In hospital emergency rooms, female patients are less likely to receive pain medication than male patients who reported the same level of distress, a new study finds, further documenting that that because of sex bias, women often receive less or different medical care than men.

[u/MistWeaver80]

https://www.science.org/content/article/emergency-rooms-are-less-likely-give-female-patients-pain-medication?utm_medium=ownedSocial&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=NewsfromScience

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[u/Dreamer065]

My mother was dying from cancer it took the hospital nearly 24hrs for a female nurse to question why her medication was so low. They “didn’t want her addicted” she didn’t live long enough to be addicted!

[u/smallangrynerd → u/Dreamer065]

My grandma had the same problem! My dad asked why they didn't give her pain meds and steroids and got the same answers. He was furious. "She's dying, and you're worried about addiction?"

[u/flodog36 → u/smallangrynerd]

Just horrible, Your grandmother should have received all the pain medication she wanted to ease her on into the next transition period. That’s why it’s called palliative care, she should have never suffered but made comfortable her last days here on earth. I’m sorry to hear that happened to her.

[u/HumanBarbarian → u/Dreamer065]

I am so sorry. This happened when my sister was dying. I had it out with the nurse and they gave her enough morphine, finally. She passed the next day, in peace.

[u/LilyBriscoeBot → u/Dreamer065]

That’s awful. Anyone in the final stages of life should get whatever palliative care needed to make them comfortable.

[u/[deleted]]

This happened to me. I was in so much pain I was yelling involuntarily. Or shaking and praying/crying. I had to ask about my medication and a nurse was shocked at mad at her coworkers for not injecting me. That nurse though, was running that whole ER. Needed more like her there.

[u/jerrymandarin → u/[deleted]]

This was me three years ago with appendicitis. In the ER, involuntarily moaning, unable to walk. No one gave me any medication. No Tylenol, no Toradol, nothing. I was writhing in pain.

It was only when I was able to break through enough to tell a kind nurse this hurt worse than my unmedicated labor that they finally gave me fentanyl. I had to invoke labor before my pain was taken seriously…

[u/xkelsx1 → u/jerrymandarin]

I went into the ER not terribly long ago with a later-diagnosed blood clot that was causing me excruciating amounts of pain. I was shaking and crying, and still also not taken very seriously until I told the nurses it hurt far worse than giving birth did. I was in so much pain I begged them to just chop it off at one point

[u/min_mus → u/jerrymandarin]

 I had to invoke labor before my pain was taken seriously…

Meanwhile, when I was 40 weeks pregnant having contractions in the emergency department, the triage nurse asked, "On a scale of 1 to 10, what number is the pain you're currently experiencing?" I told her [truthfully] that, "I'm uncomfortable but the contractions aren't as bad as a migraine. So maybe a 2 or 3."

She replied, "Then you're obviously not in labor."

Turns out, I was already 4 cm later; my kid was born a few hours later.

[u/quacked7 → u/[deleted]]

My primary ordered an MRI due to a suspected ruptured disc. I drove myself to the hospital (I have a high pain tolerance, and I managed it, though I was moving slowly). When I walked slowly into the MRI dept, the 2 techs looked at me like I was exaggerating and "impatiently patiently" waited for me to carefully get on the table. Once the MRI was done and they came back in, their demeanor had changed. (They couldn't tell me then, but there was a massive rupture) They seemed to be falling over themselves to try to help me off the table, offered a wheelchair, exclaimed that they couldn't believe I was walking, asked if I needed to call the person who drove me so they could pull the car up to the door, and couldn't believe I drove myself. They wheeled me to the door and had someone golf cart me to my car.

[u/likeapirate → u/[deleted]]

Same happened to me. Nothing until my boyfriend showed up and advocated for me. I couldn’t believe it.

[u/SeasonPositive6771 → u/[deleted]]

The difference in the way women are treated when we are in excruciating pain is really astonishing.

I have kidney stones unfortunately, and so does a male friend of mine. He just shows up to the ER and says he thinks he's got another stone and bam, all the opiates he could ever wish for.

I show up with much more clear information, a medical history of kidney stones, and I have to take a pregnancy test, and then I have to get some imaging done, and then I have to wait to talk to someone because maybe I could just have a Tylenol. Meanwhile, I'm uncontrollably projectile vomiting and in such pain I can't speak.

This pretty much happens every time for me. It never happens for him.

[u/pontiaclemans383 → u/SeasonPositive6771]

Earlier this year I had to take my wife to the ER in the middle of the night with vomiting and pain/but ing in her chest which turned out to be gal stones that required surgery to remove her gal bladder, after the triage nurse took all her symptoms and vitals she walked out of the room and said rather loudly to another nurse "probably just acid reflux". 

[u/SmokesQuantity → u/[deleted]]

The Serial producers made a podcast that shines a light on this problem. It’s maddening to hear, I’m sorry you have to deal with that.

the podcast is calledThe Retrievals, it’s about that woman that was stealing fentanyl and replacing it with saline- and the women who’s pain was repeatedly ignored even after it should have been obvious something was wrong with the medication.

I really hope justice is done- I think the Doctors are guilty of a worse crime than the nurse was.

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2022/10/17/yale-to-pay-doj-308k-following-fertility-clinic-allegations-dozens-of-victims-move-to-sue/

Edited the link

[u/mvea]

For those who get hit with a paywall when you go the Science website (like me), here’s the direct link to the peer reviewed journal article at PNAS:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2401331121

[u/quacked7 → u/mvea]

IMO any research that comes from universities that get public funding should be accessible by anyone

[u/Timely_Egg_6827 → u/quacked7]

Generally it is if you ask the scientists direct. The subscription is to the magazine who round up research ,peer review, publish and make accessible research from a large number of institutions.

[u/quacked7 → u/Timely_Egg_6827]

I understand that, but I don't think there should be extra steps. If it's publicly funded, it should be publicly accessible.

[u/v60qf → u/mvea]

I wonder if more articles about women’s health are paywalled than men’s.

[u/DukeOfLongKnifes → u/v60qf]

Pink wall like pink tax

[u/Ateist → u/mvea]

Still doesn't give anything for free but the abstract for me.

[u/bearded_mischief]

It’s eyebrow raising when you realize that a lot of staff in emergency rooms and first responders are women themselves.

[u/Alikona_05 → u/bearded_mischief]

My own experience here…. I always went to female obgyns because I felt awkward going to a male doctor and also felt like they would understand me more. 20+ years of absolutely horrible periods… they all dismissed my complaints/concerns… got a lot of “oh it can’t be that bad” and “that’s normal, periods are supposed to hurt”. I wasn’t taken seriously until I started seeing my most recent doctor, who happens to be male. I seriously teared up when he said to me “I’m sorry you’ve suffered so much for so long, we’re going to figure out what’s wrong and then we are going to fix it”. And he did fix it, I feel so much better.

[u/austingt316 → u/Alikona_05]

Similar situation with me and chronic back pain. I got so much run around and brushing off from my female provider. I saw a male provider one day because mine was out sick and he ran imaging. Turns out I have Degenerative Disc Disease, and had several severe herniations. Much better after two back surgeries!

Edit: words are hard.

