Coffee & Dragons

being a female means needing to see 10 different doctors to get a proper diagnosis because they always think you’re exaggerating and/or lying

define proper diagnosis. I mean, does that just mean the diagnosis you want?

no :) it means going to 10 different doctors who disbelieved your symptoms until the 11th found cysts on your ovaries :) which may mean infertility :) sit on a cactus :)

I call bullshit

Of course you do. Like the first 10 doctors. 😒

I call bullshit on the story. If you think you have an issue you should see a specialist not just your PCP.

Like the 4 “specialists” I saw for the crippling numbness in my face and legs I had for over a year while they told me it was “stress”? When it was finally found that I had scars on my brain and spine? Those “specialists” we’re male neurologist who wouldn’t give me an MRI because “women stress too much”. Go fuck yourself.

MY SPINE WAS BROKEN FOR 2 YEARS BECAUSE MY DOCTORS TOLD ME I JUST HAD BAD CRAMPS AND REFUSED TO TAKE XRAYS. FUCK YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE LIFE. WHEN WILL BOYS REALIZE THEIR EXPERIENCES ARENT STANDARD???? I ALSO LOVE THIS IDEA THAT YOU CAN JUST GO TO A SPECIALIST WHENEVER YOU WANT LOL IF OUR PCP DOESNT BELIEVE US WHEN WE TELL THEM OUR SYMPTOMS THEY ARENT GONNA REFER US TO A SPECIALIST YOU FUCKING MOLDY WALNUT

i had a brain aneurysm/hemorrhage ten years ago, doctors still tell me im faking my disability BECAUSE YOU CAN TOTALLY FAKE LIMITED MOVEMENT OF THE LEFT SIDE

My sister had intercranial hypertension which was causing headaches, dizzy spells and loss of vision, and you know what the hospital told her? She was being a hysterical girl and making it up. A few weeks later she spent roughly a month in hospital and had several lumbar punctures to relieve her RECORD HIGH spinal pressure that was causing so much strain on her brain and optic nerves she was being sent blind.

Everytime I see this post (and it’s been a good 5/6 times), it has different stories and experiences of women who have been horribly mistreated by doctors and it just blows my mind that this is so big. It’s absolutely disgusting how terribly women are treated in the medical world and something needs to be done about that.

my friend lea had back pain, then pain in her legs and feet, and then numbness. despite seeing 7 different doctors over 2 years, by the time they found the cancer it was inoperable. chemo and radiation didn’t work. the cancer spread. she died and left behind a 5 year old daughter.

A few years ago I would go through spells where I literally could not stand on my own and I couldn’t get out of bed. I would be freezing and too weak to eat. I would keep having heart palpitations as well. I got up the money to go to a clinic and they told me it was just stress and to basically just work on chilling out. I saved up money for a few weeks to do this and I pretty much get a “chill out” from them. As time went on it got worse, most noticeably the heart palpitations were happening almost constantly. I went again to a different clinic and was told it was normal and that it was probably stress. They did no tests, and they told me it would “just go away”. Two weeks later I ended up collapsing going down some stairs, and at the hospital it was discovered that I had such severe anemia that my heart could barely keep up with trying to get enough oxygen to my body. I had developed left ventricular hypertrophy (my heart muscle is too big) and because of them ignoring me and dismissing me I’m at a much higher risk of heart attacks and stroke now.

I went to the doctor with severe intermittent pain in my upper right stomach area that was so bad I had to miss school. Despite the fact that my period has been on a regular 3 month cycle for years, and I still had two months left until my period, my doctor told me it was period related cramps and or indigestion. 2 months later I’m in the hospital getting my gallbladder removed. It was so obstructed that there was gangrene developing my my system.

So…everyone who’s given me shit for that one post (about medicine and equal treatment and shit) can just read this because I’m sick of defending my case.

i know this post is already long but here’s a pretty good article about how gender bias in medicine is quite literally killing women. it focuses a lot on heart attacks but it applies to all areas of medicine

After I had my son I started suffering from severe insomnia. My doctor (a male) told me to take ZzQuil. It didn’t work, even at three times normal dosage. Went back. He told me i was just stressing too much. Hubby was deployed at the time so I thought he might be right fast forward two years of taking insane amounts of Unisom and ZzQuil. My mental state had deteriorated to the point that I was having memory loss, mood swings, and suicidal thoughts. I go to the base doc (we were military stationed overseas so it’s the only doc I could see). Another man. I sobbed in his office admitting that i had been having these thoughts and i wanted a referral to go to mental health. He told me “well, i can do that, but I’ll have to put a black mark in your husband’s file. It will negatively impact his career.” He gave me 7 days of Ambien and shoved me out the door. Then he goes and TELLS MY HUSBAND everything i had said!!!! So i go to the gyno on base thinking maybe PPD? They run no tests and the male gyno tells me my hormones are just re stabilizing after having a baby (my son is freaking TWO years old at this point). Fast forward another year and we finally move stateside. By now I am taking so much unisom that I’m going through bottles and bottles of the stuff, just trying to sleep. One of my friends suggests I go see her GP, a woman, who is also a milspouse. I’m super skeptical but desperate. I go in and she HEARS me. I’m suffering. I’m miserable. My moods are all over the place. My cycles are abysmal with clots the size of baseballs and cramps so severe they literally make me collapse and my vision tunnel. She runs tests and prescribes trazodone to help me sleep. A few days later, results are in. She sends me to an OBGYN for an immediate ultrasound. *GASP* I have a HUGE Endometrioma. I mean, the biggest the doctor has ever seen.

This is perfection.