to not need mansplaining regarding my breasts?

[Minimalme]

I have had some localised breast pain for last couple of months.

GP examined me and said she could feel "something" so referred me to the breast clinic.

Appointment today and was told the male
Consultant wouldn't wear a face mask but I had to.

He examined my breasts which I found really difficult because he is male.

He has concluded the pain I feel is because of my underwired bra being too tight. I told him it isn't and the pain has been consistent and I don't sleep in a bra and often wear non underwired bras.

He told me that he "still thinks it is" caused by my bra.

Then he refused to do a mammogram. He said as am 49 I will get one soon anyway.

DH has taken a day off work so I can be dismissed after a 5 minute examination.

I am upset, angry and importantly, still worried because this man has dismissed my GP's concern using his special powers of mansplaining.

I am now going private. We are not comfortably off by any stretch of the imagination.

You should definitely complain.

My GP referred me for a breast lump not too long ago. She said the criteria for urgent referral was my age (early forties) and that she could feel the lump.

Fwiw I was pretty sure from Google search that it was nothing, as was the GP, and this was pretty much confirmed by the consultant after the first examination during my appointment. She still followed the correct procedure and I had a mammogram, scan and biopsy on the day. Although I was told I could shoot straight off afterwards and just wait for my letter.

This consultant should not disregard you or your GP in this haphazard manner. Clearly if there was no issue your GP wouldn’t have made the referral. You were there for tests and you should have been given the tests. It’s ridiculous the number of consultants who disbelieve or minimise their patients experiences.

I hope all goes well with your private appointment op.

Whose said that?

People are merely pointing out being dismissive isn't the same as mansplaining

I was at the breast clinic this week with what my GP said was hopefully lumpy breast tissue but possibly a discreet lump. I also had breast pain. The lump was difficult to find but my GP could feel it and the (male) doctor who did the ultrasound could too. The main consultant (also make) however couldn't feel anything and made me feel like a time wasting twat as both my mammogram and ultrasound showed "nothing of concern".

I sympathise OP and agree you need to have your mammogram. Some medical professionals are dicks. Just as in all other walks of life. We're told never to ignore breast changes and then treated like hysterical females by the men running the breast clinics. Go figure.

I had a woman consultant who told me it was underwire I wasn't insulted . From now on I was told no bralettes also. I was to wear non wired bras 24/7 only removing for bathing purposes. The pain went.

I've twice been referred for a mammogram on the back of symptoms like this, if I hadn't I'd have scraped up the funds to go private.
I was horribly dismissed by a condescending male GP when I was suffering awful pain on one side in early pregnancy. I was apparently "very silly" for expecting pregnancy to be pain free. I was in tears walking back through the waiting room, the lovely receptionist took me to one side and when I explained she got one of the other doctors to take a look. She was concerned and I was sent straight for a scan, a cyst was found and I ended up needing surgery.

Actually, a mammogram isn't a "simple test" really due to the level of radiation - much higher than a normal xray. This is one of the reasons you would generally only get them every three years. I receive yearly mammograms as I am high risk, and am warned to ensure I don't have one in the intervening period without discussion with the team. I'm to request ultrasound at other times.

If there was no chaperone offered you really should complain. Unfortunately, the vast majority of all consultants are male, so you can't be guaranteed a female to examine you - but there should be the offer of a female chaperone for all appointments such as breast or pelvic exams. Your hospital should have a dedicated breast clinic - speak to your GP and ask for a referral to that under 14 day pathway (though it is likely to be a little longer than 14 days at the moment)

I wonder what MNs opinions would be if the genders were reversed…

Why are so many focusing on one word and ignoring the bigger picture? This is a bigger MN pile on than usual. Yet, it’s an issue that we should all be aware of and be concerned about.

Have you so quickly forgotten Ian Paterson? Or, as a PP mentioned, the wire mesh scandal where women’s pain only became an issue when their male partners complained? Or indeed the sexism female doctors face? How women’s health has long been more at risk because of being seen as hysterical.

In her book Sex Matters, the US physician Alyson McGregor describes how women who are in pain often have trouble convincing the doctor treating them of how serious that pain is. The more they protest and try to convince the physician, the more their behaviour is perceived as hysterical.

For those jumping on the OP asking how’d she respond to a female doctor. Well, the recent research finds that for female patients it does matter if your doctor is male or female. A 12 year canadian study on common surgeries found worse outcomes for female patients treated by male surgeons (compared with female patients treated by female surgeons. Whereas, for heart attacks this is literally life threatening in that women with heart disease are more likely to be misdiagnosed than men, and will have worse outcomes for surgery.

This thread is utterly depressing because women need to fight to be heard when their health is at stake. Yet it’s women dismissing and denigrating the OP because they didn’t like one word she used.

A highly qualified man giving his professional opinion is not mansplaining. Good to push for a mammogram though.

He may never have worn an underwired bra. But as a consultant Brest doctor or surgeon. I don't think you can accuse him of mansplaining. If a female doctor had said the same, should you have felt angry? Probably not. And pain caused by underwing is a reasonable diagnosis, in the absence of anything else.

