Healthy Living

There’s no question that women aren’t always taken seriously when they ask for help with a condition that doesn’t have a clear-cut explanation. Just ask those with pelvic pain. Chronic pain is bad enough, but pain down there can be very difficult to describe. “I see so many patients who come in with pelvic, vulvar, ovarian, and/or lower-back pain that they’ve been dealing with for years, but they can’t even tell exactly where the pain is coming from,” Metzger says. “There are certain nerves on the abdominal wall that tend to be vulnerable spots. It takes time and patience to pinpoint what’s really going on.”

That’s what happened to Jo Ziegler, 39, of Katonah, New York. She struggled for more than a year with lower-abdominal pain. And it wasn’t until after trying a wheat- and sugar-free diet and having a colonoscopy that she visited a surgeon who made a correct hernia diagnosis. One simple outpatient procedure, and Ziegler was rid of the pain.

Often, the biggest treatment barriers women encounter are plain old stereotypes: Women are perceived as “emotional” when they try to talk about what’s bothering them, says Joseph Shurman, MD, whose wife, Gloria Shurman, PhD, suffers from chronic pain. “But how can you not get emotional if it hurts, and it seems like nobody will listen?” Gloria says.

The solution is to take a proactive approach, the Shurmans say, even if you need to look in the mirror and give yourself a pep talk and write down a list of symptoms or questions before you head for the doctor’s office. “The most important thing is to be persistent,” Gloria Shurman says. “If you’re in pain, don’t ever take no for an answer.”

 
By Melanie Haiken