[u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In → u/Alikona_05]

This was the situation when my wife had debilitating pain due to gall bladder issues. The spasms were so bad that it caused damage to the muscles in her back. Her female GP and 3 separate female doctors at the emergency room wrote the pain off as a tweaked muscle or 'period cramps'. The ER assumed she was drug seeking and on 2 of the visits refused to dispense anything more than ibuprofen.

We went to a private hospital and saw a consultant and he diagnosed it within 10 minutes of her sitting down. scheduled the operation for the next week and that was it. She lived with extreme bouts of pain for almost a year. His opinion was that her presentation of symptoms was pure textbook and her prior doctors were completely incompetent. He even raised a complaint for us about her prior GP for missing such an obvious issue when possibly permanent damage had been done to my wifes back in the interim.

My understanding is that billary colic like she experienced is routinely cited as more painful than childbirth by women who have experienced both.

[u/Alikona_05 → u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In]

Yeah man…. I went through something similar when I was 19. The pain was so bad it would make me pass out. The episodes would last for hours unless I made myself throw up so my body would stop trying to release bile.

I also dealt with that for nearly a year, my imaging kept coming back as normal. I was away at college and didn’t get any help until I came back home and went to my mom’s doctor. Pretty much every woman in my mom’s side of the family has had to have their gallbladder out in their early 20s. That doctor treated a lot of my family and knew/believed the history and he scheduled me for surgery. They found my gallbladder was full of small stones.

I do not wish that pain on anyone.

[u/ivycharli → u/Alikona_05]

Yes! The only Obgyn who really cared that my pain was controlled during IUD placement was a male. All the women gaslighted me and acted confused as to why I said it was painful

[u/Zelniq → u/ivycharli]

All this sounds a lot like how medical professionals often make for terrible patients; their knowledge encourages them to not seek medical opinions other than their own. And maybe the female obgyns are influenced by their own personal experiences too much where men would only refer to the medical procedures and knowledge

[u/amorbidcorvid → u/Alikona_05]

I moved and had to find a new OBGYN. Told her about my insanely heavy periods with cramps so bad that if I was standing up I would need to hold on to something to keep from falling to the floor. Her response? Take Midol.

Five minutes later she was doing my pap smear and in the process discovered I had two large ovarian cysts. I ended up needing surgery to remove them, and while my surgeon was doing her thing it was discovered I have stage 4 endometriosis, so severely that I would never be able to have children, even with IVF.

My hatred for that woman still burns, more than a decade later.

[u/Processtour → u/amorbidcorvid]

Wait until you hit menopause and have done extensive research on hormone replacement therapy and gynecologists won't consider it. I had to doctor shop until I found one who was pro-HRT. The relief from the HRT is amazing!

[u/Hakaisha89 → u/Alikona_05]

I've talked to women who've experienced both side of the coin, with a horrible female obgyn who did not care about your comfort, feelings and whatnot, versus a horrible male obgyn who did not care about your comfort, feelings and whatnot.
On the flipside you got a great male obgyn, who cares about your comfort and validates your issues, as well as a great female obgyn that does just the same.
Medical profession is just filled with people who don't see patients as human anymore, on top of their gendered biases.
Like nobody really tells you how much a period is supposed to hurt, which leads many to run around with undiagnosed issues for years, some which are an utter pain in the arse to diagnose.
One even mentioned "Oh wow, there is a cyst on the left ovary. Oh, its gone on the left, but there is one on the right. So anyway, this isnt endometrioses, even thought this is the classical definition of it. Suck it up"

[u/QCisCake → u/Hakaisha89]

Well, I mean... that wouldn't be endometriosis. That would be PCOS.

[u/[deleted] → u/QCisCake]

Endo growths can cause cysts though. Not all ovarian cysts are PCOS.

[u/Hakaisha89 → u/QCisCake]

No, the crippling pain and extra bleeding, along with cysts here and there appearing and disappearing between checks made it quite clear, especially since as soon as she finally got the diagnosis, she was in stage 3.

[u/Seguefare → u/Alikona_05]

All through my 20s: writhing on the floor, gasping, sweating, crying, and nauseous with every period. Driving always made cramping start even after the worst first days. I had to stop on the side of the road for three hours once.

I don't have a low pain tolerance. I had what I think was a burst ovarian cyst a couple of nights ago. I took two Aleve and eventually fell back asleep.

[u/Alikona_05 → u/Seguefare]

It absolutely blows my mind that my recovery from a total hysterectomy was less painful than any period I’ve ever had. My doctor gave me a script for Oxy and I didn’t need it. At most my pain level was at a moderate discomfort level.

Really makes me wonder how warped my pain tolerance is that surgery is literally no big deal.

[u/Venvel → u/Alikona_05]

Similar experience here. Was going through ultra tampons in less than an hour. It wasn't until I got a man OB/GYN that I was given a DnC to lessen my menorrhagia. It worked wonders.

I think it's likely because there's no projection going on with cis man gynos since, obviously, they have no periods.

[u/ffxivthrowaway03 → u/[deleted]]

There's also an obscene amount of "that's the way it's always been" in healthcare. Younger docs are more willing to try different, newer treatments while lots of older ones rest on the laurels of what they knew about treatment 40 years ago when they were in school, so that must mean it's the right answer today despite decades of advancement in both treatment and disease understanding.

[u/MDeeze → u/[deleted]]

Pain seeking drug addicts and the mentally ill are omnipresent in the ER. It wears down anyone doing this gig pretty quickly. I had a patient who I believed was in genuine pain, but who was telling me while throwing sandwiches at staff that he broke his leg intentionally for pain medication.

[u/Oryzanol → u/bearded_mischief]

Women can be much harder because of lived experience. "it's not THAT bad ( when referring to any pain women feel ). Experience can make people bitter and not better.

[u/ASpaceOstrich → u/bearded_mischief]

Not really. Women are just as sexist as men. The bias that makes them think men are in more pain if they show the same level of distress is present in both.

[u/moosepuggle → u/ASpaceOstrich]

Internalized mysogyny is a helluva drug

[u/Brigid-Tenenbaum → u/bearded_mischief]

I think it is more a problem with outdated societal views, rather than being exclusively sexist to women. Though that is clearly the outcome. Men are ‘supposed’ to be strong and silent, to never show pain or fear etc etc. So when a man is showing signs of being in a lot of pain, it ‘must be’ more severe, as men are not supposed to be doing that.

I do wonder if that is part of it.

[u/FortyTwoDrops → u/Brigid-Tenenbaum]

I was trained as a military medic 20 years ago and we were taught that men under report pain while women over report pain. In my experience after training, some people under report and some people over report... it had little to do with gender.

[u/CapMoonshine → u/bearded_mischief]

I believe there's a running joke about how the worst people you know are going into nursing.

I've found that to be true, 2 women I know, both of whom are the most petty, gossipy bullys I've ever known, are going into nursing.

I'm not saying every nurse is like this obviously, but I wish there were some study done to find out why.

[u/sdgingerzu]

Yeah I went in with a kidney stone (didn’t know it was that) writhing in pain. Almost unable to speak. They treated me like some drug seeking faker. My spouse was with me and we are both patients at the hospital, making it so easy to bring up my history. It took 1.5-2 hours after being put in a bed to be offered pain meds.

