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The excruciating truth about women's pain

In a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CDLWidWjaze/">post on Instagram</a>, The Endo Nurse &mdash; a nurse specialist and midwife with <a href="https://endometriosisassn.org">endometriosis</a> &mdash; recounts having her pain symptoms dismissed by emergency department staff.&nbsp;
"While performing a very unnecessarily invasive pelvic exam the doctor turned to her resident &amp; told her that she did not believe I was experiencing any pain or that I had endometriosis at all &amp; that I just wanted a medical certificate to get out of my exam. She finished her examination without a word to me &amp; left the room.&nbsp;⁣ ⁣I was horrified.⁣"
Her story is all too familiar for women &mdash; and especially women of color &mdash; experiencing pain. They often encounter indifference, disbelief, and dismissal from the very people they turn to for support. So what ⁣do we know about the gender pain gap? And why is women's pain so misunderstood?
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<img src="https://wmnhealthpublicfiles.blob.core.windows.net/publicfiles/MediaLibrary/656decde_6984_40e2_b028_099eda523104_bc9e795337" alt="" width="800" height="587" />

Sources:
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<li data-leveltext="%1." data-font="Calibri" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559684&quot;:-1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Bimpong, K., Thomson, K., McNamara, C.L., Balaj, M., Akhter, N., Bambra, C., and Todd,A. (2022). <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33568013/">The Gender Pain Gap: gender inequalities in pain across 19 European countries.</a> Scand J Public Health. 50(2):287-294. &nbsp;</li>
<li data-leveltext="%1." data-font="Calibri" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559684&quot;:-1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Ruau, D., Liu, L.y., Clark, J.D., Angst, M.S., Butte, A.J. (2012). <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22245360/%20">Sex Differences in Reported Pain Across 11,000 Patients Captured in Electronic Medical Records.</a> J Pain. 13(3): 228-234.&nbsp;</li>
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<li data-leveltext="%1." data-font="Calibri" data-listid="1" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559684&quot;:-1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="5" data-aria-level="1">Mogil, J.S. (2012). <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3360">Sex differences in pain and pain inhibition: multiple explanations of a controversial phenomenon.</a> Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 13, 859-866. &nbsp;</li>
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The excruciating truth about women's pain

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