This might be interesting for the ladies here, with apologies to the gents who can't get taken seriously either!
'Doctors don't take women seriously': This might... - Thyroid UK
'Doctors don't take women seriously'
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linesandlines
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Especially if you educate yourself and read. They really dont like that at all. I have had one doctor say just because the sono medic said my kidneys are scarred in a report, doesn't mean they are. I read my own bloodwork. I got you are not a doctor, I am the only that can diagnose kidney disease. (Ego) Ok, it couldnt hurt for me to reduce protein consumption though. Which the dr did not even recommend to me. I had a rheumatologist exam me, and I told him I was still able to bike ride. Well, if you can do that, theres nothing wrong with you. Take some sleeping pills. You just need to sleep better. OMG! I dont see doctors anymore. I do my own research with natural healing. I will never go to a doctor again. They find something doesnt work, and they cut it out.
I even read a recent article that said thyroid cancer isnt really cancer. After they have removed so many. Sounds like a science fiction novel!
Hi natural
Like you I have no faith in doctors anymore i was diagnosed with CFS/me/fibro in 2005/2006 I had to move to a new surgery as my old one said I was imagining my symptoms.it took my new surgery 3wks to send me to a specialist and i had my diagnosis I had been going to my old docs for over 2 years with my symptoms!! Also I was diagnosed in 2004 with overactive parathyroid glands the docs left me for six wks all kinds of diagnosis......kidney infection,water infection,stomach bug...they eventually took blood and found out my parathyroid glands were overactive!!😈 I thought great I'm gona get sorted ...no such luck!! After six wks my bloods came bk in normal range they just left me no medication or follow up..when I moved surgery's and got my diagnosis I explained about the parathyroid glands going overactive they took bloods right away...but they were normal levels,,then in Oct last year I had really bad symptoms I knew right away it was my glands going overactive again I saw doc and told him reluctantly he took bloods...they came bk as overactive..but like my old docs I waited six wks second blood were normal range so again I'm left with on and off symptoms and doc said its the menopause😈 I saw my endo she thought I was attacking my glands giving me on and off symptoms.I always thought doc were their to help!! I'm totally naffed off with them😤 I'm going to go private if I'm paying for their time I will feel like I can ask questions ect and not feel like he needs me out quickly as I do when i have seen endos/rhumertologyst ect
Not long ago I read about swedish study where they noticed that female doctors can be as bad as male as they are taught that way in medical school.
Women at 20's are hysterical.
Women at 30th are hysterical.
Women at 40's are menopausal.
Women at 50's are menopausal mad cows.
Women at 60's are hysterical again.
And women do the heaviest job in the world going through pregnancy and delivering a baby yet we get treated like hypochondriac.
For men they have viagra, for women they have potentially very harmful drug that alters your brain to increase libido that you have to take for very long time which in a good case might make you horny once in a month.
For women they have birth control pills which some study suggest to be so poisonous they cancelled a study how birth control pills affect as they felt it was unethical to make women go through it.
For men they don't even want to try same type of pill as it has so many side effects and are potentially very harmful.
Periods are still from Satan in some cases as bible says women are dirty.
Ps. All female doctors I have met have been nothing but great.
All male doctors except one has treated me like an idiot. That one took me seriously and would have fixed my knee the very next day if I had not to work. When he finally fixed my knee he did it properly and was amazing. I was 19 and he did not doubt me at all.
To be fair being pleasant to patients and listening to them is nothing to do with gender but upbringing. Though I'm beginning to think some middle aged male doctors think they can get away with anything.
"And consider this: In Sweden, researchers used a modified version of a national exam for young doctors in which hypothetical patients with neck pain were described. Some of the hypothetical patients were male and some female; all were described as bus drivers who were living in tense family situations. The interns taking the exam were more likely to ask female patients psychosocial questions (implying a psychosomatic origin of the pain) and more likely to request lab tests in the males. Female interns were just as biased as males."
wsj.com/articles/SB10001424...
This was the study , but I agree it is not about the gender itself, but you would think women would feel more empathy towards other women.
Yes...you would think that women doctors would be able to relate better, but I haven't found that to be true.
sadly, being a woman doesn't stop you being sexist, consciously or unconsciously. It's the society we live in.
