Here are three steps to help ensure your health concerns are taken seriously.
Ask about guidelines
If your doctor recommends something you suspect isn’t right (including “watch and wait”), Dr. Powell advises asking: “What’s the basis for your recommendation? Are there guidelines for this, and what do they say?” “Guidelines tend to be fairly objective and data-driven, so women do better when their doctors follow them,” she notes.
Be direct
If you still feel like you’re being dismissed, say, “I’m concerned, and I feel that maybe you aren’t hearing me. Help me understand why you don’t see this as a problem.” “A good physician can have biases,” says Dr. Powell. “But a good physician should also be able to take a step back and say, ‘I hear you. Let’s talk this through.’”
Check your own bias
“As women, we’ve been taught from an early age to rationalize warning signs of physical or mental health problems,” says Dr. Gupta. (To wit: a
Yale cardiology study found that many women hesitated to seek help for a heart attack because they worried about being thought of as hypochondriacs.) Recognize that expressing concern over symptoms doesn’t mean you’re overreacting, self-diagnosing, or trying to do your health care provider’s job for them. Says Dr. Gupta: “If you feel like something isn’t right with your health, honor that — even if a doctor is disagreeing with you. It’s better to find out you’re wrong than to wait too long.”
