Why Are Women's Health Concerns Dismissed So Often?
1A
NPR
4.3 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 January 2023
⏱️ 40 minutes
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Summary
One study shows that middle-aged women with chest pain were twice as likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness than their male counterparts. Another study found that women and people of color who visited emergency rooms with chest pain waited longer to be seen by a doctor.
America's gynecological practice has been traced back to slavery. Today, gender and racial bias still affect the way people are diagnosed and receive care.
We talk about why this still happens and what can be done about it.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Late in 2022, after years, if not decades of gynecological issues, I was diagnosed with |
| 0:14.4 | adnomyosis. It's a condition where endometrial tissue grows into the muscular wall of the uterus. |
| 0:21.5 | It can cause pain, heavy bleeding, thickening of the uterine wall, and complications like infertility. |
| 0:27.3 | For most of my life, I was told the symptoms I experienced with my cycle were normal. Later, |
| 0:33.9 | I was told it was caused by my fibroids. I've had countless exams and ultrasounds, |
| 0:39.2 | but the diagnostic process usually stopped there, and it was followed up with an offer of birth |
| 0:45.3 | control pills or an IUD placement. Finally, I was connected to an OB-GYN who researches fibroids |
| 0:52.0 | specifically in black women. She took one additional diagnostic step and ordered an MRI, |
| 0:58.7 | and that led to my diagnosis. I'll be out for most of the month starting next week for surgery, |
| 1:04.3 | but frankly, I'm lucky. I found the right doctor, and I have health insurance that will mostly |
| 1:10.7 | cover my care. But unfortunately, my story isn't unusual. I went to doctors repeatedly saying I |
| 1:17.2 | felt tired, and I felt that my heart was palpitating. I couldn't imagine ever having felt this |
| 1:25.0 | tired in my life. I was repeatedly told that it was simply anxiety, that I was young and healthy, |
| 1:30.7 | and that I should focus on my mental health. Well, I'm definitely a mental health advocate, |
| 1:34.7 | but I'm also now in line for a kidney transplant at UNC Chapel Hill. |
| 1:38.4 | I was suffering from a lot of pain, having hard time breathing, could not walk. Went to my emergency room |
| 1:48.8 | with seen by the head of the ER department, and he tied me on the knee and told me there was |
| 1:55.6 | absolutely nothing wrong with me, and it was all in my head. The next day, I was admitted to the hospital. |
| 2:02.4 | I was there for more seven days. I was not getting a menstrual cycle regularly, |
| 2:08.2 | I had these symptoms, and every time I would go to the doctor, it would tell me, I am lucky to not |
| 2:13.4 | get a period, and they said it's fine. Well, it finally after my fifth doctor that I went to, |
| 2:19.6 | finally diagnosed me as PCOS. But yes, I totally understand how sometimes women just get ignored |
... |
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