There is no doubt about the fact that women experience devastating levels of misogyny and sex based discrimination.
However, one aspect that needs more attention is that which is termed medical misogyny.
Simply put, it is the misogyny from healthcare professionals towards women that hampers proper recovery and diagnosis.
In our latest article, Urban Woman Magazine asked some women to share their experiences navigating medical misogyny.
R
I was diagnosed with ovarian cyst when I was 15. They told my mum in my presence that I needed to get married early. When I was 19 too, a different doctor said the same thing 😂.
The pain started late 2017. I was admitted and diagnosed. They contacted a male gynecologist and he suggested using a syringe to suck out the fluid in the cyst, I think. I can’t really remember. I was sedated the whole time.
I do remember the one nurse asked my parents if I was a virgin. My parents affirmed and I was asked again when my parents were absent.
I was 14 then. I got better after that. Fast forward to the ending of March 2017, it started again and this time, it was worse. I was ss1 then. The pain started after school. My mom’s friend was driving us home and stopped to say hi to someone. I vomited right there.
It got worse after that. We got home and I kept vomiting so much that she had to put a bucket beside me on the bed. I was in so much pain. She already told my mom so when my mom got home, we went straight to the hospital.
At this point, it was night already. I kept vomiting so I was admitted. The next day, I saw the doctor and they referred us for scanning. The same male gynecologist was contacted again and the same thing was diagnosed, only this time, the size was larger. the gyne did something that I still haven’t really come to terms with or maybe I’ve just been overthinking and it’s just part of the procedure.
I remember the gynecologist saying that I’m too young to have an ovarian cyst. After that, he gave my parents two options: To repeat the same as was done last time or to undergo surgery to remove the cyst entirely. My parents asked me about it and I said they should remove it.
After that, a catheter was put in me. That was a very uncomfortable experience. I didn’t like it at all. The next morning, the surgery was performed. Anaesthesia was administered but it was just from my middle back to my feet. I didn’t feel anything. The same male gynecologist did the surgery by the way. He just told me that I would feel pulls and pushes. He also said that he’s very scared because he had never performed surgery on a patient as young as I was.
I thought I’d felt pain before. I didn’t know more was coming. After I was stitched up and carried (yes, I was carried to my ward), the anesthesia started to wear off and I could feel the pain from the surgery wound. I was in agony. My dad was praying fervently. I literally begged my dad to tell them to sedate me because it was too much. That happened like 8 to 9 in the morning. I was sedated and I woke up around 6 in the evening.
All this happened within a week. I was injected so much on my buttocks that I still feel the pain till today. I had to beg them to inject my thighs instead which was a horrible mistake because I couldn’t walk properly after. The healing process wasn’t fun at all. I was using spirit and cotton wool to clean the scar every day. My whole body needed to heal from the experience
Sometimes, the whole thing is like a fever dream, like it didn’t happen. Sometimes, I forget that it happened until I see or touch the big ass scar on my abdomen.
It was after the surgery that the gynecologist informed my parents in my presence that I must make sure I get married quickly.
The second time I was told, I was 19. I went to the hospital for a different complaint but my mom told the doctor just to check all the boxes. The doctor then said that I needed to get married quickly also.
D
Met a male doctor this year telling me to get pregnant so I can stop having cramps. He also “joked” about removing my womb as another solution.🤣
C
Last year, I got pregnant and started bleeding for over a month. I had all the pregnancy symptoms; milk was coming out from my breasts, abdominal pain, weight gain, and every pelvic and transvaginal scan I took showed no foetus. I was very terrified and confused.
The male doctor at the hospital gave me a wrong diagnosis, saying I had signs of PCOS and ovarian cysts. He even told me that my time was running out and that I needed to get married quickly and have kids. Lol, I was just 24. The male gynaecologist didn’t help either, that man was chaotic, judgemental, and mean. He gave me drugs to stop the bleeding but it got worse. It was as if he didn’t even know what he was doing.
After two months of back and forth, I found out I had fibroids and that I had actually had a miscarriage but the hormones were still in my body and that’s why the tests kept saying positive. Those two months were emotional torture, all because the so-called professionals didn’t take me seriously.
When women talk about the shege they’ve faced at the hands of male doctors, I shake my head because I can honestly relate.
Angel Nduka-Nwosu is a writer, journalist and editor. She moonlights occasionally as a podcaster on As Angel Was Sayin’. Catch her on all socials @asangelwassayin.