Endometriosis is a terrible disease. I know so many women who have it and it can be debilitating. It can range from moderate discomfort to pain that spreads throughout the entire abdomen.
Every single woman I’ve talked to about it has described how difficult it has been to get treatment from male doctors. They all experienced skepticism about their symptoms and invalidation that what they were experiencing was real.
It’s really tragic that we don’t know more about this disease and don’t have really effective treatments yet.
There are doctors out there that take it seriously and there are a variety of treatments to try. There are no silver bullets, but anyone who suffers from this please look around for a doctor who understands this disease.
I know someone who went from being almost bed ridden for a couple days each month to what most would consider normal after finding the right doctor and treatment.
there just aren't enough doctors. nobody talks about the cap on licenses that the AMA will issue, which makes it so nobody ever has more than a few minutes with their doctor. It's to the point now where seeing an MD at all is a challenge. You go to the hospital and it's NPs and PAs as far as the eye can see.
it took my wife years to discover a chronic illness. why? every appointment is so short. how is any doctor supposed to diagnose anything so fast? disparate symptoms, patterns that are only noticeable over years, and five minute appointments
and for the record she was dismissed for years by a woman doctor and finally diagnosed by a man. anecdotes are just that.
what we need is more doctors, so we can afford to have more than a few minutes a year with them
I've had to actually diagnose myself a couple times after seeing a string of doctors and even specialists. It's baffling how bad my experience has been and it's not just one specialty, and I have good insurance too.
It's exactly how you describe, short appointments that are hard to come by and a general skepticism and aloofness from my doctors.
From what I've heard, female doctors can be surprisingly unsympathetic to female issues. Especially something like endometriosis. "I get menstrual pain, it's no big deal".
It is 100% irrelevant that a doctor “experience” a disease. They should have training / exposure to it though.
I constantly hear non-medical people talk about how “only female doctors understand because they’re women”. What crap.
The very same people when facing cancer magically don’t require a doctor who has had cancer. Suddenly they just want the most qualified.
The problem lies much more in over-specialization, rapid patient turn-around, patient demand that treatments be easy, pills, and yes, training in how patients (fe|male) communicate and feel pain, illness, etc
The thing about medicine is it has a lot of women who think that, "I am woman hear me roar, I will show my salt in this male dominated field"
... and end up in specialties such as OB/GYN, pediatrics (female dominated - some residencies in those fields are 100% female)
Also family medicine, I wouldn't say those are female dominated but it's female majority, if any gender is dominating I'd say it's the majority, females
So if the woman is going to family medicine doctor, or their OB/GYN, for this abdominal pain / diagnosed endometriosis, more likely it's a female doctor. The idea that it's 99.9% misogynistic men is anachronistic, especially so in these fields - and the persistence of that idea, to a degree, has resulted in misandrist kickback on the basis of the misogynistic man boogeyman
It is. A friend of mine has this. It took her so much time to actually seek help, despite the excruciating pain, and she got part of her digestive system removed because it spread too much.
Nowadays, after 2 years of the surgery, she manages it with a restrict and healthy diet, and the pill. It takes a big toll on the well being even after the pain is gone, and she is almost always tired because of it, the body is constantly fighting the inflammation.
> The womb-like tissue of endometriosis is able to grow new nerve cells – the cells that transmit pain sensations – and make existing nerve cells more active. The pain signals this sends to the brain are increased even more by inflammation – an overreaction of the immune system. It is this inflammation that could be tackled by dietary changes, experts believe.
You see more reasons for low alcohol because we are finally waking up to the fact (and the science is confirming) that it's a poison ... at essentially any dose.
You see more reasons for low carb/keto because it's the current diet trend.
Explicitly aiming for low-carb makes sense because, even if you're trying, basically everything (here in the US) has added sugar in it. In a vacuum, carbs themselves aren't a problem as long as you're also getting lots of fat, protein, nutrients, etc.
The prevalence of diabetes has been increasing as well, which drives those otherwise not commonly following any trendy diets towards a required diet (or at least interest in it).
I've been intentional about eating my whole life since I'm basically an autist when it comes to food. Low carb makes me feel like trash. No grain/dairy is where it's at imo. I basically just eat fruit every day until like 12-1pm then meat & veggies after that.
There is a disease here on HN, and "the algorithm" is not helping.
My intuition is that the commentariat has factionized itself. Of course, the fundamental intent here is to make money irrespective of negative external effects. This is because shit rolls downhill.
Endometriosis is a terrible disease. I know so many women who have it and it can be debilitating. It can range from moderate discomfort to pain that spreads throughout the entire abdomen.
Every single woman I’ve talked to about it has described how difficult it has been to get treatment from male doctors. They all experienced skepticism about their symptoms and invalidation that what they were experiencing was real.
It’s really tragic that we don’t know more about this disease and don’t have really effective treatments yet.
