Statistically women are more likely to be dismissed by healthcare professionals when talking about their health issues. Feature writer Jess Bourne spoke to two women, Charlotte and Emily about their experience of being ignored by doctors.
Going to the doctors is supposed to be a safe environment. You go there to be listened to and to be given help for your medical needs.
But this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, you leave with a negative experience. You may not have been listened to. You may not have been taken seriously. You may have been told that what you are experiencing is normal. Or you may have been told that you are being too dramatic.
This is not just an observation of how the UK’s health system works, it’s the reality for millions of people out there. But, as always, this disproportionality affects women more than men.
This is the story of two women, both different ages and from different parts of the UK. Charlotte and Emily may have nothing in common, but the one thing they share, and with many other women, is that they haven’t been listened to by healthcare professionals and they have had to fight more than most to be listened to about their bodies and health.
Charlotte suffers with endometriosis and has repeatedly been dismissed by healthcare professionals. Endometriosis is a gynaecological condition that affects 1.5 million women in the UK. Charlotte is one of these women.
Charlotte, 27, first started experiencing painful periods when she was 12, but, like many others, she was told that it is a normal part of growing up and was put on the pill. However, due to her young age, she didn’t end up starting this medication until she was 16.
When Charlotte did start using contraceptive pills, she experienced low moods, migraines and struggled with low mental health, which was the ultimate reason she stopped taking the pill.
“I was so moody. I was so snappy. I didn’t want to do anything,” says Charlotte.
When she turned 20, she decided to switch from the pill to the coil, a device placed into the uterus to prevent pregnancies. Despite the lack of hormones that are involved with the coil, it didn’t help her with any of the pain, only added to the list of things she was experiencing.
In addition to her usual symptoms, she also had pain down both of her legs, extremely painful intercourse and a heightened risk of getting blood clots.
“This was even worse, it just masked the symptoms for a very long time, so nothing was done about the pain in my teenage years,” says Charlotte.
Then when she was 21, she came off all contraception, which is when the pain got worse for Charlotte. She now wanted answers, and she was determined to get them.
“It was just a constant battle and fight to get a diagnosis, and I think a lot of the times doctors didn’t really appreciate the importance of this,” Charlotte explains.
However, when she did seek medical care, the healthcare professionals were very dismissive of her in the language that they used. They repeatedly told her that she has a low pain threshold, instructed her to take paracetamol and that there was nothing more they could do to help her if she wasn’t willing to go back on the pill.
After endless hours of advocating for herself, Charlotte was told by doctors that they thought she had endometriosis but they were reluctant to do a laparoscopy, a diagnostic surgery under anaesthesia involving cameras being inserted inside the patient. Then, if endometriosis tissue is found, they can either burn it or cut it out. However, this surgery is not a cure as it commonly grows back, but it does offer women a diagnosis.
“Without a diagnosis, it kind of limits the support you can get,” explains Charlotte, “and even after the diagnosis, they said my options were to go on the pill or have a baby. So, I’m still fighting for more answers and more surgery to understand the depth of my endometriosis and where else it is affecting.
“Even with male and female doctors, it came across like they didn’t have an empathetic bone in their body. They couldn’t empathise with their patients and understand that this is a massive condition that affects so many.”
After surgery, Charlotte was in fact diagnosed with endometriosis. However, she wasn’t given a treatment plan as there is no cure.
“I’m still struggling. No matter if you have a diagnosis or not, the treatment plan is the same. It’s just go back on the pill or have surgery every two to three years and hope it doesn’t destroy another organ.
“It definitely doesn’t help mentally especially when you’re told for years that the pain is not there,” Charlotte explains.
Even now, when she is experiencing a lot of pain, she reassures herself that she has a chronic condition which affects all aspects of her life, and she acknowledges that it is okay to slow down.
Fortunately for Charlotte, she has a really good support system around her. When she attends her hospital appointments, she tends to take a family member to support her – before, during and after the appointment.
However, her family are also there to help back up her points when she is talking to the healthcare professionals.
“It makes me angry because I should be listened to. What I say should be taken seriously and it’s sad that there’s so many women that need to take somebody with them.
“Women go through menstrual cycles and our hormones affect us from the moment we hit puberty, all the way through to the menopause and the fact that there is lacking information and research in all areas of women’s health is so disappointing,” Charlotte says. “It’s just another area that women are failed in.”
Being dismissed by healthcare professionals has had a lasting effect on Charlotte. Over Christmas, she was suffering from a throat infection but didn’t want to seek treatment due to the way she had been treated previously.
“It makes you not want to seek help for anything. With other issues I’ve got, it took so long for me to seek help because I’ve convinced myself they’re going to be dismissive.”
