Saturday, March 30, 2013
Second-class patients....
This is an excellent article by the author of "Life Disrupted". Thanks to Stacy for sending it to me:
The Gender Gap in Pain
I have noticed this difference in my own life. Before I was diagnosed with any of my ailments, I found myself in the emergency room multiple times for severe unexplained pain. Each visit lasted around seven hours, all but a few minutes of it spent waiting to be seen by someone. The doctors were either rudely dismissive or patting me on the hand and talking to me as if I were a child. I never once received any form of pain relief, instead being sent home thinking I must be either crazy or a wimp. In contrast, when my husband went to the ER for pain, he was whisked right into a room and given Tramadol while various tests were run. I'm glad he got what he needed, but it did illustrate just how shabbily I had been treated by comparison.
The Gender Gap in Pain
I have noticed this difference in my own life. Before I was diagnosed with any of my ailments, I found myself in the emergency room multiple times for severe unexplained pain. Each visit lasted around seven hours, all but a few minutes of it spent waiting to be seen by someone. The doctors were either rudely dismissive or patting me on the hand and talking to me as if I were a child. I never once received any form of pain relief, instead being sent home thinking I must be either crazy or a wimp. In contrast, when my husband went to the ER for pain, he was whisked right into a room and given Tramadol while various tests were run. I'm glad he got what he needed, but it did illustrate just how shabbily I had been treated by comparison.
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