (a histamine disorder that's still not generally known by most Drs). I'm right there with you, clutching my bottles of antihistamines and counteracting constant hives!
Body will self-destruct in 5.. 4 years ago
Xolair has helped me significantly. I highly recommend giving it a try.
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Lainie 4 years ago
I ALWAYS read your comment with a "British" accent. :)
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cybermerlin2000 4 years ago
Here in the UK, one of the first questions asked when you arrive is, "Do you have any allergies?" I have a solvent allergy caused by an accident at work (paint factory) and they give me a bright orange allergy wristband when I tell them. It helped one day as they were painting a hallway, and we had to go round which cheered up the nurse pushing me in a wheelchair as they rarely pass that way, and it allows him to give his girlfriend a quick wave
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
You know it never used to be like this I wonder how many of theses medical professions (I used the term loosely) would be in the profession if they were paid in potatoes, eggs or just in labor for the doctors - a lot are in it for the money!
#5
My GP sent to a psychiatrist. I had severe back pain that also went down my right leg and I could hardly walk. This was After begging for a CT scan (this was in 1997). I went to the psychiatrist and staggered in to his office. The first thing he asks is why I'm limping and I explain that the gp sent me to him because he thinks the pain is psychosomatic. He calls the gp and orders him to get me a CT stat. Turns out I had a large herniated disc L4/L5 with nerve damage and needed emergency surgery. Enden up with permanent nerve damage due to not getting surgery early enough.
Summer Mason 4 years ago
Please tell me you filed a medical malpractice law suite against this doctor?
Elli Rahim 4 years ago
Seriously, reading these tells me that the North American healthcare system is broken and worse, is breaking people, especially women.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Yep! The trouble you females have it is all in your head or a reproductive problem! I complained to my GP about neck and back problems I was told it was just muscle strain - I asked if a MRI would show something you don't suggest tests to be done I am the Doctor! 7 months later she suggested an MRI had to wait another 3 months for the appointment! Could not ask for something for pain I knew she would think I just wanted drugs! MRI showed most of my spine frim the neck down was bone on bone! No discs!
BluEyedSeoulite 4 years ago
Ugh. I get that your brain can trick your body but shouldn't a doc do some flipping tests first?! If nothing shows up, THEN seek a psychologist!
Sharon Mangold 4 years ago
Dr told me I was imagining pain. I had a ruptured disc. He died soon after of a heart attack. What a shame.
#6
I once had a rash around my lips. The male doctor I saw told me that I was licking my lips too much and that's all it was. I said, no, I have always licked my lips and this has never happened before. He told me that when he needs to remind himself to stop doing somthing, he snaps a rubberband on his wrist or slaps his hand to stop it and suggest I do it. I did lick my lips while there (because the rash was causing me to do it more excessively ) and he saw it and slapped my wrist! I was livid.
I pushed, and he gave me an antibiotic "just in case". Cleared up within a few days.
later, I found out on my own through trial and error it was that EOS chapstick and that most chapsticks will give me an allergic reaction to my lips. Never went back to him again.
ThatOneWriter 4 years ago
He HIT her? Lord help me, I'd have hit him back. Harder. In the face.
King Kashue 4 years ago
Yup. Non-consensual physical contact = assault. F**k him.
Load More Replies... Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Had a doc tell me I had a chronic condition and to "suck it up and live with it" I said If I came to him with two broken legs would he tell me to "walk it off".
Summer Woodsong 4 years ago
10% of folks (like myself) are sensitive to camphor which is included in many 'chap-stick' formulas. In case that helps.....
Ashley Schriber 4 years ago
I had a weird reaction to EOS, too. I got weird bumps all over my lips. I have no allergies and have never reacted like this to anything else. Apparently this has happened to a number of people. "All natural" isn't necessarily good for you.
Dorothy Reiser 4 years ago
My toddler son almost lost an eye from allergy to eye drops the doc gave us. He looked at my son and said "he doesn't look too bad...for a frog" Changed pediatrician immediately.
Ownthesea explained that this kind of thing happens a lot and each time it’s frustrating. “Doctors love to suggest it’s psychological when they run out of ideas and my male friends have not had that suggested to them once,” she told us.
“We need to keep speaking up to see change,” the Redditor said. “Ignoring the issue won’t solve it, and going through years of chronic pain because it could just be psychological is bad medicine,” Ownthesea added. She also noted that none of her female practitioners have suggested her issues were psychological, and every “psychological issue” has ended up with a quick fix once it was finally diagnosed.
#7
I dealt with the same sh*t (ha) when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. I had to get into a screaming match with the ER doc to get admitted because he didn’t think it was “enough” blood. That was Sunday. I didn’t walk out until Friday. I had a ruptured ulcer.
I would absolutely file a complaint against that doctor. Communicate that you very clearly told the doctor where they blood was coming from, he did not listen, had to be talked into running tests you obviously needed, and was ready to dismiss you before results came back, showing a lack on concern for the symptoms you came in with.
Even if your report does nothing, if ever single woman blown off by the doctor makes a report, a pattern will emerge.
ThatOneWriter 4 years ago
I am absolutely going to start filing complaints. I've had so many similar situations, it's sickening.
Mazer 4 years ago (edited)
It is sickening and in many cases can be life-threatening or disabling please report them to your state medical board
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Winter Eleven 4 years ago
If a doctor won't take me seriously i tell them to write that in my record so they have proof of incompetence. My previous doctor thought i had a cold... Recommended tea with lemon. I asked for a blood test, she said i don't need it, i told her to write it down that no blood test was performed... Guess who got her blood tested and got diagnosed with pneumonia?
Mazer 4 years ago
I can’t stress enough complaining about substandard treatment. Not only to the hospital but to the state board and a little yelp review probably wouldn’t hurt either. I have written countless reviews on yelp and have been thanked for it because people have gone elsewhere as a result, and I have cancelled appointments based on YELP reviews. If it’s the only way that patients have a way to protect ourselves then I’m all for it
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
In Canada we have the college of physicians and surgeons these asshat docs can be reported to but usually they must get more than one complaint - even for rape!
#8
Extreme pain. Went to male doc and was told that menstrual cramps can be really hard sometimes and was sent home. Ended up in the ER vomiting and barely able to stand up. Took my souvenir kidney stone to the first doc (mr. menstrual cramps) and shoved it in his face. At least he looked embarrassed and horrified. Never went back to him again.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
I'm afraid You did not shove the kidney stone in the right area - lower my dear much lower. looked embarrassed and horrified you did not say he apologized - typical!
King Kashue 4 years ago
We obviously can't know whether he wanted to apologize, but even if he did, there's no way he could have - apology = admission of error = malpractice suit.
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Kirsten Kerkhof 4 years ago
I could copy-paste those first two lines, but in my case it was my large intestine twisting itself shut. Took them 5 friggin' years to take me seriously because it always happened when I was on my period. Then it happened between periods so they tried to blame ovulation (I'm on the Pill). Ended up getting surgery, but not until I threw an absolute cringing scene. Turned out my intestine was partly paralyzed and starting to necrotize. But sure, menstrual cramps.
Samantha Hurrell 4 years ago (edited)
Women know what is normal and abnormal during their cycles. I hate when things are just dismissed as cramps. I've been incredibly lucky with mine, but this is why Endometriosis for example is under diagnosed.
lazy panda 4 years ago
I guarantee that I have endometriosis but I can't find a doctor willing to test me. According to them, blacking out from cramps and bleeding for 10 months is normal.
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Valley Girl 4 years ago
Last time I went to the ED for a flare up of my chronic kidney stones, doc told me to go home and take ibuprofen. I'm an RN! I figured out ibuprofen on my own before coming in and it did NOTHING to the pain. I was in such a daze from what her told me plus the IV pain med he gave me previously, I left like he told me. $700(with insurance) to be told ibuprofen!
Dorothy Reiser 4 years ago
I had a similar experience. "Bad period cramps" and kidney stones are not the same pain.
Sherri Mantooth Bagwell 4 years ago
Been there, done that. Passed the d@mn stone taking only Excedrin. It was a whopper
#9
This happened to me when I was 36 weeks pregnant. I went to the ER and they did some blood work and checked on the baby. Then they told me I had hemorrhoids, "a gift mother's receive from their children."
