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I know more than just I have gone to get a procedure done and been told we’ll feel a “light pinch” or a “sting” then what follows is the most brutal pain we’ve ever felt before. It's not just me. But god fucking damn it I am SICK of this shit.
I recently got a Bartholin cyst and went to urgent care to get it removed. I was told I’d feel a “sting” or a “light pinch” when given the necessary numbing shots. What did I actually feel? The worst pain of my god damn fucking life. I was expecting a sting that would make me gasp, not be reduced to a wailing, sobbing mess on the table spread eagle in front of a stranger. I am so tired of having a problem and going to the doctor to have them lie to me about how much it’ll hurt to get the work done. Just be honest with me from the jump so I can be prepared. The pain from the numbing medication shot directly into my labia near my clit was indescribable. You know how you can hear movement and soft talking in the doctor’s office while in your room? It went completely quiet when I screamed. I told my doctor I still felt pain when she prodded my cyst even after two EXCRUCIATING numbing shots but she cut me and started squeezing anyway. I felt it all but she told me all I should be feeling is “pressure.” No. I felt PAIN. It was absolutely horrible. I'm ngl it was very traumatizing.
Even worse, she belittled me for feeling so much pain because the cyst was only a centimeter large. Apparently most women’s grow to reach THREE CENTIMETERS?! That’s over an inch! So large they stick catheters in them to drain. The thought is absolutely horrifying to me because I felt the cyst grow even when it was smaller than 1 cm and the pain was so bad I had to come in. I couldn't walk nor sit. HOW someone could not feel a cyst that large is beyond me?! And the pain they must feel when it’s removed. Ugh. I can’t even imagine.
I am so irritated by the medical choices women have. If I was a man I’d have been given morphine for the pain. There’s no way a man would have been told “it’ll be a slight pinch” and then be casually belittled for being in agonizing pain when the most sensitive part of his body is being cut into MULTIPLE TIMES. I hate it so much.
Of course, I am still pro doctors because my pain is all gone and I’m taking my antibiotics and feel much better. I just hate how brutal the medical care is for normal, common problems women have. Bartholin cysts are COMMON. So why the fuck is the common procedure so excruciatingly painful?! We have painkillers yet women are never given any when they cut directly into us. It's so fucking infuriating.
The vet treats my cat with more empathy and respect than many (if not most) doctors have shown me as a human patient.
Vets also actually listen to you and are more diligent in their exams and diagnostics in my experience (okay... you have to be when your patient can't say where it hurts).
It's kind of a joke that a cat gets a better quality medical treatment than most women. Maybe it's because vets usually actually like and care for their patients and - as we all know - society doesn't give a fuck about women.
Many things women are subjected to would be considered animal cruelty and abuse if a vet did them to a pet. I'm just thinking about the episiotomies several women in my family had to endure WITHOUT ANESTHESIA.
I've been seeing a lot on this subject recently on social media, couldnt agree more. I'm sorry about what happened to you, why the f*ck couldnt they just sedate you? People get the option to be put under while getting a tooth out, which is far less painful. I have heard many stories of women getting ignored when they say theyre in too much pain. They arent believed. I've even seen male anesthetic surgeons agreeing that women are expected to endure phenomonel pain compared to men and are hardly sedated for painful medical procedures. And that men are offered sedation over far less painful procedures.
One thing ive always wondered is why do only women get PAP smear tests (at least in uk) when HPV can cause cancers in men too and if mens HPV gets discovered they can treat it because they spread it to more women? I think its because they are far less sympathetic of how painful a cervical smear is compared to how they sample it from men. The tools they use for smear tests literally look medieval. When studying human anatomy at university they described the smear test as "non invasive" but I couldnt think of anything MORE invasive than that.
Not to mention birth control methods, why are women getting implanted with copper coils in the 20th century? Why are birth control methods so normal, why do only women get their hormones messed with?
I also know of women who got their boundaries crossed while giving birth too. One woman i know said she couldnt dilate enough to give birth after hours in labour. The male doctor apparently came in and shoved his hand inside her vagina without any warning. This is literally what farmers do to cows when trying to pull calves out.
Basically in healthcare, women are bottom of the pile, which was evident during the pandemic when they had women giving birth and recovering post partum in complete isolation, even their husbands werent allowed in the hospital because of COVID-19. This is obviously very traumatic for women to be alone after suffering tears from difficult deliveries of their babies, and for their family to not be there for them.
Yoo I had a cyst as well, but a pilonidal one (the most embarassing one because it's between the buttcheeks). It's not a really sensitive area but the pain was like the whole thing was set on fire, even I who literally never screams couldn't really keep it in that much. Thankfully it's now kinda healed and doesn't hurt (but have to wait like half a year for surgery to get approved). I hated how in most of my appointments there were male doctors taking me in, and I specifically had to ask for a female one because no way I'm showing my ass to some scrote. I got the woman doctors with no problem though
I can't imagine how it must've felt like for you when that juice of satan was literally injected into the most sensitive area on the body. I get chills even thinking about it. The doctor was an asshole, probably a pickme. She definitely knows herself how sensitive the thing is, so why the hell did she start being such a bitch to someone in agony, and start the procedure when the numbing shots didn't work as needed? She needs to lowkey be fired
I'm not pro doctors because they abuse female patients, even get turned on treating female patients and no disciplinary actions is taken, The Chaperone is there to protect the male doctor, not you.
Replace "Bartholin's cyst" with "childbirth", and you could make the same argument.
I'll say this again and again:
Childbirth is institutionalized male-on-female violence.
Childbirth, even in first-world countries, is extremely painful and at least moderately dangerous. If men had to undergo childbirth, you bet they would've found a way around it by now. Most babies would be conceived in and "born" out of a test tube. Maybe the entire process would be outsourced to animals (definitely not advocating this, to be clear).
But men don't give a shit about women's health, so childbirth is still the only way to procreate.
By the way, thanks for posting about your experience. Now I know what a Bartholin's cyst is.
I had neck surgery on July 18th, and the doctor gave me 2.5 days worth of a painkiller that doesn't even work on me. I was in AGONY and up all night after surgery crying. Then they made me come back to the hospital instead of just calling in a non synthetic pain killer for me. Then they accused me of being a drug addict because I always need more anesthesia due to my red hair genes. I hate doctors with a passion, and my only solace is that someday they'll have surgery and be denied painkillers. And I hope they suffer.
that sounds traumatizing indeed. and i agree with every word!
i hate basic procedures such as transvaginal ultrasound and pap smear. they always tell me "you need to relax. stop clenching" and i'm ike "i'm clenching because it hurts!" and they go "it hurts because you're clenching" - wtf?? do you really expect me to relax as a pain reflex????? are you a simpleton??? i swear to god i'd kill those fuckers if i could.
They don't see us as fully humans that can feel the full spectrum of human emotion. It's even worse for bw. Look at the evil scrote who operated on slaves fle gynecology😡
I'm so sorry you had this awful experience, my heart breaks for you.
As a dialysis patient in her twenties I can tell you, I've gone through some very painful procedures. I hate saying it, but as women we need to advocate for ourselves in a medical setting and you absolutely need to get pushy with doctors and other medical staff if they aren't taking you seriously.
Next time you need to have any procedure that doesn't require GA, you can and really should either ask for conscious sedation or a medication that can relax you before the procedure.
Those lidocaine shots are so painful, they always say it will feel like a pinch but it's an insane stinging/burning feeling, but it's the quickest way to get through minor procedures, it's relatively low risk in terms of long lasting side effects so I guess that's why it's the chosen form of pain management for patients.