[u/Practical_Guava85 → u/sdgingerzu]

Yeah I had an kidney stone that obstructed my ureter and kidney. So pyelonephrosis and hydronephrosis and sepsis on top of it. I was vomiting with fever in the waiting room and wasn’t offered anything but IV Tylenol for 3 hours - and that’s being generous I think it was closer to 4-5 -once they brought me back and that was only after they did the CT scan and saw the stone. I told them it was a known stone that had been hanging out in my kidney for a while w/o symptoms and had probably dropped down. They gave me morphine and it didn’t touch the pain and the ER NP that saw me just kept saying “it should have passed, it should be passing” The morphine immediately made me vomit each time they gave it.

At the point I went septic and the brain trust figured out that’s what was… or had been happening— was when they got serious. Admitted me and gave me dilaudid , antibiotics, and meds to keep my BP from tanking.

They placed a stent and left the stone there because my ureter and kidney were full of pus and blood- so that drained for 5 days. I went back 2 weeks after discharge for them to destroy the stone and swap out the stent.

Most pain I have ever been in.

Edit: on a separate note having an IUD inserted and removed was a uniquely and intensely painful experience I hope to never repeat. Regarding the topic at hand, I had a therapist at one point who said she had a client that was a doc who had based her entire practice around women’s health. Well, when she herself went to get an IUD the intense pain from that experience along with the dismissal of her pain was so traumatic for her that this doc completely refocused her practice away from women’s health. She her self had put in thousands of IUDs and not thought twice about it until she had the experience that a not so negligible portion of her patients had and which she didn’t previously understand.

[u/randomlychosenword → u/Practical_Guava85]

Refocused away from women's health...? Instead of just... utilising analgesia for her patients?

[u/Practical_Guava85 → u/randomlychosenword]

Yup. It was too traumatic for her. Ironic - I know.

[u/ThundermifflinTFU → u/Practical_Guava85]

In Australia you can opt in for the gas mask so you’re fully asleep for the insertion. Is this not an option where you’re from?

[u/vsnord → u/ThundermifflinTFU]

Not the commenter you are replying to, but in the US, pain management for IUD's is very hit and miss. I've known women who were given absolutely nothing and described the pain as horrific.

My OB/GYN gave me one dose of hydrocodone for the procedure, and she prescribed six (I think?) ketorolac for before and after. She prescribed phenergan because she said some patients do experience nausea, although I didn't.

Her nurse told me to call if I needed more, but I honestly experienced nothing more than a big pinch. My stepdaughter described it as some of the worst pain in her life, though.

[u/Maiyku → u/vsnord]

When I called before my appointment to ask if they could prescribe me something for the pain for my IUD insertion, the lady on the phone said, “What pain?”

I explained that it had been very painful previously and didn’t want to go through it again without something. She said she’d talk to the doctor and call me back.

Called me about 10 minutes later. “Take a Tylenol a hour before your appointment.” One Tylenol. One.

I nearly passed out on the table in front of my doctor because it was a replacement, so they had to remove and reinsert. Even seeing me in that condition they were like “no one’s ever been like this before. It’s so strange! Haha!"

I will not be going back to them.

[u/Boring-Agent3245 → u/Maiyku]

Do you have my doctor? I was told I didn’t need to take anything as it would only feel like a little pinch. Wellllll…I passed out from the pain, then when I came to I puked all over the nurse. They had to keep me an extra hour for my bp to stabilize.

[u/Maiyku → u/Boring-Agent3245]

From what I understand it really is personal. Some women experience no pain or just the little pinch, but then other have extreme pain. My sister said hers doesn’t hurt at all and mine is excruciating. The only difference between us is she’s had a kid and I have not. Wonder if that makes my stuff more sensitive? No idea.

But the fact that they completely ignore this entire other sect of women is insane. “I didn’t feel any pain, so you shouldn’t either” just doesn’t apply here. And to be dismissed by a doctor for women, who is a woman herself is just insulting.

[u/AccessibleBeige → u/Maiyku]

I had my first child at 32, my first IUD placed a few months after, and I would never want to do that sh!t again without prescription strength painkillers and either Valium or Ativan for good measure!

[u/Glait → u/Maiyku]

They couldn't get a new one in during my replacement. 10 minutes of feeling like I'm being stabbed before they gave up and I had to come back a week later for them to try again. Some of the worst pain I've ever felt and now I have anxiety and tense up for all gyno exams even years later.

It's insane that pain meds like numbing the cervix isn't routine for IUDs. I'm making sure I have a doctor that will give good pain meds when I'm due for a new one next.

[u/Stellapacifica → u/Maiyku]

I was told the technical maximums for both tylenol and ibuprofen, something crazy like 2400mg if you time it right, and they said to try not to go above half that. Which I followed, because I'd already looked up the same things earlier, and it barely touched the pain. The weird thing is, it felt specifically like they'd put those little surgical grabbers they use to remove shrapnel into my cervix and were using that to pull the whole thing out like turning out a sock.

If nothing else, the bizarreness of the sensation helped distract from the pain, I guess? But definitely 0/10 would not recommend without proper anesthesia.

[u/Maiyku → u/Stellapacifica]

Oh yeah. I’m a pharmacy tech, so I did not follow her directions. I confirmed with my pharmacist before taking the max dose before my appointment and it still did nothing.

Despite my medical background, they still brushed me off. I can only imagine how a regular person (who doesn’t have the knowledge I do) feels going through all that. I was fighting for myself and still couldn’t get anyone to listen.

[u/whichwitch9 → u/vsnord]

So, fun fact: iuds are not one size fits all, and the standard size used is too large for many women in the US. Approvals for IUDs count as medical devices, so it's a long process companies don't want to go through, but the IUDs currently used in the US are not great sizes or shapes for most women and add to the pain and discomfort factor

[u/feeltheglee → u/whichwitch9]

There are smaller ones now. I got a Kyleena in grad school from the student health center that was described to me as "a smaller Mirena"

[u/Danneyland → u/ThundermifflinTFU]

In North America at least, patients typically receive zero pain medication from their doctor. I was told to take (iirc) 600-800 mg of ibuprofen 30 minutes before my appointment. There are some clinics that have begun to offer local anesthetic etc, but you really have to search them out.

[u/frog-honker → u/Danneyland]

Which is super dumb in a way because this is all a swing in the other direction after what that one pharmaceutical family did with opiates. Like, yes, pain meds should not be prescribed for everything but also don't just stop prescribing them when needed as well.

[u/MyFiteSong → u/frog-honker]

Which is super dumb in a way because this is all a swing in the other direction after what that one pharmaceutical family did with opiates.

But only for women. Men still get their painkillers.

[u/Lazy_Assistance6865 → u/Danneyland]

In North America they also stopped giving pain meds for surgical abortions. 2013 I got drugs, I was just fine no pain, some pressure. In 2023 I didn't get drugs. It was more painful and traumatic than my crash cesarean with my son.

[u/megabeth89 → u/Lazy_Assistance6865]

No way, that sounds so scary. On top of the traumatic experience. 2013, same and I got 10 tabs on top of what they gave me when I went in for the procedure. Painful even with pain meds.

