Doctors repeatedly told a woman stress was causing her symptoms. Then they pulled out a volleyball-size tumor.

Again and again, Hannah Catton told doctors something was wrong with her body. Again and again, she said, the doctors dismissed her concerns.

They didn’t listen in late 2018 when she told them about her frequent urinary tract infections. They didn’t listen months later when she returned to tell them she was having irregular periods. And they didn’t listen when she complained of bloating, constipation, diarrhea and extreme pain.

Catton was telling them her body was in rebellion. Almost a dozen physicians told her otherwise: She was young and healthy, so it was probably nothing — just a little too much stress. One told her she was overweight and losing a few pounds might ease her symptoms.

Almost three years passed after Catton’s symptoms first emerged, during which she saw about 10 doctors. Then, in October, she collapsed in pain and took herself to the emergency room. From one of her ovaries, surgeons pulled a cancerous blob weighing roughly 4½ pounds and stretching nearly eight inches — about the size of a volleyball.

After her years-long crusade to be heard, Catton, now 24, wants other women and doctors to learn from her experience. Women should learn the warning signs of ovarian cancer and forcefully advocate for themselves, she said, while doctors need to become better versed in recognizing the symptoms. More importantly, Catton said, physicians need to listen to patients instead of dismissing them.

Catton knew early on that something was wrong, that it wasn’t just stress. Despite that, she acquiesced to the doctors because she didn’t “want to be a patient that wastes time.”

She’s not alone, clinical psychologist Bella Grossman told Northwell Health’s Katz Institute for Women’s Health in the article “Gaslighting in women’s health: No, it’s not just in your head.” Men tend to be more persistent with their doctors when they have concerns about their health, Grossman said.

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Source: Washington Post, 9 February 2022