• in reply tobluebug
bluebug - I recently visited my feisty 83 year old aunt in hospital and, whilst I was there, a very young doctor needed to talk with her. She told him in no uncertain terms that she was not having any more injections and that she was in control of her body, not him. The expression on his face was priceless, clearly not expecting a patient to say 'no'. I chuckled quietly!!
Hi Justiina, The Birth Pill WAS tested on men and women, back in the late fifties/early sixties. I read "The Bitter Pill" by Dr Ellen Grant, a doctor involved in the early trials and initially she prescribed it herself.
But very soon damage to males could be seen - visible proof that something was going wrong.
Men stopped doing the trial but the women continued.
Every time Ellen Grant spoke up that blood vessels were being damaged, and the Pituitary gland was too suppressed, she was treated (by the male doctors) just like thyroid docs are now; and the BMJ refused to print any more of her research.
Damage to the blood vessels to young ladies was noted by the autopsies of those that had lost their lives in the armed service
I had an appointment with her, as I thought the Pill was the cause of all my ailments. Eg a first thrombosis at 37 etc..
I had been left on the first high dose pill, by my lazy GP for 18 years and have never felt good since my first thrombosis. The Pill also depletes many vits and mins. needing extra to metabolise it out of the body. I still have to watch for signs that my blood is getting thick even 30 years later, as it can clot inappropriately within the vessels - even now.
Nowadays the pill has a much lesser amount of hormone, so may not be as bad. We were guinea pigs then and continue to suffer now.
S
Stoneym you are so right about the Pill, I gave birth to my daughter and all was fine, three months later I went on the Pill, this was in 1965, I started to go downhill fast but my GP insisted it wasn't the Pill, in those days you didn't argue with the Doctors as one might now, ten months later when I thought I was mentally ill I was sent to see a Psychiatrist, he said there was nothing wrong with me mentally but my thyroid was over active, I had a pulse of 108 and was in the throes of Graves disease but my GP did not even test my pulse let alone anything else, I had a partial thyroidectomy in 1967 and have had many health problems since that time, as you stated the Pill had a very high dose of hormones in those days, if only we realised...
Yeah those probably are much safer nowadays.
It's awful some still suffer. It's very sad. And not just women. Nature too. It disgusts me to know high concentration of hormones are found from fish. Let alone how it might affect the next generation causing gene mutations.
Wow! Really! Never heard this before. Always wondering why every woman i talk to has some kind of problem with their thyroid. I have researched that i believe there is something wrong with my pituitary! Omg! I was on the pill in my 20s and went off of it when i had an optic incident where i could not see out of my right eye for about 5 mins. This is all very interesting. And can we repair the pituitary? Naturally of course.
Hi justiina
I have to agree with you on women GPS my main gp is a male I was getting nowhere with him especially as he diagnosed all my symptoms as the menupause, but I had these symptoms from 2006 and was not going threw the menopause then a blood test confirmed this! So I changed to a woman doc in the surgery thinking she would be up on the female body.😉 I tryed to convay my symptoms to her told her my history ect she constantly interrupted me to be quite honest she never really got my full history has she interrupted me so much,,I felt like I was in with a robot she said nearly the same stuff the male doc said to me!😈 again its the menopause we will try you on HRT,,not checking my records,,I had to inform her I cannot take HRT as I had a huge blood clot some years ago and I was taken off the pill because of the risk and was told I will never be able to take HRT..she just said Ho that's not to good for you then I'm afraid you will just have to put up with it!!!!😈😈😈
NICE!!! Thanks doctor😬😬😬
Oh dear not very nice experience :/ some doctors seem to decide what's wrong with you before you even open your mouth.
Makes you feel very unsafe when they do not listen! It's their job.
Like my dad's annual cholesterol check up in local hospital is now cancelled because dermatologist orders safety tests every three months as my dad has very severe psoriasis and takes cancer med. But it's not a cholesterol tests yet he is told he is tested enough.
My dad needs that cholesterol test as he has stents in his thighs and statins are mandatory to prevent the stents from clogging.
They really don't understand as they don't even seem to read his files, safety test does not include cholesterol. It's a big sigh.