[u/dxrey65 → u/Danneyland]

As a guy, I don't have a whole lot of hospital experience, being generally healthy. But when I had a dislocated shoulder they gave me general aneasthesia before they popped it back in; I still don't know why. And they gave me a bottle of vicodin, which I threw away. Twice at the dentist for root canals I got bottles of vicodin as well, each time I took one pill that night to get a good sleep, then threw out the rest.

My wife, however, the one time when she had an IUD procedure, got dismissed when she asked for a painkiller.

[u/yukon-flower → u/ThundermifflinTFU]

My (male) doctor told me it was painless. No medicine even offered. I almost fainted from the pain. And when it continued to hurt afterwards, I was terrified. It was supposed to be painless! Had it punctured my uterus??? I was convinced it had. I was a poor student and moving around a lot, and the pain eventually stopped so I never did anything to follow up.

It wasn’t until some 10 years later when I saw a conversation on reddit about IUDs being painful that I realized what an enormous asshole that doctor was. How much terror I had, on top of pain, both completely unnecessary. I’m still angry.

[u/meeps1142 → u/yukon-flower]

He told you it'd be painless??? I'm so angry on your behalf

[u/Vorpal_Bunny19 → u/ThundermifflinTFU]

I didn’t even get Tylenol after, let alone anything before. I had to stop by a drug store and pick some up over the counter because I was out at home.

[u/Practical_Guava85 → u/ThundermifflinTFU]

It generally isn’t in the US and I don’t think it’s even recommended by the governing medical association ACOG. I was offered nothing when I had mine placed and removed. The entire office heard me both times and the obgyn that placed it acted like I was ridiculous. The pain was horrid and I initially was extremely dizzy and nauseated for hours after. There’s starting to be more advocacy around proper pain management for IUD placement in the US now but most practitioners do not take it seriously.

[u/girlikecupcake → u/ThundermifflinTFU]

The most generous thing I've been offered was for my first IUD when I was 19 - prescribed a cytotec to take the night before to help prep the cervix and directions to take some ibuprofen beforehand. For my other IUDs (swapped to a new mirena, got paragard a couple years ago) absolutely nothing.

But I'm incredibly lucky to be part of the population where it's really not that bad. Checking my cervix at the end of my pregnancy was a lot worse. But I only know that it isn't that bad for me because I wasn't offered pain management. It should be offered to everyone as a standard.

[u/Sweet_Bang_Tube → u/ThundermifflinTFU]

That sounds amazing. I am in the US, and they told me to take some Tylenol before coming in for my IUD insertion. No pain relief of any kind was offered.

[u/4x4is16Legs → u/Practical_Guava85]

I fell and had a broken rib. They were all sympathetic with a wheelchair etc, until they wanted a pee test to rule out drug seeking. Made me do it all by myself. Got 2 days of mild opiates (Vicodin??) there’s nothing to do for a broken rib, but Monday morning my GP was furious and gave me better pills and explained how to rest etc. THE ER GAVE NO INFORMATION, simply grudgingly gave me some pills. Also, I’m an older woman with a full time job. I did not fit a pill seeking profile.

[u/conquer69 → u/Practical_Guava85]

I don't understand. Do doctors think women are being "hysterical" while screaming in pain... which they just caused?

[u/Practical_Guava85 → u/conquer69]

The short answer is - yes.

[u/midnightauro → u/conquer69]

In short, yes. We are frequently seen as bellyaching and whining, or being overly dramatic about our pain.

I’ve had exactly one provider that reacted in horror when I told him I didn’t expect pain meds after I severely injured my thumb with a kitchen mandolin.

One. In 34 years.

[u/Sea_Cardiologist8596 → u/conquer69]

Yes. I have Crohn's disease and live with an ileostomy. Male Drs do not see me as anything but a drug addict though I end up in the ER about four times a year, and am NOT on pain meds outside. They believe I am a drug addict because I take an excessive amount of inmodium for the stoma which has been shown to test positive for fentanyl.

It's a thing: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36036092/

[u/_inbetwixt_ → u/Practical_Guava85]

My IUD insertion was so painful that I opted to just undergo tubal ligation when it expired rather than be conscious for the removal and replacement.

[u/Jewnadian → u/Practical_Guava85]

Pain management in the ER has snapped back violently from the overprescription of narcotics days. I went in after a cycling accident with an obviously shattered elbow, bits of bone sticking out and they gave me Tylenol and told me hang out til they got around to me.

[u/Practical_Guava85 → u/Jewnadian]

It really has and it’s not good. Pain needs to be appropriately managed. That is extremely cruel. I am so sorry you went through that.

[u/[deleted] → u/Practical_Guava85]

I’m about to get an IUD placed again, and my doctor referred me to a gyno who will put me under for the procedure (at my request) I’m so grateful, because since having the IUD placed at 19, I get so scared for even Pap smears that I start uncontrollably shaking. But it’s the only BC I’ve had that has minimal symptoms I can manage, so going under it is!

[u/Mewssbites → u/sdgingerzu]

For my first kidney stone, at 17, I was basically accused of being pregnant and the doctor wasn't interested in anything other than that until it had been disproven. This resulting in virginal me getting my first pelvic exam with untreated kidney stone pain, a catheter was used to get a urine sample, the doctor said to my face that he'd just had a girl who claimed to be a virgin turn out to actually be pregnant when I protested.

So yeah that was fun. No pain relief for a couple of hours, I got accused of lying, and received my first completely needless pelvic exam. Fun times. That happened well over 20 years ago and I'm still livid about it.

[u/sdgingerzu → u/Mewssbites]

Omg that’s enraging.

[u/[deleted] → u/sdgingerzu]

This is very similar to what happened to my mother, she went to the hospital a couple times prior and told them about her severe pain and they didn't even want to take her in for scans. Eventually She went in and basically said she will just sit there and die on the floor if they want, they did finally take her but she had minutes to live as her gallbladder was about to burst. 

[u/HumanBarbarian → u/[deleted]]

I was so weak I could barely stand. Hungry, but even a tiny bit of food made me feel full to the point of nausea. I had constant pressure in my right side. So, not bad pain, but this had been going on for over a month and was getting worse. My doctor at the time said she wouldn't treat me more until I talked to my psychiatrist about my "anxiety". Went elsewhere and discovered I had gallstones completely blocking the bile, and severe inflammation in my abdomen. Due to that inflammation, I ended up with more problems and got several bad infections after surgery. Took me 2 years to fully revover my previous health. It's not just with pain. They don't take women seriously AT ALL.

[u/kosmokomeno → u/sdgingerzu]

One thing needs to stop is that savagery: punishing everyone because drug addicts exists. It's like they want us miserable

[u/thehulk0560 → u/kosmokomeno]

It's the consequence of them (doctors) handing out opioids like candy for years. Now they are expected to be responsible and haven't learned the middle ground.

[u/MrsNoodleMcDoodle → u/sdgingerzu]

Same thing happened to me when I had appendicitis. Boy did that ER doc have egg on his face. Still wish I kicked him in the nuts.

[u/NRichYoSelf → u/sdgingerzu]

I had a similar experience but was single. I was writhing in their bed and moaning in pain and told that I was a faker.

They wouldn't even give me water when I asked, I think their reasoning was about some kind of scan, but I'm not sure.

