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If you've ever felt like your medical concerns weren't taken seriously as a woman or nonbinary person, you're not alone.
If you're curious about how we got here - and what we can do about it - listen to our latest Read. Talk. Grow. episode Shame, mystery and misinformation about women's bodies wherever you get your podcasts.
Episode summary
Historically, the medical system was not designed to prioritize — or many times, even consider — women patients and providers. Dr. Elizabeth Comen wrote the book “All in Her Head,” to examine this troubled history and help educate and empower women to get the healthcare they deserve. Dr. Comen and Dr. Deborah Bartz join us to discuss how to break through the shame and misinformation surrounding women's bodies.
In this episode, Dr. Millstine and her guests discuss:
- More than “bikini medicine.” Women’s medicine has often focused on so-called bikini health — the breasts, genitals and reproductive organs. Dr. Comen’s book argues that every organ system needs to be examined through a women’s medicine lens. Many medical studies historically did not include women, so the study findings can not necessarily be extrapolated to women.
- Apologizing for their bodies. Both Dr. Comen and Dr. Bartz have had patients apologize for things that are not in their control or completely normal — even in the worst of circumstances, like a death bed. Medicine, scientific discovery and the way we treat bodies is interwoven with social ideas, mores, and cultural beliefs.
- Feminine leaders. What if women who excel at listening to and consulting with patients were encouraged to be in leadership positions? Leaders should be able to look, act and lead with feminine energy, Dr. Comen says, rather than being pushed to act more aggressive or assertive.
More resources. Listen to this Read. Talk. Grow. episode:
- 2. Trust yourself: It's not 'all in your head' with Lo Bosworth
Questions for discussion:
- Have you ever felt like your health concerns or questions were dismissed, overlooked or not taken seriously because you are a woman?
Share your thoughts, questions and opinions below!
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Yes!! My doctor walks out of the room when I bring up a problem and she never addresses the issue. I have to show her web site information I've found and then she acts dismissive, i.e. your depression is due to chronic pain but never addresses either topic. I now have bladder slipping into the vagina and turning purple with incontinence. I found MN Urology who do the new e-coin insertion in the leg to control incontinence and what a difference their treatment is with the purple bladder. All of a sudden I was sent for a bladder and kidney ultrasound and am hoping to get surgery to bring the bladder up. I wish I had gone to urology a long time ago but doctors don't want to refer out of the clinic system one is in. Patients should be able to see the doctor they want as long as they're on the insurance I have. Insurance companies are inserting too much pressure and not providing care for the insured.
I'm sorry you've had to deal with this! It's so frustrating to have health problems and then not have your healthcare team take them seriously. I hope you get connected to the right doctors/resources soon!
I thank my female GP and the Covid jab for saving my life 🙏🙏🙏 I had seen her once or twice to renew anxiety prescriptions while my GP of over 15 years had been winding down towards retirement.
I was burnt out at work after a big promotion. Working long hours. Not sleeping enough. Not exercising enough. Not eating healthily enough of the time. Stressed by office and family politics. Putting on weight and miserable about that too. A long fall for someone who had been super fit and looked after her health and body. I wasn’t in a great place, but kept pushing through because my clients and my team depended on me.
I had my second Covid jab and didn’t feel well. I was worried I might have pericarditis but it didn’t seem severe so i was just on alert. Then one evening soon after (after shivering terribly and feeling breathless at work) I vomitted all over the bed. I was so so ill. Within a couple of hours after lying down I was fine again, just bone tired. It propelled me to see my GP the next day, grabbing a cancellation late in the afternoon.
After telling her all this, and after discounting pericarditis, she got me up on the bed for an examination. I can’t remember when THAT last happened!!! She found a big mass in my abdomen in the area around my ovaries. Within a week I’d had an ultrasound, chosen a top surgeon with her help, been booked into see the surgeon, had a CT scan and had had debulking surgery which in part removed a 30 cm mass and included a radical hysterectomy. It took 3 months after surgery for the hospital peer group finally to determine I had stage 4 rare appendix cancer.
My body had not been able to fight the cancer growing aggressively inside me as well as deal with getting the Covid jabs.
Without her bothering to get her hands on me, the mass would have been missed.
She’s a wonderful, thorough doctor. She’s always on the front foot. I’ve had a range of tests ordered by her (on top of those ordered by my male oncologist) now I have finished chemo and am coming up to 3 years in remission - including heart and bone density tests. I also have various referrals from her to a nutritionist, cancer therapist etc.
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3 Reactions@isadora2021, kudos to your female GP for taking that extra step of actually performing an examination that other GPs often don't do.
I'm not a sexist, but my personal experience is that I find female docs more thorough and caring than male docs, and never dismissive. That's just my experience. I'm sure there are wonderful male docs out there somewhere, too. I do have a few of them on my care team, as well.
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1 Reaction@my44
Yes, I do sometimes worry what might have happened if I had seen my male doctor, and not my female doctor. She had it on her radar that I might have a problem with one of my female organs, and with her deep manual prodding she found the mass and got the right tests rolling. I did have ovarian cancer as a secondary. I had a prognosis of 19% chance of 2 years at diagnosis.
Thanks to her, an excellent surgeon (male), oncologist (male) and nurse practitioner (female) and my body responding so well to treatments including HIPEC, CRS and a peritonectomy I’m still going strong. I’ve made sure my GP knows what a huge role she played in saving my life so she remembers and feels validated when being so thorough.
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2 Reactions@isadora2021, kudos to all of the docs, male and female, that were so instrumental in treating and eradicating the cancer. And congratulations on a great outcome.
#@isadora2021STRONG! 😊❤️
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