However, it’s not just specific female health issues that women aren’t listened to about.
For the past eight years, Emily (not her real name) has suffered with multiple health issues, and unfortunately, just like Charlotte and millions of other women, she has been dismissed by healthcare professionals multiple times.
It started back in 2017 when she was working in retail. She noticed that she was suffering with pain in her feet and leg more than her colleagues but eventually put it down to the long hours she was working.
That was until Emily woke up one morning and her big toe was completely swollen. She was struggling to walk or apply any sort of pressure on it. After going to A&E for answers, she was told that it was a stress fracture, but she refused to believe this diagnosis as she knew she had done nothing to cause one.
This went on for quite some time. Her foot would swell depending on the weather and her daily activities. Eventually, she ended up seeing a specialist consultant who believed it wasn’t a stress fracture, but also didn’t know what the problem was.
“If that doctor had just taken the initiative to be like that’s not quite right, the diagnosis probably would have been then,” says Emily.
After continually dealing with her foot, Emily decided to go to A&E again. She was there for more than six hours and once she finally spoke to a doctor, she stuck up for herself and explained that she needed to know what was going on. But once again, it was just put down to a stress fracture.
“It was honestly horrendous the number of times I was in A&E, and I felt so stupid for being there. It was only the top of my foot, I could live with it, but I couldn’t keep doing it,” Emily explains.
“It felt very much like they were confused as to why I was there. That was always the impression I got. They never understood why I was in A&E and that put me off going and getting answers.”
As 2020 came to an end, Emily made a resolution to stick up for herself with her health, which is something that many people struggle with. Because of her determination, she was eventually referred to a joint specialist and this was when arthritis was first mentioned to her. However, she was told by doctors this was the worst-case scenario, as she was still in her early twenties at this point and it is uncommon for people that age.
Arthritis was mentioned for a second time when Emily decided to seek treatment about a red eye. She had developed uveitis, which is inflammation inside part of your eye and also a big indicator of arthritis.
Despite being one step closer to a diagnosis, Emily was still experiencing different symptoms. This time her leg was swelling.
“This caused the most issues I’ve ever experienced. It was horrendous. It went on for way longer than anything else. I couldn’t bend it, or lie down in bed,” Emily says.
After calling up her physiotherapist, he referred her straight to rheumatology. Her appointment was booked for three days later despite the waiting list being six months.
“At that point, I was stressing a bit because it was clear that this is very serious if I’ve bypassed the whole waiting list.”
Emily went to her appointment and told them her medical history and the doctor admitted that after the incident with her toe, they should have known what was wrong. Fortunately for Emily, she received a seronegative inflammatory arthritis diagnosis straight away.
“You would never know by looking at me. It’s not like both my knees swell, or both arms swell. It’s completely random, which is why it was so hard for them to find out what it is,” says Emily.
Since Emily’s diagnosis, she has been on a series of medications and has regular appointments with the rheumatology department at the hospital.
What is the gender health gap?
This is defined as the difference in how men and women are treated in medical appointments and how seriously women’s symptoms are taken.
Female healthcare is chronically underfunded. Despite a third of women experiencing a reproductive or gynaecological issue, only 2 per cent of the UK’s medical research funding is spent on pregnancy, childbirth and female reproductive health. (Imperial)
Hannah Walker, a female fitness coach and advocate for female health conditions says: “It just shows where the priorities of these studies go.
“Two per cent is not a lot given that women make up half the world’s population. It’s not like we’re a minority – we’re not.”
The gender health gap is not a new thing, it has been going on for decades. Historically, health studies were just performed on men, and the implementation of female health studies has caused more money to be spent and more time to be taken.
“We were more difficult to study, we changed study results, we bought in more variables, and it’s made studies more expensive,” Hannah explains.
The gender health gap is even present in gendered health issues. For men suffering with erectile dysfunction, they are prescribed Viagra, but for women who are struggling with low libido, there’s very little medication to help.
“Male sexual function is taken a lot more seriously because it removes their manhood, but for women, it’s not really acknowledged.
“We’ve got this misogyny from years ago and I don’t think we’ve really managed to shake it and now we are, it’s still met with opposition and resistance.”
The lack of research and studies has meant that women don’t think they will be listened to or given the medical attention they need.
“If you don’t feel confident, it’s really easy to be gaslit. And you shouldn’t have to fight. You go to a doctor’s appointment expecting a battle because women know that doctors are not going to believe them.”
However, Hannah believes part of the problem is generational, in terms of age and the way they view society.
“I feel really frustrated and confused as to why women are undervalued because at the end of the day, we give life, and our reproductive health should be valued.
“It’s almost like we’re not as valuable as men, but we achieve as much as men, if not more,” Hannah explains.
