Why pain is different for women

Chronic Pain patients are far more likely to be women. 

Women take, on average, 7 – 10 contacts with medical professionals to receive appropriate pain medication (3 for men!)

If a woman has any history of depression or other mental illness that time escalates dramatically. 

Pain becomes chronic after 12 weeks – assuming 1 week between visits . . . . This is hardly surprising. 

Conditions like migraines and fibromyalgia have a much higher incidence of female sufferers and much higher incidence of mishandling. Female conditions such as endomitriosis are . . . . even more disheartening. 

Historically we have only done medical testing on men (due to quite legitimate concerns on impact on fertility). Which means we are only just learning how these pain mechanisms work in women (some research suggests it is quite different). 

All of this means that women can often feel dismissed, feel they are “making it up”. 

You aren’t. 

I haven’t read all of this yet but I am finding some of these new perspectives very interesting in light of the patients I actually see and the stories I hear.

https://longreads.com/2019/03/14/women-and-pain-a-reading-list/ 

If you have been in pain for a long time and are sick of being considered “crazy” or “melodramatic” or “a drama queen” then we may be able to help. 

Estelle Mitchell – Musculoskeletal Specialist and Chronic Pain Specialist.