Women being dismissed at the doctors

I presented with a painful condition which had worsened over 3 months. Diagnosed, given exercises to do, told to use ice packs.

When my husband went a few days later with the start of the same condition, he was referred to the consultant.

Yes nearly cost me my life. The pains all in your head dear.

I was told to do yoga for my classic gallstone symptoms!! So I got a private scan. Chock full of stones. Absolutely furious.

Got an appointment today and I'm dreading it. Had BC in 2012 and I've got really bad aches in my back and pelvis and really want a scan or blood test to rule out mets. I'll probably get guff about my weight, which I can't lose because of the steroids I'm on.
Ugh

And that's why I'm awake at this time in the morning. It bloody hurts and the pain has woken me up.

In the past 12 months both DH and me have had rotator cuff injury to our shoulders.

But the route we both took to diagnosis and treatment has been very different.

He went to the walk in centre, had an xray, nothing broken and nurse referred him to physio with suspected rotator cuff injury. All done and dusted on the day and he got his physio appt within a week. Symptoms improved over next few weeks. All good and on the road to recovery.

And me? walk in centre, had xray and told nothing broken and to book appt with GP to discuss results. GP printed off sheet of inappropriate excercises and prescribed cocodamol. 2nd GP appt - keep up with excercises and keep taking cocodamol. 3rd GP (male) pain due to bra and suggested I go for a bra fitting . 4th GP appt - when did I have my last period? (38 - I'm 55) . 5th GP appt referred for CT scan. CT scan rotator cuff injury. Surgery needed. 4 weeks later still waiting for appt...

HelenaDove Mon 22-Oct-18 19:49:58
I lost 10 stone 16 years ago.. I got gallstones and it got so bad i couldnt eat SOLID food. i went through months and months of excrutiating pain and A + E admission. In and out of A + E for TEN MONTHS. then doctors coming to my home to give me morphine injections whenever i had an attack . Finally a doctor prescribed me morphine pills which melted under the tongue that i took every time i had an attack. First attack was 3 July 2002 Scan was on 19 Dec 2002 after months of A + E admissions . Early Feb 2003 i got a letter telling me id have to wait for ANOTHER YEAR. I cried my eyes out and actually considered suicide. It was only after a private consultation with a surgeon and then another admission to hospital and an NHS appointment with the same surgeon that my op was promised within 6 weeks It was done 5 weeks later on 28 April 2003.id lost 8 stone by the time i had my op. The surgeon and two doctors told me it was caused by losing weight too fast. (slimming world) The pain was excrutiating and the first attack appeared after id lost nearly 4 stone. Back then i had no idea fast weight loss could cause gallstones I was losing a stone a month and whenever i did try to slow it down i either stayed the same or gained.

I actually did seriously consider suicide especially after i got the letter telling me id have to wait ANOTHER YEAR. I thought it was beyond cruel especially when id lost the weight by myself with willpower.

i believe due to mixing tramadol with as many over the counter drugs as i could in the early months to stop the pain i have been left with long term issues and its also left a bitter taste in the mouth TBH. Im grateful for the NHS but i was in so much pain i was thinking of overdosing (which i was bloody close to anyway) i also think the fact i won Class Slimmer of the Year and started to appear in our local papers may have been a factor in me getting the op sooner than that awful letter said but i shall never know.

and they kept blaming the acid reflux on my weight.

Ive been on Ranitidine for 20 years (Zantac) i was told if i lost weight it would help the acid reflux. I lost ten stone. Still had/have the acid reflux. Last year my surgery stopped it with no notice so i buy the lower dose ones. When i can afford to and when i can get hold of them.

What happened when i lost weight was even worse, Its on Graphistas thread.

On a recent Zantac thread someone very kindly told me what could be wrong.

In the late 90s pre Zantac i used to get up and eat something because that would stop the acid and this didnt help my weight and made it harder to lose.....i just couldnt back then.

It’s a story I know only too well myself. I was suicidal with pain and repeatedly fobbed off with ludicrous suggestions and diagnoses. When I went private a saw a (female) specialist she immediately diagnosed me correctly and was more than impressed that I had made it that far without treatment.
I did complain about my treatment and am now with a different GP practice who treat their patients like adults.

