Hidden Disability and the forgrace.com website

[Guest guest]

Women and Hidden Disability, and the forgrace.com website, from the LA

Times online.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-vo-toussaint31jan31,1,635=

0484.story

VOICES / A FORUM FOR COMMUNITY ISSUES

With Chronic Pain, Discrimination Hurts

By Toussaint

January 31, 2004

Dealing with our doctors should not be more difficult than dealing

with disease. Yet for the millions of women who suffer from chronic

pain, that's the way it has always been.

While gender discrimination has significantly decreased, it is still

shockingly pervasive in the medical establishment. For instance, when

men complain to doctors about chronic pain, they are handed a

prescription; when women complain, they are often told, " It's all in

your head. "

State legislators are finally taking overdue notice of this damaging

double standard. On Wednesday, the state Senate Health and Human

Services Committee and the Legislative Women's Caucus are scheduled to

hold a hearing on the inequity of pain diagnosis and treatment between

men and women.

The American Chronic Pain Assn. and the National Institutes of Health

estimate that more than 50 million Americans suffer from chronic pain,

costing more than $100 billion in reduced productivity, sick time and

medical costs.

For 21 years, I have fought chronic pain in the form of reflex

sympathetic dystrophy, or RSD, a progressive, neurological disease

that began with a hamstring tear and ended up robbing me of my

physical talents, personal relationships and career.

For 13 of those years, I had to fight my doctors just as hard as I

fought the pain. My doctors insisted that the pain was " in my head. "

My problems got steadily worse, at one point leaving me bedridden

until I found a pain-management expert who listened, diagnosed and

treated my condition. In a matter of weeks, my health dramatically

improved and the proper diagnosis has allowed me to live a productive

and fulfilling life.

However, the delayed diagnosis denied me a full recovery and cost me a

career as a ballerina.

After my diagnosis and treatment, I started a nonprofit organization,

For Grace, dedicated to increasing awareness of RSD and the plight of

women in chronic pain. Pain sufferers from across the country have

contacted For Grace to tell me their stories. They are almost all the

same, with one difference — men tell me their doctors never told them

their problems were psychological. Far too many women do.

While the legislative hearing may raise the profile of the issues of

women in pain, further action must be taken to eliminate diagnostic

discrimination and provide equal medical attention for all Americans.

Doctors must be aware that women's pain is not inherently

psychological. Medical students need to learn about gender-bias issues

and how to properly evaluate and treat chronic pain in everyone. State

agencies, such as the Office of Women's Health, should take pain

management seriously and advocate for gender equity in the treatment

of chronic pain.

California spearheaded movements to end discrimination in the

workplace, in housing and in other areas of life. Our state needs to

take the lead once more and halt less-overt discrimination that

results in very real suffering.

Toussaint is the founder of For Grace. Website: for grace.org

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Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times