Guess what smug ER ass**les, it was a 9cm tumor in my colon
Got Myself 4 Dwarves 4 years ago
I went into the hospital with bleeding while about 8 months pregnant with my second baby - had a student doctor which I agreed to as I generally don't mind being part of the learning process and I was already on a monitor for baby's heartbeat so I knew he was fine. Student doctor is about to do an exam and asked me if I was sure the blood was from my "baby making parts" (his words) and not from my bum - i just looked at him and plainly said that while mean may lose their way down there a woman most certainly knows the difference between her vagina and a**s, to which he laughed. He then did a swap and held it up like simba going "oh look blood" like he was super surprised. I was rather shocked and bluntly was like. Dude, don't do that - I told you what it was, don't act like you're surprised when a patient knows what they're experiencing. I hope that made him realise he was being a d**k but who knows. Being a student a I hope he learned from it
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Again docs just don't want to do physical exams - like take a look you overeducated boob!
Brandy Dor 4 years ago
I got very sick after my son was born, and had a large lump inside my butt cheek that felt like a large pimple, went to the ER because it hurt so much , he said it was hemorrhoids got a cream, a week later not feeling better, can't sit down I go to my GP, different male doctor, Hemorrhoids! Got a foam, 3 days later ER another male, Hemorrhoids! Pads, told to take a sitz bath, but I can't sit , so I laid in my head with a now softball size mass and used a heating pad on my ass, in the night it ruptured, black sticky stank everywhere, since I hadn't used the bathroom in almost 2 weeks I thought I had shat myself, but my grandma a registered nurse was staying with me and helping with the baby took me back to the ER, went straight to the front and said to get a surgeon NOW! Turns out I had a staph infection and it ruptured, went to surgery immediately, and then spent a year getting the hole packed and healed! .....MEN!
Rai Grant 4 years ago
? Haemorrhoids are from after you been pushing down! Or am I wrong here, I never had any previous to giving birth n I've never heard of anyone else having them prior, either..?
Got Myself 4 Dwarves 4 years ago
I've had 4 kids, I developed them with some and not others. It can occur due to the way the baby is leaning and putting pressure on blood vessels and whatever - with my third everything was so swollen down that area i was panicking about how the hell I was meant to push a baby out of there when it was practically swollen shut. I cried to my midwife in a fit of hormones and anxiety due to it being the most stressful pregnancy I've ever experienced. I spent about half of it in hospital as I have placenta previa which is when the placenta is low down and covers the cervix, so I was high risk for a rupture, and I bled heavily at least once a week and every time I did I had to stay in hospital until it had stopped for 24hrs just in case - it was stressful! But still had a doctor at one point ask if I was sure where the bleeding was coming from - I assume it's a question they have to ask but it sure does make you feel stupid. Midwives were amazing though, every single time
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#10
I spent 2 years telling a specific doctor that something was wrong with my hearing. Went to a different doctor, got a CT scan and found a tumour.
Be persistant!
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
We have to be persistant. The whole thing is we should not have to be persistant! Why are they afraid to touch and examine us - because they know our bodies better than we do!
Bexxxxx 4 years ago
My mother was turned away for years because they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her, but she was persistent. Turns out it was IBS, fibromyalgia, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma - makes for some weird symptoms and the docs were trying to diagnose it all together as one illness.
#11
A few years ago I caught strep from my kids. Went to urgent care burning up way fever and tonsils so swollen I could barely close my mouth. The urgent care doc sent me to the ER and wanted me to have a CT scan on the tonsils. When I got there the first person I saw, a man, examined me and asked why I was there for just a case of strep, very dismissive like I was wasting his time. My husband explained that the urgent care doctor wanted a ct scan. They put me in a room for hours. Finally a different doctor came in, looked at my throat, and ordered a scan. Surprise! My tonsil was abscessed. The new doctor ordered iv antibiotics, fluids (was badly dehydrated from not being able to swallow), and iv steroids. I ended up staying over night and almost had to have surgery. I didn’t complain and I wish I had. I know the first doctor just stuck me in a room and didn’t bother with me again until a new doc came on the shift because he thought it wasn’t an emergency. Meanwhile, I was in absolute agony.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
I think arrogance is a top subject taught in medical school!
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catwithcowboyhat 4 years ago
That must be horrible I hope the first doctor got a punishment or suspension.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Yep! they either stuff you in a closet or send you back out to the waiting room, and sit for hours. Out of sight out of mind keep bitching at them every 15 min or so!
#12
I hate this so much. We know our bodies. I had a big fat cyste on my left tube and I felt that something was wrong with it, because I had the worst pain I've ever had in my life. I fainted twice and felt like a knife was stabbed in my belly.
Male doctor insists I need to get my appendix checked, which is on the right of your body. I begged him for an echo and after another doctor had confirmed there was nothing wrong with my appendix I finally got the echo and was then rushed into surgery because the cyste happened to turn around and was literally blocking all blood flow to my tube. 10 minutes later and they had to removes my left tube.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Been there done that - my personal physician at the time came in asked the other doctor if he had done a physical exam I said nope never touched me! My doc did took other docs hand, and said feel this there was an obvious lump - he called the surgeon!
Mazer 4 years ago
The horrible part of all of this is that you have to trust these shitheads well you’re in surgery and being in the most vulnerable place in the world. I am beginning to absolutely loathe people who are in the medical community. I have run into too many arrogant gaslighting minimizing denying assholes to give them any respect
Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
You should know that appendix pain is not always confined to the lower right quadrant of the abdomen. Mine was a couple inches above my navel. I never thought for a second it could be my appendix, but I was wheeled in for surgery within a couple hours; the ER doc was afraid it might rupture.
Ella Blackwood 4 years ago
It usually starts in the center of the abdomen, and can be very painful. However eventually, the pain will eventually move to the lower right quadrant when things start to get critical. That is where the appendix is located.
Load More Replies... Sherri Mantooth Bagwell 4 years ago
I complained of R-sided back pain for 9 mo. I got bounced around to different specialists for various tests that were all normal. GP basically told me it was in my head. Saw my GYN for yearly. First 2 words he said while checking me were, "Oh crap!" I had a 12cm mass on my R ovary that had attached to pelvic floor. Faxed GP results w/ surgery date on it.
Samantha Hurrell 4 years ago
My friend was told the pain coming from her stomach area was nothing and it would just go away. It came back a 2nd time worse, she needed keyhole surgery to untwist two different twists in her one of her tubes.
Sherri Mantooth Bagwell 4 years ago
Years ago, I had a female patient who went to the ER with severe back pain. Only thing ER did was a urinalysis. Saw blood in that and said she probably had a kidney stone. She showed up in our office next day because of pain. We ordered a CT scan. She had an enormous tumor on her kidney that ended up being cancer that had metastisized.
Unaffected 4 years ago
It's called ovarian torsion and it's the most horrendous pain ever. I remember not even being able to breathe as it was so painful
#13
Not nearly as bad but I had an asthma attack at work without access to an inhaler. EMTs came and told me it was probably just anxiety. I told them I do not have a history of anxiety attacks. I have a history of asthma. The EMTs were two 40+ men who didn't listen to a thing I said to them. I rejected their ride to the hospital and had my partner take me to my family doctor, who determined it was probably an asthma attack and sent me home with an inhaler which worked the next time I had a "anxiety". Imagine that.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Oh for the days of "Anxiety Attack" diagnosis was unknown! Anyhow some anxiety attacks require medical intervention, you cretons1
Brandy Grote 4 years ago
My last ER visit was forced on me because Urgent Care dr couldn't tell an asthma attack from a heart attack. Still never found out what was broken in my hand, which was why I was AT Urgent Care!
Samantha Hurrell 4 years ago
Given Asthma attacks can be fatal you would have thought it would be taken more seriously. When I had a suspected asthma attack, 111 (Non-Emergency number for the NHS and it was my first such experience as it's usually only on off coughing fits) referred me straight to A&E.
#14
One day, I was throwing up nonstop and couldn’t breathe. Honest to God, I thought I was dying. I was under an insane amount of stress between my career, preparing for major knee surgery, and getting married during COVID. I have ulcer flare-ups — plus, with endometriosis, my stomach is real wonky — but this was not right. My husband carried me to the ER, totally freaking out. The ER doctors judgmentally thought I was going through some kind of withdrawal. Mind you, I am a successful 28-year-old. I have never done drugs and hardly even drink. Turns out, I went into starvation ketoacidosis from not eating enough and getting sick from ulcers, which threw off my blood sugar. I also had a terrible period, and I'm not diabetic. I was in the ICU for a week. My nurses apologized profusely during my stay for how I was treated by the doctors. I work in the medical field, and I've never once interacted with doctors like those few in the ER. I understand it's a very demanding and stressful job, but not being taken seriously was really demoralizing
Mamabear76 4 years ago
I just recently found out my 20yr old daughter who is a mother of a one year old was treated like she was "drug seeking" when her co workers mother who is a nurse rushed her to ER. It ended up being such a severe kidney infection she was hospitalized for over a week on several IV medications and almost needed to have further in-home IV treatment, but thankfully she responded well enough after a week in hospital she was able to come back home and finish her care with regular antibiotics and such. It is scary and sad that unfortunately people are treated this way before before anything is even taken seriously,and just to add my daughter has never done anything more than have a few drinks since she knows that she already has a sensitivity issue to codeine and she is afraid to take anything stronger than Tylenol unless she is directly under the care of doctors.
