Women Less Likely to Get Pain Medication Than Men

[Cort]

This is pretty telling - women are more likely to be given sedatives and men are more likely to be given pain medication; women are hysterical and men are really in pain. To be honest I think women run circles around men in many ways and this is one way male doctors react to that - they give them sedatives..

The terrible thing is that because women have increased pain sensitivity they are actually in MORE pain and get less treatment.

At only 25, Ally Niemiec of Atlanta has been diagnosed with two kidney diseases and endometriosis. She has had a remarkable 28 surgeries in the last five years and deals with chronic pain that leaves her unable to work, drive and keep many relationships.

Despite her rock-solid diagnoses and obvious distress, she has been ignored in emergency rooms and refused pain medication when she was in agony. Niemiec said she has often been made to feel as if she were a drug addict or that she was exaggerating her pain.

Researchers have shown there's often a gender disparity in how men and women are treated when it comes to pain.
In one study of nearly 1,000 people who visited an emergency room, men and women reported similar pain scores, yet women were 13 to 25 percent less likely than men to receive opioid pain medicine.

Another study showed that the male patients were given pain medication more frequently than the female patients, while the women were more likely to be given sedatives, rather than actual pain medicine, for their pain.

It's a great blog - check out the entire blog here:
http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/why-do-doctors-take-womens-pain-less-seriously