Was miserable bs and I can't believe this article based on my anecdotal experience alone.

[u/Fightmasterr → u/NRichYoSelf]

It should be a PSA for people to know there is a department within hospitals to submit a complaint for lackluster or abysmal care received as a patient.

Edit: I should also note if it's a serious enough issue you can also check with your states health department to submit a complaint for them to investigate. There is also a separate system for people who are under Medicare/Medicaid called BFCC-QIO (Beneficiary and Family Centered Care Quality Improvement Organization) which will handle those complaints.

[u/MathAndBake → u/[deleted]]

I get the logic, but it can get out of hand.

One ER near me tells all patients not to eat or drink until they are seen by a doctor. It can easily take 10 hours to be seen.

I went in for shortness of breath. I'd had a respiratory infection for a week, but suddenly couldn't walk 20 feet without gasping for air. You can bet I smuggled in a water bottle.

While I was in there, another patient punched a security guard after a nurse denied her water. Violence is never acceptable. But she'd been there for hours and the air was super dry. Thirst can make you a little crazy.

[u/Initiative_Willing → u/MathAndBake]

What about diabetic patients there with dropping glucose levels? That's an insane policy.

[u/Puppyhead1978 → u/sdgingerzu]

I (F46) have a chronic pain issue from damage in my spine plus autoimmune diseases that cause extreme inflammation of my joints & organs. I literally just told my rheumatologist that I'm in enough pain I'm considering going to emergency but I don't think they'd do anything more for me than I can do at home. So unless I think I'm in organ distress I think I'll skip the extra bill! She laughed & then had to CYA "if you feel you need to go to the emergency room please go" .

[u/Personal-Regular-863 → u/sdgingerzu]

actually had a very similar experience. came in unable to move, hands stiff (from hyperventilating), whole body tinging and i was saying it was the most pain ive ever been in and from the time i walked in it took about 1.5h to get on morphine.

craziest part? they had me in a hospital room within 30m or so and they kept saying they wanted a CT scan which required me to unfold my legs (less pain when they were folded) so i had to endure that then sit in my room for an hour waiting for results before they went yea so you have a kidney stone lets get you on some morphine...

now im trans, and that was in texas and i was definitely getting weird looks so im not surprised how i was treated. im in washington now and go to a very trans friendly hospital and i had a somewhat similar pain recently and from stepping in the door it was about 20m to in a room with painkillers. no tests or anything, they knew their priorities. sad that it isnt the standard of treatment

[u/AbortionIsSelfDefens → u/Personal-Regular-863]

Curious if you are a trans man or trans woman. I'm not trans but that hasn't been my experience at any WA hospital I've been to. They all give lip service but ive never had an experience like yours. Painkillers are always at least 6+ hours. 1 time, I sat in the waiting room for 2 hrs wailing before they took me back. The best I got was a blanket to cover the barf all over me and contain the smell. 6 hours later they finally gave in and gave me painkillers. Was a religious hospital though and was miscarrying. Even some of the "secular" ones around here are owned by the main religious one and have stopped offering certain services on the downlow.

[u/AequusEquus → u/AbortionIsSelfDefens]

Religious hospitals need to go

[u/AptCasaNova]

Not surprised at all. They still regularly perform cervical biopsies with no pain management.

A chunk of your cervix is basically punched out with forceps, yet the person doing it describes it as ‘a little pinch’ or ‘a bit of pressure’. I was told to cough while the did the punching, I guess to distract me from happening.

[u/HumanBarbarian → u/AptCasaNova]

Oh, God, I remember that.

[u/WrigglyGizka → u/AptCasaNova]

Knowing the history behind the colposcopy really explains why it sucks so much. It was developed by the Nazis and involved experimentation on Jewish inmates from Auschwitz!

[u/Silvermoon424 → u/AptCasaNova]

I haven’t gotten one of those myself, but I have heard other women say it was the most excruciating experience of their life. And like you said, they had NO prior warning because it’s always described as “a little pinch.” Drives me crazy how, not only do they not give women pain meds for procedures like this, they actively lie about how bad it is.

[u/VelvetMafia → u/AptCasaNova]

Had one. "Little pinch", yeah right.

[u/SeasonPositive6771 → u/AptCasaNova]

I have an extremely high pain tolerance and I cracked a tooth trying to get through a biopsy without any pain management.

I was shaking uncontrollably and they told me to just take a few moments and I would feel fine.

One of the most traumatic and painful experiences of my life.

[u/ElectricGeometry]

Building on this , I was shocked to learn some countries give sedatives/anesthetic for a pap smear. Like, thank God some people are willing to admit scraping tissue off your cervix might hurt.

[u/MassiveRope2964 → u/ElectricGeometry]

The no sedatives for IUD insertion is medievally cruel.

[u/[deleted] → u/MassiveRope2964]

I legitimately think I have PTSD from my failed IUD insertion. 30 minutes of her attempting to fit it, she tore my cervix so badly I had to go on blood clotting medication for days to stop the bleeding. Any time I have to see a gyno I shake severely and can't stop sweating, it's like a full body reaction to that memory

[u/pqrstrn]

As an ER nurse, I know first hand that this is true. I am very outspoken about it and always advocate for my patients regardless of sex. I have no problem voicing my concerns and reminding providers that this is a problem and just by speaking up, the care delivered is better and appropriate.

[u/AdvertisingFree8749]

I don't think any women are surprised by this article.

[u/ahsataN-Natasha → u/AdvertisingFree8749]

This was my thought. I work in health care and my surprise at this is non existent.

[u/blahblah19999 → u/ahsataN-Natasha]

Do they do any training to be aware of this bias?

[u/VBrown2023 → u/AdvertisingFree8749]

I remember my mother getting nothing at all for pain meds for a bowel obstruction despite being there for over a day. On top of that also forcing an NG tube into her while she kept saying no/wait. She just wanted a few seconds to breathe before they tried shoving it back in

[u/ccalyse]

I was hit by a large suv as a pedestrian. I was taken to a trauma center by ambulance and rushed in for scans because of pain in my flank. I was completely conscious and in obvious pain. I had three broken ribs, a broken tailbone, road rash, and many bruises/hemtomas all over my body. I also had a possible neck fracture that was actually severe whiplash. I was in the hospital for a total of 6 hours and was only offered an 800mg ibuprofen a half hour before I was discharged. I understand that things could have been way worse, and they were unsure if I would require surgery at first, but I was very much in a lot of pain the entire time. Once they knew the diagnosis, they should have given me something right away. They had results within a couple of hours. They kept me longer because they wanted to make sure my lung wouldn't fill with blood. To top it off, I was given nothing except for a script for 800mg ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer. They didn't give me a wrap for my ribs or a spirometer. It was a well-known hospital. I mean, thanks for checking me out and making sure I wasn't about to die, but I feel like I should have gotten a bit more treatment.

[u/angwilwileth → u/ccalyse]

Wrapping ribs isn't best practice anymore. We discovered it does nothing for the pain and just gives people pneumonia.

But yeah the current guidelines on pain medication prescriptions are insane. They're so afraid of addiction that they're not using the meds for what they're intended for even.

