05/13/2026
I can validate this from personal experience.
My chronic LBP (low back pain) following a documented significant lumbar injury! was attributed to being psychological without medical providers even bothering to take an x-ray! I was told, "Low back pain is a diagnosis in the DSM." When I was finally able to order my own x-ray without insurance paying for them, 32-ish years later, they revealed that my lumbar spine was a mess; I had been trying to tell doctors that for more than 1/4 of a century.
My pelvic pain, heavy periods, and moderately low iron levels (10) were treated with an SSRI! that raised my anxiety levels through the roof, so I only took it for 3 days. My male OB said he didn't think I "really" needed to take any iron and didn't prescribe or even recommend any. No diagnostic tests other than a PAP smear were done. When my PAP smear became Stage 2, it was mistreated with progesterone, which makes it worse. After thirty YEARS, when my new, female OB finally did an endometrial biopsy (precancerous) after a Stage 4 PAP smear, and she did a subtotal hysterectomy, she removed 11 pounds of endometriosis and scar tissue.
I used to think doctors ignored me because I wasn't cute (please believe me when I tell you the cutesy, curvy blondes I knew got better treatment than I did), but then I found out that the way they discounted me was actually "business as usual." Cutesy, curvy blondes getting better treatment than the rest of us was definitely hormonally driven - male doctor hormones driving their decisions to be able to get their hands on those particular girls, even when what they did was appropriate - another travesty of the male-dominated gynecological system.