Yahoo Lifestyle 24 Extremely Unprofessional Doctors Who Misdiagnosed And Totally Ignored Their Female Patients
Reddit user anonuser123999 asked the women of the community, "What has your experience been like being ignored or dismissed by doctors?"
Their experiences inspired our BuzzFeed Community to share their own stories, proving that doctors don't always take women seriously when it comes to medical care.
So, here are some of the worst things doctors have ever said to their female patients:
Note: Some submissions include topics of eating disorders and verbal abuse. Please proceed with caution.
1."I started having seizures in my last year of college. Doctors said it was 'just stress' and that 'you'll be fine.' That whole time, I was having seizures daily. I wasn't any more stressed than in my previous three years of college. I finally got to a neurologist who took one look at my electroencephalogram and noticed something in my right temporal lobe that was abnormal. A few more tests later, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I knew that it was more than 'just stress' — so many doctors wouldn't listen."
2."In 2021, I lost about 25-30 pounds by hardcore dieting and exercise. My husband lost about 40. Around this time last year, the weight started to come back on. I did attribute it to not being as strict with my diet or doing intense workouts. I should mention I have several health issues (lupus, fibromyalgia, celiac disease, and chron’s disease). So, a lot of times, I attributed weight gain to meds, but I also started to just feel awful every day. I had to drag myself out of bed every day. I saw all my 'specialists' so many times over the next six months and got the usual 'sleep more and watch what you eat.' I was begging for help because I just felt something wasn’t right. I’d gained water weight during bad flare-ups, but this weight wasn’t going away, and my symptoms weren’t either."
"I saw my rheumatologists, and they said, 'Yup, this is only lupus — you’ll have to adapt.' I was so defeated.
Finally, at the start of summer, I had a phone appointment with my primary care physician. I had gained six pounds in four days, and I begged him for help. I now weigh more than when I lost weight in 2021.
I wasn’t heavy enough for injectable weight loss, but I was for oral diabetes meds. He finally said, 'Hmmm, something doesn't seem right.' He ordered the meds and I had an ultrasound.
I started the meds, and within one month, I lost 16 pounds. Then I had the ultrasound. Due to my lupus, my kidneys were not processing my waste. Had I not fought to get help, I could have ended up in a much more severe situation.
I know it’s a pain and can be so defeating and heartbreaking, but don’t give up [finding a good doctor]."
3."My mother-in-law is the kindest, most long-suffering, gentle person I’ve ever met. She never complains, and if she does, it’s only about herself. Once, she was having knee pain bad enough that she went to her primary care physician. This man says, 'It’s only old age,' and doesn’t order any tests to make this diagnosis. No imaging, no clinical exam — nothing. It turned out my mother-in-law had to walk around on a TORN MENISCUS for months after this before getting surgery!! On top of this, the same deadbeat primary care physician was the provider who gave me my first pap smear. It was horribly painful and traumatic, and I bled a lot afterward. It was my first, so I had no idea it was so wrong. Screw that guy forever for doing that to me and my mother-in-law! She’ll never mention it, but the thought of it always pisses me off."
4."A friend of mine had a pain in her leg, and the nurse practitioner prescribed a pain medication without looking into the cause. This medication made my friend have absolutely no hunger or thirst, and she pretty much stopped eating and drinking other than what she was forcing herself to consume. She called the NP, and she just brushed it off. A couple of weeks later, my friend’s daughter took her to the office and wanted a doctor to see my friend. The doctor wasn’t in, so the daughter took her to the ER, and they found out she had a blood clot in her leg."
5."I spent most of my life being told my migraines weren't really migraines. They were just 'stress or allergies.' I was even told that if I lost weight, I wouldn’t have migraines. I’ve had them since I was seven years old, and I only went through a brief period of being 'overweight' after having my second child. But, one doctor felt the need to inform me that this was the reason I’d had migraines for 20 years! I finally found a doctor the year I turned 30 who treated me for the actual migraines rather than just brushing them off. Yep, 23 years to actually get treated for debilitating, nearly daily headaches. It’s been three years on the daily meds he put me on, and I only get headaches a few times a year now. Imagine that."
