I Asked Doctors of Threads to Answer Honestly: Here's What Happened, Instead

Earlier this week, I was angry about the medical system in the US, and the care I've been receiving lately after having to educate and push my rheumatologist to run bloodwork testing for EDS, so I posed a question to the doctors in the Threads universe:

Why do so many of you consistently belittle and diminish the pain women go through, especially when it comes to reproductive health and chronic, invisible illness?

Threads has produced some beautiful and cooperative conversations - those I've even personally witnessed as they played out - but, I was throwing myself out there, positioning myself as a virtual punching bag if things went south. First, the comments trickled in slowly, and then the post exploded overnight. I was hoping to see genuine answers from doctors or current medical students. The stories I found instead will absolutely shock you.

Spoiler alert: Most of the comments - over one thousand, with around thirteen thousand likes as of this writing - were from patients, not doctors, and they weren't pretty. They were incredibly gruesome, in some instances.

The more I read, the more distraught I become. I genuinely feel my blood pressure rise with each case of medical neglect I consume. I'm forced to read them in increments because they're so heartbreaking, and I need to make sure I protect whatever is left of my mental health. I have not explicitly obtained permission to post any of the information from those comments here, but my account is public if you want to read them, linked above.

I used to have more trust in the medical system than I do now - never a ton, but more. My trust is now limited to the regularly scheduled doctors I have built a rapport with over decades, and a new gynecologist I am learning to trust after recently switching. I had already lost confidence in the ability of a specialist, Urgent Care or ER to listen when I'm in pain, but the information in these stories made me seethe with anger. It's time we start getting louder about what we are experiencing across the US, & internationally.

The gender bias in medicine is completely unacceptable. This doctor, Colene Arnold, Board-certified gynecologist, discusses and explains it in this video far better than I ever could. However, I want to put my two cents in after you've watched it.

Now that you've watched it, I'm going to tell you two stories, one featuring my husband and one featuring me. Both stories are set in the same environments - the exact same medical facilities - but have two entirely different outcomes. I am purposely leaving the gender out in each of these stories so that you have no bias going in. Keep in your mind a guess as to who received better care while you read them, and then I will tell you which story belongs to whom.

Story number one:

Patient arrives in hospital with 12/10 pain, complaining of intense back pain and a recent car accident that herniated every level of the spine. Patient did not drive themselves. Patient also found out they have hip dysplasia, and recently had surgery - a removal. Patient is in tears, shaking, body jolting and barely able to speak. Doctor barely speaks, gives 1 Norco and refuses to listen or speak to Patient when it doesn't work. Patient has to be heavily assisted out the door, and the doctor ignores them as they leave.

Story number two:

Patient arrives in hospital with 7/10 pain, complaining of intense pain in the chest after bathing a Great Pyrenees (ours) and hearing a pop. Patient drove themselves. Patient gets diagnosed with costochondritis & pleurisy, and is sent home with Tylenol 3. Toradol, and muscle relaxers. Patient walks into different ER days later because that runs out, gets CT, which finds pneumonia in the left lung as well as a bruised and enlarged spleen. Patient walks out with Norco, Toradol, & Baclofen. Then they go to the PCP, and the PCP prescribes a stronger dose.

Okay, did you guess who's who?

Drumroll, please.......