RE: TAMI- daughter went to hosptal for pelvic pain

May 12, 2006

The problem isn't so much that the issue of teen girls having

pain is uncommon, it is that many drs are taught that women

under 30 (and yes this includes the teens) that say they are in

pain of any sort are just looking for attention. And of course

the other thing (and I still get this even now at 34 even though

I have a number of health issues) is being told, " oh she's too

young to have that " so it's another reason to dismiss them.

That's right up there with the comments that both Sherri and you

got about your daughters when it came to the pain.

It was a long time before drs started to realize that women in

their 20s could have endometriosis. It always used to be

thought of as a career woman's disease (some people still

believe this even to this day), meaning that the woman was in

her 30s. It also has been classified as a disease of white

women. Problem is that this disease affects women of all races.

And unfortunately I think it will be a while before we can get

drs as a whole to understand that teenagers just b/c they are

young (and pre-teens, yes those at 8-10 years old) that they are

exempt from having big problems.

Tami, make sure that the gyn that your daughter sees is one who

also deals with adolescent gynecologic issues. It really does

make a difference when it comes to being listened to.

Kristy

__________________________________________________

May 12, 2006

Kristi, I am no proponent of a doc who dosen't do his job, but my uncle in

the biz is pretty clear that they are taught to r/o all the possible causes

INCLUDING possible psych issues, such as looking for attention - which would

be the thorough, all inclusive approach. Just as in any other profession

in any other walk of life, some follow what they are taught to do in order

to cover all possibilities and others, unforutnately,are less inclined to

r/o all possible factors. The unfortunate truth is that there are some

people who go to docs endlessly for disorders which just are not present, so

docs are not unfounded in teaching to beware of them.

My sister was diagnosed with endo when she was 20, after her first child -

and that was 31 yrs ago,at which time the info we read on it did describe it

as " most commonly " a career womans disease. That doesn't preclude other

groups of women. The reason for the career woman's tag was that these women

waited longer to start families and when they finally did want children and

couldn't conceive, docs began exploring these women and began finding endo.

So, career woman's disease in those days meant " infertility " . It was

believed that if a woman started child bearing when 'nature intended it' -

late teens, early 20's, endo had little chance of developing. If one was a

career woman, children were put on the back burner, therefore giving endo

the chance to destroy most probabilities of children. As for it being a

white woman's disease, you must remember that in the time period you are

quoting from (I'm 58, I read these things because of my sister) - very few

black woman had the resources for or access to medical care, and even fewer

had access to a career which was lucrative enough to postpone marriage and

children. Sadly, this hasn't changed a whole lot and so docs see more white

women for disorders of ALL kinds. Numbers will continued to be skewed until

all studies include the proper percentages of races and socio economic

backgrounds. Medicine is re evaluating and redefining itself just like all

other fields. It is the nature of things..... good grief I was around when

computers were introduced to the workplace and they were the size of a

double wide refrigerator. As in all things, we learn and refashion as we

go.

Anyway my purpose for this little tirade (LOL) is that we have to learn to

make doc's listen to us. I believe that the most effective way to do this is

to try and forget what 'used' to be and focus on what we read about more

timely treatments and protocols. If we keep ourselves up to date we are

able to intelligently discuss our condition with our docs and more apt to

ask for and get the testing etc we need to resolve our issues.

Dusty

RE: TAMI- daughter went to hosptal for pelvic pain

The problem isn't so much that the issue of teen girls having pain is

uncommon, it is that many drs are taught that women under 30 (and yes this

includes the teens) that say they are in pain of any sort are just looking

for attention. And of course the other thing (and I still get this even now

at 34 even though I have a number of health issues) is being told, " oh she's

too young to have that " so it's another reason to dismiss them.

That's right up there with the comments that both Sherri and you got about

your daughters when it came to the pain.

It was a long time before drs started to realize that women in their 20s

could have endometriosis. It always used to be thought of as a career

woman's disease (some people still believe this even to this day), meaning

that the woman was in her 30s. It also has been classified as a disease of

white women. Problem is that this disease affects women of all races. And

unfortunately I think it will be a while before we can get drs as a whole to

understand that teenagers just b/c they are young (and pre-teens, yes those

at 8-10 years old) that they are exempt from having big problems.

Tami, make sure that the gyn that your daughter sees is one who also deals

with adolescent gynecologic issues. It really does make a difference when

it comes to being listened to.

Kristy

__________________________________________________

May 12, 2006