If you're a man, it sounds silly that something as universal as healthcare can be subjective. But when it comes to pain, women are treated differently than we are.
One study, for example, found that women in the emergency department who report having acute pain are less likely to be given opioid painkillers (the most effective type) than men. After they are prescribed, women also have to wait longer to receive them.
To get a better understanding of the scope of this problem, Redditor u/Ancient-Abs published a post, asking: "Why are many gynecological procedures done without pain medicine?" and sharing their own experience having an IUD inserted.
The story inspired many other women to share the nightmares they have gone through as well, shedding light on this difficult topic we don't talk about enough.
Image credits: presidenciamx (not the actual photo)
u/Ancient-Abs told Bored Panda they discovered this "when I myself underwent an IUD insertion and then had significant pain during and afterwards. My doctor acted like I was an exception and that most women felt nothing, but as I asked my friends, I discovered that multiple women have pain and that numbing the area is possible but doctors don't do it."
The Redditor thinks this disparity between men and women is "a result of systemic misogyny that was institutionalized in the Middle Ages in medicine to avoid giving women pain control during birth because they felt that women had the curse of Eve on them and they were fulfilling God's plan by letting them suffer."
"In modern medicine, this practice has been passed down but relabeled as women don't feel as much pain as men or that they are overreacting because the cervix doesn't have nerves," u/Ancient-Abs added. "It does and you can numb them. People just choose not to."
Image credits: Ancient-Abs
In fact, this whole branch of medicine has grown out of a rotten trunk. Consider the "father of modern gynecology," James Marion Sims. He developed pioneering tools and surgical techniques related to women's reproductive health. In 1876, he was even named president of the American Medical Association, and in 1880, he became president of the American Gynecological Society, an organization he helped found. The 19th-century physician has been lionized with a half-dozen statues around the US.
But Sims conducted his research on enslaved Black women without anesthesia, and medical ethicists as well as historians claim that his use of medical test subjects falls into a long, ethically bereft history that includes the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and Henrietta Lacks. According to critics, Sims cared more about the experiments than providing therapeutic treatment, and that he caused unimaginable suffering by operating under the racist notion that Black people did not feel pain.
After going through all the replies under their post, u/Ancient-Abs took away that "if we want to change this, we have to write the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in order to have them require doctors and doctors in training to numb these areas before procedures." If you want to stay on this topic, keep an eye out for a letter template the Redditor will draft that people can sign and send to this group.
#21
My hysteroscopy hurt so badly that they had to call extra people to hold me down on the table. I was screaming for help and ended up kicking my doctor in the face and breaking his nose — on accident of course, but honestly, he deserved it. He was literally torturing me and all he cared about was completing the procedure at any cost. I bled and was sore for nearly a month.
Something was very, very wrong with what he did, but I could never tell you what. I cannot believe they do that procedure without sedation.
Something was very, very wrong with what he did, but I could never tell you what. I cannot believe they do that procedure without sedation.
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57points
#22
Just the other week, I had a vulvar biopsy on the very delicate, sensitive tissue on the inner part of my vulva. My gynecologist assured me that I wouldn’t feel a thing after she injected some local anesthetic. Well, that clown f**ked up the anesthetic, because I felt EVERYTHING. It was horrible. I literally had tears pouring out of my squeezed-shut eyes as I threw my hand over my mouth and stifled a scream. She said, 'Oh, you felt that? You weren’t supposed to feel that!' Then, she kept going — gouging into my delicate bits with her medieval tool — and I kept crying and shaking. She then commented to the nurse, 'Oh, she must be nervous.' It took me a few hours to stop shaking due to the intense pain put my body in such a panic mode.
I had a few panic attacks for the next three days, kept obsessively thinking about the procedure, and would just randomly start crying. Don't Google what a vulvar biopsy is if you're squeamish.
I had a few panic attacks for the next three days, kept obsessively thinking about the procedure, and would just randomly start crying. Don't Google what a vulvar biopsy is if you're squeamish.