Beth S 4 years ago (edited)
No where near as bad, but I injured my neck by looking up too fast. I was in agonizing pain. I went to the ER because it was so bad. The doctor treated me like a drug seeker. He was rude to me and spoke to me with disdain. Refused to help give me any pain meds till I got a CT scan. I was desperate so I did. When he came back in after it he was much nicer to me and told me since he checked my chart and seen I haven't had pain meds in several years he would give me some to help with the pain. I later found out that I had slipped discs in my neck.
Harri Ellis 4 years ago
My best friend had a stroke and for the first few says was using language that was totally inappropriate, which I loved. for 2 reasons. She told her husband, who I despised, to f**k off, but the second is better. She called an idiot, narcissistic doctor who couldn't diagnose a zit, an asshole to his face. The nurses applauded. I kissed her after I got up from the floor. I literally fell off my chair laughing.
Luther von Wolfen 4 years ago
Hey BP, I betcha can't find 45 examples of doctors taking women seriously and treating them like intelligent adults.
Ella Blackwood 4 years ago
This, and the reasons listed above is why I do not go to any male doctors. Between their egos and their sexism, it's just an exercise in aggravation and humiliation. Not only that, but it could end up costing you your life. I even switched from a male dentist to a female dentist because the male dentist damaged the inside of my mouth so badly (from rough x-ray slide placement - I have protruding mandibular tori - which he was well aware of) that I could not eat solid food for 2 months and was in excruciating pain the entire time. I won't go into details, but it was a nightmare.
#15
I met my wife when she was in medical school and was with her when she started having severe medical issues that no one could diagnose.
Since she was in med school and her father was a physician, she pointed out to me what the doctors were actually inferring when they questioned her and examined her. Since they could not find anything easy, they were subtly trying to get her to admit to making it all up and that she was faking it for attention.
We finally were able to get diagnosed, but only because I was able to fly her to the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, and a ton of other research hospitals over the course of 12 years. She ended up having a super rare autoimmune disease.
But, what I learned in those 12 years was that doctors don’t believe women, accuse them of exaggerating their pain and symptoms, and that each doctor has 5 pet diseases that they try to diagnose every patient with.
And, ER doctors are the worst. ER physicians are either residents working 100 hour weeks as slave labor or they are full time emergency medicine physicians (who graduated last in their class at med school) who couldn’t get into any other specialty.
Emerald Ocean 4 years ago
They thought she was making it up for attention?! Scumbags, that shows exactly how bad our healthcare system is. Men treat women like babies who can’t think and act for themselves. If I could, I would punch those doctors in the face! This makes me SO MAD!
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Amen! But what about we who cannot fly to the Mayo Clinic for a diagnosis? I have wanted to slap the snot out of these inefficient bastards. I told a doctor to FO and he wrote me a letter saying I abused him He abused me with his stupidity!
Ella Blackwood 4 years ago
Well, that explains a lot. Seriously. It really sheds a lot of light on my past experiences.
CultOfBambi 4 years ago
I believe every word of these stories and it makes me incredibly angry that this bullshit happens all the time - but have had one experience that was the exact opposite. It was a male A&E (ER) doctor that first suggested I may have an autoimmune disease affecting my thyroid when I went in with chest pains. I'd had more than 2 years of various GPs belittling my complaints and ignoring my wide range of seemingly unrelated symptoms - some of them female (the GPs, not my symptoms, for the avoidance of doubt). Finally got the right blood tests done and started on medication and hey presto! Symptoms are now under control. So, thankfully not every male ER doc is an arrogant, dismissive twat!
Unaffected 4 years ago
I believe in pet diagnosis thing. I'm a nurse in a residential settings. Whenever I send a patient to hospital they always come back with either urinary tract infection or pneumonia diagnosis.
Joanna Werman 4 years ago
That's a huge over generalization in your last paragraph about ER doctors
#16
my own mom went into the ER with severe chest & abdominal pain about ten years ago and the ER doc ordered an x-ray that showed a huge mass in her abdomen. He called it constipation and sent her home with laxatives. Six months later, another doctor figured out that the mass was a football sized ovarian cyst that ended up being cancerous. She ended up being okay after multiple major surgeries and chemo (thank GOODNESS) but sh*t, ER docs are dumber than doornails.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Yep! The ER doc don't make very good radiologists either. the laxatives could have done damage by them selves. 6 months later I wonder how much that tumor grew in 6 months!
Kathy Overholser 4 years ago
This is so close to what happened to me. Although mine was not ER related. From a lump in my abdomen that the doctor called constipation in May 2020, to multiple appointments after that (because the lump is noticeably growing) and being blown off by the doctor, only to referred to a new doctor (guess he wanted to be proved he was right?)... to today, Diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer Stage 3, I have a 6-1/2" tumor on my left ovary, a 3 " tumor in my uterus, and cancer in my colon... I have had four chemotherapy treatments, lost ALL my hair (everywhere), and I am scheduled for my first EVER surgery on January 3rd to hopefully remove all tumors, then I will probably undergo at least three more treatments after recovery from surgery. If the first doctor would have conducted a Cancer Antigen 125 test, he would have found the cancer and I would be recovering NOW! This has all happened since May 2020; it is now December 20, 2020!
NL Stuart 4 years ago
Similar to my husband. Complained of horrible pain in the MIDDLE of his chest for months, sent home with normal EKGs. By the time he could not swallow even water, they diagnosed esophageal cancer, it was late Stage 3. He had smoked for 40 years but stopped 12 years before. He did not survive.
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Kathy Overholser 4 years ago
This is so close to what happened to me. From a lump in my abdomen that the doctor called constipation in May 2020, to multiple appointments after that (because the lump is noticeably growing) and being blown off by the doctor, only to referred to a new doctor (guess he wanted to be proved he was right?)... to today, Diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer Stage 3, I have a 6-1/2" tumor on my left ovary, a 3 " tumor in my uterus, and cancer in my colon... I have had four chemotherapy treatments, lost ALL my hair (everywhere), and I am scheduled for my first EVER surgery on January 3rd to hopefully remove all tumors, then I will probably undergo at least three more treatments after recovery from surgery. If the first doctor would have conducted a Cancer Antigen 125 test, he would have found the cancer and I would be recovering NOW! This has all happened since May 2020; it is now December 20, 2020!
#17
I had GYN surgery and two days later I woke up in a pool of blood. It was before office hours and the doc on call wasn’t my doc who did the surgery. He told me that it was just my period like we don’t know when we’re having a period. I finally got my surgeon on the phone who told me to go to the ER immediately and she’d meet me there. Turns out the stitches didn’t hold and I would have bled to death if I had listened to the doc on call.
ThatOneWriter 4 years ago
What I'm getting from this is that male doctors assume all blood below the waist is period-related and that women have no other period symptoms that they can identify than "blood down there".
Lena Flising 4 years ago
I've said it before here; most women have menstruation each and every month. We KNOW what a regular period is like. Respect our knowledge of our own bodies.
Ella Blackwood 4 years ago
LOL! Now there is a career option I have never considered, but I think would be very befitting!
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Stephanie Barr 4 years ago
Same thing happened to me, but I went straight to ER. Since, even with an uber pad, I had put on right before going and a towel, I was leaving a trail of blood, they took me seriously.
#18
Half of heart attacks happen 3-4 hours after symptoms begin showing.
Sudden Cardiac Death / SCD is what happens in the other half of cases.
When a woman reports the same exact symptoms as a man, she is often ignored or misdiagnosed by male doctors. You MUST advocate for yourself.
Cecilia Herrera 4 years ago
My sister went to the ER at a military base. One "doctor" kept insisting her symptoms were an anxiety attack. No, she was having a heart attack. Thank God for the female cardiologist that did the tests which indicated what was really happening to her. After a triple by-pass, and a hospital stay, my sister is still with us 20 years later. The cardiologist had some words with the idiot that misdiagnosed her. I hope he actually learned something from his almost fatal mistake.
Beeps 4 years ago
What is it with everyone getting diagnosed with “anxiety attacks”!? I had a TIA (mini stroke) and was told by paramedics that it was an anxiety attack and was made to breathe into a paper bag for 20 minutes! I was then left, as I was ok allegedly. Had to go to a neurologist soo after, due to lasting effects (speech problems, etc) and the MRI scan confirmed that I had had a TIA that day.
