Chronic Illnesses of Millions of Women Left Untreated

Thanks for sharing this article Martin @predictable. She also has a great TED talk. It's good to see this get a lot of coverage with so many women affected.

What happens when you have a disease doctors can't diagnose TED talk by TED Fellow Jennifer Brea who became progressively ill with
myalgic encephalomyelitis, commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome.
-- https://www.ted.com/talks/jen_brea_what_happens_when_you_have_a_disease_doctors_can_t_diagnose

John

Thank you, Martin, @predictable and John, @johnbishop for this information.

Women's illnesses still get put on the back-burner so to speak and this is important information for all of us.

Teresa

Interesting article! I remember when we lived in New Mexico. My wife and I both hurt our backs. The doctors put me in the hospital for 24 hours of intensive paint management, therapy, etc. saying 'we have to get you back to work'. They literally told my wife 'why don't you go home, relax on the sofa, and you'll feel better'. She worked too, but that was of no concern to the doctors!

Hopefully the world is changing....at least a little bit!

Strength, courage, and peace!

Thank you John. This is very enlightening. I have suspected that this has been happening for some time now. This is happening not just with me but with other women (and men) for a long time now. I wonder if the same knowledge is being taught in the medical schools now that has been taught in the past. The doctors of today do not seem as knowledgeable as the doctors of yesterday. Are they passing students who perhaps are cheating on the exams? Or perhaps have they lowered the standards???? This is not to put down the medical field in any way but to examine this very, very carefully because people's lives are at stake here.

I can relate. I too suffer from chronic symptoms. I have seen 8 specialists. For over 3 years I have chronic symmertic burning in both arms and hands (prickly, tingling burning hot/cold sensation) Chronic double vision in R eye is 6th Cranial Nerve Palsy. I now have a pulsating buzz in my left foot. I can not get any answers. I don't know if it is because medical standards are lower, I am female, or because I am 71. I feel blown off by Drs. I would love to hear a Dr. say, I can't help you but I know someone who can. Luckily I never give up, I am hopeful.

Dear Finnie, wow! You have hit the nail on the head. Do not worry on this to much as there is not much we can do. I am 82 and this attitude of many of the doctors is because (I think) they really do not care, it is beyond their expertise, or our age is a turn off, and if they have not suffered enough in their lifetime to understand, and on and on. But we all know this. Notice I said ,"many" of the doctors and not all of them. We cannot take this to seriously. I do not think that the doctors of today are as educated as what was before. Perhaps the educational system has regressed and on and on. What I do is to research on line, in books, wherever we can and with some common sense perhaps we can find some relief with diet firstly and loving ourselves. I do care for you and I am sure there are others as well. Do take care of yourself. Peach

It's disgusting. It took me ten years to be diagnosed with my autoimmune disease. Since then things have taken a scary turn, with this disease in the mix...

I believe your age should not matter. There are serious issues within the medical community with prejudice and misunderstanding. I think we are still in the dark ages of medicine and big Pharma and insurance companies not helping the situation...

@rarelybees2889 I agree that age is a major element in deciding treatment, and Big Pharma is right there running the show. I took a hormone for years. My gynecologist told me I would need it for life. And, when we moved, my new doc continued the prescription. However, two years ago the insurance would not cover and denied the prescription because of my age. Now, they didn't say that, but my dr. did. There was nothing she could do. She filed letters of complaint and we did too, but to no avail. I will never understand that. If your doctor prescribes, and you have insurance, the pill business should not be allowed to deny it. Why do I go to a doctor? The insurance offices should just practice medicine! It's wrong and ridiculous, but not even doctors can do anything about it.
Carol

@retiredteacher- I so agree. Big pharma writes their own ticket and so do the insurance companies. Hopefully in the future things will change, but that doesn't help now. If you can, pay for anything yourself.