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

[Fartypant]

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?

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

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.