(no subject)

[risingentropy.livejournal.com]

my doctor keeps asking me if i have a normal menstrual flow, or if it's heavy, or whatever.
i keep telling him that i have no basis for comparison, it's normal for me. i have never been someone else while they were menstruating, no do i intend to.
silly old man.

Comments

That's what the cretin meant...

[lunahalo.livejournal.com]

...normal period as in normal for you, as in you've not seen anything out of the ordinary from what you're used to seeing from your body.

I swear, men are so callous sometimes!

[theolive.livejournal.com]

I'm not a male-basher--but I have to say that the men who've served as ob-gyns I've had were the pits. I think there's some intrinsic difficulty men have with it. And while I'm on the subject-if anyone has a recommendation for a good woman gynecologist or nurse practiioner in the L.A. area-email me! :-)

[urania.livejournal.com]

yeah, i asked my gyn the same question (how can i know what "heavy" is?) and she said either 1. odd for me, or 2. goes through a standard-weight pad in around two hours or less, regularly... so there is *some* sort of standard scale there...

[(Anonymous)]

So the doctor is silly because he assumed that you would understand that he was referring to what is normal for you? Or are you a silly young woman for not understanding what is obviously a clear question, and for not asking for clarification?

[eenie.livejournal.com]

if you're going to be rude, at least have the guts to post with your username, instead of anonymous.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't have a username, but was visiting a friend's site and read the posting. I ask you one thing: just read the post and the replies in a critical way. The doctor is a "silly old man" because his patient misunderstood a very straightforward question that any gynecologist might ask? Did the patient -- risingentropy -- ask him to clarify?Apparently not, based on her posting at this forum. I agree that if women don't like male ob/gyn docs, for heaven's sake, go to a woman doctor. if an elderly woman asks the exact same question, is she a "silly old woman."

The first reply to the post, from lunahalo, refers to the doctor as a cretin and as callous. But first she states that obviously the doctor meant "normal period as in normal for you..."

Then the next reply, from the olive, "I'm not a male-basher, but..." and proceeds to bash male doctors and health care providers by inference. At least the male obgyns she has had. How many is that exactly? Two? Three? Out of how many male gyn. mds in the world?
Is it right of me to disparage all Eskimos becausethe only two Eskimos I've ever met are in my opinion the pits?

Then an intelligent reply from urania basically stating that her female gyn. asked her the same question, and she asked for clarification, which she recieved and shared in her post. Thanks for sharing urania, as that was informative and I learned something.

So a thread that started under the pretense of discussing the question of what is normal flow and what is heavy flow had a subtext, it seems.

I won't post anymore in this forum, as I agree that it is not quite right of me to participate anonymously. But I don't think I am being rude if you compare my posts with the others in this thread. I did not call anyone a cretin or callous, though I did infer that risingentropy might be silly for the way she took the question, and for not asking her doctor for clarification.

Re:

[eenie.livejournal.com]

i thought it was rude of you to refer to her as a "silly girl," it seemed to be completely out of nowhere, and it didn't help that you posted as anonymous. i don't think that means that you should stop posting or reading in the community, however, i didn't see how she could ask her doctor for clarification. he asked if her flow was heavy...were he to clarify, i'm sure he would tell her a gram amount. do you measure out your menstrual blood? i certainly don't, but i have been told to specify menstrual flow by that variable.

i don't think it's necessary to bring up other posts, either. i was referring to your post, not to the context of any other posts. simply because someone else inferred that the doctor was a "silly old man" doesn't really mean that you have to infer that the poster is a "silly girl." it seemed a bit presumptuous to me to call someone this without knowing anything else about them. perhaps i'm reading too much into this, but this is simply my take on things.

[(Anonymous)]

I think the issue here is mainly that some of you folks are far too eager to jump all over a male gyn just because he's male. It's true that we menfolk don't have firsthand experience with these things, but that's no reason to go around bashing somebody who's doing the best they can. I'm not saying that male gyns are the best (as I'm sure they aren't), but stop searching for things to knock them about.

-A different Anon poster who prefers to remain anonymous.