In Men, It’s Parkinson’s. In Women, It’s Hysteria

[Farooqji]

Neurologist Laura Boylan suffered from tremors and loss of balance that she attributed to a cyst in her brain. Why didn’t her doctors believe her?

propublica.org/article/in-m...

[park_bear]

Wow. One hell of a read. Sexism alive and well in medicine. Also fascinating that symptoms caused by a brain cyst responded to levodopa.

[Goldencbc]

Thanks for this! Quite the story!

[Smittybear7]

Interesting article

[NRyan]

My first visit to a neurologist ended with him wondering if I had been sexually abused because I thought I had PD. As I walked out of the exam room, my friend asked me how the visit went. My reply was "apparently it is 1862." I guess I am a female with hysteria. Ha! PD proved him wrong. However, I would love hysteria instead.

[2bats]

Fascinating article

[rideabike]

You cannot imagine how close to home this article hit. I'm relieved to hear of her steadfastness in knowing her own body and acting on it. The gender bias is sickening (literally), in this day and age. Thanks for posting! I just might send it to one neurologist I saw.

[1LittleWillow]

The first (young, male) neurologist I saw locally told me I probably just needed to relax and stop worrying. I've never in my life been a worrier. I had what I now know are classic PD symptoms (significant one-sided resting tremor, rigidity, pronounced bradykinesia), but he completely dismissed them because I was "young" (51 at the time).

The second (OLD, male) neurologist I saw at U. Chicago told me I should try to relax and get my mind off of my worries, and maybe join a health club for "fun." He pointedly mentioned that he started his medical career as a psychiatrist, implying that I was just hysterical.

The third (young, female) neurologist I saw at Northwestern in Chicago (just one month after old-man-health-club) immediately said it was almost certainly PD and referred me to an MDS who confirmed the diagnosis.

I'm still fuming about those two morons three years later. I felt like I'd been transported back to 1950... give the little lady a sucker and a pat on the head and send her on her way. I actually thought we were past that when it comes to neurology.

Thankfully my new MDS (young, male) is great and treats me with so much respect.