A woman who was accused of faking her debilitating illness has died at 33
www.independent.co.uk
Her condition, caused by gene mutations, was blamed baselessly on psychiatric issues

Aston sought medical help after her symptoms—which included severe migraines, abdominal pain, joint dislocations, easy bruising, iron deficiency, fainting, tachycardia, and multiple injuries—began in 2015, per the New Zealand Herald. She was referred to Auckland Hospital, where a doctor accused her of causing her own illness. Because of his accusations, Aston was placed on psychiatric watch. 

Research suggests women are often much more likely to be misdiagnosed than men. A 2009 study of patients with heart disease symptoms found 31.3 per cent of middle-aged women “received a mental health condition as the most certain diagnosis”, compared to just 15.6 per cent of their male counterparts. Additionally, a 2020 study found that as many as 75.2 per cent of patients with endometriosis—a painful disorder that affects the tissue of the uterus—had been misdiagnosed after they started experiencing endometriosis symptoms. Among those women, nearly 50 per cent were told they had a “mental health problem”.

  • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    28·
    10 months ago

    I have endometriosis and it took me a long time to actually seek help. I was always told to suck it up. When I did get help, the first doctor did a laparoscopy and didn’t remove any of the endometriosis. She wouldn’t give me an answer when I asked why she didn’t take it out. I went to her a year later for a very large and debilitating ovarian cyst. She told me to take Motrin, did a very rough exam, then left. That’s when I found a different doctor.

    This new doctor noticed my pelvic floor dysfunction and wanted to try physical therapy to see if it helped with the pain. She wanted to know how much was muscular and how much was the endo. Physical therapy worked well and my pain was manageable for about a year. Then it came back despite me doing my therapy exercises daily. The doctor did a laparoscopy and removed an ass ton of endometriosis. Apparently some had encased my left ureter and she had to do a separate type of procedure to free it. She even printed me out before and after pics of some of my guts.

    The endo pain is gone now, but I have had some more ovarian cysts. I just started a different type of birth control to see if this one stops menstruation and ovulation. My last one didn’t stop ovulation, which is why I got cysts.

    Anyway, being taken seriously as a woman for health issues, even by women doctors, is so hard. I got lucky and live close to one of the best endometriosis specialists in the US. If I didn’t live where I do, I might not have found a doctor who takes me seriously. I have a friend who is permanently disabled because a doctor treated her endometriosis with a medication that is known to absolutely wreck people. My friend wasn’t informed of the risks and trusted the doctor. It took her 4 more doctors before she was able to get her endometriosis treated properly.

    It’s a shame women aren’t taken seriously.

    • shadowSprite@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Can I ask the name of the medication? My doctor thinks I have endo and wants to try a couple meds before considering surgery. She says surgery wont help anything anyway. I’m living in pain levels anywhere from a nothing to a please let me die, and I don’t know what to believe. I’m also broke AF and have marketplace health insurance. My pain levels are so bad that I ruptured an ovarian cyst recently and never knew it, they found it after the fact by accident when they did an ultrasound but my doctor said that would not cause me to spend months in agony.

      • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        I was on depoprovera for 5 years and only like 10% of women still ovulate on it. Depo is one injection every 3 months.

        I’m on norethindrone now and idk if it’ll fully stop everything. I’ve only been on it for a month and it takes about 3 months for depo to lose effect. I take my Norethindrone daily at exactly the same time. I’m on the endometriosis dosage. There’s a birth control dose and an endometriosis dose.

        I have always had really good insurance, so I have no idea if your insurance will cover it or not. :(