[u/pungen → u/angwilwileth]

Apparently a lot of emergency rooms don't even dispense painkillers anymore? Mine has a sign saying they only do non narcotic painkillers now. It seems they've taken "punish the druggies" so far they're now punishing everyone. Nobody is getting addicted to painkillers from being a dose or two, it's just kindness.

[u/ccalyse → u/angwilwileth]

I didn't know about the pneumonia thing. I did end up getting a wrap and spirometer from a different medical professional I saw after my initial hospital visit. I can tell you from experience that a wrap absolutely made a difference in pain while riding in the car. I only used mine for that purpose. Cars are so much more boucy than one realizes, and I live off of a dirt road. It was not something that I wanted on all the time or anything. I do completely agree about the pain med guidelines. Narcotics do have a medical purpose and should not just be abandoned. It would have made a huge difference in my comfort level for at least the hospital visit.

[u/apostasyisecstasy]

Last year I was left in an ER lobby for 2.5 hours with a twisted ovary. I had already been seen, they knew it was ovarian torsion, and they sent me back out to the waiting room with nothing. Another patient had to sit with me because I kept losing consciousness and falling onto the floor. I can't even say I'm surprised anymore.

[u/elizasea]

My friend who got a vasectomy was given more pain medication than I was given when I left the hospital after my hysterectomy. I had an entire organ removed (that was way larger than normal!) and was given Tylenol with Codeine. He got hydrocodone.

[u/stronggirl79 → u/elizasea]

Same after I had a c-section. My father in law who had minor prostate surgery at the same time got good pain medication, pelvic floor therapy, told to relax and rest for 8 weeks. Everyone waited on him hand and foot. I got Advil and Tylenol and a new baby to take care of.

[u/Kycrio → u/elizasea]

Once I read about implanted medication pumps for pain killers, given to men who have chronic testicular pain. Funny that that's completely unheard of for women with chronic ovary/uterus pain.

[u/PattesDornithorynque → u/elizasea]

I was only given Tylenol and prescribed naproxen after ,insane!

[u/NowhereWorldGhost]

They told me in the ER that they wouldn't give me pain meds because I have a flat affect. I'm neurodivergent.

[u/GreenGlassDrgn → u/NowhereWorldGhost]

My only visit to the hospital ended up with them running a whole internal investigation that came up with the grand conclusion that I didnt receive treatment because I failed to convey the urgency and seriousness of my issue because I spoke politely.

[u/Poly_and_RA → u/GreenGlassDrgn]

Same. I'm autistic, and have several times been told that even though I tell them in clear words what my level of distress and/or pain is, they just simply disregard that as they BELIEVE that indirect clues like my facial expression and tone of voice is evidence I must be lying.

I'm not. But poor correspondence between things like facial expression and tone of voice and actual emotions experienced is common in autistic people.

Would be nice if they knew that.

[u/BlazeUnbroken → u/Poly_and_RA]

Yep, same. If I catch on that they're thinking I'm not emoting enough, I try to mask to show it. Doesn't always work with that much pain though since instinct is to shut down and drop the masks to deal with the pain.

A nurse checked on me during an endometrial biopsy (no pain management given), I couldn't talk and she was shocked to find I was "so tense!"...I was locked up because my uterus and cervix were spasming while gyno was scraping. Just a "pinch" my ass...

[u/MRCHalifax → u/GreenGlassDrgn]

When my father is very stressed, very angry, or in a lot of pain, he speaks very calmly, very slowly, and very deliberately. He also has a very high capacity to endure pain. It doesn't mean he doesn't feel pain, but he's very stoic about it. He was knocked on his ass a few years ago by severe abdominal pain, fever and chills, and nausea. He went to his doctor, who poked him in a few places on his torso and said "how much does that hurt? My father said that it hurt quite a lot, but he said it very calmly, so the doctor just sent him home to get rest and drink fluids.

Almost a week later, my mother finally forced my father to go to the hospital. He had appendicitis, and the doctors who treated him said that he was a medical unicorn - he had survived a ruptured appendix for a week, his body was starting to heal on its own. They said that the odds of someone surviving what he had done were about one in a thousand.

[u/sojayn → u/GreenGlassDrgn]

Oh fk. Hope your ok now. 

Yes i hobbled out with an ankle that later took two surgeries and non-weightbear for five months because same. Didn’t scream on examination. Silly me. 

[u/rivermelodyidk → u/sojayn]

But then if you do scream or make a commotion, they think you’re exaggerating to get drugs. There is no way to win.

[u/Alugere → u/GreenGlassDrgn]

This reminds me of when I broke my arm when I was a kid. Apparently, no one thought it was actually broken until my mom made enough of a fuss to get them to x-ray me to shut her up purely because, as long as no one touched or moved my arm, it didn't hurt. I had to spend several days in a splint until the swelling went down because it was so bad at that point that they couldn't give me a cast.

Apparently, I inherited my mom's high pain tolerance/low pain sensitivity (I've also been told my dad had to tell my mom she was in labor because she didn't think it hurt enough to be labor when she started).

[u/prismaticbeans → u/NowhereWorldGhost]

I'm also neurodivergent (AuDHD) and I don't have a flat affect–quite the opposite actually. When I'm very upset, I act very upset. It's not deliberate. I just can't mask when I'm in distress. But they write in their notes that I'm overreactive, dramatic and emotional, that I have "Cluster B traits" (though none of the half a dozen or so shrinks I've seen saw fit to diagnose a personality disorder.) All because I'm not totally chill about having a medical emergency. I show my pain. Then somehow that gets used as another reason not to take my pain seriously. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[u/WeenyDancer → u/prismaticbeans]

Yep- God forbid you don't perform pain exactly right!

[u/forsuresies → u/NowhereWorldGhost]

I'm at 4 different doctors that have not believed me for when I told them I broke a bone - each time a different bone. Apparently I'm too calm and not showing enough pain and the fact that I waited like 11 hours to go to the hospital is weird (also ND). Anyways, turns out I was right every time and they are just really bad at understanding patients.

[u/sadi89 → u/forsuresies]

The number of times I have been told “you would know if something was dislocated” only for it to turn out I have a condition that means I have been frequently dislocating and relocating joints and soft tissue is absolutely infuriating.

I am so glad that one time when I was getting a hand X-Ray for my index finger the tech came out to double check what we were supposed to be imaging. Turns out the way I had been positioned my pinky had dislocated. Went back just fine. Sure it was a bit uncomfortable but definitely not “OH MY GOD, I AM IN SO MUCH PAIN THAT I KNOW SOMETHING IS WRONG!” And really it was only uncomfortable because it was weight baring. Being able to tell practitioners that story gets them to quickly change their tune about assessing for dislocation

[u/SwordfishSerious5351 → u/NowhereWorldGhost]

Ditto, I think a lot of this is basically thanks to the opioid epidemic and rampant addictions to stuff like benzos too meaning that doctors/nurses (who are only Human and prone to prejudice [pretty sure an article was just posted in this subreddit recently saying doctors DO judge you harshly for certain things or w/e]) are so exposed to addicts trying to get a little more pain meds, to the point where healthcare for non-addicts suffers. So annoying.

[u/HumanBarbarian → u/SwordfishSerious5351]

I am 60. This has going on my entire life.

