What women can’t tell their doctors

Women that undergo violence at
home find it difficult telling their
doctors.Women are the centre of every home and their importance in the management, welfare and health of a family cannot be relegated to the background. However, as bold, important and courageous as they are in certain issues of life, many of them seem to be secretive and indirect even when it comes to issues pertaining to their health, writes Femi Osinusi.

WOMEN, by their nature, are emotional and are known, in many cases, to be quick to speak their mind to whoever cares to listen when they are in dire strait.

Also, when it comes to the issue of their health, most women, unlike men, are always quick to visit their doctors. While men naturally, sometimes and based on ego, do not go to hospitals on time when they are sick, women are known to visit the hospitals immediately they are down with one ailment or another. They are always close to their doctors and they always tell the doctors whatever bothers their minds.

However, recent researches have revealed that while women are expected to be close to their doctors and tell them whatever their problems are, there are still some “nagging issues” some women cannot tell their doctors.

Among issues the researchers in Europe said women find difficult to tell their doctors are trouble regarding conception; issues relating to post-menstrual syndrome; and trouble about enjoying sex. While some of these problems are only applicable to the European countries, some are also peculiar to our society because of our cultural settings.

Therefore, based on this, we asked some doctors about what women sometimes find difficult to tell them.

According to the Medical Director, Lanark Specialist Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr. G. A. Shekoni, the major problem is the issue of sex and sexuality. A woman may be reluctant to tell her doctor if she does not enjoy sex with her husband. This, he said, may be due to cultural and religious factors as some women will assume they may be looked at as promiscuous if they tell their doctors about this.

Dr. Shekoni also said a woman who does not reach orgasm during sex may not tell her doctor. Also, if a woman is frigid in bed, she may not tell the doctor her real problem, she would only be beating about the bush. He also disclosed that if a woman is suffering from sexually-transmitted diseases like gonorrhea, instead of telling her doctor what the problem is, she will end up telling the doctor she has discharges.

“It is when she tells us that she has discharges that we will understand that she has sexually-transmitted disease and we will examine her,” Dr. Shekoni said.

According to Dr. Olujimi Odutola, a medical officer at the Ibadan Central Hospital, Oyo State, the major reason women tend to hide some things from doctors has to do with cultural and religious factors and the unnecessary need to protect their privacy.

He said that was why a woman who has itching in her vagina will say she has itching in her private parts; Instead of her to tell the doctor that she and her husband had sex, she will say the two of them had fun.

Many women are very difficult to get information from because of their religious persuasion, according to Dr. Odutola. This is because they sometimes feel shy to tell doctors their problems, especially when they have history of infertility. “We sometimes have to be diplomatic to get information from them,” he said.

Some women who undergo violence at home find it very difficult to tell their doctors. Dr. Odutola said whenever he asks a woman who comes to the hospital with a black eye what happened, all the woman will say is that she suffers domestic accident. According to him, it is after we have conducted tests that we will find out she is a victim of violence at home. Also, according to him, women who are abused sexually may not tell their doctors. “They will just say I am not feeling fine, it is when you do a scan that you, as a doctor, will discover what happened,” he said.

A woman who is married, has four children, and who ‘mistakenly’ gets pregnant again may seek the services of a quack to get rid of the foetus instead of coming to visit the doctor. Such women may not want to face the doctor due to what some of them regard as ‘shame’. “It is when complication sets in that they come to the doctor.”

Dr. Odutola said some women who have caesarian section in one hospital and are told they are going to have the section for their second pregnancy may run to another hospital and may not tell the doctor their previous CS. Except the doctor is vigilant, he may land himself in trouble.

“There was a case of a woman who had had two CS before. Of course she knew she would have another CS, so she came here, but did not say anything. It was when we did scan that we discovered and the husband later revealed that she had had two CS. So, we had to quickly take her to the theatre,” he said.

Women fail to tell their doctors the truth about the real nature of their health if they know they are going to be admitted and they don’t have the money to pay for admission.

Dr. Odutola also said a rich or influential woman who has had a history of tuberculosis when she was poor may not reveal this history to the doctor. He cited the case of a rich woman who had tuberculosis when she was poor.

But a few weeks ago, as a rich and influential woman, when she had some cough, she was brought to the hospital. She, however, did not tell the doctors that she once suffered from tuberculosis. It was after various tests were conducted that it was found out and the woman grudgingly agreed.

Another medical expert, Dr. Matthew Oluwole of the same hospital, revealed that a large percentage of women delay unnecessarily when they have breast cancer. According to him, unlike in Europe and other advance countries where the women go to the hospital immediately they spot any lump in their breasts, the women here do not bother about the lump until it begins to grow.

“Before it develops, they will not tell us. It is after it is developed that they come to hospital unlike their European counterparts. This may not be unconnected with our culture,” he said.

Dr. Oluwole also said about 70 per cent of ladies have menstrual problems, but many of them do not tell their doctors. “Many of them don’t come to hospital until the problem becomes serious. It is then they come to seek advise.”

With the above, it is evident that a lot of factors, among which is cultural, makes women in our society to shy away, sometimes, from asking their doctors certain fundamental questions, or giving them facts about their health history.