Mei

Study says you’re more likely to live if you have a female doctor

A new study from researchers at Harvard University found female doctors easily outshine their male counterparts in at least one critically important way: Fewer of their patients die.

After examining Medicare data tracking 1,583,028 hospitalizations, scientists determined patients of female physicians enjoyed “significantly lower mortality rates” and readmission rates, along with fewer ER visits.

According to the study, men and women’s vastly different approaches to practicing medicine likely account for the disparity. Read more

Both my mother and I left our family doctor more than 10 years ago because of substandard care.  The doctor, a man, consistently ignored or belittled issues that my mother and I had, and in doing so, failed to diagnose a massive heart defect and two major diseases.

My mother and I moved to a female physician.  In the 10 years we’ve been with her, she’s diagnosed and successful treated everything this past doctor missed, and saved my life a few years ago by not ignoring symptoms of a major infection.  I’ve had to go to the hospital from her office a few times, and each time she’s called me from her home multiple times as late as midnight to see how I’m doing, what the doctors are saying, and to see if she can help/intervene as she has privileges at the hospital.

She fought with a very well known surgeon and specialist at the hospital after he discharged me (treating me like SHIT in the process and belittling the distress I was in).  This specialist - a guy, of course - told my family doctor that I was drug seeking and that my problem would pass.

My doctor knew that I wasn’t drug seeking because 1) I wasn’t asking for any pain meds and 2) I was only asking for them additional tests because the symptoms this specialist said would be getting better were worsening to a degree where I could no longer function.  Oh, and because PAIN MEDS DON’T WORK ON ME AND I CANNOT GET HIGH.

When I was later readmitted and rushed into emergency surgery (6 hours after he told my doctor I was drug seeking, AMAZING), he attempted to throw my family doctor under the bus to other hospital staff/my family because of his won fuck up.  Meanwhile, his bullshit had caused serious damage to one of my major organs, and I had to take leave from work because I was violently ill and needed additional surgery.  This specialist also failed to make any follow up appointments with me after the surgeries, and when my family doctor followed up with the surgical resident on call at the hospital during a subsequent visit with her (because of lingering problems), I could hear the guy on the other end of the line go silent… then tell her he couldn’t believe that this specialist hadn’t set up ANY aftercare following my surgeries.  Then tell her to refer me to another specialist immediately.

So yep.  I’m not surprised that female doctors are on whole better at keeping their patients alive.  I have two FANTASTIC doctors right now - one female, one male - and I’ve had shitty doctors of both genders, but on the whole, I’ve found that most male doctors I’ve dealt with are more likely to dismiss or belittle patient problems/complaints.

GET. YOURSELF. A. FEMALE. DOCTOR.

this is 10,000% true. would you like to know what I’ve seen firsthand? female physicians LISTEN BETTER and they FOLLOW UP MORE AGGRESSIVELY than male doctors do, especially for their female patients. and if you’re a female patient, especially if you’re being seen for menstrual problems, migraines, or depression, female physicians don’t belittle your symptoms the way that male doctors so often do. (and honestly I’ve seen nurse practitioners [advanced practice nurses] and they are my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE in terms of proper patient care and bedside manner, so don’t shy away from NPs or APNs either! they can do damn near everything an MD or DO can!)

of course there are exceptions to every rule. in fact right now my primary care doctor is a man, because he’s amazing. but in my experience I’d say that about 75% of the time, a female doctor is going to care for you better than a male one, and if you had those kind of odds for anything else–75% chance that this car insurance company would pay out better than that car insurance company if your car was totaled, 75% chance that this restaurant is less likely to give you explosive burning diarrhea than that restaurant, etc–you’d sure as hell change. and here’s one last reminder:

IF YOUR DOCTOR SUCKS, IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO REQUEST A DIFFERENT ONE. IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO HAVE A DOCTOR YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH. IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO SEEK A SECOND OPINION, OR A THIRD ONE, OR MORE, IF THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES TO GET PROPER CARE.

When I told my new female doctor this, she looked at me down the length of her nose from behind her glasses and said “well honey, that’s not right” and ordered a veritable assault of tests.

In that year it was discovered that a) I have a severe allergy to the protein strain in red meat that had been slowly killing me for all those years b) chronic acid reflux due to damage caused by this (Also this went some way to explaining my bulimia because I wasn’t actively mentally following the same behavioral patterns of an eating disorder, but because I was a young female throwing up daily it MUST be bulimia and I was just in “denial” which lead to being prescribed sedatives at the age of 10) which I’m still struggling with c) a failing gallbladder due to the red meat (now somewhat recovered) d) a possible autoimmune disease we’re still trying to figure out which may now be linked to my teeth problems.

Unsurprisingly after I stopped eating red meat my body bounced back (if you guys think I’m sick now you have no idea) and for the first time in my entire life since birth, I am no longer considered anemic.

I had blood transfusions for that shit.

And it took for a nurse back home who knew I was moving to America to say “maybe you should be tested for celiac” cause not one motherfucker in my male gp office had ever thought to do so. Her thought that it was celiac was wrong, but her hunch about it being something I was eating was right.

In 2015 I sliced my hand open pretty bad, there was blood everywhere and ETD had to rush me to hospital for stitches. When the doctor came in he tuted about me being clumsy, administered a local anaesthetic and waited. When he began stitching me up I started screaming and only stayed in the chair because ETD was holding my shoulders. Another shot was administered and I still had full sensation. Another and another and–at which point he gave up and just sewed the wound shut and told me to be braver. When I had the stitches removed 2 weeks later by a nurse the wound was still open, still bleeding and she immediately said “did a man do this?” and rolled her eyes when I said yes. Apparently the wound was bad enough my hand should have been splinted to keep it imobile. It’s been two years and it still aches.