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Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Sometimes a heart attack in a woman shows up differently in a woman than in a man! My mother had pain in her back just below the shoulder blades only there not down the left arm - nothing like a male would present, Our doctor was bright enough to figure it out quickly!
PeachPossum 4 years ago
She was indeed lucky. By far the biggest problem is the data used to compile the list of heart attack symptoms. Most of the data comes from male heart attack victims in their 50s-70s, and that is what doctors are trained to look for. Heart attack symptoms are different in women. In addition to chest pain/angina, women can experience shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain -- with or without the chest pain. Fortunately, doctors are being trained to watch for these additional symptoms in women.
Load More Replies... PeachPossum 4 years ago
This story is likely 30 years old: A 44yo woman in NYC collapsed with crushing chest pains. EMTs told her to calm down, she was having a panic attack. She still had crushing chest pains. ER nurses told her to calm down, she was having a panic attack. She still had crushing chest pains. The ER doctor looked over her chart, asked her a few questions, then told her open her mouth. She did. He sprayed a mist onto her tongue. The crushing chest pains went away. She was astonished and asked, "What was that?" "Nitro glycerin," he replied. "You had a heart attack."
DarkLumiya 4 years ago
a family friend was dismissed as having"heartburn" when she went in ER with chest pains and vomiting, and sent home her daughter found her dead in bed the next morning from heart attack
Mazer 4 years ago (edited)
I’m sorry ”advocating fir yourself” does not always work. IMHO (never humble), it rarely works. I have had friends mothers be diagnosed with allergies when having clear cardiac issues - if not for her daughter literally creating a scene and advising the ER staff that they would not leave until the mother’s cardiologist saw her, she would have died without her daughter there.
Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
You should know that the symptoms of a heart attack can be very different for women than they are for men. Mine wasn't the stereotypical "grab your chest and gasp" chest pain; it felt more like acid reflux. I also experienced dizziness, cold sweats, and extreme fatigue, symptoms which are not common for men having a heart attack.
Brandy Grote 4 years ago
Symptoms women have for a heart attack are often VERY different than men! No arm pain, more of a stomach pain.
Angie Falzarano 1 year ago
Most women when they have heart attacks are asymptomatic. If we do have symptoms they are different then mens. That's why more women die of hear attacks then men. They just get told it's anxiety.
#19
When I was 15 was very ill and had dark red, then dark brown urine. Dr dismissed it as period blood. Happened again and again. Long story short. Diagnosed as Berger’s disease when I was 30. Years of Dialysis. Kidney transplant
WildHoneyPie 4 years ago
I've always heard that dark brown urine is a sign that something is seriously wrong with your kidneys. Wtf? These so called doctors should be drummed out of the profession.
Summer Mason 4 years ago
It's a sign of either end stage liver or kidney cancer. This seriously pisses me off. If anyone said they were peeing dark brown to me I would order every damn test in the book to save them. Stupid f*****g idiots.
Load More Replies... Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Hope you are doing fine! It is such a piss off when you know there is something wrong and you just get pushed aside and if you stand up for your rights you also have mental problems!
Samantha Hurrell 4 years ago (edited)
Urine colour is supposed to tell you if there's a problem like if you haven't had enough fluids, why dismiss it's warnings so simply? Why is it always periods.
Lauren 4 years ago
I had rhabdomyolysis and could not sit or stand without feeling like my muscles were being pulled from each end. The clinical symptom that gave me a treatable diagnosis per the drs was cola-colored urine. And they only offered me Motrin for pain because they were worried about my kidneys. Walked out of there 5 days later with normal creatinin levels.
#20
I had ER doctors dismiss me during a kidney stone because a pregnancy test came back positive — I had a miscarriage five days prior — and they thought I was 'drug-seeking.' They actually told me to go home and lay down with a hot water bottle. Two days later, when I was urinating blood and couldn't sleep or even sit, my primary doctor got me in to see someone. The first time, there was no pelvic exam or real exam of any kind. The second time, it took a LOT of phone calls with my primary doctor and complaints. It seriously pissed me off
Jo Choto 4 years ago
Nobody should have to fight for basic medical care when presenting with a condition in the ER.
FailBunny17 4 years ago
Well if you're a woman you're most likely over reacting and being a hypochondriac ooooor your just a druggie seeking drugs. That's how American healthcare makes you feel.
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Brian Bennett 4 years ago
We of course are all looking for drugs - especially if one says they have pain. Who made some of these drug addicts what they are today!
Dorothy Reiser 4 years ago
People used to fake kidney stones for drugs. That doesn't excuse the doctor who assumed you were one of them.
Stephanie Barr 4 years ago
My friend had terrible pain as she was nearing the time to have her baby. Husband and doctors both told her she was just a whiner. I was the only one who believed her. She passed a kidney stone two hours before her son was born.
#21
A lady gp told me I was exaggerating how bad my periods were. After a year or more of getting know where I made yet another appointment. I could hardly walk and had no energy. Different lady gp, couldn’t see anything wrong with me but took a blood test to check for anaemia. Within an hour of being home the hospital sent a medic to collect me, I needed a massive blood transfusion, by rights I should have been dead. I was lucky she did the test.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
I have severe anemia - I do not absorb Iron from food, pills or shots. I get it IV. MY hgb. dropped 20 points in a month. I figured the doctor would notice it and give ne a call. He is in a clinic and one must get through the telephone mafia before the doctor calls mafia says if he responds to your call they will call me back called every 3 days got bitchy with the mafia and an appointment with another doctor who ordered the IV infusion @ hospital. I was 60 days before I got to see my doctor - and I will never see him again!
Cold Contagious 4 years ago
That's so horrible. I hope your care is managed better now. It must have been terrible to go through. I don't absorb vitamins B or D ,or iron through foods. I have had many injections of B12 in the office and when my level just begins to get towards normal, insurance cuts the injections off and the pills or dissolve on your tongue doesn't help, so my level drops again. Same with my D and iron. It's been influx like this for 9+years now and they won't even let them get to the high side of normal before they let them drop again. It's very exhausting.
Load More Replies... Stephanie Did It 4 years ago
Yes, it can come from female doctors too. I have Raynaud's disease as a secondary condition, arriving at the ER with ischemic ulcers on 8 fingers and in horrific pain. My fingers were literally dying. The hand surgeon learned I had no insurance (I was between jobs). Her demeanor changed instantly. She began talking down to me and seemed annoyed with my questions. I didn't know what ischemia was, I was in agony and scared. I asked her, "What will I do if I lose my fingers? I make my living on a keyboard." She responded with a wave, she ACTUALLY waved, and said "Oh, you can always be a greeter at Walmart." She ordered an angiogram to rule out blood clots and when I asked what it indicated she said "it's not my job to read it to you. You can pay someone else to read it if you want." One year later I had a major heart attack and triple bypass, which she surely knew was imminent. This was 20 years ago and I'm still angry.
Kimi Tomminello 4 years ago
It's amazing the difference insurance makes and it truly sucks that it's like that. I am soooooooooo sorry you had to go through that. I've had very similar experiences when I've been between jobs/ no insurance offered at job. I'm glad you're still around to be angry 😉 that Dr was a jerk!!
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Anjalí Jeter 3 years ago
I suffer from recurrent megaloblastic anaemia and have been in this situation with needing a massive blood transfusion. The first time I went through it, the utter dipsh*ts in A&E never bothered to tell me why I was being admitted, so when I needed the bathroom I walked there, even though I was gasping for breath and my heart was racing. When I inevitably crashed out walking back, once they'd gotten me stabilised with oxygen and other stuff, the doctor started to scold me about how I shouldn't have been walking around. My blank expression clued him into the fact that no one had told me this and the entire ward heard him cussing out the emergency doctor for failing to consult his patient - Dr. Clueless made the mistake of telling the ward doctor that he'd never even been in to see me and had just diagnosed me based off of my blood test results and left me in the hands of the Emergency Department's nurses. My HGB was less than half that of a healthy adult human.
#22
I went to the ER with a migraine and critically high blood pressure. I was given medication for nausea (??) and pushed out the door…. I have a history of brain tumor and stroke. It’s garbage how women are dismissed
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Where does is the humanity go when you become a doctor - my guess is that it was never there in the first place!
Grudge-holding Treefrog 3 years ago
To be a doctor you have to be: dead inside from being the “gifted child”, a narcissist who thinks they are always right, or whatever “I want to be a doctor to help people” died a long time ago along with any sense of attachment
Load More Replies... Samantha Hurrell 4 years ago
You had all the pre-existing flags that it had be looked into properly and they couldn't even read that.
