Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

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

64 replies

Fartypant · 07/09/2017 12:59

I have heard this said before, but not thought about it too deeply

Personal situation has me thinking about iron deficiency anaemia, uterine fibroids and ovarian cysts.

All treated very lightly and slowly. Iron deficiency, I can confirm, makes you feel like the living dead and takes MONTHS to correct

Women have fibroids the size of melons which make them appear 6 months pregnant and cause pain. Yet they are often 'watch and wait' treatments

Would men really be left barely functional for 6 months? Or with growths the size of football's? Or abdomens so distended that they look pregnant? Is it just because women can be pregnant, that it is considered acceptable?

OP posts:
deydododatdodontdeydo · 07/09/2017 13:19

Do men have as many health issues specific to men, though?
It seems women strike it unlucky when it comes to health.
Apart from prostate, what other male health issues are there?
Hard to compare, really I think.
I don't think prostate cancer gets taken more seriously than, say, breast cancer, but I could be wrong.

AssassinatedBeauty · 07/09/2017 13:35

So that level of treatment is ok because there's nothing to compare it to directly?

deydododatdodontdeydo · 07/09/2017 13:36

Who said that?

AssassinatedBeauty · 07/09/2017 13:38

That was my interpretation of your post. That the lack of comparison makes it hard to judge, so it's not easy to say if the level of treatment women receive is acceptable or the same/similar to men.

Original poster
Fartypant · 07/09/2017 13:40

Yeah, I couldn't think of comparably men's health conditions. And I don't know of 1 man who has had anaemia. I think every woman I know has had it, at some point

if men developed large growths in their abdomens, would they be taken more seriously?

OP posts:
Original poster
Fartypant · 07/09/2017 13:42

If men did get anaemia, would it be taken more seriously, do you think?

OP posts:
deydododatdodontdeydo · 07/09/2017 13:49

It's not acceptable when health conditions are left untreated, or long waiting lists, no.
But I thought the OP was asking about the difference between treatment of men and women, so that's the question I attempted to answer.

makeourfuture · 07/09/2017 14:02

I think alcoholism is treated differently. That even though consumption has grown for women, as it has decreased among men, that resources are still male-centric.

deydododatdodontdeydo · 07/09/2017 14:04

Having had some family members (both male and female) go through some healthcare issues recently, the NHS is painfully slow.
It seems non-immediately life threatening issues don't get dealt with fast.
So the question is, is anaemia dealt with slowly and poorly because only women suffer from it, or because it's not immediately life threatening.
Compare it so similar conditions that men also suffer from and see if they are taken more seriously.
I do love the NHS, but I doubt it.

terrylene · 07/09/2017 14:06

I am constantly surprised at how much blood loss many perimenopausal women are putting up with. Sometimes it is because they know no different, and sometimes it is because they are fobbed off.

Curtainsider · 07/09/2017 14:10

I have experienced this in relation to crippling back issues. Found out a couple of men at same gps got far better treatment.

I wouldn't have believed it before tbh.

VestalVirgin · 07/09/2017 14:10

Men are (or so science believes, we don't really know how many women died because they were never diagnosed) more prone to heart attacks - that is something that sure is taken extremely seriously.

And there's loads of more or less effective treatments for anything slighly annoying that men might experience, from male pattern baldness to erectile dysfunction.

I never got a spammail recommending some obscure herbal treatment for menstruation pain.

if men developed large growths in their abdomens, would they be taken more seriously?

You bet they would. Apart from it being taken more seriously by doctors in acute cases, men have dominated medical research pretty much since it is called science, you bet they'd have done something about a problem that affects them.

Iron deficiency anemia and menstruation pains (caused by a variety of things) are something that affects almost all women. If there was something affecting men at that scale, you bet they'd have done something about it!
I hope that with more female scientists, there will be more research on that, but as women are socialized to prioritize males ... well, we'll see.

DrDreReturns · 07/09/2017 14:12

How seriously does the NHS take impotence for example?

