Do you think womens health issues arent taken as seriously as mens?

However women are more likely to be left out of clinical trials so results are skewed to male biology.

Men are more likely to volunteer though which is problematic.

It took me about 15 years to get a diagnosis of PCOS. I'd described my symptoms to at least six different GPs by that point. It affects about 10% of women and I display all the classic, visible symptoms. Now I have my diagnosis all any GP cares about is whether or not it's affecting my fertility, not helping me with any of the other symptoms or preventative care to avoid the statistically massively increased risk of diabetes, heart disease etc. Sadly my experience is not at all unusual on PCOS support groups. If it were a condition that affected men I bet it wouldn't take years on average to diagnose or be treated as purely a fertility issue.

Oh, and then there was the male GP who told me that excruciating pain during sex is normal for women.

Barely any men under the age of 65 die of prostate cancer (less than 300) but about 5000 women a year do.
I don't think men's lives are worth less than women but I do think the death of a 30 year old from cancer is a tragedy in a way a death of a 65 year old isn't.
That's the last I'm saying about it. Derailing.

Of course I'm being obtuse, because you seem to be rather dismissive of what I have to say without justification. So the same could be said about your posts.

Back on topic. I genuinely don't think mans/women's health problems are, on the whole, treated differently. There are definiatly discrepancies and variations though in different areas. With an exception though and that is in medical trials. In this area women are under represented and although the reasons why are laudable it needs a dose of looking at.

Xen, are you victim blaming?

Man... are you being deliberately obtuse?

Sadly, while men are 3 times more likely to kill themselves in the UK, the most recent figures show that those rates are falling for men and rising for women, while the rates of parasuicidal behaviours remains the same for women. Mental health services in the UK have been cut to the bone, and because of that the trend is probably going to continue. There are some excellent third sector organisations that deal with male suicide and they should be applauded for the work they have done to reduce rates in the UK.

I'm due to have my 4th section next month, I have been asked about sterilisation. I told the (female) consultant that DH and I had decided that he will get the snip because we felt that if either of us had side effects/pain mine wouldn't be taken seriously but his would.

I expected an eye roll or something but she said that was probably true.

@scallopsrgreat you don't really want me to mansplain about looking at the bottom for references do I?

But I didn't find any 'evidence' man. I just found an interesting article .

Doing nothing is not always a bad thing.
"First do no harm" is key to good medical practice. Wait and see is often, but not always, excellent advice.

We have a GP who on being consulted on a matter relating to menopause said 'oh I don't deal with women's issues' and passed the patient on to the part time women (who is never available because she is much in demand). So 2/5 of the GPs at that practice do not do women

i do think woman's health is taken seriously but HCP will differ in how they treat different people

Have to say I've had fantastic healthcare for all things women. Support and management during breast cancer was faultless. More recent gynae issues were also addressed swiftly and effectively. In fact, I had to argue the toss with my lovely GP and the gynaecologist to resist further investigation and treatment and go for a watch and wait approach. On three occasions I saw a gynaecologist within 48 hours of speaking to my GP on the phone or in face to face appointment. I can't say I was dismissed or not taken seriously- completely the opposite, in fact.

Que, less being 'touchy' more a case of having to 'mansplain'. Your stats still miss the point that more males die from prostate cancer. Or are you saying women's lives are worth more than men's? I hope not. Also I said more is spent on research not more charity money is spent on research.

Xen, are you victim blaming?

From the WHO (not newspapers):

"In most parts of the world, health outcomes among boys and men continue to be substantially worse than among girls and women, yet this gender-based disparity in health has received little national, regional or global acknowledgement or attention from health policy-makers or health-care providers."

www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/92/8/13-132795/en/

Or...we could all accept that's healthcare is just generally shitty for both sexes for different reasons? Or is that too Rad for a feminist thread?

@ivykaty44 what do you think about women's health being taken seriously or not by HCP? Is that something you have personal experience of?