—Anonymous
6."20 years ago, I was in a high-risk pregnancy with twins on semi-bedrest from early contractions since 24 weeks. I live in Phoenix, Arizona, and of course, I was seven months pregnant in the dead of August. I was called for jury duty, and when I called my OBGYN to ask for a doctor form excusing me from going to jury duty, the doctor called back and said it wasn't appropriate for her to give me an excuse. I just had to go. I went to the court downtown, had to be driven by my mother because I couldn’t fit behind the steering wheel, and when the court clerk saw me waddling in with my twin pregnant belly sticking out, I immediately went to the judge. I was sent home in 115 degree heat. It was too late for me to switch OBGYNs so late in my pregnancy, but once I had my postpartum check-up I never went back to her again. I've been telling everyone that story."
—Anonymous
7."I had a kidney stone, and I had a stent placed in because it was infected, so they couldn’t remove it right away. My appointment to remove it was eight weeks away. About halfway through, I was feeling really sick, like I had a UTI. The stent was infected, and I got antibiotics. I still felt quite sick a week later, so I went back. My bladder and back were just burning everywhere, and it hurt so much to pee. They said I was fine and there was nothing to do. I went to the drugstore and bought an over-the-counter UTI solution. It didn’t cure it all, but at least it improved it to be semi-bearable. I went and saw my doctor later because it still felt like I had a UTI, and it was minimally there. But I was still on a maintenance antibiotic, so she didn’t want to give me more at the moment (and the urologist agreed)."
"I couldn’t handle it two days later, and when I went back, it was super busy. The nurse said I could go home, and I was like, 'No — if I made an appointment with my doctor, she’d just send me back here.'
It turned out the stent was still infected, and I had a localized infection in my bowels. So, I got two doses of antibiotics. I had the stone and the stent removed a week later, and I was infected the whole length of my urinary tract and had to have a new stent put in. At least they were able to laser the stone.
Now, I have a bacterial infection in my bowels because of all the antibiotics I’ve taken. So, I have two more weeks of antibiotics for the low price of $358."
—Anonymous
8."For two years, I saw a gastroenterologist for a progressive swallowing and regurgitation issue. He kept doing endoscopies that were always inconclusive, and he suggested I might have an eating disorder. He refused to conduct further testing despite my losing over 100 pounds in 18 months. I was unable to eat or drink much and had to get intravenous fluids frequently. My experience during appointments involved his looking past me when he spoke, his ignoring symptoms I told him, and his trying to convince me I was 'doing this to myself.' I finally made an appointment at the Mayo Clinic where I was quickly diagnosed and treated for achalasia, which is basically a progressive paralysis of the esophagus."
—Anonymous
9."It took over 10 years to get my gallstones diagnosed. I went to a male doctor complaining of pain in my right shoulder and arm after eating. He told me there's no correlation between eating and pain in the right shoulder. Years later, I had severe pain in my right side — they did a computed tomography scan and said my appendix was slightly enlarged. They had me in the hospital for surgery, but the surgeon said he wouldn't operate because it was just slightly enlarged and not a problem. Years later, in another state, I went to the ER after having severe pain in my right side, which felt like contractions without any rest time. I told the nurse I had pain in my right shoulder, and it was like a spear through my shoulder and out of my lower stomach. She said, 'Oh, that's your gallbladder.'"
"I had an ultrasound, and the doctor said he never believes it when they say an innumerable amount of gallstones. But with me, it was actually true.
He gave me pictures of my gallbladder after surgery, which was completely full of stones."
—Anonymous
10."My mother died of breast cancer because her doctor just wasn't paying attention. By the time his partner saw her (because the primary doctor was unavailable), the cancer had progressed to her lymph nodes. The partner is the doctor who sent her to the surgeon who made the diagnosis. Five years later, she died."
—Anonymous
11."It took two years, multiple incorrect diagnoses, and about 10 doctors to find out that my constant UTI symptoms (without actually having a UTI) were due to my colon putting pressure on my bladder when it was a bit full. There were so many meds, so much incorrect information ('you’re just anxious or stressed'), and a lot of dismissals by doctors. Years of misery were finally remedied with a month of laxatives."
12."In 2024, I went to see my primary doctor. I had been bouncing to different doctors to get answers about some symptoms I’d been having: bleeding from my rectum, weight gain (only in my midsection), extreme tightness in my stomach (I worked remotely at the time and would take baths between meetings because it was the only way to get relief). I felt like my food wasn’t digesting — it would just sit, and then I’d burp it up all day. I was peeing a little bit 50 times a day, and I had gallbladder attacks that left me incapacitated for hours. This male doctor looked at my face and said, 'Why do you think this is happening?' I don’t know! THAT’S YOUR JOB, MY DUDE!"
