I had a longitudinal vaginal septum that no one diagnosed until May 2023. I had insane pelvic floor spasms and at one point needed to get catheterized. Just got the surgery a few months ago to get it removed. 80% of my vagina was blocked and the tissue septum split it into two openings. Medically it’s known as a double vagina. Weird as hell. AMA. (Lmk if this needs to be nsfw, it’s anatomical and about the human body so I wasn’t sure) (I figured I would get a lot of disgusting comments and messages, but this is super unknown and more common than you would think, so I’m just spreading awareness. Don’t be gross!)
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After getting catheterized, I went to 6 different gynecologists. No one could figure it out, and I couldn’t tolerate a normal examination due to the pain and inflammation the tissue was causing. I finally ended up at a urogynecologist who believed me (several doctors literally used the word “hysteria,” and “have you tried anxiety medication?”) and he was the one who put me under anesthesia. I woke up with all the available med students, gynecologists, and the on-call labor and delivery staff in the room. Apparently no one had ever seen it before. I will quote “we tried three different sizes of speculums and nothing would go in!” to myself forever
Jesus. That sounds like a room full of PhD-backed incompetence.
You would be SHOCKED how behind medicine is when it comes to women’s health. My situation isn’t even that rare and the only place I’ve been able to find any info is Reddit. There’s so few medical articles published that most gynecologists don’t know about it, and those who do don’t believe I have/had it.
I'm reading 3 books on how f'd women are when dealing with the medical field. Women's pain is dismissed, leading to longer ER wait times and lower survival rates for heart attacks (as their symptoms are dismissed or chalked up to "anxiety"). Endometriosis takes 7.5 years on average for a diagnosis. Women tend to wait longer than men for cancer diagnosis after 1st noticing symptoms. Most medical research has been conducted on males, so knowledge of women's bodies is limited. Anyway, if you want to have rage insomnia, puck up one of these books :)
Have you read Eve by Cat Bohannon? It also does a significant amount of research and I would highly recommend it. I ended up insanely informed and the rage insomnia is SO relatable lmao
I haven't, thanks for the recommendation!
I'm reading:
"The Pain Gap - How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare is Killing Women," by Anushay Hossain
"Invisible Women - Data Bias in a World Designed for Men," by Caroline Criado Perez
And, "Unwell Women - Misdiagnosed and Myth in a Man-Made World," by Elinor Cleghorn
I’ve read invisible women and that was wild. These authors are more informed than more doctors! Crazy.