Why did three GPs over the last 17 years ignore me when I went in to get help with what I now know is a rectocele? And the male GP I saw today said is need to rebook with the only female GP in the surgery to discuss it? When I finally got a diagnosis from a physiotherapist who told me she'd suffered the same thing due to childbirth, she recommended I get a private consultation with a surgeon, and then use that to try to get treatment on the NHS. This is not possible for me on my financial situation at the moment. She sent a letter to my GP with her diagnosis, and he did precisely nothing with the letter.
Why after suffering for 17 years, building up the courage to speak to a GP again today, do I have to rebook to see a female GP.
Do our GPs not all get basic training on vaginas and colo-rectal issues?
Is this a feminist issue that I have been ignored (by GP1 who said he had no idea what I was trying to describe) and GP 2- same answer. GP three did the talk to the physiotherapist but nothing with they information. And GP 4 just didn't want to know.
If men had to digitally remove their feaces faeces, would male GPS give a shit?
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions
Women's health
KnittedBlanketHoles · 11/01/2017 20:54
op
Definitely female medical issues aren't taken seriously, there are studies to show it
I know how you feel.
The palaver to sort my rectocele and cystocele was ridiculous. GP diagnosed and referred me to gynae, the registrar I saw said there was nothing abnormal at all and it was just post-childbirth. Broke my heart at that after the trouble I was having. Took two years to psych myself up to ask for a second opinion - diagnosed finally and referred for surgery.
Waited another two years for the surgery, had it just before xmas. And now I'm gonna paste a post of mine from another recent thread (seriously, I could rant on this subject all day!!!)
...
I recently had a gynae op. Few weeks later, I woke up one morning having bled heavily overnight. The pad I was using was completely saturated. I called the gynae ward and was asked about seventy two million times if it was my period. (Like a woman in her thirties doesn't know what a period looks like!) Went in to see a doctor, they said it was an infection causing the wound to swell and pull apart, gave me ABs and sent me home.
Later that day I started bleeding heavily. I sat in the bath and it was literally pouring out. Call gynae who again ask if it is my period. It doesn't stop after about an hour of me lying in the bath, so they say to go in. I attempt to get ready to leave and pass out. DH rings for an ambulance on advice of gynae. First response paramedic arrives and mentions that he has been told I have heavy vaginal bleeding and is it my period. He attempts to get me out of the house, I pass out on the stairs leaving a lovely puddle of blood. He calls for an ambulance, who again ask about vaginal bleeding. Wait a while but get to gynae, stitches have ripped open, end up staying in for nearly a week, and then a few weeks of anaemia on top of that.
Again and again and again I was asked if it was my period, despite telling people 1. It wasn't, it was bright red, thin blood, and 2. I had just had an operation and had stitches internally (plus 3. I have a coil and don't get proper periods!)
I honestly feel that even in the gynae department itself, "vaginal bleeding" was written off as unimportant and something not to make a fuss over.
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