Why are females not believed in the medical field

The ‘they won’t let you’ about pregnancy. ‘They won’t let you go to x weeks.’ What are ‘they’ going to do, tie me down and induce? ‘They’ give me medical advice and I consider it. It’s worst for young, marginalised women, especially of colour.

OP, just a suggestion not to refer to women and girls as ‘females’. It’s part of the same dehumanising issue.

Apparently I wasn't having an early menopause after a hysterectomy (uterus only). Despite every single symptom.

A decade on the NHS website has now been updated to include that if you've had a hysterectomy then you may have a much earlier menopause. Makes my blood boil.

Its a nightmare and exactly this happened to me. I have discussed on other threads. I think they glance at the diagnosis above and don't listen to a word you say, trusting the previous professional and not attending to the patient in front of them.

With the state of healthcare in the country, I am not that sure at the moment whether the so called service we receive has anything to do with anyone's gender. It's just pretty abysmal all around.

State op. state. Try the private route and it’s like day and night. We are fortunate to have private and I’ve never had this.

Yes, I'm sure you are right OP. Although bizarrely I have actually had the opposite problem - sort of. A few years ago, I started having many health problems and my GP sent me to numerous different hospital doctors. Most of them had no idea what was wrong and some of them said I said I seemed anxious - which I also found very irritating.

Anyway, eventually I got to a doctor who did know what my problem was and knew how to solve it. However, part of that particular health condition is actually anxiety. So you when the physical problem, you get worried and that fuels the physical problem to get worse. The treatment was very simple - physio for the physical problem, anti-anxiety meds plus counselling. The crazy thing is ai had no idea I was anxious. I now know why I didn't know - it is because I am neurodivergent (didn't know when I had this health problem) and anxiety is an integral part of most neurodivergence.

My GP had actually also recognised that I was anxious and kept on trying to tell me in a subtle way that I was anxious but because I'm autistic I didn't take her subtleties on board - but we didn't know about the autism then.

Roll on a few years and my anxiety got extremely bad and the GP upped my dose of anxiety medication and I had endless counselling, all of which helped but not enough. EVENTUALLY I realised I had ADHD, got a diagnose and medication and boom - like magic the anxiety has melted away.

I was going to post the same thing.

ingrained sexism
its rife throughout society but becomes noticeable in the medical field
the old advice - take a man with you to get taken seriously still hold a

It's so infuriating!! I felt so disempowered advocating for myself with male obstetricians during my 'high risk' pregnancy (although the neurologist I finally saw agreed with me I should not have been classed as high risk to begin with). I remember crying my eyes out after they tried to tell me I was having a C section without listening to me at all. There was no medical need for it. Agree with PP it's the same when seeking medical care for DD.

Am currently waiting for an internal scan following months of insanely heavy bleeding and clotting and its been such hard work even to get on the waiting list. I have been fobbed off with HCPs when I call and ask for a doctor's appointment, then been told I need to book again to see the doctor for a referral 🙄

Truth be told I am quite an anxious person (not with health), and would probably benefit from speaking to the GP about it but I feel if they see anxiety written anywhere on my notes it'll be even harder to be taken seriously!

I’ve pondered this a lot this last couple of years, had a several things dismissed as anxiety, I’m very lucky I have a health care policy via work and was able to get second opinions each time and it was not anxiety. But it very much felt the whole “hysterical woman” trope each time. I also was taken more seriously when dh came with me

Look at the etymology for hysteria. That tells you everything you need to know about the medical profession's attitude towards women.

Question for female HCPs: do your male colleagues believe you?

It's infuriating. I find the same over DC's medical care. The eye rolls I got when trying to advocate for my DC have been audible.

The only way I get anything sorted is to take DH along to stand like a golem so they can talk through him. My (female and lovely) GP even told me to take him to my gynae appt because she said I'd be ignored otherwise.

It's awful OP and has been a huge issue for me this year. Once anxiety is in the frame, everything else seems to go out of the window. I've had two life changing diagnoses this year after months of symptoms being dismissed as anxiety and I don't even have an history of anxiety or low mood. It's normal to be anxious when your serious health concerns are being dismissed.