Doctors ignoring female complaints

[Mstiles]

Hello everyone

Hope this link copied about the disparity in treating women with symptoms as “all in your head” and the difficulty in getting doctors to listen to you. Must happen to men too sometimes.

facebook.com/nytimes/posts/...

[SheffieldJane]

I have closed down my fb account so I can’t access the article. Just as well things are conspiring to make me very cross today. 😠😡🤬😤

[Mstiles in reply to SheffieldJane]

Hope things get better for you soon, and better days will be here quickly. No fun!

Not the most savvy on digital stuff, didn’t realize you had to go thru FB.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to SheffieldJane]

Here you are - straight into the horse's mouth

nytimes.com/2018/05/03/well...

[SheffieldJane in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you for doing that PMRPro.

Unless you are pregnant then your body is not your own. The surgery roll out the red carpet when my husband makes one of his rare visits. Because statistically chaps don’t go unless they are well, practically at deaths door. When I go, my motivation is to get back to being fully operational. I went today about the relentless heads. “ We need to get you off these steroids”. Methotrexate was mentioned. Hmmm! I’ve got to 7 mgs on my own. Why would I add another drug in now?

[HeronNS in reply to SheffieldJane]

I wonder if because women are likely to underplay their symptoms it's easier for the doctors to think, oh good, don't have to see her so often as I'm so busy? I have to say I didn't know what a great doctor I had until he retired - I'd assumed most were like him. He never over-prescribed, was a great diagnostician (although I wonder if he'd have caught the PMR which reared its ugly head after he'd retired) and even though his appointments were usually on time and very brief I never felt I was being rushed. My current doctor (female) makes me feel I'm taking up too much of her time, even though it may only be five minutes. Last visit she said I should come back in a year! Even though I'm still on steroids and probably will be for months to come, and should, I'd have thought, still need to be monitored a little more frequently than annually.

[Koalajane in reply to HeronNS]

My doctor said I don't need to see her again, taper myself and if concerned get blood test for ESR.

I am happy with this

[HeronNS in reply to Koalajane]

I might have been happy with my situation too, except this was the first time in nearly three years of quarterly tests that the inflammation marker was normal. I'd feel a bit more confident if I could be sure this was a permanent trend.

[Koalajane in reply to HeronNS]

I do have to admit that my ESR tends to be normal. Also I think I am glad not to see her (she is very nice and does not rush you) as last August she said I would like you off the steroids in 18 months! This was after 5 months of being diagnosed. I will be off them when my body is ready. I am on 7mg now tapering to 6.5

[CT-5012]

Thanks for the link, very interesting and so very true.

[scats]

I have always suspected this. While my husband will get a diagnosis I will be told "let's see how it developes". The only time I can remember getting a proper diagnosis is when I went in and said I think I have PMR. My dad had it and my brother still has it so I know what it's like. I actually got blood test!

Several months after my hip replacement I was still in pain and was told, "I could refer you to the bone Dr. but would take six months and it would probably be better by then". My jaw actually droped. Needless to say I don't see him any more. Turned out I had sciatica, bone pain and eventually a PMR flare. It needed 20mg of pred to ease things.

Some of you will know that when I asked for a dexa scan to see if I actually needed AA I was told, " you are on pred. and over 65. You are high risk best just to take it." This appears to practice wide. Next time I will be asking for a scan and if they won't do it I'll pay for one.

It is rare for me to feel confident by the time I get in front of a GP. It's never something I do on a whim. I have spent ages psyching myself up perhaps because I know I won't be taken seriously.

[Mstiles in reply to scats]

So true. The psyching yourself up part adds to the unwanted stress!

[Hidden]

Great article! Thank you for posting!!

[Jean56]

Interesting and so true. Certainly an issue I’ve suffered from in the past.

[Kath567]

Agree 100 percent! I was told I was exaggerating, maybe depressed. Meanwhile I was left three months with two cracked, abscessed teeth and a jaw infection and delirious with the pain that nobody could figure out. And that is not the first time I have been labelled somehow depressed, anxious, imagining. Disgraceful.

[Hali12 in reply to Kath567]

I’m with you 💯 on all of this. I feel the same way with this. They also say that it’s in all in my head. Just because every test results come back normal. So now I truely now believe that maybe it is maybe all in my head. But my question. Why do I have all the pains. Please help me understand that.

[Kath567 in reply to Hali12]

Even when I complained of chest pain, my doctor didn’t believe me and made a snide remark. Turns out it was a collapsed lung.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Kath567]

Hope you showed him the evidence! Did he have the grace to blush?

[Grants148]

I get the impression that doctors are cutting down on blood tests,and they only deal with one symptom,even if there are other health problems that could all be connected . There is never enough time to ask too many questions.