#23
Started peeing blood one day. Was asked by more than one person if I was sure I wasn’t on my period. They know we can check for that right? Like it doesn’t take much to prove where the blood is coming from. Luckily for me I just had a uti that was quickly fixed, but seriously folks, we aren’t that dumb.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
According to the medical profession we as woman don't know our own bodily functions. The problem is some of theses undereducated doctors cant tell piss from paint!
Dorothy Reiser 4 years ago
My water broke in bed and my doctor asks "are you sure you didn't just pee yourself?"
Olga Dremina 4 years ago
Ugh, same. Gyno first, only then cystoscopy. "Oh, you won't believe, you weren't lying!" Like, you don't say?!.. At least that was free.
#24
Be vigilant because this can happen with female doctors too. I was having severe abdominal pain and NOTHING was helping. I tried yoga, I tried going for walks, I took gas pills, I tried a hot water bottle. Nothing. I could barely eat for days. I ended up calling out from a job interview to see a doctor because it was so bad. The only doctor available wasn’t my primary but was another female doctor. She said I was too young for it to be anything serious and it was just gas, but I kept pushing her that it was not just gas. She said if it would make me feel better, she would order an ultrasound. I said f*cking do it. Anyway, next day it got so bad that I went to the ER and surprise! My gallbladder was f*cked! It was full of stones. When they took it out, they said it was purple and it was a mess. I got a call the next week from my doctors office saying I actually did have gallstones and would need to get my gallbladder removed, and I said, yeah thanks but you’re a little late. That already happened.
Elli Rahim 4 years ago
We get this mistreatment out in Malaysia where medical professionals, both male and female who are in public hospitals refusing to do pap smears or pelvic exams to unmarried women. They claim that it would "ruin her virginity" for an "unnecessary" procedure. I'm fortunate enough to be well-educated and well-read enough to know that this belief is mistaken, denying women their right to proper care. Thank goodness private healthcare is still affordable here for such matters.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Your pain is all psychological or you are too fat take a tranquilizer and lose some weight! That's all you need. We apparently don't have any other organs in our bodies other than reproductive and fat cells we do have a brain but it is malfunctioning!
Aileen Grist 4 years ago
My gallbladder was gangrenous when they finally decided that it was the problem. Just kept giving me more and more pain killers.
Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
My daughter had acute gallstones and had to have her gall bladder removed at 19yo. Thankfully, it was when she was in college, and they took her by ambulance directly to Beth-Israel in Boston, one of the best hospitals in the world, and they took her quite seriously.
Mazer 4 years ago
It’s the worst to have a female doctor act just like their male counterparts
Helga Zwemmer 4 years ago (edited)
This happens when you don't show the standard symptoms for a gallbladderinfection. They simply don't believe it when you suggest it. Happened to me and after a year of pain and some terrible debilitating pain attacks during that year, I was taken in for emergency surgery at Christmas. They took out a gallstone as big as a peeled walnut, and the gallbladder itself of course.
Anjalí Jeter 3 years ago
Can so relate to this one too. Six months back and forth to A&E on a regular for the pain - doctors all leant on my pre-existing conditions and said it was costochondritis, which IS something I suffer from but this pain wasn't the same. My mama had said every time, "Our family has a history of earlier-than-normal onset of gallbladder disease." Totally ignored. It was finally found when I woke up screaming one night, was completely incoherent, had a seizure as a result of the severity of the pain and went into shock. Scan showed my gallbladder was full of stones with one that had migrated into my bile duct, and I had the beginnings of sepsis and pancreatitis. Alas, whilst the surgery fixed me, it did not fix my family being traumatised by me spiking a true 10 on the pain scale.
Flabuless-Jaye 4 years ago (edited)
I was told at 36 I was too young to get breast cancer after I saw my GP with a breast lump. Took 4 more visits to get an appointment when it should have been an urgent 2 week appointment. At the breast clinic, I was scanned in the wrong place so was fobbed off with "normal breast tissue". Went back 3 months later to be told that it could be a cyst. After more scans and tests, 5 months after I found it, I was told I had breast cancer. I had a year of treatments, a year in remission, and now living with terminal cancer. I've been having ongoing treatment since 2016. I do wonder what would have happened if they had done everything properly when I first went in. My GP was a woman. The radiologist was a man. The registrar who suspected something wasn't right was a woman. The person who gave me my diagnosis was a man, the head of the breast clinic, and a fantastic advocate for me once I was told I had cancer.
#25
I had a hemorrhoid rupture and bleeding and pain after a bought of IBS flare up. It was alot of blood and wouldnt stop and I was soaking through tissue. Told the nurse what was up and she out me in a room immediately. The doctor comes in "are you sure it's not just your cycle". F*ck man look at my chart I had a partial hysterectomy in 2004 I literally havent had a period in almost 20 years. Not it's not my f*cking period. He did an exam and sure enough a ruptured Fisher on the inside of my rectal area. They sedated me he did something dont really remember and gave me a suppository that costed $200 to fill. And when my IBS acts up it still bleed a little but not like that. I mean it was heavy and scary. Once you have had a hysterectomy any blood from anywhere down there is a concern. And I have had too many complications at this point to ignore it
Jo Choto 4 years ago
Just because these men don't know the difference between a vagina and a r****m, why do they assume the owners are as stupid as they are?
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
We woman don't know our own bodies we are stupid uneducated baby producers that's all!
Stannous Flouride 4 years ago
btw- fissure, not Fisher (probably an autocorrect or was voiced)
#26
Without checking my chart I had a doctor tell me that my nonstop nausea and vomiting was normal and caused by anxiety because it was my first pregnancy, and that were wasn’t anything they could give me unless I was willing to terminate. This was my second pregnancy.
I left and went to another hospital. There I was given IV fluids and offered IV zofran before the doctor came in, because they wanted to try to get me to be more comfortable immediately. When the doctor came in and after he listened to me, I was diagnosed with hyperemesis and not sent home until I’d had two bags of fluids and given an rx of zofran to tide me over until I could speak to my midwife
Abby Heather 4 years ago
I had hyperemesis into my six month of pregnancy and at a visit told them and she looked at me and said that it ends in the first trimester!! The healthcare industry is full of f*****g idiots!!!
Mona 4 years ago
I know women who've had it the entire 9 months. I had it in the first trimester and it was so horrible! I also went to the ER for it.
Load More Replies... Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Don't you know if you are pregnant all illness stems from that and it's just normal and the rest is in your head. I guess it is up to ourselves to self diagnose and be pushy about getting a diagnosis!
Elle Bee 4 years ago
Had hypermesis my entire first pregnancy. Got ignored by every doctor I spoke to. Couldn't keep anything down. A pharmacist suggested I try Boost to get some nutrition and fluid into me with hopes that at least a little would stay in every time I vomited. I ended up with severe complications and gave birth at 30 weeks. The day after I gave birth, I weighed 35lbs less than I had begun the pregnancy weighing. Next time, I had a midwife who took all of my symptoms seriously. I felt 100% supported and went on to have baby at term and we were both perfectly healthy
#27
Took three trips to the er before they finally took my pain seriously.
I had a bad gallbladder. FOUR trips for them to actually care enough to find it.
Go to the surgeon. He goes on a long explanation about weight loss surgery. And goes to leave the room.
I said “ok but what about my gallbladder?”
HE HADNT EVEN LOOKED AT MY CHART AND JUST ASSUMED I WAS THERE FOR WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY.
At my after care I brought up the weight loss surgery (as he impressed that it was VITAL that I have it to keep living) and he was dismissive.
So I asked him flat out if my insurance wouldn’t cover it and he confirmed.
I wonder how many people he convinced to get unneeded surgery so he could over charge their insurance.
Meredith Grey 4 years ago
They will also AUTOMATICALLY blame you being overweight if you have ANY health issues!!!
#28
I was peeing what looked like pure blood. ER was pretty sure I was mixing period blood into the sample. I was not having a period. Urologist then told me it was probably bladder cancer. It was not. It was a lupus attack, but still took awhile to get the right doctor to figure it out.
Kirsten Kerkhof 4 years ago
My experiences with health care workers is that they couldn't even begin to care enough.
Load More Replies... Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Of course my dear you don't know when you are having your own period they do - aren't they inciteful?
#29
I had an abscess and had to go in four times before they took an X-ray. My whole neck was so swollen, I was drooling, everything tasted like cigarette ashes, and I wasn't able to swallow. I brought in a printout of symptoms and said, 'This, all of this.' They finally believed me — still, no pain meds, though. I didn't want them but found it odd that I was in so much pain I couldn't swallow, yet they didn't offer anything. Anytime my SO goes in for anything, he walks out with a prescription for pain meds and antibiotics. Talk about double standards. Now, a lot of the times, I walk into a hospital and say, 'This has been going on this long. I think this is what's going on.' I don't even care if they call me a 'Google doctor.' It's how I found out I had gallstones, a hernia, an infected salivary gland, and this abscess.
