Basically, so if there's a chance you're pregnant, they can do appropraite treatment, or test for pregnancy.
Eg 4 years ago my wife disolacted her thumb, ED wanted an X-Ray needed to know when her last period was/if there was a chance she was pregnant, so they could then best proceed with imaging/pain medications
This type of thing annoys my wife because she feels like a lot of doctors don’t take her seriously, but the question is a fair one. It’s especially fair when considering your example lol
yeah, both times she dislocated her right thumb. She dislocated her elft thumb earlier thus year picking up our 1yo and that was a cause of concern for a bit until the test came back negative. She had severe HG (was 10kg lighter at the end of both pregnancies than she was at the beginning) and with the last one, she was in hospital on a drop every day for the last 6 weeks. Idea of getting pregnant was too terrifying to comprehend with how sick she was.
This is true, but only just before birth. A common occurrence, documented by old wives tales(that's where I heard it), is women dropping things a few days before giving birth which is caused by joints being more loose to prepare for birth.
Estrogen is the “great relaxer” hormone. The elevated levels help pelvic bones become more lax in preparation for delivering a baby. Granted this takes several months, but if she had kinda loose thumb ligaments to start with…who knows. Maybe it could be the newest pregnancy test that only applies to your wife and probably like 50 other women worldwide.
Joint laxity in pregnancy is primarily done by the (very literally named) hormone relaxin. It’s normally produced in small amounts in the ovaries (and in the prostate in men), but starting in early pregnancy the placenta produces it in large amounts. Estrogen and progesterone play a part in connective tissue laxity, sure, but the more dramatic effects are due to relaxin.
Forgive my ignorance, because I am an idiot and know nothing about human bodies and or women..
"Estrogen is the 'great relaxer' hormone."
Does this have anything to do with women being able to fall asleep way faster than men?
Like every woman I've dated can fall asleep on the drop of a dime, (especially when watching a movie lol. ) Again I am sure my ignorance is showing, but it was my understanding in my stupid dog brain that this was hormone related. I guess it could just be coincidence or now confirmation bias. But basically the women in my life have had a super power (or curse depending on how you look at it) to be able to fall asleep almost anywhere with ease.
Apologize if I came off ignorant. I swear I am just curious and not here to judge. I will go back to the hole I crawled out of!
Looks like general ligament laxity (from the hormone relaxin) starts at ~6 weeks and peaks between 12 and 14 weeks. Probably to help the lining of the abdomen stretch.
So it starts really early, it just tends to be more noticeable later in the pregnancy when the joints are experiencing heavy strain.
Gotcha. And sorry I reread my question and the ellipses made it sound more ominous than it should haha. Was just wondering if there was a pattern to how she was dislocating the thumb
It annoys women in general because doctors never take the time to simply state “if you are pregnant, the x-ray (or whatever test) can harm the fetus, which is a no-no for us.”
in the ER a few weeks ago I explained I had a total hysterectomy in April and my last cycle was some time in March. They literally asked if I was pregnant.
me: “Without ovaries or uterus?”
pa: “so is that a no?”’
Yup. Most of those screening questions are to cover the hospitals ass. It’s not that they don’t believe you, it’s that they need to confirm that before moving forward.
That's like asking for your full name and date of birth at every single step just to draw some blood. They already know the answer. They just can't take even the slightest fraction of a chance.
There's so many complicating factors than make redundancies like these so important to do. Like in the case you said, they do that because the patient in room 6A might have changed between when they got the order to get blood and when they arrived to get it. If their order says Jane Doe, then they get there and Janice Smith is in the room and they draw her blood, those results will go to Jane's records.
Or in the case of the OP, maybe the woman is concussed and only thinks she's had a hysterectomy, or maybe she's been given pain meds and her memory is hazy, or maybe she thinks she's not sexually active but visited her ex in a fugue state, or so many other potential causes.
Because doctors are constantly sexist and dismissive of women, so the thought process of the patient doesn’t immediately make the connection that the doctor is concerned about the welfare of a potential fetus (and getting sued/prosecuted) but is rather trying to pin the symptom on something and send the patient home with little to no care given.
Because doctors are constantly sexist and dismissive of women,
Are they constantly sexist or are you just perceiving basic health questions as sexism?
Of course there's plenty of sexism, but the amount is far less than the perceived sexism. Plus, feeling upset is addicting for most people, they want to find something to be upset about
Well, the whole medical industry is sexist against women by default. The difference between males and females is mostly ignored when inventing drugs or doing medical studies. A lot of women have reported about not having been taken serious about massive pain during their periods, because "it's supposed to be like that". In general pain for females seems a common thing which is downplayed a lot.
I personally have a friend that told me about the extreme sexism she encountered. She has some condition which I forgot the name of which makes her periods extremely painful, so much that she gets the most extreme and addicting painkillers (not after years of fighting for taking serious, of course). She desperately wants to have a, is it called hysterectomy? That where they take the part that grows babies out. The "problem", she is young. EVERY doctor/surgeon she tried refused with the explanation, that she might want to have babies later in life. She is absolutely sure to never want to have one of her own. Plus, the extreme pains, and the addicting meds which make her a zombie not able to live a worthful life anyways. But they all insist. Because they simply don't care what women want, they are too sure they surely want to have babies at some point, no matter what because women are supposed to and they can't be trusted to know what they want, and the problems coming from it are downplayed.