Hi justiina
I'm sorry to hear about your dads tests,but I know how you feel my dad lost his voice,as his job involved talking a lot he needed to see his gp,a.s.a.p when he went he was diagnosed with laryngitis he left the surgery with some throat lozenges he took them for the alloted period ( three months) but they did not work,to cut a long story short he went bk several times to see the gp my dad eventually said you must get me to see the e n t specialist reluctantly he sent my dad to the consultant where after an investigation ( camera down throat) he was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx he then developed secondary cancer of the lung and died..the doctor never put it together that loosing your voice for six months ment more than just laryngitis!!! And when I questioned the doc on this he just said "well at least he's getting sorted" ye but too late to save his life,I'm not a violent woman but I could have gladly punched him in his smugg face
Oh that's horrible. Losing voice is always something that should be investigated immediately even during a flu.
My uncle had clogged arteries and no one cared as he is athletic and low cholesterol and low blood pressure. He was in bad shape that going from guy who x-country skiing 1500 kilometres a year to someone who can't walk.
Eventually he told the doctor that you either shoot me or run all tests to find out what's wrong.
They ran all tests and found clogged arteries.
So he had to express himself that way to make them understand he is not well.
But they are brainwashed to think low cholesterol equals healthy!
I thought for such a long time that it was "just me." Maybe I was unlikeable or not personable enough, or whatever. After reading this article, I now believe that it's NOT me. I've had doctors dismiss me over this thyroid issue for over 2 years and also about menopausal symptoms, etc. I've been treated in a disrespectful and ugly manner from FEMALE doctors. I've finally switch to a male to see if I get better care. Going to see him in the next couple of weeks to see what I think.
There is nothing wrong with you.
At the last practice I was at the four people who took me seriously were a female student, a newly qualified female GP, a recently qualified female nurse practitioner and a young male locum GP. The locum seemed frustrated by what he was and wasn't allowed to prescribe me so never returned after a few months.
Much as I totally resented having to do it, I was taken much more seriously by doctors (male and female) when I took my husband with me to appointments.
The last time I saw my old GP, I described my physical symptoms, and she wanted to refer me to a pain clinic and prescribe me anti-depressants. I became beyond coherent as she was fobbing me off yet again and ended up crying so much that I couldn't even talk.When my husband repeated how I was feeling and how bad life was for me, I got a referral to a neurologist and was subsequently diagnosed with another auto-immune disease which required heavy-duty medication. I never went back to that GP.
This sort of scenario happened several times - if I told a doctor how I was feeling, it was often dismissed or ignored, or put down to my age, my sex, depression, or just "one of those things". If my husband told a doctor how I was feeling, it was taken more seriously.
How infuriating. >|
Hi beansmummy
I glad to hear your husband helped you with your gp I did the same thing at my docs cause I was getting nowhere we both went in to see the gp who was male,I started to talk about my symptoms pain ect he cut me off saying your giving me to much information.we will try these antidepressant I got upset as he had only just given me antidepressant three months previously they did nothing but make me feel like a zombie. My partner started to talk for me as I could not the doc in a rather loud Stern voice said to him IM NOT TALKING TO YOU!! Your not her to see me she is..at that my partner said this appointment is over and your a rather nasty person!!😤 I left the surgery a month later!
I wonder if these people go home and ever reflect on how they make their patients feel 
I guess not
I had one of those incoherent appointments last year. I was crying so much I couldn't talk. I was on my own at the time, which was a huge mistake. The appointment wasn't an NHS one, it was a private one and the cost of it (£280 if I remember correctly) was totally wasted. I forgot to tell him that I wanted all letters to come to me, I didn't want anything going to my GP.
So, he wrote a letter to my GP, and apart from a large bill I never got any communication from him at all. My GP did give me a copy of his letter, in which he insulted me and described me as demanding.
The whole race of doctors are abusive, incompetent bastards with an anti-social personality disorder in my experience.
I hated having incoherent appointments, because it just gave the doctor added ammunition to right me off as depressed. Once you have that label, you can whistle for any more help. Anything written on your file that suggests mental illness is stuck with you - they use it again and again, and yet seem able to ignore any test results or other physical symptoms.
We obviously have a lot in common with respect to our experiences of the medical profession. I was written off as a liar and a hypochondriac in my teens. I'm now in my 50s. I've had virtually an entire life of being dismissed, and I know it will never change. I've been branded, and it will never, ever come off.
I think I accepted what doctors said to me over the years because, obviously, they were doctors and knew everything about everything. I got frustrated with them, but didn't think to question their diagnoses.