Two of those four times, I was sent home only to go back less than 24 hours later with more pain. The hernia didn't need an operation, but I was put on bed rest with a band around my stomach.
Jo Choto 4 years ago
The surgeon who botched my daughter so badly he nearly killed her absolutely refused to believe that her pain was worse after surgery than before and treated her (and me) like we were idiots. I won't go into all the details because it still traumatizes me to this day, but she was medi-vacced out to a big hospital because they thought she was going to die, but not after me having to fight for her life for two days and nights, followed by waiting another ten days by her bedside while nobody could say for sure if she would survive.
LuckyL 4 years ago
I'm so sorry,! I can't even imagine going through that
Load More Replies...
ThatOneWriter 4 years ago
Any doctor that throws "Google Doctor" in a patient's face is automatically suspicious. I work in a medical research field but even before I got into my field, I had to do a lot of my own research on symptoms I was having. I had to go through three (female) doctors before one of them finally did a proper test for the PCOS I was sure I had. Even then, I had to state the specific tests I needed. Shouldn't be a surprise after these posts: I have PCOS. And I had to diagnose myself because doctors wouldn't listen.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Well, I had a doctor who Googled everything - he couldn't diagnose a hangnail without help from some source found this out when he left room took a look at his computer but you have to ask the right questions to a computer - he didn't!
#30
Yep, got swipped by a car and knocked down while walking, told trauma dr I broke my arm. He said no, I told him to check again- yep I had broken my wrist, so bad I needed a plate and screws to fix!
Sherry Ledford 4 years ago
This isn't just limited to male doctors. When I broke my elbow mountain biking (also plate & screws to reattach the big chunk), it wasn't just the male doctors in the ER that told me it was just a bruise, the female ones did too. Until they got the x-rays back, and came in looking like they were going to throw up. Just because I'm not crying or screaming doesn't mean I can't tell that my arm doesn't normally hinge here!
Sherry Ledford 4 years ago
Disclaimer - the ER that happened in said the break was too bad and they couldn't handle the surgery, so they sent me away. The second ER I went to, the doctors and the surgeon were fantastic. Took me seriously (granted, I had the x-rays from the other hospital) and did a great job. So there are good ones out there, too.
Load More Replies... #31
I've had tons of strep throat over the years, and I still have my pockmarked tonsils. Once, I was at a movie and felt the popcorn kernel get stuck. Nothing I could do would get it out. My tonsils ended up with an infection, so I went in. The doctor told me it couldn't be a popcorn kernel, that doesn't make sense. I asked him to just look, but he insisted on testing me for strep, then sent me home. I ended up going back in and was told I had a bad infection, but he wasn't sure why. This time, he gave me antibiotics and sent me to an ENT specialist. That doctor also didn't believe me, but I finally managed to convince him to at least look. One tongue depressor and a hemostat later, I had a popcorn kernel souvenir to go with my horrible infection. They didn't even call me with the strep results because they were negative. Seriously, I had to go to the ENT for a popcorn kernel
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Typical - Why don't they want to examine the patients - because they are busy or just damn lazy!
Cold Contagious 4 years ago
I went to urgent care for a very sore throat, white stuff all over the back of my throat and going down into my throat, and my lymph nodes were so swollen that I couldn't hardly move my neck. They wanted to test for strep,told them I didn't have it. Asked him to look at the white stuff going down my throat. He said he didn't see any. I said it was there right before I got here. He said, if I had a cell phone I'd take a picture and show you there's nothing there. I said funny enough I did take a picture of it cause it's hard to see and showed him and made him look again. He said, oh, that's thrush and you must have a viral thing going on but I'll give you antibiotics too and gave me my meds. Healed up in 5 days. Saw ENT and it was my lower tonsils swelling and getting a horrible infection from my severe acid reflux. Had to change my stomach meds to get it under control again.
Load More Replies...
#32
I went to a male ENT about 15 years ago for dizziness. My family doctor thought I had issues with my ears. The ENT just dismissed me after a brief exam saying I was having dizzy spells due to stress of being a new mother. Fortunately my family doctor didn't agree with that at all and decided to send me to a cardiologist, and it was there at that doc it was discovered I have a mitral valve prolapse with regurgitation, and THAT was the cause of my dizziness.
Jo Choto 4 years ago
So many of these stories tell me that doctors assume your biggest medical issue when you are a woman is that you are a woman.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Been there done that - don't you wish you could spit in that other doctors eye!
#33
My elderly mother was told by her orthopedist that her backache was from "old age" and she should get used to it. She went to a Boston hospital and they found a cyst pressing her spine and operated, curing the problem.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Yep folks don't get old your treatment from doctors will be platitudes or mental deterioration - since we don't get periods anymore they have to blame it on something!
#34
I almost died from an infected and dead gallbladder. I was told over and over by male doctors it was “anxiety and acid reflux.” It took 6 trips to the ER and my father to get me admitted to the hospital for testing. I had lost 60 lbs in a month. Finally when the right scan was done I was taken into emergency surgery.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
My doctor misdiagnosed a patient very badly she nearly died when confronted he said he didn't know who the patient was!!!!!!!!!!!!
#35
Went to the ER with left side lower abdominal pain. Male doc walks in, glances at the chart and asks if I'm sure it's not my right side that hurt (appendix). Yeah doc, I'm pretty sure I know what side of my body hurts! He never did a pelvic. Ordered a CT, said ehh, I don't know, probably period pain (I was 2 weeks out). Went to my primary 2 days later. It was a cyst! Had ruptured while I was at the er. Another time I was having horrible chest pains, trouble breathing, thought I was having a heart attack. Went to the ER. Was stuck in a room. They did at least do a bunch of diagnostics. But the best they could come up with was "bad indigestion" and sent me home. That night was miserable, when I woke up I couldn't move. My primary sent me to a cardiologist. I walked in and explained all my symptoms to her and before even examining me she smiled and said "classic pleurisy, textbook symptoms." Nothing she could really do to help me but tell me stay hydrated and take pain meds, but at least I had answers until it went away! But the ER docs just shrugged and said we don't know
#36
I nearly died from a long Covid blood clot in my brain because the male ER doctor was like “okay here’s some migraine medicine.” 36 hours later, I collapsed on my bedroom floor and had to go to the same ER by ambulance. The female doctor knew immediately that I was having a stroke. I don’t mess with male doctors anymore if I have a say in it.
Deceased Nemo 4 years ago
if I ever have to go to the ER ima ask for a female doctor bc they seem to be more consistently capable of dealing with female patients correctly
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
I was having headaches - I was told they were from my neck- doctor said that was impossible - gave me IV migraine cocktail I had said no but I passed out made things even worse wanted to keep me in for observation - I said no because someone would probably see me kill the doctor(?) if he ever came near me again!
#37
I sliced the side of my thumb near off, and they kept telling me they couldn't give me pain meds. I kept telling them I don't want pain meds, I want to know if I need stitches, and I'll take ibuprofen when I get home if I need it. Meanwhile, when my husband had lower right quadrant pain, they kept trying to give him pain meds. They ordered him a CT scan with contrast, blood work, etc. It turned out to be mild inflammation of his intestine. They kept asking him if he was sure he didn't need pain meds
ThatOneWriter 4 years ago
What is with this assumption that women seek unneeded pain meds while men are offered them like it's a mint at a buffet?
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Damn! If a woman can give birth she can stand more pain ( I was told this by a doctor(?). How do these idiots graduate!?
#38
After birth when I was hemhorraging, passing large blood clots and losing consciousness a male OBGYN told me "sometimes people lose consciousness from the sight of their own blood." Within the next hour they were getting everything ready for multiple transfusions and debating on giving me an infusion to increase my blood volume.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Yep and when we have our periods we pass out and fall off the toilet when we see blood on our pads! What a douche canoe!
Samantha Hurrell 4 years ago
Totally. Also any clumsy person (like myself) will be more than familiar with their own blood. (I've had 3 minor bleeding cuts in 2 days).
Load More Replies... #39
After my mom's heart attack, she was prescribed a few medications, one of which was a diuretic that only made her feel worse. Her (male) cardiologist's response amounted to "gee, that's too bad, that is the medication you need." She eventually went to a different hospital, a female cardiologist changed her to a different diuretic drug... problem solved!
Okasan Willis 4 years ago
I was helped to the ER and put in w/c. ER doc said numbness in legs was all in my head. Other doc saw me said I was suffering from GBS
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
Like I said when you get older the doctors get younger and stupider!
