Why knowing someone's biological sex is important ( Daily Fail sorry)

[InTheShadowOfTheMushroomCloud]

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7396793/Mother-three-mistook-heart-attack-INDIGESTION-urges-women-learn-symptoms.html#comments

Hope the link works

In a nutshell, women often experience cardiac pain differently to men. And as we are all told about the classic symptoms ( which are the male symptoms), women's symptoms can be brushed aside ...women can have strange symptoms like abdominal and back pain, a feeling of impending doom. Some don't even have the classic left arm and jaw pain. Women also have different pain thresholds so might just not feel the same intensity until it's too late.

I am a resus trainer and this is my soap box ( the importance of genetic sex with regards to diagnosis and treatment)

Agreed.

“Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado Perez covers this - and lots of other examples of how we’re in a world where typical human = male.

John Oliver did a piece about this on Last Week Tonight recently. It was pretty good (although he did use the the phrase ‘Assigned Female at Birth’ which is nonsense in this context as a biologically female person with female cardiac symptoms AND a DSD could’ve been erroneously assigned male at birth).

The comments below the line are illuminating, one about the woman's appearance, outrage at the idea that women may have a higher pain threshold than men, a comment about it all being men's fault ... I know it's the DM but it's pathetic. I see why some papers moderate comments, if only for sheer stupidity.

A family member is a paramedic and has had more than one heart attack patient who is also a Dr in the back of the ambulance. It's not easy to recognise, but must get some antacids when I go shopping.

My mum is a prime example. Both her GP and A&E told her she had a virus. 24hrs later she had a huge heart attack and was very lucky to survive. Her Dr later said it wasn't his fault as women's symptoms weren't well known.
This was 8 years ago!
Nothing seems to have changed.

I'm a first aider for my workplace.

We are trained by the Red Cross and my last training update, which we have to undertake every three years, was in March this year.

No mention whatsoever was made of heart attack symptoms being different in women. I had no clue until I saw people talking about it online in response to Caroline Criado Perez's book. I wish I'd known sooner, I'd have brought it up.

Arnold - I also teach first aid to people like you ...I always discuss differences in symptoms but it isn't in the syllabus.

Would I be right in assuming you are a woman, InTheShadowOfAMushroomCloud?

I'm wondering because my trainers have always been men. They've also always been very good at asking if there was anything specific we wanted to cover, for example how to deal with choking in CPR for babies and small children, which is relevant to me as I work with all age groups, but I'm now left wondering if they themselves are aware of these issues.

That should be choking in OR CPR for babies

I am a woman ! And my speciality is Paediatric resus and first aid but I do teach adult too. You are right...I'm my experience most trainers are men.

I always bring up the fact women are less likely to have CPR performed on them. I ask the students in my groups why they think this....the men say they don't want to get in trouble for touching a woman's breasts....

And being men it has probably never occurred to them to consider how women are different.....

I really don't want to slag them off. I've always found them to be very accommodating in terms of tailoring information to the group in front of them. In my latest course a lot of the group were from the construction industry so they covered a lot about crush injuries which isn't so relevant to me, as well as child first aid which wasn't so relevant to the construction workers. That's as it should be.

I just didn't think to ask about sex differentials and now I'm kicking myself.

There are different First aid courses

A Paediatric First aid is a 12 hr course which is mostly children under 18 but with some adult thrown in ( we all bleed break bones etc)

Emergency first aid which is 6 hours...basic CPR etc adults

First aid at work which is 18 hrs .... this one is more in-depth

The paed one is mostly women ...

The others are a mix of sexes but mostly men ( drivers construction companies etc) I always include paed CPR as I say this is a life skill...a lot of students are parents, grand parents etc so knowledge is needed.

Get yourself on a Paed course...if you were on mine I provide cake!

I was told that the hormones TW take actually change their bodies so they suffer female heart attack symptoms. I don’t believe for one minute this is true but others may know more...

Well, if the mighty TW experiences female symptoms, then they’ll finally be spoken about, right?

It’s just so depressing...

Yup. And this was after a lecture on how TW are able to breastfeed now if they want to. There is nothing they won’t appropriate is there?

Bloody common sense. There was a story a little while ago with a (not obviously) pregnant woman going into A&E insisting that they were male so the staff didn’t check on the pregnancy and the baby was lost. Stupid selfish bastard. Playing at grown ups.