The biggest killer of men between 20-45 is suicide. That's double that for women

It is about time men's mental health was taken seriously and if it was it would prevent deaths

Scrowy... hope your DH is ok, and no, it shouldn't have taken so long

LittleWing... I'm so sorry. I've seen it before and I have little doubt I'll see it again.

Well, a lot can be gleaned from postnatal care can't it? Sent packing after an emergency section with a box of paracetamol. Here you go lady, you deal with a newborn (and possibly other children) days (or 24 hours) after major abdominal surgery - these over the counter pain killers should be enough for you to deal with the pain. Woman up.

you'll have to cry in front of us if you want anything stronger btw

I suspect that women do find it harder to have fairly debilitating conditions dealt with as they are 'women's' conditions.

Just this week endometriosis has been in the news for similar reasons.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/endometriosis-nice-guidelines-ignoring-womens-pain-diagnosis-delay-infertility-a7932351.html

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/06/listen-to-women-uk-doctors-issued-with-first-guidance-on-endometriosis

However for balance, DP went for tests for a debilitating range of symptoms back in May after being referred by his GP in November 2016. We got a letter today in September with the results of those tests. Turns out he has Crohns disease, it shouldn't have taken nearly a year to have something like that diagnosed. The NHS is crumbling regardless of what your sex is.

Further, Man until women got together to fundraise for better care for women and men with breast cancer there was almost no funding into it. So I would echo Quentin's point that, should you want more funding into a cancer that only affects men, you do what women had to do for a cancer that affects both men and women.

Ooh touchy man

I don't really think prostate cancer is relevant to the thread but if we must:
Survival rates for prostate cancer are higher (84% compared with 78% of breast cancer)
Prostate cancer affects mainly older men (Not significant until age 50+, breast cancer occurs in significant numbers after age 20) so more women live with a breast cancer diagnosis than men with a prostate cancer diagnosis.
Finally most charity fundraising is done by women. If you are so fussed about prostate cancer get of your arse and fundraise for it. Not just by growing a moustache. Set up a charity run or something big like that. Stop expecting women to do everything.

@scallopsrgreat thanks for the link. I'm a big believer in evidence when having umportant discussions otherwise it's just personal opinion and nobody changes their outlook either side.

@AssassinatedBeauty my comment was accurate but purposely flippant. There are however other post similar to my but from a females point of view. Based on nothing but 1 disease and the linked statistic.

You're deciding that based on one condition (breast cancer), by judging it based on the amount of money spent on researching it? When most of that money is raised by charity, and by women's charities at that. It's an odd way to look at it. Have you not considered what the women on this thread have been discussing? The experience as a woman of interacting with HCP?

So I started to see if i could find the report/comments I talked about with the early days of the NHS (which is iharder than you might think) and I came across this quite interesting report: www.sfh-tr.nhs.uk/attachments/article/41/The%20gender%20and%20access%20to%20health%20services%20study.pdf. Not directly about this thread but interesting nonetheless. To set expectations for some, I haven't read all 146 pages but I did read a handy summary at the start.

There was an interesting bit about weight and obesity and how rates of abesity are about the same between women and men but men are far more likely to be overweight (which you wouldn't think given the amount of focus on women's weight!) but this bit really caught my eye (it's talking about the difference between gender and sex): "In other words, a person’s sex is a biological fact but his or her gender is a function of the behaviours, attitudes, values and beliefs that a particular cultural group considers appropriate for males and females on the basis of that biological fact."

I think that this was written in 2008. I suspect that they wouldn't be able to write that now even though it's true.

Firstly, it's a unisex website and the OP didn't just ask for women's opinions so it's not just "women chatting, sharing experiences" it's an open discussion for all

Secondly, it's hardly 'ironic' unless of course I posted the other thread. Which I didn't.

Thirdly, it's Manc not Man but that says a lot about your thought process.

But if we are just chatting, more money is spent on breast cancer research than prostrate cancer despite more males dying of the later than women of the former. So, no I don't think women's issues are taken less seriously.

Well indeed Quentin. The irony wasn't lost on me either.