Six months after that I was admitted with breathing difficulties and chest pain. The same doctor looked at me, looked at my chart where it said “general anxiety” and said “it’s probably that” despite my female pcp telling me to go to the ER asap, and tried to dismiss me by prescribing sleeping tablets. At which point he turned to ETD and tried to make out I was hysterical with a nudge and a wink, to which ETD requested very calmly in the tones of one getting ready to throttle a mother fucker, that they perform a physical and an EKG as per my doctor’s requests. He did, begrudgingly, the stethoscope barely touched me and the EKG came back normal.

The next day I went to see my pcp who did a full exam, made me breathe into a tube and listened to my chest, then near threw her stethoscope at the wall and said “oh my God you have asthma, did he not do a physical what the f…okay here’s what we do” and put me on meds for severe allergies (no longer covered by my health insurance, yay) and asthma medication for the summer when the pollen in MN attempts to murder me. When I called her this week to let her know I was having further allergic reactions she didn’t even hesitate to write an urgent referal, scheduled for next month when I have insurance again.

So far the only positive male experience I have had in the medical field is my new dentist, and he’s a hippy “honk if you’re a feminist” mad scientist whose wife runs his business and only hires women because, and I quote “I can trust them to look after my patients”. His whole practice was built on catering to weird cases like mine when he realized no one else was. Before him I had a whole host of male dentists who looked at my severe chronic pain and said the medical equivalent of “well, sucks to be you” and let me walk away with the medical equivalent of a ticking time bomb in my jaw bone. They didn’t give a fuck if they hurt me either, they just said “man you are hard to please”, like anyone in their sane mind WANTS to retain full sensitivity in their face while having a root canal. I’m now in the process of having several teeth removed, as well as all remaining botched amalgam fillings which, wait for it–have higher levels of MERCURY in them than is actually allowed, and have been LEAKING FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS (Boy does that explain some things let me tell you)

But y'know. I’m just one of them there picky females making a mountain out of a molehill and over exaggerating my pain for attention. 🙃🙃🙃

it’s COMPLETELY OKAY to feel down and bad. but you have to get up eventually and help yourself recover. here are some simple things you can do:

personal hygiene: shower, brush your teeth, put on deodorant. it makes you feel a lot better. if you don’t have the energy, at least splash some water on your face. you’ll feel more refreshed.

do that thing: is there something youre putting off? whether it’s an essay you have to write or a sock you have to sew, just do it. doesn’t matter if you actually finished it. just get started and you’ll feel more accomplished.

listen to happy music: sometimes, when i listen to sad music when i’m sad, i just get more sad and feel more like shit. i change my mindset by listening to my favorite songs. you can feel better if you do this. then you can shift your attention to the other things you have to do.

cry if you need to: if you need to cry, let it out. “better out than in”. never keep your sadness bottled up. just cry like no one is watching lmao

memes: personally i like looking at memes and vines (and i have a low standard for humor so anything makes me laugh). you can do this as well to feel better! find something that can make you smile or laugh even if it’s just for a minute

talk to someone: message a friend you haven’t talked to in a while! or message someone on tumblr. you dont have to have an indepth conversation. just ask “how are you?”. this helps you distract yourself from that thing that’s making you sad.

eat: food wont hurt you like people do. need i say more? also drink water.

hobbies: if you can, make time to do your favorite hobbies. it can improve your mood drastically if you do something you love to do. it is also a way to express what you are feeling. like i said, never keep your sadness bottled up. let it out in your own creative way.

sleep the pain away: feeling down and sad can be exhausting, especially if you spent hours ugly crying. make sure to get some rest so you can energize yourself.

BITMAP WATERCOLOR BRUSHES, Y’ALL!!! Want to make some SAI brushes in FireAlpaca? Check out THIS handy Guide!

Want to make this brush? Just make a perfect circle and save it (I call mine “round”) and use it as the bitmap, and copy the settings above. It works pretty nicely :D

UM, WHILE I’M HERE:

Here is where you can download FireAlpaca (it is completely free software)

*If English is not your native language, you can download it in other languages.

Please download from the official FireAlpaca websites, because a friend of mine simply googled FireAlpaca and downloaded from some random site, and she got malware! So PLEASE be careful.

FireAlpaca has a suggestion/bug reporting box on their site so you can request features, or let them know if you’re having any issues! Also FireAlpaca works fantastically on Mac computers! (though I will say the only time FA has crashed on me is when I used a Mac, so PLEASE save your work often)

Also, please visit these tumblrs if you do get into using FireAlpaca:

We are in the New Browser Wars. This time there’s a helluva lot of money up for grabs, because a lot of it is about running those ads. Monopolies are bad for consumers.

AdNauseam is an adblocker that generates false clicks on the ads it blocks, which costs the corporations that pay for them money.

Privacy Possum messes with the tracking data collected about you, rendering it essentially useless

TrackMeNot generates random search terms across sites, meaning that any data collected about things you actually search is buried in a sea of random bullshit. Makes it very hard for people to figure out what you’re actually doing. You can block terms in the options, which means it won’t search for anything incriminating on your behalf (I think the word bomb is blocked by default)

WhatCampaign replaces tracking analytics used in website code with data that can’t be used to track you. I’m pretty sure it replaces it with “fuck off” by default.