To be a woman is to struggle, and sadly, it’s an applicable statement when it comes many facets of life. One of the major ones would be in health care. Countless women have had the experience of being ignored or invalidated by health care providers, unnecessarily extending their suffering.
A 2023 Kaiser Family Foundation report stated that out of 5,000 women interviewed, 29% reported doctors dismissing their concerns. Other staggering statistics included:
- 19% claimed their doctor assumed something about them without asking.
- 15% said their providers flat-out didn’t believe them.
- 13% said a health care provider blamed them for their condition.
- Nearly 1 in 10 claimed to experience discrimination based on gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, or other personal identifiers.
I’ve experienced it firsthand; I was recently diagnosed with PCOS after 10-plus years of misdiagnosis, and as a plus-size person I have always been told my weight was a causing factor, not a symptom of a larger problem.
Sadly, the fact that Megan Miller waited 10 years to have her migraines finally addressed isn’t shocking but is a testament to advocating for yourself. Miller had been suffering from chronic migraines since she was 17 years old. She recently exclusively told People that every day since, she woke up bracing for pain.
“The very first one that I got, I woke up in the middle of the night screaming because I was in so much pain,” Miller told the magazine. “My parents rushed me to the ER, and the doctors actually thought I was having a stroke.”
For a decade, Miller bounced around between primary care doctors, neurologists, and even an allergy specialist. It wasn’t until she got a new primary care doctor, a female, who looked at her case differently.
“It was the first time that a doctor really wanted to find an answer,” Miller stated. “I’ve been to so many doctors that are just like, ‘We don’t know,’ and this was the first time that she really ran all the tests.”
Then, she got a call that changed everything. In a video that since has gone viral, Miller captured the moment her doctor believed she found out she had an extreme gluten allergy, possibly even celiac disease, that could be the source of her near-constant migraines.
@meganguilbeax So happy to finally have an answer but also so mad it took 10 years to find also turns out gluten allergies don’t always present in stomach issues
♬ Softly, With Feeling – Count Basie And His Orchestra
Before this moment, she had never even entertained that it was the issue, as she and so many others connected gluten allergies only to stomach issues.
Navigating her new gluten-free life has been rewarding in so many ways. Thanks to her viral video, she immediately built a community of helpful followers who give her support and advice on embracing a gluten-free lifestyle. And now, every day she doesn’t have a debilitating migraine is considered a win.
“I’ve gone longer not eating gluten and not having a migraine than I have in 10 years,” she told People. “So I’m finally at the point that I’m like, I will take not eating gluten any day over having this head pain two or three times a week.”
It was not just a lesson in doing what is best for your body but for standing up for yourself as well.
“You have to fight for answers,” Miller shared, noting that she finally feels like she has control of her life again. “And you have to find a doctor that’s willing to actually advocate for you, willing to put in those tests.”