The fight for good health in the last few years, since my Hashimoto's diagnosis, makes me realise that doctors really are not Gods - they might be quite clever because they can learn a pile of facts, but they don't seem able use their brains to think beyond that. They don't like you having too many symptoms to look at during one appointment, but seem unable to consider that they might be interlinked.
My health has definitely improved in recent months, but only through my own efforts (and money). I don't put up with any nonsense from doctors now - I am never rude, but I can hold my own.
I never did accept that there was nothing wrong with me. I thought they wouldn't treat me because they thought I was whinging scum and didn't "deserve" it. (I know that sounds weird, but my sanity was hanging on by a very thin thread for years.) Severe untreated pain which was dismissed, laughed at, smirked at, and denied at every turn had a devastating impact on my mental health. They kept on fobbing me off, making up diagnoses which never needed treatment, just to make me go away.
My main problems were gynaecological. (I now think the untreated hypothyroidism was a major instigator of my gynaecological problems.) The causes of the excruciating periods and pelvic pain I'd had was discovered eventually. It was even reported to my GP - I found the letters when I bought my GP notes. But the information they contained was never incorporated into my summary record. So the denial went on and I was treated like a liar all over again.
I just wish I had paid for a copy of my GP records at the earliest opportunity. But part of me didn't want to read what they thought of me so I put it off for years. Big mistake...
I'm not going to click "like" on your post, because I really don't You have been treated so appallingly. I can imagine that if you said all that to a doctor, you'd be classed as a hysterical, hormonal, menopausal, depressed woman - and still get no further.
I have managed to improve things a bit, just in the last year or so. After buying my GP notes I dithered for ages about what I should do.
In the end I copied the letters showing the most serious things that had been missed from my summary record, wrote a very polite covering letter, pointing out that the information had been missed out and could they incorporate it into my summary record please.
I knew that even if they didn't do what I asked someone (don't know who) would probably read it. And just getting someone to read it might be enough to improve matters. I was right. It did.
However, I imagine all the stuff (that I'm guessing was in my records but wasn't given to me) saying I'm a depressed hypochondriac, and an attention-seeking liar is still in my records and can be resurrected at a moment's notice if they so choose. But I still have those letters... 
Hi humanbean
I'm thinking of going private this year when I get my equity off my house which I have had to selling due to my illness,😢belive me if I was not ill I would not be selling my home.I do hope I don't have your experience and I'm so sorry you did..call them selves doctors!!😈 tell you what if I'm not happy with the service I'll ask for my money bk😉 talk about a god complex think most of the GPS/endos iv see have had this!!…bedside manner as left the building..😤feel like were all just numbers and targets now!! The days are gone when the doctor looked after you,,I remember as a young child I had mumps my doctor called most every day to see how I was doing he was so nice I felt like he really cared about my wellbeing haven't had that feeling from a doctor in years..😢 pity really coz most country's say we have the best health care in the world😕 but that's not been my experience and yes I'm sure some have had good service from doctors/NHS!! Not me!! Also I think if GPS and consultants can't pin down your symptoms or help you they just send you away with antidepressants!!😈
I can remember going to my male gp when I was 25 about a gynaecological issue, & he asked me about my sex life, then when i told me that I didn`t have one, he prescribed valium. He obviously thought that I was a neurotic girl who was sexually frustrated, & needed drugging to keep me quiet.
That's appalling!
I remember going to the GP with extreme fatigue at 23, he pretty much ignored me, but based on my age prescribed the pill. I didn't want or need it.
In the 20 years since, every problem I've had have been put down to post natal depression, bog standard depression, being overweight, and more recently 'time of life' despite there being no sign I'm menopausal.
It's like being in a Kafka novel. Everything is down to depression or weight. NO, THOSE ARE SYMPTOMS OF THE CONSTANT TIREDNESS - I'm too tired to move or exercise, and get depressed because I'm too tired to work properly, engage in family life, and am now a big fat cow to boot.
Why won't they listen?
I had terrible stomach problems which were caused by "being a hormonal teenager" (really??!); the depression/fatigue/continuing stomach problems I had in my 20s and 30s were because I had hormonal issues, PMT, I'd had babies, and needed to stop stressing etc; and then things were blamed on being pre-menopausal, then menopausal, then post-menopausal.
