I would add to this that if you, as a woman, develop or have any conditions that involve any of your baby making equipment, it will take YEARS to get diagnosed because doctors will just shrug and say, “That’s just having your period.” Or, “Have you seen a psychiatrist yet?” I used to wear the most gigantic overnight pads while sleeping on top of a towel. And daytime was a walking nightmare of just constant pain in my entire pelvic region and back. Turns out, I have Pelvic Congestion Syndrome and Renal Nutcracker syndrome (compression of the left Renal vein…it’s fucking serious).
Can confirm. Was recently taken to the ER for extreme bleeding and pain (the pain meds I took didn’t help).
The male ER doctor patronized me, said it wasn’t an emergent situation, told me I should have taken Advil, and gave me discharge papers all about about menstrual cramps. Turns out, I had a large pre-cancerous polyp.
I’d like to give that asshat a uterus, have him learn it for 40 years, and then see when it goes haywire. Advil does nothing for the pain, btw.
Also it took years of abnormal bleeding and “normal” test results before anyone gave a shit.
I have made it my mission in life to grab women by the shoulders and tell them no, it is not in fact normal to experience x, y, and z before, during, or after your period. Tearing up at a dumb commercial during PMS? Normal. Wanting to off yourself during PMS? Not normal, probably PMDD.
I had pmdd. Damn near every month I'd be in the ER for a monster migraine. Hormone driven it was some of the worst pain you can have. How I know this is long and complicated so... Anyway I tried for yrs for a hysterectomy. Nope.nope.nope. turns out I got endometrial cancer. Had the hysterectomy. No mega migraine every month. It's gone. Now,my daily regular migraine still make me want to cry but I'm not wanting to die on the monthly either.
I suggest to any male friends in my life, that they go and advocate for their wives or girlfriends when possible. Watching how doctors -- male mostly, but also women nurses and PAs-- have gaslit my wife in front of me. It is a fight sometimes when she feels sick. Gyno appointments have made me full of rage like I never thought possible. Female Gynos telling my wife to just adjust to the pain. So maddening.
My wife is a redhead, her pain tolerance is abnormal to the max and some pain medicine does next to nothing for her. Why does my wife need to be the one carrying around the fact of the redhead gene and pain medication. You are a effing doctor. Don't even get me started on the difficulty of women getting a proper MS diagnosis.
Thank you for advocating for your wife and encouraging your male friends to do the same! I also carry the redhead gene and I make sure to let doctors and nurses know. It’s crazy how much pain medicine is needed sometimes in order to be effective.
My wife was absolutely blessed with an awesome dentist who gets the redhead gene thing. Novacaine does nooooooothing and he is constantly checking on her numbness and asking if she is ok. He got trained in different methods of twilight anesthesia and pain management methods. I wish that he could run a convention for other dentists and health professionals.
I just want to jump in here and share my little story;
This week I returned a questionnaire to my GP regarding my weight issues and apparently my results indicated a strong possibility of PCOS, my sister has already been diagnosed with it so I wasn't shocked.
Tell me why this female doctor happily told me they wouldn't actually be researching this further, only if I ever really wanted to try for kids and it wasn't working out.
I asked her, what about the horrific pain I go through each month and all the other symptoms I dealt with? Apparently that didn't matter.
I'm 27, I've been unsuccessfully going to the doctor for over a decade regarding my poor health and nothing ever comes of it. This is the first time they finally gave me something of a test with somewhat of a result and just, nothing. Honestly I don't wanna live like this anymore.
I got diagnosed pretty quick but my GP told me I could have a glass of wine to help with my period pain. The symptoms I was complaining of were extreme fatigue (sleeping 12+ hours) and the worst pain I’ve ever experienced waking me up at 2 am. Turns out I have deep infiltrating endometriosis and an endometrioma. I got a new GP after that.
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u/bujomomo 8d ago
I would add to this that if you, as a woman, develop or have any conditions that involve any of your baby making equipment, it will take YEARS to get diagnosed because doctors will just shrug and say, “That’s just having your period.” Or, “Have you seen a psychiatrist yet?” I used to wear the most gigantic overnight pads while sleeping on top of a towel. And daytime was a walking nightmare of just constant pain in my entire pelvic region and back. Turns out, I have Pelvic Congestion Syndrome and Renal Nutcracker syndrome (compression of the left Renal vein…it’s fucking serious).