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49points
#23
I had a cervical biopsy done. I am a candidate for endometrial ablation, and my insurance company required the biopsy. I didn’t know it was going to happen until 30 seconds after my ultrasound. My OBGYN requested that I take my mask off (COVID) to 'help with breathing' because it was going to hurt so much. I put my hands behind my head since I didn’t know what to do with them. I have what I consider to be a very high pain tolerance. During the procedure — I didn’t even realize I was doing it — I used my own nails to cut into the top of my other hand. The nurse actually had to bandage my hand before I left.
I now have four U-shaped scars on the top of my hand. That was six months ago, and I haven’t scheduled my ablation because that situation [messed] me up in the head.
I now have four U-shaped scars on the top of my hand. That was six months ago, and I haven’t scheduled my ablation because that situation [messed] me up in the head.
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47points
#24
I’ve had two babies. Both babies it was impossible for me to dilate. I’m talking days to weeks of contractions and early labor.
When I got an IUD I threw up and passed out on the table. Dilating your cervix to insert an IUD is not just “pinch” for a lot of women.
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45points
#25
The worst pain I ever experienced was an IUD insertion, I'll never forget it.
It was so bad I almost told them to stop. I ended getting it removed, the constant hormones just didn't agree with my body.
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44points
#26
I had a cystoscopy with no pain meds, and it was so [frigging] traumatizing. There I am, sitting and acting like everything’s okay and like it wasn’t the worst pain in the world. After, I go home and have to pee. I went into the shower to relax my body, and I couldn't [frigging] pee. The pain was insane. I sobbed for hours. They ended up prescribing something extra to help, but in the end, that single event of trying to pee left me so traumatized. It hurt to pee for a week. The initial shock, sitting there awake while they do it, and the, 'You may feel slight discomfort after' — after shoving a metal rod thicker than a pencil in my urethra — and I was trying to figure out why my bladder is so sensitive.
I hate doctors so much.
I hate doctors so much.
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43points
#27
The worst is that since I’ve been an adult I’ve only had female gynos and they’ve ALL dismissed my pain. A colposcopy almost caused me to pass out. I thought I temporarily died during my iud insertion. I AM EXTRA SENSITIVE DOWN THERE. Why don’t they take it seriously? They act as though I’m dramatic or an anomaly. But obviously I (and all of us here) am not.
BRING ON THE PAINKILLERS I SAY!
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43points
#28
I hadn't had any other form of birth control and got an IUD placed. I had asked my doctor before the appointment if it was okay to drive myself home, and if there were any pain meds I could get. She told me all I would need was over-the-counter stuff. I nearly passed out during the insert from the pain. Once my head stopped spinning, I very carefully got myself to my car and started to drive home. It was incredibly painful. Our roads are s**t here, and every single bump I hit had me screaming in pain while trying to keep focus. I made it home and basically couldn't leave my bed for two days.
Moral of the story, no, it's NOT okay to be told you can drive yourself home after your first IUD placement.
It's also completely ridiculous that we are given no numbing or pain meds for a procedure that puts a foreign object in the most sensitive part of our bodies. Our bodies literally fight back against it being there.
Moral of the story, no, it's NOT okay to be told you can drive yourself home after your first IUD placement.
It's also completely ridiculous that we are given no numbing or pain meds for a procedure that puts a foreign object in the most sensitive part of our bodies. Our bodies literally fight back against it being there.
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42points
#29
When I had a cervical biopsy they put me in “twilight sleep”. Or basically conscious sedation. I wasn’t totally unconscious but I wasn’t awake either. Had to have someone with me to make sure I got home. This was done through my local (US-Georgia) health department as I’m uninsured. Cost was negligible. They said they always offered the conscious sedation but many opted not to per the cost. I don’t understand why that is not always an option for gyno procedures. I’m assuming it’s a time/personel issue. And I guess as women we aren’t worth the cost of time or personel.
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42points
#30
I had no idea to expect pain for my colonoscopy. I thought that because they weren't numbing anything, it must not be bad. I started crying and screaming, and I couldn't keep my legs open. They ended up only doing a partial biopsy because I went hypotensive (blood pressure dropped). It angers me to this day.
I have also had three IUDs, and my blood pressure tanks from the pain every time. I have to be monitored.
I have also had three IUDs, and my blood pressure tanks from the pain every time. I have to be monitored.
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38points