#40
A male neurologist slapped my thighs a couple of times and told me he couldn’t see my muscle spasms therefore it’s probably all in my head. Surprise! It wasn’t.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
A male neurologist told me if I didn't have supplemental insurance he could do nothing for me - he did not even touch me this was told to me while we were walking to his office, As I excused myself I pushed him hard up against the wall and told him he was a money grubber and I left!
#41
Something similar happened to my mom. She didn’t have the earlier symptoms you had, just one day she went to the bathroom and you couldn’t believe the blood coming out of her rectum. The doctor at the er also asked her if she was sure it wasn’t her period. They ended up sending her for a colonoscopy. Good news and bad news, a colonoscopy 6 weeks later told us nothing about the bleeding. But they did find pre cancerous polyps and removed them
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
^ weeks later - she could have died waiting this long - for something like this some one with no symptoms should have been bumped!
#42
This is exactly why when I had appendicitis (before I knew that was what I had) I refused to go to the hospital. I told my boyfriend I wasn't wasting the time or money at the ER to have a doctor tell me I just had bad gas or was overreacting to an upset stomach and sending me home. I ended up waiting until the next morning to go in, because the pain had gotten so bad at that point, and the doctor said if I had waited any longer I would've ended up in the ICU.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
And they wonder why an intelligent woman won't go to the ER because this gal in all likelihood would have got sent home if she went in earlier but if it had been her boyfriend immediate attention!
#43
Went to the ER for horrible kidney pain, they had me pee in a cup. Of course blood in my urine. The ER doctor asked me multiple times if I was menstruating. I finally had enough and said IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LOOK. So sick of being treated like I dont live in this body. Never did find out what cause me horrible kidney pain for like 12 years. It went away just like it started. One day woke up and was fine after suffering for so long. I'll take it though. Still wont drink anything blue. Used to give me the worst pain with just a sip.
Kirsten Kerkhof 4 years ago
"IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LOOK" I had to resort to that too when my pain was dismissed as period pains. I wasn't on my period and I had the underwear to prove it, and literally had to tell them that.
Evil Little Thing 4 years ago
Wait, why does blue stuff make her kidneys hurt? That's so random.
Candia Lee 4 years ago
Not really. Could be a reaction to a particular blue dye, something that affected her kidney stone.
Load More Replies... Brian Bennett 4 years ago
As I keep saying doctors we know our bodies. Why won't they believe us - doctor knows best - this is medical malpractice in the first degree second degree is patients death!
#44
I have PCOS and presumed endometriosis, but I don't 'look' like someone with PCOS, so the ER male doctors didn’t take me seriously. I was keeled over vomiting. Several hours later, I had an ultrasound. I'd been hemorrhaging in my abdomen. They didn’t have an OBGYN on call, so they wanted to admit me. l opted not to as they said there was nothing they could do beyond give me morphine and a bed
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
They should have had an OBGYN on call or should have tracked one down, Morphine and a bed - both are available out of the hospital if you want to look - Most doctors have never felt real pain in their lives - most surgeons have never had surgery!
Lainie 4 years ago
So you are being d**bas*, what would you like them to do with your body? OBGYN would come in hospital, not to you. At least you wouldn't have to worry about the pain.
ThatOneWriter 4 years ago
Or she could go to another hospital with an OBGYN/someone who could help more quickly. And maybe that one could do more than offer her addictive pain meds and a bed. Also maybe we should be angry at the hospital instead. Because a hospital should have an OBGYN on call because Obstetrics and Gynecology are both fields that can have emergency and life-threatening situations.
Load More Replies... #45
I peed major blood clots once and had 10/10 pain, sure it was kidney stones. I was told the same thing. They gave mean antibiotic, which I refused, and sent me home. I've had multiple experie ces like this. I feel that women aren't taken as seriously as men, there is something wrong there! Hope you are feeling better, hope you can remain strong, and punch something to get it out. Don't carry the anger with you. I've overboiled going to the Er all year with rage until I took myself down.
Brian Bennett 4 years ago
After all people we are considered the weaker sex both physically and emotionally1 We work with a cold hubby goes to bed for 5 days and needs to be waited on - NOT IN THIS HOUSE. Dear Doctor we are not stupid!
What do you think ?
Jo Choto 4 years ago
These stories are way too familiar. I've experienced it myself, and been there in the hospital by the side of my daughter, and with other female friends, having to fight on their behalf for the basic standard of care. When you are the patient, it is sometimes more than you can manage to advocate for yourself. Take someone with you to advocate for you. I have been that person many times for friends and family. I know I have categorically saved two lives by being a beast.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
I regularly do that. It's pretty much my raison d'etre. In research, or in advocacy. A beast is sometimes required, tho' I'm told my nickname in some circles is pretty unflattering, and I don't care. I've seen docs try to rescind a DNR b/c they don't agree with it religiously, refuse to treat based on a one-glance assumption (me in one case, gave me a near-death experience as a result), etc. You do *not* compromise patient care if I'm around, and if you do, there *is* a consequence. Nobody claps, of course, until I leave, I suspect. Someone's gotta be the voice. Having an MD means I get a louder one.
Load More Replies...
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago (edited)
I was going through a suspected ectopic pregnancy and was suffering with excruciating pain in my shoulders and neck. The Dr came to examine me and asked about my pain. I was literally screaming in agony and he turned around and said I just pulled a muscle in my shoulders. Well turns out one of the common symptoms of internal bleeding is shoulder pain. My fallopian tube had ruptured and I was bleeding internally. The dr just tried brushing it off as a pulled muscle. Ended up needing emergency surgery and a blood transfusion. Now, I don't have a high pain tolerance but I'm not screaming and asking to die over a f*****g pulled muscle.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
I'm sorry, he said what? Everyone who passed medical school knows that pain refers to the shoulder andupper back from various places in the torso. Or should. I am so so sorry he said that. My PTSD means my file is flagged "anxiety disorder" so they dismiss me before they even check my pulse.
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Female. MD. Been dismissed by competent (male) surgeon b/c "it's just her uterus". No, it wasn't. I still need a cane sometimes. I also get, "Well, why are you here, just diagnose yourself!" (No, that's stupid and risky.) Then there's "it's anxiety". No, it wasn't. Argh....
Caro Caro 4 years ago (edited)
1/3 Doctors: Take women and their medical issues serious. Besides a wrong view of the female body, there is something else interesting going on: emancipatory developments. There is a lot of work to be done in medical science. This is partly due to misunderstood complaints, but partly also to emancipation. For example, in a conversation with an orthopedist, who said that there are more and more women with a football knee. A lot more women play football these days. They must be treated in a different way, because tendons and muscles also behave differently under the influence of hormones. Actually, the basis, the study of medicine, should take much more into account the differences between men and women. And that should not only apply to pathophysiology, but also, for example, to communication between women and doctors.
Caro Caro 4 years ago (edited)
2/3 Women are almost insulted at the emergency room because they get there again without anything 'officially' wrong. There are so many missed diagnoses. Doctors can say very firmly: 'That is not possible, that does not exist'. The problem with that is that sometimes women could use some empowerment. There is even data that women are more likely to sound the alarm when something happens to their partner than the other way around. Women have to learn to stand up for themselves. If you know, if you feel that something is not right: inform yourself. You are not crazy or overprotective. Your body does not lie.
Load More Replies...
AtomKat 4 years ago
I went to the emergency room once with the worst abdominal pain I’ve ever had. Was given a Voltaren injection and told it was probably stress. Pain was even worse the next day so I went to my GP and learnt that I had a very severe kidney infection. Funny thing is that I provided the hospital I originally went to with a urine sample and they only tested it to see if I was pregnant.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Yep. That's terrifyingly standard. Anyone who got this far, please please make sure they don't check onyl for pregnancy.
Load More Replies...
Abby Heather 4 years ago
One of the reasons I left nursing was the arrogance of doctors as well as nursing staff that whenever a patient came in with pain they were automatic drug seekers!!
Lauren Caswell 4 years ago (edited)
Curled up in pain in ED, second 'case of gastro' in several months. Kept fainting, can't digest, horrible pain. After several hours, a doctor came and he actually said "I've been watching you for a while and I don't think you are faking so here's some morphine". It did nothing, which scared me. But I guess they thought 'aha, a druggie after all'. Sent me away, again. Came back 3 days later: if I had waited 12 hours more there is no way I would be alive. Only diagnosed because an elderly guy came in same day same symptoms, and they realised that despite my young age I had the same thing. My body is ruined now, scars and missing intestines etc, PTSD and a host of conditions have arisen post op. HOWEVER: I think this could have happened regardless of my gender or the doctor's. Maybe I am wrong? (My body had been failing for months, a side effect was worse acne. Spots plus pain=drug seeker in drs opinions I guess?) A man same age as me died same year same hospital from same thing as me.
