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Comment by shortcake27 | Hacker News Reader

> One of the best-known examples relates to heart disease, where a woman’s symptoms are twice as likely as a man’s to be simply written off as mental illness

Or “that time of the month”. It’s incredible, in this day an age, a huge number of doctors will immediately ask if it’s “that time of the month” in response to literally any mental or physical issue. Ask your female friends. I guarantee they have all experienced this.

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Why is it "incredible" that doctors think to account for routine hormone spikes when performing diagnostics?

Because its routinely used to dismiss unrelated symptoms.

Take the parent’s advice and talk with a woman about it. The amount of medical gaslighting they receive is astonishing.

I know, I was being facetious. I'm surrounded by women and familiar with the complaint.

The gaslighting works both ways-- they frequently lie or have no idea what they're talking about. Women are the majority of Munchausen cases, and Munchausen-by-proxy perpetrators are overwhelmingly female.

Any amateur self-diagnosis can be validated with enough doctor-shopping. It requires only time and some social engineering skill.

Interesting. I'm a male physician, more often than not I chide myself for entirely forgetting to ask / think about menstruation.

I live with two daughters and my wife. I learned about the “four seasons of menstrual cycle”, and they are real. I recommend every male to read up on them.

My wife tries this all the time. Tells me she is on her period and therefore more emotional, bloated and experiencing several physical symptoms. She says she needs extra help. Nonsense I tell her.

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