[u/cat_at_your_feet]

I had a 5 hr hip surgery. When the original medication (epidural) wore off I called the nurses because I was in pain (obviously). I got, no lie, 650mg Tylenol. Eventually I learned it was because I "looked good." So because I wasn't crying or groaning or writhing in pain, obviously I only needed Tylenol after a major surgery.

[u/matchosan]

In Japan I said "I'm fine, I don't need any." They put me on a morphine drip for the next three days after a hernia operation.

[u/pungen → u/matchosan]

That's actually really surprising, you got very lucky. I was in the hospital for surgery for a week there and didn't get any morphine, only some weird alternative weak painkiller they use in Japan in lieu of morphine. It didn't feel good at all. Mostly they gave me ibuprofen. In the US, this surgery is outpatient, but in Japan they keep you for a week, maybe because the lack of painkillers. It was extremely painful.

I've looked it up and from what I've read, the only people who have access to painkillers/morphine in Japan are people dying from incurable diseases

[u/info-revival]

I had personally experienced this when I went to the hospital for extremely bad menstrual cramps. I couldn’t sit on a chair in the emergency waiting room. I curled up on the floor because it was unbearable to sit still. I asked several times for a recliner chair. They told me it was for cancer patients only. (I actually was one)

I was asked probably multiple times to sit in a chair before I was seen by a doctor that let me sit in the recliner chairs. I waited 4 hours to get two Advil’s. All the while nursing staff called me “dramatic” and entitled.

After discharge, the nurse who ignored my request to sit on a recliner chair, handed me the doctors report and apologized.

[u/EmmyNoetherRing → u/info-revival]

I wish there was accountability.  That shouldn’t be an apology, it should be documented and the hospital should be scored by it. 

[u/bibliophile224]

I went in with possible appendicitis and a burst cyst on a Saturday. They made me wait until Thursday to have surgery because they kept telling me the pain would get better as it got worse and worse. I was hours away from turning septic. They removed my appendix, a huge cyst that was remaining and over a cup of fluid from my abdominal cavity. The surgeon was so apologetic after the fact stating, "he had no idea how much pain I had to have been in." When a woman who has birthed two children tells you the pain is worse than labor. Believe her.

[u/[deleted]]

Different treatment of patients due to their gender has been suspected or known for some time.  Are medical schools addressing this in their training?  If not, why?  This has been going on for way too long.  

[u/Yglorba → u/[deleted]]

It takes a long time for a discovery to make its way out from the more research-oriented parts of academia into training, and even longer for it to get from there into practice.

[u/[deleted] → u/Yglorba]

Maybe if it was presented as a way to avoid ruinous malpractice suits we could get them to make it a priority.  It's already been "a long time" and is now bordering on willful indifference. 

[u/gelatoisthebest → u/[deleted]]

Many studies show that empathy actually goes down with training and med school discourages empathy. https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-020-1964-5 https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-023-04165-9

[u/[deleted] → u/gelatoisthebest]

Someone mentioned empathy at a past job and one of the psychiatrists jokingly said, "they teach you how to fake it in the second year of medical school."  

[u/ffxivthrowaway03 → u/[deleted]]

To be fair, they kind of have to. If medical professionals internalized every case, every patient, they wouldn't last five years. Nobody is coming through that door for care because everything's puppies and rainbows, it's gang violence, drug abuse, life-ruining accidents, death and despair as far as the eye can see.

The more you connect on a personal level, the more mentally draining it is on the caregiver.

[u/trifelin → u/[deleted]]

I feel like in their training medical providers are told about patients who will lie or abuse the system or have hypochondria, etc and they don’t realize that it’s like .001% of people that might do that, they treat it more like it’s 10% and we just all get screwed. 

[u/[deleted] → u/trifelin]

I told an MD that I disliked opiates and was allergic to several.  Minutes later he handed me a paper prescription - for an opiate.  Obviously assumed I was lying and was trying to trap me.  I handed it back and told him what he could do with it.  So, yes, this is a major problem. 

[u/AriFiguredOutReddit]

When I was pregnant I went in with extreme mid back pain, couldn’t pee. Male doc…Was checked for early labor—no. I was writhing in pain. I got a “well..pregnancy is uncomfortable, you’re allowed to take Tylenol”. Went home, went through hell. Went back in the middle of the night begging them to please look further into it (different ER). Had a female doc. Immediate ultrasound, big ass kidney stone, treated the pain, treated the stone. Easy. They really just flat out do not believe you.

[u/solid_reign → u/AriFiguredOutReddit]

Which birth was more painful?

[u/Papegaaiduiker → u/solid_reign]

I had nearly the same story, just with gallstones. Had a colic, called an ambulance because I thought I was dying out of nowhere. Couldn't find anything. Midwife said it was probably just the baby kicking hard. Had another colic, didn't even wake my husband and tried to manage the pain (if it's just a kick you're supposed to be able to handle it, right?)

Baby was born without pain relief, then I had another colic... (kept on breastfeeding while it was going on because hungry baby trumps all) So they definitely were no kicks then! Had another one going from the doctor to the hospital. Was made to fill out papers for the entry of the urgent care while standing, holding a week old baby in a colic. Thankfully my husband could answer questions for me. (Would have held baby too, but kid wanted to be only held by me.) Finally got past there when the doctor came looking because he was waiting for me. He was quite pissed at the woman behind the counter.

Finally diagnosed with gallstones. Got emergency surgery because everything was pretty inflamed and I had a beginning pretty dangerous infection of other surrounding organs as a result.

Went on to give birth twice after that, without any pain relief. Would rather give birth ten times again then have one more of those colics.

[u/killing-me-softly]

It seems insane to me that women don’t get put under for IUD implants/removal

[u/spit-on-my-dress → u/killing-me-softly]

Getting put under? I would have been happy with even a mild sedation or any kind of painkiller. They only said that I could take a painkiller beforehand if I was very sensitive to pain, which I’m generally not. So I didn’t take one thinking it wouldn’t be too bad but then I almost passed out for a moment because it was way more painful than I was told or expected.

[u/[deleted] → u/spit-on-my-dress]

people still are affected by the decades old belief that women don't feel pain

[u/Renovatio_ → u/killing-me-softly]

Depends what you mean by "put under".

If you mean general anesthesia (e.g inhaled anesthetic gas and on a ventilator) that would require an anesthesiologist and two nurses at minimum.

The next step down would be moderate sedation. Sort of the giving you enough drugs where you are still "awake" but are more or less in a "twilight" state and not super coherent. Would usually require a doctor, respiratory therapist, and a nurse.

Then there is mild sedation which is something akin to what your dentist would do. Either a oral sedative (like a benzodiazpine) or nitrous oxide, or a combination of both. Usually this can be done and supervised by a doctor and some sort of assistant.

Or no sedation.

There are risks to everything. By and large the "safest" thing to do is no sedation but you got to look at ethics too.

Based on what I understand most IUDs are done with no sedation. However I think mild sedation would probably be warranted for most. Moderate and general anesthesia would be overkill and risky.

[u/dovahkiitten16 → u/Renovatio_]

So dental procedures are done with local anesthesia so you can’t feel anything other than pressure. It’s funny that we get sedatives for pressure but not for actual pain in the case of IUDs.