My mum kept going back to the doctors about her abdominal pain and was given a range of bullshit diagnoses over several months, including a pulled muscle and anxiety (she was really chilled out and hated exercise). It wasn't until the pain was so bad that she wound up in hospital, that she finally got her stage 4 cancer diagnosis (she died 6 weeks later). I'm still fucking furious several years on 😔 and can't help but wonder if the outcome would've been the same if it had been my dad presenting the same symptoms instead.

Article

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/its-hysteria-not-a-heart-attack-gp-app-tells-women-gm2vxbrqk

Not sure if the link will work

There was something in the news about a health app and heart attacks. The gist was that a women and a man both put in the same symptoms, man got told to go to a&E, woman got told to watch and wait. The justification was that heart problems more common in men and panic attacks more common in women.

I’ve heard a tip (probably on mumsnet) that if you’re asking for tests or further investigation of symptoms and the doctor is brushing you off, ask them to record your request and their refusal on your medical notes. They have to be accountable then. Women really have to be our own advocates when it comes to healthcare, and not back down.

I agree, I look younger than I am and remember having a snarky attitude from a doctor once who was dismissing my symptoms, until she looked at my records and commented 'Oh, you're older than I thought you were'. Her tone then changed abruptly.

The elderly get treated like idiots a lot of the time as well. I do think part of the problem is too many patients per doctor, and they don't get to know them well as people. So impressions and stereotypes tend to play a bigger role in how they treat people, even if there is no ill intent.

My (male) doctor laughed ha! ha! away my concerns that X symptoms would affect my gums and teeth. Silly woman.

Then at a regular dental check-up my (female) dentist said Yes, X symptoms will possibly adversely affect your gums and teeth, this is what we will do...

Just one of many examples.

Yes, do search Graphista’s thread, it’s excellent and depressing in equal measure.

I think this sort of thing is common with a number of different groups of people. Women can be one, but it seems some women more than others. Class, education, and age are also big factors.

On the other side though, there are a lot of things that there aren't really good answers or diagnosis for, which can be very frustrating for patients, and doctors don't always communicate well about that.

I've known a few moms who became frustrated with their doctor's attitudes and made a point of dressing up and looking professional at appointments, and noticed a big change in attitude from the doctors. Which is pretty annoying but maybe worth it.

Same thing has happened to me multiple times.

The most annoying thing is that when (after multiple appointments) they finally agree to carry out the tests I've been asking for, and the results come back and prove I was telling the truth all along, and it is glaringly obvious that their condescending dismissal of my concerns are shown to have caused me a great deal of unnecessary suffering, they NEVER APOLOGISE! Not once. Mostly they are pissed off to have been proved wrong.

Perhaps we should be aiming to change the way student doctors are trained in the UK?

I've said this before, but I have a long history of my problems. I visited the GP as was experiencing mania along with my depression and was referred to the MH nurse. A bloke, who told me I only had PND and actually rolled his eyes at my concern that it wasn't that. Put me off mentioning my mental health for years, until I went around the frontline HCPs and got a direct referral to psych from an associated professional. I was (and am!) autistic, which had been the source of my mh struggles all along.

My exH went to the dr with his first instance of depression. He was referred straight to the psychiatrist, no gate keeping at all.

I'm so sorry to read these stories.

Experiences like this is why I never go to the doctor.

I'm not on twitter but this would make a good hashtag.

Recently in the papers. They have improved the diagnosis of heart attacks in women, but haven't seen an improvement in survival rates, because the doctors are still subconsciously undertreating the females. Less likely to have stents for example,

Have been back and forth to the doctors with chronic pain. I keep being prescribed anti depressants. I'm really pissed off. I don't think I have anything 'serious' but it is greatly diminishing my quality of life. I am depressed by my circumstances but I don't believe that antidepressants are going to fix things. I don't feel that I am believed. And I also hate going to the doctors and up until recently have rarely been.