Why Women Feel Dismissed in Healthcare

In this episode of the Integrative GYN podcast, Dr. Whitney West addresses the common experiences of women feeling unheard and dismissed in healthcare settings. She emphasizes the importance of listening and understanding the complexities of women's health, advocating for a more integrative approach that considers the whole person rather than just symptoms. Dr. West encourages women to be proactive in their healthcare by asking informed questions and seeking multiple perspectives when necessary.


Takeaways

Women often feel dismissed in healthcare settings.
The healthcare system prioritizes speed over depth.
Listening is a crucial clinical tool.
Integrative care looks at the whole person.
Women should prepare questions for their appointments.
Normal lab results don't always mean healthy.
Empowerment comes from asking informed questions.
Trust your intuition about your health.
Seek second opinions if needed.
Your health deserves more than a rushed appointment.

Chapters

00:00 The Importance of Listening in Women's Health
02:56 Understanding the Complexity of Women's Health
05:14 Empowerment Through Informed Questions

Connect with Dr. Whitney West

Instagram: @docwhitneyw

website: https://www.eh-wellnesspc.com

email: info@eh-wellnesspc.com

“You’ve been listening to The Integrative Gyn with Dr. Whitney West — because your health deserves more than fifteen minutes.”

The information shared in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be medical advice. This podcast does not establish a physician–patient relationship and should not be used as a substitute for individualized medical care. Always consult your own physician or qualified healthcare professional regarding medical decisions or concerns specific to your health.

Transcript

Welcome back to the Integrative GYN Podcast where women's health gets the time and attention it deserves. I'm Dr. Whitney West and I'm recording this today because I hear the same story from women almost every day. They say, I knew something wasn't right, but I was told everything was normal. And over time, many women stop asking questions, not because they feel better, but because they feel dismissed. If you've ever felt unheard, minimized, rushed or brushed off at your doctor appointment, this episode is for you. I want to be clear about something. Unfortunately, this experience is not rare. It's not unusual. And most importantly, it is not imagined. I hear this from women across all ages, 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond, highly educated and health conscious women, women who know their bodies well. Yet many walk away wondering, is this just me? It's not.

Let me walk you through a very common scenario I see. And this isn't just one patient, it's a pattern. Women comes in and says, I've been to other doctors with the same complaints, which are she's exhausted, her sleep is off, she has started gaining weight despite changing anything, her mood is off, and I call that being prickly, relationships at work and at home may be suffering, knees and shoulders ache, she's urinating more, and at night.

Most of the time she says this first to her primary care doctor. Her labs may or not be ordered, but they seem normal to the PCP. And she has referred out to ortho for the aching joints, urology for her urinary issues, sleep doctor for the sleep issues, or she's prescribed an antidepressant or something to help her sleep. But what didn't get explored is so important. The timing, the patterns, how long has this been happening?

the stressors at home or work, her nutrition, and most importantly, her hormonal transitions. A few months go by and she's back with the same complaints, if not worse. Now she is discouraged, she may be more anxious, and she's questioning herself. That's how dismissal happens, quietly, gradually, repeatedly. This isn't about bad doctors though. It's about a system that prioritizes speed and volume over depth.

Most appointments are scheduled for 10 to 15 minutes because the doctor has to see so many patients to meet the quota for the day. And in those 15 minutes, they need to review the chart, address concerns, order labs, maybe, or even prescribe medication. And they also have to document all of that. There is very little room for complexity.

And that's barely enough time to list your symptoms, let alone explore a context of the root causes or even ask questions. More times than not, medicine is thrown at the symptoms versus finding why there are symptoms. If labs are drawn, they are most often interpreted out of context. Modern medicine is excellent at managing emergencies. I've said this before, but it's less effective at navigating complexity. And let's be real, women's bodies are complex.

Between fluctuating hormones, the relentless stress from home, work, relationships, the changing life stages and circumstances, the caregiving from children to spouses to aging parents. The mental load increases because women usually put themselves on the back burner with prioritizing health and self-care. But all of this matters and it often gets left out of the room and definitely out of the discussion.