"He fully examined my stomach and said that it was probably acid reflux and to take Prilosec OTC for a couple of weeks to see if that'd help. I said that I wasn’t having acid reflux as much as my stomach was just really tight. I kept saying that I thought it might be gallstones.
I wouldn’t leave his office until we got somewhere. He reluctantly said he COULD order an ultrasound, but it would cost $250 dollars. He said it like that would deter me. 'Great!' I said. 'I’LL TAKE TWO!'
He did blood work and found the markers for pancreatitis, then wrote me a note saying not to eat any fatty foods. Whatever, fine. He also referred me for that ultrasound.
And a week later, I went for an ultrasound. That same doctor had to call me to tell me that they found a tumor bigger than a football in my abdomen. All the symptoms I was experiencing were textbook for an abdominal mass. And because the tumor was so big, it was literally crushing my other organs.
For two more weeks, I was rushed around to different doctors and specialists. It was removed (along with an ovary). It’s a super rare ovarian tumor that grew very fast.
I had never even had a cavity before. I had been in good health my whole life until I came in begging for help, and the man suggested it was anxiety and acid reflux..."
—Anonymous
13."I suffered from lower abdominal pain for six years. My pain was dismissed — I was told it was anxiety, and it was 'all in my head.' I pushed for the doctors to take me to the ER multiple times. The pain became so bad I couldn't stand straight and couldn't wear restrictive clothes. I finally had a new doctor who ordered several painful and embarrassing tests that burned me inside. It showed diverticulosis. They knew from my first computed tomography scan that I had that condition but never thought to take a closer look. I had emergency surgery and colon resection. The surgeon laughed and told me if I had an ongoing infection for years, eating away at my cell walls, and that if I didn't die, I would have been pooping out my vagina. They were laughing, mind you. I have read that 85% of white women are undiagnosed incorrectly or dismissed. What is the percentage for women of color? Are we talking 99.9%???"
—Anonymous
14."My sister went to a gynecologist because she'd been having breakthrough bleeding for several months, plus really heavy periods. She was bleeding through a tampon and pad every couple of hours and had unbearable cramps that made it difficult for her to stand. Her abdomen was visibly swollen and firm like she was pregnant. She couldn't button her jeans anymore. The doctor didn't even touch her — they just told her that 'every woman hates having her period. Take an iron supplement and five or six advil for the pain.' She got a second opinion from another doctor, who immediately sent her to radiology. She had a grapefruit-sized fibroid tumor in her uterus and had to get a hysterectomy at 35."
15."I asked a doctor to do a biopsy of a suspicious-looking spot. He looked at it and assured me it was nothing. I insisted, and he even made me re-book another appointment because he spent the entire appointment arguing with me, and there wasn’t enough time left for him to complete a biopsy. When I re-booked and went back for the biopsy, he told me it was a waste of resources as he was certain it was nothing. A different doctor from the same practice called me back a few days later and told me to come in immediately. The result? Malignant melanoma...at the age of 24. Always, always, always advocate for yourself, ladies."
16."Chronic pain? Must be a 'drug seeker.' Fatigued? Lifestyle change (when it actually has a medical basis). Insomnia? Try meditation. Anxious? Here, 'calm down,' there’s nothing wrong (it was actually thyroiditis). Feeling short of breath? Must be anxiety (I was already diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis — shock horror, the clots spread to my lungs). But no — I was clearly just 'emotional.'"
"My daughter is sadly experiencing the same thing — she's being put down just for identifying as a female. Palpitations? Clearly, because she’s a young woman (even with a close family history of sudden cardiac death). And yet, my son with palpitations was taken very seriously.
I was just having a conversation last night about how even female primary care doctors don’t seem to know much about menopause, prolapse, and other specific female issues.
I’m a female healthcare worker and am honestly shocked by how health professionals treat women."
17."At eight years old, I got my period. Obviously concerned about how young I was, my mom took me to the doctor. The doctor said to my mom, 'Well, in some places, she’s now old enough to marry.' Then they said to me, 'Have a child now before you start chemo,' which I was due to start a day or so later."
