Women and pain: Disparities in experience and treatment

In August, The New York Times published a guest op-ed by a man named David Roberts who suffered from severe chronic pain for many years before finally finding relief. The piece immediately went viral, with distinguished news journalist and personality Dan Rather posting it to his Facebook page with the addendum that it could “offer hope” to some pain patients. However, for many of us in the chronic pain community, particularly women, the piece was regarded with weariness and frustration. The first and most prominent source of annoyance for me regarding this piece was the part when the author finally discloses his pain to his employer and it is taken with the utmost seriousness. He is immediately offered leave to find treatment, despite the lack of a definitive diagnosis. This stands in stark contrast to the experiences of many (if not most) women, where our pain is often abruptly dismissed as psychological — a physical manifestation of stress, anxiety, or depression. Women with chronic pain may suffer more and longer than men Consider this: women in pain are much more likely than men to receive prescriptions for sedatives, rather than pain medication, for their ailments. One study even showed women who received coronary bypass surgery were only half as likely to be prescribed painkillers, as compared to men who had undergone the same procedure. We wait an average of 65 minutes before receiving an analgesic for acute abdominal pain in the ER in the United States, while m...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Behavioral Health Pain Management Women's Health Source Type: blogs