Women's complaints and symptoms are often dismissed and minimized as histrionics. Many women have said, I was just going to deal with it, or I've been told I'm a complainer, so I just stopped talking. Many of the women I have seen feel like it's normal to suffer through, almost like grinning your teeth through a health crisis. And many do just that. I want to talk about the most common phrases women hear. That's normal for your age.

But normal range does not always mean healthy. It should be normal for you. And when we say labs are normal, what we usually mean is that they fall within a population-based reference range. That range includes people who feel great and people who don't. Normal does not mean optimal. And that's where you feel your best. We're talking about hormonal levels. If you test at the wrong time, you can completely miss what's happening or even misinterpret the answers.

Trends matter. One snapshot in time doesn't tell the whole story. And symptoms matter. Symptoms are data. And when labs and symptoms don't match, that's not the end of the conversation. It's actually the beginning. Your labs look fine. Well, what does fine mean? And fine for who? You just need to lose weight. How is that even helpful?

Most women have tried or currently trying and are frustrated by the lack of empathy. Sometimes the most harmful thing isn't what's said, it's what isn't asked. It's the lack of understanding, empathy, and compassion. I tend to see three very common dismissal patterns. 

First is age. You're getting older. This is just perimenopause or menopause. Hormonal transitions are normal. Suffering is not. 

Second, weight.
Symptoms are attributed to weight instead of investigated. Fatigue, joint pain, irregular cycles, brain fog, all of those deserve evaluation. 

The third is stress oversimplification. Stress is real, but saying it's probably stress should be the starting point, not the conclusion. Stress explains why we need to look deeper, not why we stop looking.

When women are repeatedly dismissed, something shifts. They stop trusting their bodies. They stop asking questions. They stop talking. They start wondering if they're exaggerating, if it's actually all in their heads. And that's not a personal failure. That's a learned response. 

Integrative care doesn't ignore labs. It puts them into context. We look at patterns over time. We look at symptoms as data. We ask how sleep, stress, nutrition, movement, and hormones interact, not separately, but together. Listening isn't just bedside manner. 

Listening is a clinical tool. 

We see the patient as a whole person and not just a symptom or disease. We ask how has life changed over time? Was there a time when you felt good or better, when it changed? and what was going on? We look for patterns and changes in behavior. It is also a collaborative effort. If you've listened to previous podcasts, you've heard me say food is medicine. In integrated medicine, we look for the links between nutrition or the lack thereof in stressors, external and internal, whether there is physical activity or a sedentary lifestyle, and how all this works together to influence the feeling of overall well-being.

I want to leave you with a few practical tools. 

First, if I could tell every woman one thing, it would be this. You are not being difficult for asking questions. You are informed. 

Second, prepare for your appointments. Write your symptoms and your questions down. Note the timing and patterns. Have one or two clear questions. If you have had changes to medication by another practitioner, let each of them know. 

Third, Ask what's being ruled out, not just what's being treated. You are allowed to ask. Be honest about behavior, diet, exercise, medication, social life like drinking, smoking, and other activity.

And finally, if you don't understand the answers given or if something doesn't sit right, it's okay to seek another perspective. That is not betrayal, it's self-advocacy. A practitioner should not be offended by you saying you want another opinion. In fact, they should welcome it, especially if they're giving you all of your options. There's always more than one way to skin a cat and maybe what has been presented to you doesn't sit right with you. That's okay. Listen to your gut and your intuition.

If you've ever felt dismissed, I want you to hear this clearly. Your body is communicating with you. It deserves to be listened to, and so do you.

If you are looking to be heard, we are here for you, and we are listening. The topics we will discuss in future episodes will be from you. You've asked and we're answering. If there are particular topics you would like to hear discussed on the podcast, send us a message.

 And if this episode resonated with you, Follow and share it with someone who could benefit. Thank you for listening to the Integrative GYN. I'm Dr. Whitney West. See you on the next episode because your health deserves more than 15 minutes.