[sammiz]

I would like to get some input on some questions that I have about male doctors and how they regard certain issues with female patients.

I watched a show a couple of nights ago about a woman that had certain medical problems that began when she was five years old. She saw numerous doctors and the problems had gotten so severe that she could barely live with them. Funny thing...she was a nurse, too.

Finally, a physician (her co-worker) advised gall bladder removal even though she had prior test regarding her gall bladder and they came back as 'normal'... When they operated, they found that there was a small hole in the bottom of her gall bladder and it had been leaking bile into her abdominal cavity which caused the severe abdominal pain that had been undiagnosed and dismissed before.

This helped her suffering immensely, however she still had problems that couldn't be solved, some of which involved her eyesight. She was finally told that it was a mental issue and she should go for psychiatric therapy.

After much continued effort, she found a physician that actually took her seriously. It was an opthamologist! And a terriffic one, at that! After he performed the regular tests for her eye problems he continued investigating, never once suggesting that she was crazy or a hypochondriac as others had.

He found the problem. She had a particular disease that had caused all of her ailments and although there is no cure, she is now on medication that helps her control the symptoms.

So here are my questions:

Do you feel that male doctors have a tendency to dismiss your complaints as 'nothing' when they cannot find the solution?

Have you ever had one 'dismiss' your concerns and regard you as a hypochondriac and/or insinuate it was 'all in your mind'?

Thanks in advance for reading this long post. I am hoping to get a lot of input here in either positive or negative responses.

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