Chronic diseases can debilitate the lives of thousands of people and even kill them, as evidenced by data from the WHO (World Health Organization). Which states that non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) cause almost 75% of global deaths, with 41 million victims each year. Therefore, early diagnosis is crucial to prevent the confirmation or expansion of this scenario.
However, there are chronic diseases with distinct symptoms depending on the gender of the infected person, and in this scenario, women are also the most affected, highliting sexism in the medicine field, since the process for diagnosing them with such disorders tends to be slower, as confirmed by a study conducted in Denmark.
This study analyzed approximately 7 million Danes, and the result was: women were diagnosed four years later than the average age at which men discovered the disease.
This situation is related to the construction of the social body. In a society structured by sexism, the important pillar of health is not out from this. In other words, even within the medical field, women are oppressed, with recurring gender biases in medicine that prioritize studies on male organisms and generalize these symptoms to women.
THE PILLARS OF SEXISM
Since ancient Greece, the male body has been seen as synonymous with perfection, while women were viewed as bodies that had gone wrong, lacking certain qualities, according to the philosopher Aristotle.
This type of thinking permeated medicine, and doctors considered female bodies abnormal, leading to a lack of studies on them. So, the male body was used as a standard, and until 1993 clinical studies were only conducted on men, further bureaucratizing the lack of interest in women’s health and contributing to slow diagnoses for women.
This pattern was the obvious one to follow throughout history; that is, even though today there has been a broader focus on the female body, the past has hindered progress towards a fair healthcare system.
In addition to the generalization of symptoms, the normalization of female pain throughout history is a crucial factor in the slowness and errors of diagnosis.
The monologue, performed by British actress Kristin Scott in the acclaimed series “Fleabag” contextualizes the mindset of a large segment of the population that normalizes female pain; it’s normalized, even among us women. That´s because women are taught to deal with these anxieties from a very young age.
However, by socially ingraining this pain as habitual, the realm of health is also harmed, and thus the diagnosis of chronic diseases becomes more difficult to be accomplished.
Thus, extreme cramps, discomfort, and mood swings are seen as normal, but they are unaware that they may signal a more serious illness, such as endometriosis.
In Brazil, according to the doctor Dráuzio Varela, based on data from 2024, approximately 7 million women have endometriosis, and the diagnosis can take eight to ten years to be made.
In this context, the gynecologist Patrick Bellelis, a collaborator at the Hospital das Clínicas of the University of São Paulo (HCFMUSP), stated in an interview with Dr. Dráuzio, “But this is not unique to Brazil. Worldwide, this occurs largely due to the normalization of pain, the disregard for women’s pain. And this certainly affects the mental health of these women; it’s a mix of frustration, anxiety, and depression.”
Therefore, in a society where gender disparity is common, neglecting support for women, including in the area of health, becomes a latent problem, which forces us to deal with psychological, professional, and social damage, harming life as a whole.
How does it affect women’s lifes?
In this sense, to delve deeper into the process of a person seeking a diagnosis, especially for endometriosis,HC talked with Cátia Chinarelli, a woman whose life was negatively impacted by the symptoms of the disease, but who overcame it with the help of her doctor.
In the interview, Cátia described the symptoms that led her to seek a specialist: “I started feeling strange back pains and strong menstrual cramps (I never had much PMS before). The pain worsened, and after a few months I couldn’t do anything during my period anymore; I felt very bad, and it started affecting my work. The pain became unbearable.” At this point, she already suspected something was wrong, as strong cramps had never been normal for her, so listening to our bodies is essential; it’s a form of protection. However, despite having the symptoms, she wasn’t sure which specialist to consult, as the symptoms are very diverse.
In addition to these pains, she says it took a while to be diagnosed, as she didn’t suspect the disease and due to the context of the time (2006/2007) when there weren’t many specific and high-resolution tests for this condition, and the disease wasn’t widely discussed. Nowadays, despite having a wider variety of high-resolution tests, access is still limited according to CNN. Thus, the past, in which a lack of study about the female body was normalized, still resonates today, what puts women’s well-being at risk.
Given this scenario, Cátia was asked what her biggest challenge was during the diagnostic process, and she replied “I think the biggest difficulty was not even suspecting this disease, not knowing anything about it, so I ended up taking a long time to seek more specialized help. And trying to control the pain wasn’t easy; it ended up affecting my work and my social life”.
Thus, her case brings back the discussion mentioned by the doctor Dráuzio Varela, that the lack of information about the disease, downplaying the pain in its early stages, and slow diagnoses of chronic diseases destabilize women’s lives, potentially harming their work, professional, and social lives, as well as their physical and psychological health; in other words, it’s a domino effect.
In this specific scenario, despite the delay in diagnosis, to the point of needing to resort to a surgical method, her doctor knew how to guide the treatment well and suspected endometriosis from the beginning, as she said, “But I am extremely grateful for the care of the doctor who was able to guide and treat the disease; her help was essential.”
However, this rapid suspicion is not the norm. Gynecologist Rodrigo Fernandez states in an interview with the news portal G1, “Traditional teaching often prioritizes symptomatic treatment with contraceptives, without addressing the heterogeneity of the disease and the need for individualized therapies,” which compromises medical care.
Therefore, it shows the urgent need for more specialized treatment and to know the signals our bodies are giving us. And it’s important to remember, it’s important to warn women: feeling pain is not normal, it’s important to know our body!
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The article above was edited by Eduarda Mahrouk.
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