There are doctors out there that take it seriously and there are a variety of treatments to try. There are no silver bullets, but anyone who suffers from this please look around for a doctor who understands this disease.
I know someone who went from being almost bed ridden for a couple days each month to what most would consider normal after finding the right doctor and treatment.
Female doctors are also skeptics.
there just aren't enough doctors. nobody talks about the cap on licenses that the AMA will issue, which makes it so nobody ever has more than a few minutes with their doctor. It's to the point now where seeing an MD at all is a challenge. You go to the hospital and it's NPs and PAs as far as the eye can see.
it took my wife years to discover a chronic illness. why? every appointment is so short. how is any doctor supposed to diagnose anything so fast? disparate symptoms, patterns that are only noticeable over years, and five minute appointments
and for the record she was dismissed for years by a woman doctor and finally diagnosed by a man. anecdotes are just that.
what we need is more doctors, so we can afford to have more than a few minutes a year with them
I've had to actually diagnose myself a couple times after seeing a string of doctors and even specialists. It's baffling how bad my experience has been and it's not just one specialty, and I have good insurance too.
It's exactly how you describe, short appointments that are hard to come by and a general skepticism and aloofness from my doctors.
I live in another country.
From what I've heard, female doctors can be surprisingly unsympathetic to female issues. Especially something like endometriosis. "I get menstrual pain, it's no big deal".
Trained by male doctors, operating in a male dominated field.
Find my a skeptic who has done surgery and seen the endometrial overgrowth on someone’s organs.
The problem is that doctors tend to lose empathy, well not just doctors, most professionals.
Your second point is spot on though. A doctor that suffered the disease or has seen it first hand will approach it differently.
It is 100% irrelevant that a doctor “experience” a disease. They should have training / exposure to it though.
I constantly hear non-medical people talk about how “only female doctors understand because they’re women”. What crap.
The very same people when facing cancer magically don’t require a doctor who has had cancer. Suddenly they just want the most qualified.
The problem lies much more in over-specialization, rapid patient turn-around, patient demand that treatments be easy, pills, and yes, training in how patients (fe|male) communicate and feel pain, illness, etc
The thing about medicine is it has a lot of women who think that, "I am woman hear me roar, I will show my salt in this male dominated field" ... and end up in specialties such as OB/GYN, pediatrics (female dominated - some residencies in those fields are 100% female) Also family medicine, I wouldn't say those are female dominated but it's female majority, if any gender is dominating I'd say it's the majority, females
So if the woman is going to family medicine doctor, or their OB/GYN, for this abdominal pain / diagnosed endometriosis, more likely it's a female doctor. The idea that it's 99.9% misogynistic men is anachronistic, especially so in these fields - and the persistence of that idea, to a degree, has resulted in misandrist kickback on the basis of the misogynistic man boogeyman
Who hurt you?
It is. A friend of mine has this. It took her so much time to actually seek help, despite the excruciating pain, and she got part of her digestive system removed because it spread too much.
Nowadays, after 2 years of the surgery, she manages it with a restrict and healthy diet, and the pill. It takes a big toll on the well being even after the pain is gone, and she is almost always tired because of it, the body is constantly fighting the inflammation.
That this study even happened is a positive sign this is changing.
> The womb-like tissue of endometriosis is able to grow new nerve cells – the cells that transmit pain sensations – and make existing nerve cells more active. The pain signals this sends to the brain are increased even more by inflammation – an overreaction of the immune system. It is this inflammation that could be tackled by dietary changes, experts believe.
Anyone have a link to the study?
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...
[dead]
Subjectively, it feels like I keep seeing more and more reasons for a shift towards a low alcohol and low carb / keto-like diet.
You see more reasons for low alcohol because we are finally waking up to the fact (and the science is confirming) that it's a poison ... at essentially any dose.
You see more reasons for low carb/keto because it's the current diet trend.
Low carb has been a “trend” for 20+ years with the Atkins Diet and keto for over 10 years now (although it’s from the 1920s).
Explicitly aiming for low-carb makes sense because, even if you're trying, basically everything (here in the US) has added sugar in it. In a vacuum, carbs themselves aren't a problem as long as you're also getting lots of fat, protein, nutrients, etc.
The prevalence of diabetes has been increasing as well, which drives those otherwise not commonly following any trendy diets towards a required diet (or at least interest in it).
I've been intentional about eating my whole life since I'm basically an autist when it comes to food. Low carb makes me feel like trash. No grain/dairy is where it's at imo. I basically just eat fruit every day until like 12-1pm then meat & veggies after that.
Not sure why the downvotes, i agree too and seems obvious
There is a disease here on HN, and "the algorithm" is not helping.
My intuition is that the commentariat has factionized itself. Of course, the fundamental intent here is to make money irrespective of negative external effects. This is because shit rolls downhill.