I've been to a LOT of doctors, so I have had a good sampling of the attitudes out there and I've not found it to be along male/female lines but just personalities. I have a FANTASTIC GP who is a 35-ish year old guy and he is awesome. My husband likes and respects him which has not been the case with dr's of his in the past. I even sent my stubborn parents to him for physicals and they like him too. I go to him for my allergies and just when I get sick and he never discounts my symptoms, he follows up(!) and he isn't Rx happy. When I couldn't get rid of my sinus infection over the winter he sent me to the ENT down the hall and made sure I went. He's awesome. Before that I went to women who were OK at best and one was a total bitch.
I've also had a whole slew of gynecologists... the first one (male) 10 years ago told me all my symptoms were in my head and even had the nerve to tell my mom he thought I was making it up to get out of school! He is a jerk. I saw a woman in his practice who was hardly any better. Then I saw a woman who was OK, but thought she knew what was wrong with me and tried to treat it with no success. I went every 3 months to try to get to the bottom of my pain issues and over 1.5 yrs she just changed my pills to a new brand every 3 months and told me to try that and see what happens. One day she just told me there was nothing else she could do for me (!!!) because I kept making appointments with the same complaint and I think she got sick of seeing me. I FINALLY found my favorite Dr. (Who I saw today actually, she is so great) and she actually listens and HELPS me. She explains things and makes sure that I know it's NOT in my head. She draws diagrams. She knows that as long as I know what's going on and why, even if nothing can be done (I already had 2 surgeries) that at least I can deal with it and not think I'm crazy.
Also, my vet is a female and I wouldn't change vets for anything!
But yes, to directly answer your question my first gynecologist was convinced that all of my pain symptoms were in my head and he said so many times. He recommended that I go see a therapist on many occasions. I actually have copies of my chart, it's quite amusing looking at how crazy he thought I was but it's also sad that he kept me from getting the relief I needed for YEARS because he was such a jerk. I even break down in tears EVERY time I go to the gynecologist (even my good one today) because it's so emotional remembering all the crap I had to go through with him. I mean, the paps used to hurt so bad I screamed and cried and rather than maybe figure out why i was in so much pain he would just sedate me for the pap and offer me Rx pain killers.
