Dr. Drew,
I have Endometriosis. It was diagnosed with laparoscopic surgery in 2002. Endometriosis had put me in such severe pain that I couldn’t work anymore. This was not a choice, I couldn’t sit or stand for hours at a time to do my job.
I have never been abused. I have never had a sexual encounter that I did not want, in fact. I also suffer with IC, Hashimoto’s disease, and (finally diagnosed) Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. These are not “garbage bag diagnoses”, as you so eloquently put it. Each diagnosis took time, effort, and often surgery to come to.
Dr. Drew, you have put yourself in a very influential position. Unfortunately, your word is golden with many, and possibly with the man who called in regarding his fiancée. Now, I’m not saying she doesn’t need some form of therapy. My mother is a therapist, I grew up with an expert in the field of abuse and treatment, and I think any person having been abused could benefit from therapy, however, allow me to point out a few things to you:
First, the gentleman that called in never did ask a question. Before he was able to ask a question you had already “diagnosed” his fiancée with a psychological problem. That is a shame.
Second, my husband has been my rock. While doctors much like you shuffled off my pain, told me I was in need of therapy, or that it was in my head, my husband stood up for me and defended my need for some relief and treatment. They listened to him when they wouldn’t listen to me. That is in large part because doctors like you assume, whether you are aware of this or not, that women are hysterics; that we are emotional, and that we are “making up” our pain. I don’t need extra attention. I have a wonderful family, a devoted husband, and a good deal of self esteem. I needed a doctor that could help me understand and treat my pain. It took over ten years to find one. Endometriosis could have been diagnosed when I was a child, a mere 12 year old, but doctors like you ignored me, argued with me, sloughed off my pain (and their responsibility to their patient) and as a result I lost years of my life to this disease. If my husband had called into your show, presumably because he had faith in your medical opinion, and had the same experience you delivered to that man, I wonder how my rock would have changed. Maybe he would have believed that it was in my head, or that it was a “garbage bag diagnosis”. I can assure you that they weren’t guessing about the cause of my pain when my surgeon had to remove endometrial lining that had fused my bladder to my uterus.
Third, you laughed at this woman’s pain. You actually laughed. You had the people in the radio station chuckling at how quickly you had diagnosed her phantom pain. How can you, a medical professional, mock a woman for her pain and her abuse? Do you know how much damage that did to other victims of sexual abuse? Do you know how much damage that did to other people living with Endometriosis?
Lastly, your opinion goes far. You’ve ensured that by appearing on a radio show that is, to my knowledge at least nationwide, if not international. There are men out there with women in their lives that are in pain. Legitimate pain that is caused by an authentic diagnosis of Endometriosis. These men are now confronted with listening and supporting the women in their lives who suffer, or trusting the word of a medical doctor who believes that Endometriosis is a “garbage bag diagnosis” that is in need of psychological treatment. You have singlehandedly set women with a very real, very painful, and very life altering disease back years and possibly planted the seed that will erode their relationships.
I hope that you read this. I hope more that my words, and their truth, get through to you and you rethink your stance on this disease. At the very least I hope that you take some of the medical literature at your fingertips and educate yourself on Endometriosis, Adenomyosis, I.C., and other female related medical diagnoses. I also hope that you reexamine your stance on the air of your show. You have the chance to make men and the women suffering with this disease better understand it and believe that they deserve freedom from their pain.
Please do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