Caro Caro 4 years ago
Hell Lauren, I don't know the answer but I'm sorry you had to go through this. Jeees.
Load More Replies... just another drone 4 years ago
Look this up--most medical textbooks do not even include the proper anatomy of the female clitoris!! They DON'T EVEN GET TAUGHT PROPER WOMEN'S ANATOMY!!!!
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Nope, we usually don't. Getting my MD was a real adventure in misogyny that was imbedded into the thinking, the teaching, the books, the guidelines for signs/symptoms, even basic bloodwork standards!
Load More Replies...
Katherine Boag 4 years ago
"Can you make a note in the chart that you are refusing to do further testing"
Beth S 4 years ago (edited)
Doctor rarely take women seriously.... it has become even worse since the opioid crisis. Also just let them find out you have anxiety, everything henceforth will be a product of your anxiety. I actually have several horror stories but the worst one happened after I went home with my first child. I had my c-section and I started running fever and feeling really lethargic, so I went to the ER. They made me sit in the ER waiting room for a few hours because they did not deem my issue as important. Finally I got tired of it all and told my husband I wanted to go home and go to bed. Luckily he made me stay. When I finally got back to the actual ER room, they found out that I had a massive infection that hit my blood. The second that they admitted me to the hospital and got me up to my room the doc came in and immediately cut open my stitching (new stitching) and pushed on my tummy. All kinds of nastiness came out. I ended up staying in the hospital a week with constant IV antibiotics and they inserted a drainage tube into my c-section. I had to keep it for about a month afterward so it could drain the infection and I was on a month's worth of antibiotics. I was taking about 12 pills a day all together. I almost died.
Freya the Wanderer 4 years ago
Bored Panda seems to run two kinds of medical horror stories: People getting horrific bills, and women being blown off by male (chauvinist) doctors. The US health "care" system is in desperate need of a serious overhaul. Male med students should be required to take a course titled "Female Patients - They are Intelligent Adults, Not Idiots or Children, So Listen to Them!"
Load More Replies... Jo Choto 4 years ago
These stories are way too familiar. I've experienced it myself, and been there in the hospital by the side of my daughter, and with other female friends, having to fight on their behalf for the basic standard of care. When you are the patient, it is sometimes more than you can manage to advocate for yourself. Take someone with you to advocate for you. I have been that person many times for friends and family. I know I have categorically saved two lives by being a beast.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
I regularly do that. It's pretty much my raison d'etre. In research, or in advocacy. A beast is sometimes required, tho' I'm told my nickname in some circles is pretty unflattering, and I don't care. I've seen docs try to rescind a DNR b/c they don't agree with it religiously, refuse to treat based on a one-glance assumption (me in one case, gave me a near-death experience as a result), etc. You do *not* compromise patient care if I'm around, and if you do, there *is* a consequence. Nobody claps, of course, until I leave, I suspect. Someone's gotta be the voice. Having an MD means I get a louder one.
Load More Replies... Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago (edited)
I was going through a suspected ectopic pregnancy and was suffering with excruciating pain in my shoulders and neck. The Dr came to examine me and asked about my pain. I was literally screaming in agony and he turned around and said I just pulled a muscle in my shoulders. Well turns out one of the common symptoms of internal bleeding is shoulder pain. My fallopian tube had ruptured and I was bleeding internally. The dr just tried brushing it off as a pulled muscle. Ended up needing emergency surgery and a blood transfusion. Now, I don't have a high pain tolerance but I'm not screaming and asking to die over a f*****g pulled muscle.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
I'm sorry, he said what? Everyone who passed medical school knows that pain refers to the shoulder andupper back from various places in the torso. Or should. I am so so sorry he said that. My PTSD means my file is flagged "anxiety disorder" so they dismiss me before they even check my pulse.
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Female. MD. Been dismissed by competent (male) surgeon b/c "it's just her uterus". No, it wasn't. I still need a cane sometimes. I also get, "Well, why are you here, just diagnose yourself!" (No, that's stupid and risky.) Then there's "it's anxiety". No, it wasn't. Argh....
Caro Caro 4 years ago (edited)
1/3 Doctors: Take women and their medical issues serious. Besides a wrong view of the female body, there is something else interesting going on: emancipatory developments. There is a lot of work to be done in medical science. This is partly due to misunderstood complaints, but partly also to emancipation. For example, in a conversation with an orthopedist, who said that there are more and more women with a football knee. A lot more women play football these days. They must be treated in a different way, because tendons and muscles also behave differently under the influence of hormones. Actually, the basis, the study of medicine, should take much more into account the differences between men and women. And that should not only apply to pathophysiology, but also, for example, to communication between women and doctors.
Caro Caro 4 years ago (edited)
2/3 Women are almost insulted at the emergency room because they get there again without anything 'officially' wrong. There are so many missed diagnoses. Doctors can say very firmly: 'That is not possible, that does not exist'. The problem with that is that sometimes women could use some empowerment. There is even data that women are more likely to sound the alarm when something happens to their partner than the other way around. Women have to learn to stand up for themselves. If you know, if you feel that something is not right: inform yourself. You are not crazy or overprotective. Your body does not lie.
Load More Replies... AtomKat 4 years ago
I went to the emergency room once with the worst abdominal pain I’ve ever had. Was given a Voltaren injection and told it was probably stress. Pain was even worse the next day so I went to my GP and learnt that I had a very severe kidney infection. Funny thing is that I provided the hospital I originally went to with a urine sample and they only tested it to see if I was pregnant.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Yep. That's terrifyingly standard. Anyone who got this far, please please make sure they don't check onyl for pregnancy.
Load More Replies... Abby Heather 4 years ago
One of the reasons I left nursing was the arrogance of doctors as well as nursing staff that whenever a patient came in with pain they were automatic drug seekers!!
Lauren Caswell 4 years ago (edited)
Curled up in pain in ED, second 'case of gastro' in several months. Kept fainting, can't digest, horrible pain. After several hours, a doctor came and he actually said "I've been watching you for a while and I don't think you are faking so here's some morphine". It did nothing, which scared me. But I guess they thought 'aha, a druggie after all'. Sent me away, again. Came back 3 days later: if I had waited 12 hours more there is no way I would be alive. Only diagnosed because an elderly guy came in same day same symptoms, and they realised that despite my young age I had the same thing. My body is ruined now, scars and missing intestines etc, PTSD and a host of conditions have arisen post op. HOWEVER: I think this could have happened regardless of my gender or the doctor's. Maybe I am wrong? (My body had been failing for months, a side effect was worse acne. Spots plus pain=drug seeker in drs opinions I guess?) A man same age as me died same year same hospital from same thing as me.
Caro Caro 4 years ago
Hell Lauren, I don't know the answer but I'm sorry you had to go through this. Jeees.
Load More Replies... just another drone 4 years ago
Look this up--most medical textbooks do not even include the proper anatomy of the female clitoris!! They DON'T EVEN GET TAUGHT PROPER WOMEN'S ANATOMY!!!!
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Nope, we usually don't. Getting my MD was a real adventure in misogyny that was imbedded into the thinking, the teaching, the books, the guidelines for signs/symptoms, even basic bloodwork standards!
Load More Replies... Katherine Boag 4 years ago
"Can you make a note in the chart that you are refusing to do further testing"
Beth S 4 years ago (edited)
Doctor rarely take women seriously.... it has become even worse since the opioid crisis. Also just let them find out you have anxiety, everything henceforth will be a product of your anxiety. I actually have several horror stories but the worst one happened after I went home with my first child. I had my c-section and I started running fever and feeling really lethargic, so I went to the ER. They made me sit in the ER waiting room for a few hours because they did not deem my issue as important. Finally I got tired of it all and told my husband I wanted to go home and go to bed. Luckily he made me stay. When I finally got back to the actual ER room, they found out that I had a massive infection that hit my blood. The second that they admitted me to the hospital and got me up to my room the doc came in and immediately cut open my stitching (new stitching) and pushed on my tummy. All kinds of nastiness came out. I ended up staying in the hospital a week with constant IV antibiotics and they inserted a drainage tube into my c-section. I had to keep it for about a month afterward so it could drain the infection and I was on a month's worth of antibiotics. I was taking about 12 pills a day all together. I almost died.
Freya the Wanderer 4 years ago
Bored Panda seems to run two kinds of medical horror stories: People getting horrific bills, and women being blown off by male (chauvinist) doctors. The US health "care" system is in desperate need of a serious overhaul. Male med students should be required to take a course titled "Female Patients - They are Intelligent Adults, Not Idiots or Children, So Listen to Them!"
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