Thursday, December 20, 2012

Do Women Have More Chronic Pain?

January 31, 2011 by  
Filed under Joint Pain Causes


pain tolerance

Chronic pain is likely to affect women more often and more profoundly than men..

When it comes to chronic pain, real differences exist between men and women. Women, research has shown, experience more pain more often and more intensely than men. They also respond differently to pain management medications and therapies, calling into question the assumption about women’s pain tolerance threshold.

Despite these findings, women’s pain often goes under treated. Research reveals that there may be a gender bias in doctor’s approach to pain management.
One cause may be linked to female hormones. Many doctors believe that a link may exist between hormones like estrogen and progesterone and pain reception. It is possible that these hormones may cause neurochemical changes that intensify the sensation of pain. The severity of conditions such as migraines can often vary depending on a woman’s menstrual cycle.

  • Genetics may also influence the response to chronic pain. Gender obviously plays a role here as well.
  • There may also be a relationship between biology and the difference in pain experience in the sexes. Processes such as menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth in and of themselves involve pain.

Recent research shows that there really does exist a bias in the way doctors manage pain in the sexes. Generally speaking, physicians put less store in women’s pain complaints than men’s, and they are less aggressive in the therapies they pursue to relieve it. Possible reasons for this bias include the following:
Society has traditionally viewed women as more emotional and overly sensitive. Such an attitude in doctors would naturally influence the way they interpret and manage complaints by women. It is possible that because there is a predominance of male doctors, male patients are better able to communicate their complaints to their doctors, even though female patients outnumber males. Women’s conditions may also be more difficult to diagnose and treat. For example, conditions such as fibromyalgia, which is more prevalent in females, are often misinterpreted as deriving from mental or hormonal causes rather than as actual physical conditions.

Women should consider the following options:

  • Discuss with their doctor their concerns. A woman should not hesitate to talk to their doctor when she feels her concerns are not being taken seriously.
  • If she still feels that her doctor is not listening, she should consider finding a new doctor. This is perhaps the most effective way of expressing her dissatisfaction.
  • Pain advocacy groups such as the American Pain Foundation exist to help people with chronic pain symptoms. If a woman feels that her complaints are not receiving appropriate attention, she can reach out to such foundations for help and perspective.

All of us are entitled to the proper diagnosis and treatment of our pain—we have the right to demand the medical attention we need.

 

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- Eric

“The art of longing and the art of belonging must be experienced in life

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