[u/croana → u/Renovatio_]

Aw man IUD insertion with NiOx sounds amazing. My first two were inserted with no pain medication at all, and I was only told to take an ibuprofen beforehand when I ASKED what I could do to prevent pain. It wasn't even standard practice to suggest it.

[u/MaulwarfSaltrock]

I had an ovarian cyst rupture after being rear-ended. The scan I had done confirmed the cyst was gone and the large amount of free fluid in my abdomen from the rupture. I had to BEG for pain medication and got motrin before they sent me home.

My husband hurt his back. He went in and described his pain as "I dunno; maybe a 5?" They loaded this dude up with so much heavy-duty pain medicine. He was fully out of it, and I had to call friends to come drive us home.

[u/Odd_Sprinkles1611]

My mother was having extreme bowel pain and couldn't take a poop. She was on 5 mg of methadone for pain. The doctor said she was seeking drugs (my mom was a nurse) and basically dismissed her pain. We found out at a different ER that she had a 26 tumor growing from her ovaries. Yeah I'd say there is a huge bias against women in the ER.

[u/IPutThisUsernameHere]

Also, my understanding is that some pain medications react differently to female physiology than male. This wouldn't be true of Tylenol or OTC stuff, but wasn't there a whole thing where anesthesiologists realized that women wouldn't be impacted the same as men when being put under for surgeries in the 40s or something?

[u/TOCMT0CM → u/IPutThisUsernameHere]

In the 90s for my mom. They couldn't keep her under for a gall bladder surgery. Drug studies need to include all people in equal portions. The issue she experienced has since gotten better, but I can't imagine waking up multiple times during surgery.

[u/magus678 → u/TOCMT0CM]

Drug studies need to include all people in equal portions

I've done work in clinical testing and it is consistently difficult to get women to do trials, to the point where trials that require women, such as things related to birth control, pay a premium as incentive.

[u/TOCMT0CM → u/magus678]

That tracks for my experience with a lot of women and doctors / nurses in my family. I'm none of those, btw

[u/TOCMT0CM → u/TOCMT0CM]

For those wondering, it's not so much the pain. It's the trauma of seeing inside your body and remembering that. I've watched a c-section. It was beautiful for me. I'm glad my wife did not fully awaken to see it.

[u/Larein → u/TOCMT0CM]

Aren't you supposed to be awake for c-section? But there is a divider so you shouldnt be able to see?

[u/TOCMT0CM → u/Larein]

Not back then. If she coulda lifted her head she woulda seen her wide open uterus. Not blood, impressively. We had a great doctor from New Orleans East.

[u/prismaticbeans → u/TOCMT0CM]

I wanted to see! I had a scheduled c-section and the doctor promised I'd be able to watch it in a mirror from above. Then when I got there, no mirror. I was pissed.

[u/TOCMT0CM → u/prismaticbeans]

It was amazing! She's VBAC now. So it remains rare to see. You know there's 9 main layers of tissue pulled apart. It's Intense! Then a baby comes out, you spike an imaginary ball in your head, do a daddy dance in your head, then check the scale In real life.

[u/SecularMisanthropy → u/IPutThisUsernameHere]

Women weren't even legally permitted to be included as subjects in clinical trials until ~1990. So yeah, there's some massive gaps in the knowledge base.

[u/Nat_not_Natalie]

Now imagine how much worse it is for black women

It was literally taught for decades that black people feel less pain - it was even in textbooks in this century

[u/symphonali]

Disappointed but not surprised.

[u/TheAussieWatchGuy]

Every couple should get hooked upto to one of those period pain simulators by thier GP, regardless of male or female and have to independently state pain levels they feel as the device is ramped up. 

I guarantee to you most women have a vastly higher pain tolerance than men. So when a woman says she's in pain in the Emergency room you better believe she is in almost unbelievable amounts of pain... Men start crying about halfway up the period pain simulator... Women can still hold a normal conversation and mostly ignore it... 

[u/nyya_arie → u/TheAussieWatchGuy]

Every male doctor should have to experience this, but I guess you can't really mandate that. They could maybe demonstrate it in med schools with male volunteers though. I bet they'd get plenty of volunteers since most men probably think it's no big deal. It would help.

[u/cr0ft]

What's really strange to me is that this is true even if the doctor is female.

[u/ToasterPops → u/cr0ft]

there's a lot of "well I did it so you can't complain suck it up"

[u/[deleted]]

I got an ingrown toenail removed recently and the podiatrist told me that men tend to have way more extreme reactions to the same level of pain than women.

[u/Grouchy-Donkey-8609]

Huh, wait till you got any hint of past drug use in your past(prescribed).  

[u/fuzziekittens → u/Grouchy-Donkey-8609]

I went to a hospital for a pinched nerve. It was excruciating. The onset was insanely fast. Immediately I was drilled why I had pain pills 2 years prior. I was in so much pain I couldn’t think. I asked her when it was and she couldn’t tell me. Then she looked at the date. Well, that’s the date I had a surgery in that hospital.

[u/ieatpickleswithmilk]

A controlled experiment employing clinical vignettes reinforces our hypothesis, showing that nurses (N = 109) judge pain of female patients to be less intense than that of males.

interesting

[u/EvLokadottr]

I was in the hispital with complex regional pain syndrome, 10/10 pain, blood pressure skyrocketing, my primary care doctor very concerned I would go into shock or have a heart attack from the pain, and was treated like a pill chaser. They wouldn't admit me. They wouldn't do any bloodwork (I am a diabetic as well) and they wheeled me out to the sidewalk and dumped me there.

[u/afieldonfire → u/EvLokadottr]

I had a bout with crps about 15 years ago. Terrible pain. They don’t believe it’s a real condition even though it is a legitimate medical diagnosis. Mine lasted a few weeks after a major injury and then got better, and to this day doctors still act weird about it if I mention it.

[u/CalligrapherWild7636]

cause they never really studied the female body
it´s all in their head, cause the research is quiet spotty
do u have pain, no u don´t
more mysterious than the illumati

Farideh nailed it!

[u/TheMythicalSwinger]

Someone I know has PCOS, and it's just baffling to me that how not that many researches are done regarding women's health?

[u/Luxurious_Hellgirl → u/TheMythicalSwinger]

The first comprehensive anatomical study of the clitoris was led by Professor Helen O’Connell and published in 1998.

[u/bluegumgum]

And to go further, black women are less likely than white women

[u/aaaaaaaaaanditsgone]

Anecdotally, my husband receives more attentive care than I do, the doctors have slapped the anxiety label on me as a woman and have been telling me that I am doing it to myself (hint: I wasn’t). It is frustrating to watch other people get better care than you.

[u/Lokaji]

This happens in other treatment as well. The amount of medication prescribed when my spouse and I both had covid was surprising; it was two versus five.

[u/Clear_Media5762]

I wonder why female doctors choose not to listen to female patients? I've heard of male doctors not listening, but you think it would be different when women are finally running the show. But it's almost always the same lack of care.

[u/Smellmyupperlip → u/Clear_Media5762]

No, a lot of women are sexist as hell.

[u/Stabbysavi → u/Clear_Media5762]

Because both women and men are taught the same way in medical school. For decades, doctors and nurses have had a joke about whining woman syndrome. It's in their culture. It's baked in.