women pain

What Women Want – A Pain Care Provider Who Believes Them

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

chronic pain womenChronic pain can be an extremely challenging to overcome, and that sentiment rings even truer when patients don’t feel like they are being heard by their treating physician. And according to recent statistics, oftentimes it is women that feel like their voices aren’t being heard in their quest to effectively treat their chronic pain.

Several studies have used a mechanism called GREP, which stands for Gender Role Expectation of Pain measure, to better understand some of the discrepancies that women face when attempting to have their pain treated. Some of the studies on GREP have found that women are viewed as being more likely to report pain, faster to report pain and more sensitive to report pain, and that can have a negative effect in how they are treated by their physician and the healthcare community in general.

Some other common complaints about how men and women are viewed when it comes to pain care include:

  • Women complain more than men
  • Women are not accurate reporters of their pain
  • Men are more stoic than women, so when they complain of pain, “it’s real”
  • Women are better able to tolerate pain than men
  • Women are seen as more sensitive or dramatic, so their pain is more likely to be viewed as an overreaction than a debilitating reality

All of these ideas work against women in their quest to treat their chronic pain condition, and these implicit biases can be present in pain care providers who generalize chronic pain.

Being Heard By Your Pain Care Specialist

That’s why it’s so important to find a pain care specialist who will really take the time to get to the bottom of your pain, to listen to your concerns and to work with you to develop an individualized care plan and see it through. We do that with every patient that comes into our office, and while it takes a little more time and effort, we know that part of the battle when it comes to chronic pain is simply being listened to.

Pain is so complex and unique that it requires an individualized approach for every patient. Any doctor that simply rushes to prescribe opioids may only be putting a Band-Aid on the problem. That may provide some short-term relief, but it won’t do anything to cure the issue on a larger scale. We know that this process is time consuming and may require us to adapt and overcome new challenges, but we’ve seen it work firsthand, and that’s what we want to offer all of our patients.

So if you feel like your concerns aren’t being heard, or if you feel like your doctor isn’t really taking your input to heart, maybe it’s time that you find a specialist who puts you first. Dr. Cohn and his team have been doing that for patients for decades, and we’d love to add your name to the growing list of patients who have found chronic pain relief with our assistance. For more information, contact our clinic today.

Do Women Feel More Pain than Men?

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

woman in painOver the past few years, some studies have contended that women report more pain intensity than men.  But there is no definitive answer to the question of whether or not women feel more pain than men.

Women may report more pain than men, but women are also generally more likely to go to the doctor for medical problems. For many men there is a stigma attached to seeing a doctor for pain – many would prefer to “tough it out.”  One of the most common reasons people go to the doctor is pain.  Since women tend to report their problems more than men, it’s easy to assert that women feel more pain than men.

Everyone Feels Pain Differently

However, this connection may be correlation, not causation. In practice, pain is very subjective, and every person describes his or her pain differently.  By definition, pain is an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.   The regions of the brain responsible for perception of pain are right next to critical emotional areas of the brain.  For any painful condition, every person will report a different experience.  As a result, it is impossible to compare men to women in their perception of pain.

To make sense of this oft-debated topic, we can make a few general statements about men, women, and how they feel pain:

  • Women go to the doctor more often than men,
  • Women tend to report their emotions more readily than men.

Since pain is subjective, each situation is unique and different and cannot be compared.  Some people tend to hide their pain and emotions, while others want everyone to know their problems.

 Do Men Feel More Pain than Women?

While some believe women feel more pain than men, others assert that women are much tougher than men, since no man has ever given birth.  Again, the truth is that some people are tough and just grin and bear it while others scream every time they stub a toe.  Men may be slightly more stoic at times, but once they have pain, they are usually no different than women.