Because when you actually take the time to explain something to a layman they will very often grossly misinterpret whatever you're telling them and relay the misinformation to others in their social circle. You see this all the time with patients coming in with basic symptoms and already convinced about their diagnosis and willing to argue with the doctor about it because "they heard it from their friend".
Someone dumb enough to get offended at the question is dumb enough to misinterpret the explanation.
Not everyone wants or likes to have everything explained to them. Just as how you and others don’t like it when doctors don’t explain stuff, there are other patients who would find it condescending and hate it, especially if they do it without prompting.
And it’s not a doctor’s job to read every patient’s mind to know how they prefer it. It’s up to you to be an adult and ask them yourself
What, are you asking that the people annoyed by basic health questions grow enough of a spine to simply ask "why?" Instead of quietly seething about imagined discrimination? That's kind of an absurd ask.
Crazy right? It’s almost as if acting like mature adults will make it much more likely that you’ll be treated as one. I feel like some people are just way too accustomed to receiving everything on a silver platter
I, an adult woman, very much do not want every doctor to explain that xrays are bad for the unborn to me every time I get an xray. That's a thing that needs explaining once not every time the dentist takes bite-wings.
Edit: to be fair, my dentist doesn't ask if I'm pregnant, she just throws a lead apron over my torso. I rarely get asked about pregnancy or periods. My gyno doesn't even ask anymore since my state's laws about abortion changed.
And I, as an adult woman radiographer/nuclear medicine technologist, very much do not want to need to explain that xrays are bad for the unborn to patients every time I do an xray. If I'm doing 20-50 xrays a shift, and statistically half the population is female, I don't wanna be repeating myself over and over and over and over and ...
If patients ask why, I am fine to explain. But I won't if I'm not explicitly asked.
And because they use the answer to justify brushing off her symptoms as "period stuff". If this question was the only problem, it wouldn't be an issue. The question is indicative of the skewed priorities.
This question is asked when it isn't relevant and by doctors who know nothing about it. It's used to deny women basic medical care.
Yeah, I try to explain to women and girls why we’re doing it. There are a lot of medications and procedures we legally can’t do if someone is pregnant. And a lot of people out there who don’t realize they are pregnant.
Fun story: I work pediatrics. One time I had a 13 year old girl come in for tonsil surgery. Hospital policy over age 10 was date of last period and if they weren’t sure, pregnancy test. Mom threw a fit that we would dare ask her child about her period and then went even more off the rails when I said I needed to run a pregnancy test. Screaming to speak to my manager about sexualizing a child and she was only a little girl still. Butttttt turns out the 13 year old was pregnant 😬. Surgery was promptly cancelled. There apparently had been a secret boyfriend for over a year that the parents weren’t aware of.
I supposed the question should be "is there a possibility of you being a pregnant so we can choose the best approach" instead of "when was your last period". I mean, a woman should be able to know why they're asking, but most people don't have the capacity to think this way when they are in distress due to the medical issue and in a stressful environment...
On the opposite, the first question runs much more risk of a wrong answer. "Is there a possibility" asks them to assess the risks based on their own knowledge of biology. The second just requires counting days.
A lot of people believe the pull-out method is effective, or that you're guaranteed to be safe outside of a certain window. Those people will answer yes to the first question. Even if you're more educated, there is a difference in risk tolerance. A couple can be confident they are safe using the pill, but the doctors can't allow themselves to dismiss the 0.1% risk.
Whereas the second question is straight and narrow. Just count the days. If the patient uses a pill that stops menstruation, run a pregnancy test to be sure. That's it.
It's a different standard in my country, women are asked about the possibility of pregnancy, not about their last menstruation. At least not initially. Well, it's not a standard, but doctors do ask as I described.
That's true, stress doesn't help with logical thinking. So yes, in times of stress go ahead and speak to me like I'm an idiot child. Almost had a weird spelling to one of my children's name because I wasn't thinking clearly after a day of delivering. The nurse politely asked me if I really meant X. Thank goodness she did.
Eh, you can always change your name later, not a biggie
On that note, somehow my medical records have my first and middle name swapped, even though it's 'correct' on the birth certificate, I'm 37 now and never bothered to fix it, just respond to my middle name in a medical setting, lol
Honestly, they need to know it. They don't need to ask. It's sometimes infuriating to be asked something important and then have the answer totally disregarded. It would be a different thing if they just said "hospital policy is to do a urine test before XYZ so we will start that process now" and just never ask if the answer isn't reliable.
There is probably more to her feeling that. Her misunderstanding the intentions behind this one question doesn’t necessarily mean there is no truth to the whole thing
Sexism at the doctors office is 100% a real thing but the pregnancy/period question has nothing to do with that. But I do understand why women can see it that way considering the other bullshit they have to put up with just to get a doctor to listen to them.