When I got a copy of my medical notes, I discovered that I'd had glandular fever in my 20s (I remember having tests but being told that my tiredness was because I was a mum with young children). And there was also a thyroid test which showed a TSH well over-range. I didn't know that either. So, over the years, doctors seem happy to jump on the "depressed" label and continue to throw that one at me, but able to ignore a dodgy thyroid result.
I try not to dwell on the unfairness of it all, that my health problems over the years were never investigated, and test results have been ignored. I don't put up with cr*p like that any more, and am in a much better place now.
Hi hairyfairy
Love the name by the way😁
Your doctor got paid for that appointment with you and put you on vallium coz you never had a sex life,,wat a biggot!! His wages should have been deducted,,I'd like to know who regulates GPS and consultants ,,iv been thinking of recording my gp for some of the stupid stuff he comes out with,,I have me/CFS/fibro iv had it since 2006. I recently had an app with him to discuss going to see a rhumertologyst about bad fibro pain he was very reluctant to refer me but he had no choice as the request had come from my gastro consultant,,the painkillers the doc had me on was damaging my stomach.He then asked me what CFS was😤 Jesus he's my doctor he knows all my illness or so I thought!! And to cap it all when I was in hospital for seven days with the stomach and bowle problems I had to tell the consultant all my illnesses and symptoms told him I was also going threw the menopause he piped up and said "the menopause is not an illness" I very quickly said"its a good job you men don't have to go threw it"the two nurses with him turned away laughing,.😁
• in reply tobirkie
birkie - doctors are regulated by the General Medical Council, the very same organisation that ignored the concerns of relatives of Harold Shipman's victims. The Chair of the Shipman enquiry referred to the GMC as 'behaving like a gentlemen's club'. Doctors pay an annual subscription to the GMC for 'training purposes' which is actually a protection racket cos they're not, in my experience, interested in patient complaints about doctors.
birkie• in reply to
Hi cinnamon_girl
We'll that explains it!!! Wouldn't stand much of a chance complaining about your doctor to that body😈its typical 😈
Remember going to the G.P with my middle child as he had two prominent lumps on the base of his skull, where it meets the neck, they were cysts under his skin. The GP said 'why are you overreacting, is this your first child?'. I pointed out that it was not overreacting by getting two lumps on him checked out and that it wasn't my first child. He was horrid. Anyone would be concerned if they found lumps under the skin on a baby. That was because I was a woman, he wouldn't have spoken to my husband like that.
Bit late to join this thread but am afraid over the years I have had appalling treatment and also excellant treatment. I've learnt to stick with a good GP if you can find them -they are gold dust and usually they are fully booked cos the rest of the patient population rate them too.
My care has ranged from amazing to down right dangerous. One consultant put me on a medication that blocked the conversion of the thyroid hormones despite me asking if it would affect my meds....clearly couldn't be bothered to check.....6 weeks later I was dangerously ill with a blood pressure that turned my GPs face ghostly white. Took me 6 weeks to get the meds out of my system as they were slow release!! Couldn't work during that time. Sent the consultant a letter of complaint referring him to power points and books designed for student doctors and naturally refused to see him anymore. Would've sued but if you get better apprrantly you don't have grounds for sueing! Amazing. Of course they sent me to the Proff who then stuck up for the others incompetence saying I'd had a rare reaction -like I was gonna believe that!!
These days I don't take truck from any medical professional don't care who they are or what big name they carry -if they talk rubbish I tell them -am always polite of course....mainly because if you stand up to a doc and are incredibly polite and reasonable at the time they just don't know what to do....!!! It's quite a pleasure to watch. I have had consultants rant and rave at me and I have sat quietly asking in the most reasonable voice I can muster more questions! I then calmly thank them for their information no matter in what tone they deliver or how madly angry they look. Am telling you they loose more and more control and look raving mad by the time I've finished. The students love it and you can see them chuckling, nodding their heads with encouragement towards you!! It's actually quite empowering.... especially when I leave the room all calm and collect whilst the consultant looks on bewildered.
On the other hand I had excellant care during my cancer treatment, brilliant fast track referral, wonderful caring compassionate skilled consultants, nurses -if it hadn't been for the rotten diagnosis I would have thought I'd gone to heaven!! They sorted me out and am clear of it now. So there are good ones out there too....praise be
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