Article from a few days ago in the Washington Post.
These "being. woman" issues appear to be universal.
It is particularly egregious when, as with thyroid issues, the majority of those with thyroid issues are women. And for those issues which affect exclusively women.
Is it anxiety or something else? What women should know.
By Jamie Friedlander Serrano
November 16, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. EST
Centuries ago, when women complained of trouble sleeping, irritability or other problems, their physical ailments were often ignored and filed away as signs of “hysteria,” a condition that doctors believed was caused by the uterus moving around the body.
Fast-forward to today, when hysteria is no longer a go-to label, but women are almost twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, according to a 2016 systematic research review published in the academic journal Brain and Behavior.
The reasons for this are complicated, but one thing is clear: Women may struggle to get diagnoses for health problems — including sleep apnea, thyroid issues and certain heart conditions — early enough if their symptoms are misattributed to anxiety. Sorting out whether a symptom stems from anxiety or something else is essential, experts say, adding that women shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions and advocate for themselves.
Women often have somatic, or physical, symptoms, like a racing heart, muscle tension or diarrhea, said Stacy Doumas, a psychiatrist and chair of the department of psychiatry at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. This can make it difficult to determine whether their symptoms are caused by anxiety, another medical condition, or both, Doumas said.
“It’s tricky for female patients but also for the doctors who are trying to figure it out,” she adds.
Higher rates of anxiety diagnoses in women can make it harder for them to get appropriate medical treatment.
More of the article here - it seems to be open access at least at present:
Gosh some things never change do they!! You'd assume if you're a doctor you'd have clinical tools to identify the causes! Saying that just encountered the exact same reply yesterday in Paris with an allergist: had side effects to antihistamine (ironically racing heart up to 136 when out walking) and new allergist gave me an other anthistamine but wouldn't treat the side effects?? Does make you wonder how they're being trained...
I might be more inclined to take the article seriously if the doctor quoted wasn't a psychiatrist.
Also the mention of "somatic symptoms" is a bit dodgy, in my opinion. If you look it up in a dictionary :
somatic /sō-măt′ĭk/
adjective
Of, relating to, or affecting the body, especially as distinguished from a body part, the mind, or the environment; corporeal or physical.
Of or relating to the wall of the body cavity, especially as distinguished from the head, limbs, or viscera.
Of or relating to the portion of the vertebrate nervous system that regulates voluntary movement.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition • More at Wordnik
it certainly implies that it relates to physical symptoms but in reality I've read quite a few references to psychosomatic and somatic in recent articles and papers which appear to make the two words appear to be converging in meaning, and somatic is used as if it is related only to mental health problems.
I always think of Aldous Huxley - though in the noun form rather than adjectival.
In Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, a narcotic drug which produces euphoria and hallucination, distributed by the state in order to promote content and social harmony. Also transferred and attributive.
I think that these days, everything has to have a 'label'.
If you have been given a label, your physician's job is done, no need to investigate further. Oh, you are anxious, here have some pills. Oh, you have high cholesterol, here have some statins. You have ADHD, here is a new treatment. Oh, you have CFS/fibromyalgia - no proper treatment available, we do not really know what's wrong with you but we thought we give you a nice label so you stop bothering us.
I understand that it can get a bit more nuanced to get to the bottom of a problem, as some symptoms can overlap or mask something else - however some detailed blood and nutrient testing should give plenty of clues. And if they had proper scientific training, they could perhaps even learn that some symptoms are interconnected (e.g., low thyroid hormones and anxiety, or low thyroid hormones and high cholesterol levels etc.). The clues are there, you just need to recognise them and take appropriate action. Imagine how many doctor's visits could be saved, if they would treat the actual cause and not the symptoms.....
Makes for interesting reading, and I agree with everyone else: it's disheartening, the continuing assumption that women's health problems tend to be mostly in their heads.
Incidentally, the first severe symptom which made me realise something was very wrong with me, was anxiety -- which I'd never suffered from before -- though accompanied by other symptoms, that were ignored. You can imagine the attitude I got when I refused the anti-depressants pushed onto me!
I've now had first-hand opportunity to compare experiences, because my husband was recently diagnosed with Hashi's. It had taken me some years, and only after I finally saw my sister's doctor abroad, to get my Hashi's diagnosis. Here in Scotland I've had to stick with a private Endo, to avoid the challenge of being judged solely by my TSH results. But my husband saw the local GP once with his complaint of feeling constantly tired, and immediately had his TSH and T4 and antibodies tested. At the follow-up consultation one month later, he was told that although his TSH was only just above the range, if he wanted to start on Thyroxine that would be fine - which he did.
I've been quite gobsmacked at the difference in our experiences with the same condition!
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Thyroid or something else?
Thyroid or something else??
Is it thyroid or something else ?
Overactive thyroid symptoms! 
