I'm terrified of the dentist. Absolutely terrified. It took a kick up the ass (in email form) from fellow editor Robyn to convince me to go when I had toothache a little while ago. I actually cried in the dentist's chair. But in reality, things were much better than I'd imagined they would be. And this is often the case. But the fact is, women aren't forward about going to see a health professional and explaining their problems. We'll often do what we can to avoid it. And I don't think that this is entirely our fault.
There are some medical services that I think are brilliant. Being able to get the morning after pill over the counter will have no doubt helped countless women on a Sunday morning. But that doesn't replace the conversation you should have with your doctor about what the best form of contraception is for you. You do still need to have that conversation.
But let's face it, it's excrutiating. There's nothing nice about talking to a stranger about how many sexual partners you have. And having a smear test just ain't fun. No one wants to be there! It's probably not the highlight of a GPs day either. But that doesn't make the experience any less crap. Countless times I've thought about cancelling an appointment just because doing my tax return seems more appealing.
I'm sure I'm not the only woman who feels like this. We can kick ass in our professional life, and be strong in our personal life, but as soon as it comes to explaining our symptoms to a trained professional, we shut up and don't say that thing at the back of our minds. We talk ourselves out of it. We don't want to feel stupid. And doctors are on a time limit (ten minutes per patient! Only ten minutes to explain everything that's wrong! Ready? Set! Go!) and whether they mean to or not, have you noticed that some of them end up answering your questions for you? That's why I've been walking around on a fractured foot for the last three months. Because a doctor didn't listen and I didn't speak up. So who's to blame?
There's a website called Treat Discreet that lets you order an at home chlamydia test. This saves you the embarrassment of having to deal with it at the doctors. You could wee into a cup and take it to the chemist as well, but that doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs either. In fact, any conversation that starts "if you could wee in to this for me" isn't going to have happy feelings is it? But while Treat Discreet takes away the initial embarrassment of talking to the doctor, I'm not sure that's the part we need help with.
The issue shouldn't be taking us out of the situation. It should be making the situation better. If we don't feel comfortable talking to doctors, that's what should be addressed. We shouldn't have to hide from our health problems. As long as some health professionals are still being dismissive and not letting us speak up about what's really wrong, we're going to hide.
I'm not suggesting that health services stop providing out of hours options. They're important and it's good to feel comfortable with our treatment. But there are times when you need to speak to a professional instead of trying to diagnose yourself online. No website can substitute for speaking to someone in the flesh and getting good advice that's right for you. Unfortunately, until the NHS bucks up its ideas and does something to make women feel more comfortable about speaking about their health problems, we're nowhere nearer to a solution.
Flickr image from astronaut1's photostream.