18."When I went to my gyno a few years ago after the check-up, he asked me, 'What’s your husband’s name?' I said I didn’t have a husband. Then he asked for my boyfriend’s name, and I said I didn’t have one. 'Wow, you just go through a lot of batteries,' the doctor said. I’ve had doctors say really shitty things to me, and I would say this is shocking."
19."I went to a dermatologist for hidradenitis suppurativa and wanted to discuss new skin issues related to the illness that had emerged on my breasts. I told her that my sweet husband didn't give a hoot, but it was really bothering me. She said, 'Well, there are treatment options, but the one person who really matters doesn't care. So, I'd say let's just leave it.' I never went back — I also never paid the bill for that appointment. No regrets."
20."I fell, dislocated my shoulder, and went to the ER to have it put back in place. When I was discharged, the doctors told me to follow up with my primary care doctor. He placed two fingers on my shoulder and said all was well and that perhaps I should wear a sling for a week. Four weeks later, the pain was ever-present, so I went to see a shoulder doctor, who ordered an MRI. Turns out my shoulder was a 'mess' — a completely torn rotator cuff, snapped bicep, and muscles ripped off the shoulder blade. Four hours of surgery later, six weeks in a spica cast, and a year of physical therapy, I have about 65% use of my arm. Here’s what a dope I am: my primary care doctor noticed I was limping, and I told him my hip really hurt. Probably sciatica, he said. The pain was so debilitating I finally went to a hip doctor. I’m having my hip replaced next month, and I’ll be replacing my primary care doctor soon after."
—Anonymous
21."They said, 'I'm happy to see you lost weight. I bet you'll even be able to get a boyfriend now because it probably would have been hard for you before. Just make sure you keep it off...you want boys to be attracted to you, right?' I was a 16-year-old girl with a boyfriend in the lobby. We had been together since before I lost weight (not that it mattered)."
22."My whole life until May 2024, the doctors kept telling me I had GAD alongside my PTSD. I knew in my heart that I wasn't experiencing generalized anxiety disorder. I knew that something in my brain was off after years and years of telling people. I finally got referred to a psychiatrist who was able to diagnose me with AuDHD [autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]. But, yeah — I'm just 'anxious' 😡."
23."In my mid-twenties, I suddenly (like overnight) had large blue veins appear on my chest and, shortly after, developed varicose veins in both upper arms. I didn't have health insurance at the time, so I couldn't get it checked out. It wasn't painful — just strange and unsightly. I also developed Raynaud's in my hands. A few years later, when I finally had health insurance, I got into a minor car accident and sustained a concussion. The male doctor who checked me out dismissed the veins as 'just genetic' and didn't seem concerned. About two years later, I worked at a primary care office with all female doctors who were ALL concerned. They'd never seen anything like it, and my hands were permanently discolored from lack of blood flow. They could not figure it out, so they sent me to a male cardiologist."
"The male cardiologist was initially very kind and listened to me patiently, but his diagnosis was that I was just 'fat.' He said my arms were 'fat,' and that was probably causing the veins to show (much like a bodybuilder with muscular arms might have ropey veins).
But, just in case, he referred me to a female thoracic surgeon, who ordered an ultrasound to see if there were any clots.
The ultrasound showed no evidence of clots but did answer my question as to what was wrong with me. I have bilateral thoracic outlet syndrome."
24.And finally, "When I was 22, I noticed pain in my side and nausea. I lost my appetite, and I was pretty tired all the time. I went to my doctor and told him all my symptoms and concerns, and he said I needed to get better sleep and was probably constipated. Then he sent me home. This went on for a month, and I got so bad that I lost 18 lbs because I couldn’t eat. I kept passing out, I had intense pain in my side, and I ended up passing out on my children one night. They couldn’t wake me up. They ran and got their dad, who carried my unconscious body to the truck and then to the ER. I was severely dehydrated and unconscious, and they apparently did some imaging on me and found that my kidney was double in size, and I was dying."
"They pumped me full of meds and kept me until they watched it unswell. Eventually, I was sent home after being in the hospital for three days.
The first thing the doctor said to me was, 'Why didn’t you come in sooner — you would’ve been dead in another week?!' I not-so-politely reminded him that I did, in fact, come in about my issues, and he dismissed me for being constipated.
He said I didn’t make him aware of just how much pain I was in — I couldn’t believe him."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