Women are very often not taken seriously when it comes to their health, and often we don't speak up and fight for ourselves for a variety of reasons,

This^^ There is still a lot of frankly sexist dismissal by male HCPs who don't take women seriously.

When I was pregnant with my first, I developed abdominal/flank pains when I was 6 months pregnant. My horribly sexist consultant chastised me for overdoing it at the gym and causing nerve root pain, for which he prescribed hydrotherapy.

It turned out that the baby was lying across my ureter, causing my kidneys to back up (causing a similar effect to kidney stones) meaning I had to have an emergency nephrostomy for the last 3/4 months of pregnancy to avoid dying!! My pain was dismissed, and I was deemed just a silly, hysterical woman who was exaggerating her pain and just needed to get a grip.

So apart from the use of the word mansplaining here which is possibly questionable, you're not wrong to want better care OP.

Tbf the 2 weeks is so you can be seen by a specialist, it doesn’t mean you get every test/investigation.
Op has been seen, the consultant has decided no investigations are necessary. OP is going to be seen privately to be sure.

Re the mask issue -I’m wondering if he was wearing glasses? I’d rather he had a clear view than fogged up specs for such an important examination.

It’s not mansplaining, it’s doctorsplaining. He’s the expert. Listen to him..

I totally agree. The amount of times drs haven't listened to me or my dds but as soon as my dh goes in with them or me for the appointment suddenly things get done and he is listened to. It frustrates him as much as it does us that his mere presence makes this happen.
Even if you aren't replying op I do hope you are still reading some of the replies. Most of us are behind you and here to support you💐

Perfectly put

If it had been a small breasted woman, or a woman who had had a mastectomy telling you that the pain was caused by your bra, would you also dismiss the non diagnosis?

Would you suggest that a female consultant who examined a male for eg prostrate cancer was also being inappropriate for not wearing a mask and would you dismiss her diagnosis if she gave a patient the all clear?

I mean, yes, fewer than 1 in 100 cases of breast cancer, and no men at all are sent for routine mammograms, so yes, it's just about possible - although I think 'very easily' is pushing it - that one of the patients that day might have been male.

Although none were.

However, there is very clearly a difference between a man who is also going through the same experience - and has a reason to be there, like a staff member does - with whom you would feel empathy and pity - and a man who's just there as a spectator, needlessly taking up space and making all of those who are there feel less comfortable and more exposed.

In fact, I was interested so I looked this up, and you're wrong. In all of the information I could find, male patients are seen separately from female patients. So, it's not just extremely statistically unlikely that a male patient would be there but in fact the NHS - apparently unlike you - understands that women (and men) deserve privacy and single-sex facilities.

See for example:

Although, at the Linda McCartney Breast Unit, we do not run a separate clinic for men, you will wait and be seen in a private and separate area from women attending the same clinic.
www.rlbuht.nhs.uk/departments/medical-specialisms/breast-unit/i-am-a-man-with-a-breast-symptom/

I will never, ever understand why some women are so determined to insist on the right of men to be in every single space, even those spaces where the overwhelming majority of women feel vulnerable, frightened, exposed, and in need of privacy and dignity. Is it really the worst imaginable offence to suggest that men might not be welcome somewhere?

Op get a second opinion, why some still treat medical 'professionals' as gods I do not know. You have to be happy I hope your next consultation puts your mind at ease.

This doesn't sound at all like your're being unreasonable. My experience last year, found a lump GP thought prob nothing but referred to breast cancer clinic 'just in case' consultant thought prob nothing but referred for mammogram 'just in case' mammogram not conclusive so sent for ultrasound 'just in case' ultrasound not conclusive so biopsies taken same day. Biopsy confirmed all ok. To summarise everyone i saw thought it was nothing but wanted to be 100% sure, surely that's how this should work.

We are talking about the waiting room, right?

Random men aren’t following you through to your consultation space, are they?

I had a mammogram yesterday at the Radiology clinic. What with it servicing both men and women (i.e. mammograms are one of many services), there were men there with their wives/partners and women with husbands/partners.

I was alone, but I have had DH with me in the past, and I don’t begrudge anyone taking someone with them, if it’s what they need.

Some people actually like and care for their partner. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Most women aren't so irrationally scared of men they cant share a waiting room with a man who is doing absoloutly nothing wrong - your views is the abnormal one.

If you are upset that a womans chaperone has a penis thats YOUR issue to deal with, it doesnt remove anyone elses rights.

As I said I have been through this, most people had a chaperone, many where men and no one appeared upset... I can say for a fact I wasn't and that a man comforting his wife in no way impacted on my experiance.

The waiting room for the breast clinic at our hospital covers every sort of reason for which there might be an x-ray or ultrasound. Once you are called, it's a conveyer belt of change into a gown, mammogram, ultrasound. No one goes back there but the patient, but it's so slick that you don't bump into any other patients either, then it's back to a mixed waiting room to wait to see a consultant.

I know now how my body responds to a painful procedure, so know to have someone with me to drive me home. I'd also want something there to do extra remembering of conversations etc. If there was a next steps type conversation to be had, because dealing with the shock and emotion could make that quite hard I imagine.

@BloodAndFire my friends husband is currently being treated for Brest cancer, he's had a mastectomy and chemo. My friend is upset that the Breast Institute is all painted pink!