I wasn’t and it happened to me several times.
The first time it happened I was experiencing intense chest pains. My primary care physician, who was a woman, referred me to the cardiologist in her practice, a man. He spent five minutes with me and diagnosed me with anxiety. I was aware my chart was peppered with mental health diagnoses of depression, anorexia and probably anxiety, as well as the psychotropic medications I was prescribed.
I’d had panic attacks and I knew these chest pains were not anxiety. I did something radical for me at the time and without telling my PCP, I sought a second opinion at a women’s health center in New York City. The cardiologist was a champion for women’s heart health and she was often quoted in the press. She asked the right questions regarding my history and symptoms and diagnosed me with Printzmetal’s Angina, an uncommon condition in which a sudden spasm occurs in a coronary artery. The cardiologist prescribed me the correct medication and the frequency of the spasms decreased significantly. When I called my PCP to tell her of this new diagnosis, she merely said “Thanks for letting me know.”
A NY Times article titled “Feeling Dismissed? How To Spot ‘Medical Gaslighting’ and What to Do About It” states that the experience of having one’s concerns dismissed by a medical provider, often referred to as medical gaslighting, can happen to anyone.
This article states that medical gaslighting is more apt to affect women, people of color, geriatric patients and LGBTQ people. The NY Times also published another article titled “Women Are Calling Out ‘Medical Gaslighting’” and it states “We know that women, and especially women of color, are often diagnosed and treated differently by doctors than men are, even when they have the same health conditions.”
Even though all my psychiatric diagnoses are in full sustained remission, I still have to list my psychotropic meds on my list of medications. Each time I go to a new physician, I’m fearful that (preferably) she will take one glance at the list and write me and my symptoms off as mental-illness based.
This NY Times article also states “Women say doctors frequently blame their health problems on their mental health, weight or a lack of self-care, which can delay effective treatment. Research suggests that women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with a mental illness when their symptoms are consistent with heart disease.”
In early 2017 I was having stomach pain and nausea. The (male) gastroenterologist told me I was having chronic functional abdominal pain and I would have to learn to live with it. He hinted, and not so subtly that the pain was related to my mental health. I was so upset, I didn’t seek a second opinion for another four months until I had lost a significant amount of weight and was in excruciating pain. I went to see a female GI at the same women’s health center as the above-mentioned cardiologist. She ordered a lot of tests, but in the end I was diagnosed with SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) which occurs when there is an abnormal increase in the overall bacterial population in the small intestine. By the time I was diagnosed, I had lost over twenty pounds and was weak. The first-line antibiotic typically prescribed for SIBO, Xifaxan was not effective for me. I eventually had to go on the Low-FODMAP diet and work with a nutritionist who specialized working with this type of food plan. It took me over a year to gain all the weight back.
I also sent a message through the patient portal to the original GI who misdiagnosed me, letting him know the correct diagnosis was SIBO. He also answered “thank you for letting me know?” Is that their standard answer? How about “I’m sorry for not believing you.”
Thanks for reading. Andrea