Manclife · 07/09/2017 14:19

And old link but from a reliable source.

www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/mars-vs-venus-the-gender-gap-in-health

Manclife · 07/09/2017 14:22

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

Nonibaloni · 07/09/2017 14:28

I was coming to say rage heart attack thing. Obviously life threatening but there are often times a long run in to a heart attack. I know 3 men that have had treatment before a heart attack and 2 women who went to the dr for 5 months and year and both of them had heart attacks. The dr treated them both for heart burn and indigestion. Anecdotal of course but a lovely lady died cause 3 months with increasing heartburn didn't set off alarm bells.

deydododatdodontdeydo · 07/09/2017 14:35

Heart disease is the biggest killer of men and women, so it's a bit much to say it's taken more seriously because it affects men more. Although being male is a risk factor. They are affected at a younger age, on average too.
This is the field I work in, so I know a little bit about it.
A male friend was just treated and he wasn't taken seriously, but then he isn't even 40 which is a very low age to suffer from heart disease and I suspect the doctors considered him a low risk due to his age.
It was 4 weeks until they gave him an angiogram, and he was at home suffering from severe chest pains whenever he moved the whole time.

Ollivander84 · 07/09/2017 14:43

I know it took me 8 years of saying "I'm always unwell and I catch everything" for me to be diagnosed by a locum eventually. But I'm not sure that was a female issue, more that I kept being neutropenic and nobody looked why... 8 years of infections before my count dropped so low I was sent to haematology as an emergency

CalmanOnSpeeddial · 07/09/2017 14:47

Men are heavily socialised not to seek medical attention (and are more likely to have trouble getting time off work to visit a doctor - it's not ideal to take a baby/toddler to a GP, but it's usually possible). A lot of the longevity gap between married and single men appears to be due to the wives' ability to persuade their husbands to seek medical attention where necessary.

So perhaps it's not surprising that GPs are more willing to pay attention when a man does cross their threshold. It's a classic example of where patriarchal assumptions hurt both sexes differently.

redannie118 · 07/09/2017 15:05

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns, and so we've agreed to take this down now.

Twelvety · 07/09/2017 15:47

Things like anaemia and hormone imbalances can make you feel like shit for months but as a pp said, aren't life-threatening so aren't treated immediately/seen as v important. However eg if your iron was to get so low that you needed a blood transplant doctors act v quickly (as happened to me). So maybe if a GP sees small imbalances or slightly lower levels of something they wouldn't see it as essential/important whereas treatment to correct it could really help someone's day-to-day life. And women are more likely to be anaemic etc.

There's been lots in the news about endometriosis recently and how lots of doctors don't even know what it is. Obviously there's not a male equivalent but that is definitely an area where women struggle a lot and are just dismissed as having bad period pains.

Also my friend of mine had a large abdomen and was told by a female GP she just needed more exercise. She was up to the GPs several times about symptoms. She went to another practice and found to have ovarian cancer. Into surgery asap.

Twelvety · 07/09/2017 15:49

My post is v rambly but I think I agree - it's hard to compare between the sexes but it's another one of those things where women aren't listened to a lot and what they say isn't really taken into account. Obviously not all of the time, but often.

Original poster
Fartypant · 07/09/2017 16:36

Jesus red, that is terrible

OP posts:
QuentinSummers · 07/09/2017 20:08

There is research showing women aren't taken as seriously

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/how-sexist-stereotypes-mean-doctors-ignore-womens-pain-a7157931.html?amp

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 07/09/2017 21:10

I think women are often dismissed but male-specific conditions are not necessarily taken seriously either. DH had 10 years of prostate pain and inflammation and infections before someone agreed to refer him to an andrologist. It meant at that time we could not have children as sex was often too painful. They prescribed Viagra to "override" the discomfort but it gave him crashing headaches. Same with another drug, Cialis. It was only when he finally saw the andrologist that they recommended a special low dose form of Cialis which he takes every day when we are ttc.

So men do suffer too.

Where I think it is different is the interpersonal attitudes. DH has never been called "foolish" or "an anxious young man" for refusing treatment or asking questions, both of which have happened to me in the last 2 years.