The female problem: how male bias in medical trials ruined women's health.Gabrielle Jackson, 14 Nov 2019, The Guardian.

[ladycatlover]

From the earliest days of medicine, women have been considered inferior versions of men. In On the Generation of Animals, the Greek philosopher Aristotle characterised a female as a mutilated male, and this belief has persisted in western medical culture.

“For much of documented history, women have been excluded from medical and science knowledge production, so essentially we’ve ended up with a healthcare system, among other things in society, that has been made by men for men,” Dr Kate Young, a public health researcher at Monash University in Australia, tells me.

Young’s research has uncovered how doctors fill knowledge gaps with hysteria narratives. This is particularly prevalent when women keep returning to the doctor, stubbornly refusing to be saved.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/13/the-female-problem-male-bias-in-medical-trials

This doesn't mention ME/CFS, but does mention Fibromyalgia.

One male GP said to me: “I’ve never had a fibromyalgia patient who wasn’t batshit crazy.”

All in all I thought it was an interesting article.

 

[Peter T]

Have not yet read the article but it is such an important issue.

Definitions of a number of illnesses/conditions are based on the male presentation, meaning that woman are often less likely to receive appropriate diagnosis and treatment. One example is heart attacks where woman often present with what the text books describe as atypical symptoms, though in reality this is only atypical for men. This results in less accurate diagnosis and no or delayed treatment, in turn resulting in higher mortality rates.

I have a friend that suffered a preventable late miscarriage after several visits to a number of doctors resulted in her being told not to be so anxious. She now campaigns in relation to a number of conditions that left untreated result in preventable miscarriages that doctors commonly miss.

A German friend was offered counselling for her ongoing supposedly idiopathic pain following heart surgery. It took some eighteen months for her to actually be medically assessed, with an X-ray revealing an eleven inch surgical tool left in her chest cavity.

At present the inherent sexism in medicine causes unnecessary suffering and avoidable deaths. I guess it is no accident that the main ‘disputed’ conditions such as ME and Fibromyalgia involve conditions that effect woman more than men.

[corrected typos]

 

[dangermouse]

I've not read the article yet, but I think this relevant.

From my own experience and my female relatives experiences it's true that women can be fobbed off and told it's normal (for example pelvic pain) and told to learn to manage it with the good old 'lifestyle changes'. Not that lifestyle changes can't help in some situations, I accept that there is a place for that advice - but I think it's a little overused at times and relied on to magically ease pain etc, and of course if the patient doesn't comply and try to change lifestyle, well... then you can blame the patient, sorted.

I've also experienced procedures with no pain relief (for example - Colposcopy) and to make matters even worse a trainee Dr commenced this very painful procedure without my consent. I was in agony and my nurse (eventually) put a stop to it. This experience can also highlight how little knowledge there is about ME and how things like that this can cause a relapse or PEM - I'd told the consultant about my ME and my angina and he still didn't offer pain relief and still allowed the trainee to begin her brutal attempts (she was very inexperienced and rough) to guide a camera into my womb! During this horrendous (especially for a lady with ME) experience I was ordered about by a care assistant who had very little compassion and I was not told what was happening or when it would begin or by who - the trainee didn't even introduce herself, she just got the camera and began!

My nurse was very supportive, she was excellent actually but she should have stopped them sooner.

 

[Subtropical Island]

I've not read the article yet, but I think this relevant.

From my own experience and my female relatives experiences it's true that women can be fobbed off and told it's normal (for example pelvic pain) and told to learn to manage it with the good old 'lifestyle changes'. Not that lifestyle changes can't help in some situations, I accept that there is a place for that advice - but I think it's a little overused at times and relied on to magically ease pain etc, and of course if the patient doesn't comply and try to change lifestyle, well... then you can blame the patient, sorted.

I've also experienced procedures with no pain relief (for example - Colposcopy) and to make matters even worse a trainee Dr commenced this very painful procedure without my consent. I was in agony and my nurse (eventually) put a stop to it. This experience can also highlight how little knowledge there is about ME and how things like that this can cause a relapse or PEM - I'd told the consultant about my ME and my angina and he still didn't offer pain relief and still allowed the trainee to begin her brutal attempts (she was very inexperienced and rough) to guide a camera into my womb! During this horrendous (especially for a lady with ME) experience I was ordered about by a care assistant who had very little compassion and I was not told what was happening or when it would begin or by who - the trainee didn't even introduce herself, she just got the camera and began!

My nurse was very supportive, she was excellent actually but she should have stopped them sooner.

I’m flabbergasted. Just... wow. I’m so sorry. This needs more words but they pile up and I can’t find the right ones.

 

[Daisy]

I used to have very painful periods, to the extent that I had to take time off work. I was told by my GP that the problem would resolve after I had children.

More recently I saw a GP as I thought (correctly as it turned out) that I have POTS. He told me that my symptoms were a result of my weight. And anyway POTS is difficult to diagnose and there is no treatment (both incorrect). POTS affects mainly females and he was incredibly dismissive.