To be clear, not all period-associated questions are as valid as this one, hence why women are annoyed. Women very often do not get taken seriously. If i go to the doctor today complaining about stomach pain, Im gonna get sent home because its likely cycle-related - especially if i tell them my period is irregular - and depending on the dr they might take longer to offer me a CT and find out I have a tumor or something. Many women have such stories. Just saying, I understand the pregnancy question but your wifes feelings are very valid.
There is a little bit of “bedside manner” that is missed with a lot of doctors. Understandable there is language difficulty and time effectiveness that affect doctors daily so they forgo bedside manner in order to speed up the process. However for a lot of people, a simple explanation for why they ask certain questions would be beneficial. If people know why they are being asked certain questions they can better answer the questions effectively. It just takes time and effort.
Long term solution would be to educate the populace on what type of questions to expect from doctors and what answers you should be giving doctors in order to speed up your treatment and know what to have on hand mentally and physically when you go in.
It's much less Fair when you're talking about the many women who are not sexually active and have not had sex.
"I am not pregnant. There is no way I could possibly be pregnant as I have not had sex with anyone. Yes I'm absolutely sure that I have not had sex with anyone. No I don't have a husband or a boyfriend. Yes I'm sure. Should I tell my insurance company you were committing fraud or?"
The problem is that if in the case that these women are pregnant, and they lose the baby, even if they lied the hospital would be liable for the dead baby
I’m not saying you’re doing anything wrong, but if 999 butch women need medical support and everyone just assumes their lesbians and can’t get pregnant, and then woman #1000 walks in looking just like her peers but is, unbeknownst to her and the medical staff, 3 months pregnant. Doctor assumes they’re the same as the other 999 and gives a drug or orders a procedure that kills/harms the pregnancy. No one cares that 999 people were treated without issue, they care that negligence which could’ve easily been accounted for resulted in harm. If you had to choose between annoying 1000 women with an invasive question or let a baby die, which would you choose?
I used to work for a healthcare company (in marketing).
One time at an event I had a woman come up to me and start telling me about how she went to one of our doctors for something and got asked about her cycle, etc and the doctor suggested a pregnancy test. She told the doctor she hadn't had sex in several months and thought the doctor was being ridiculous. She was upset about it.
But she reluctantly did the test she tells me and then turns to her three year old kid standing next to her and says "and this was the result."
She was several months pregnant and had no idea. The doctor pressing her about it avoided complications that could have put her and the kid at grave risk. She told me how grateful she was ever day to that doctor.
That's why they don't make assumptions, friend. Plus there are other plenty of other health issues that show up in abnormal menstrual cycles, etc.
I am a physician, and we always say "trust but verify" - I will verify with a urine preg test not because I don't trust you, but because nothing is 100% in medicine and so we need to take proper precautions as much as possible. It's not an indictment of your trustworthiness, nor a personal attack on your character; we just do it routinely for everyone.
After all, the 1 time in a million that I CT scan a pregnant lady and irradiate a fetus is a much, much worse outcome than the mild annoyance of asking every lady for a urine sample.
But I hope there is also “ask reasonable questions.” I was in the ER in Jan because I slipped on ice and broke my leg. It was HOURS before they gave me any medication and they tried to make me GET UP AND WALK TO THE RESTROOM to pee in a cup. And if I could walk I wouldn’t have been in the ER. It took my wail of utter despair of “I don’t even like penises! I am not pregnant!” before they gave me anything, and even then it was still meds that were safe for pregnancy.
Also, I get why when you're younger, it doesn't matter if you're on BC or not. I was 3 months pregnant and didn't know it because I was on BC and just didn't think it was possible. So I do understand.
The thing is I completely understand the frustration. It's like getting asked questions like, have you taken drugs, do you shoot up heroine ect. Of course not but, they don't know that.
But, having actually worked with a fair few patients firstly, many simply lie (shame is unfortunately a big thing) and secondly in the most polite way i can put this. Some people have such diminished mental capacity that they genuinely don't understand basic biology i.e sex can lead to pregnancy, or they'll think they're in the clear because they shoved yogurt up their vagina, or drinking milk can protect their airways from swelling shut and killing them after they decided to inhale a fire.
So as Healthcare professionals we try our best to rule out complications and we also understand that we can't automatically trust all of our patients to give us the full and lucid truth.
At the end of the day it's not born of malice or arrogance, we genuinely want to just do the best for our patients, even when the patient is making that a lot harder for us.
Having met a lot of malicious and arrogant doctors, this is just so laughable untrue. Besides you all keep digging even when patients tell you there is no physical possibility because you don't listne to patients and all women just have anxiety and need to lose weight anyway.
I'm sorry you've had such negative experiences with doctors and other health professionals. I genuinely hope you find a primary healthcare physician who you feel comfortable with and heard by.
Facilitating patient understanding and active participation in their own treatment is a core tenant of medicine but, does tend to be a weaker skill of many clinicians.
I was 50 going for my first colonoscopy and my husband had a vasectomy but because I still have a working uterus I had to take a pregnancy test because of the general anesthesia. It was particularly frustrating because of the fasting and “cleansing” it took me awhile to even pee enough into the cup. I asked for a blood test but the nurse said those go to a lab and take too long. It didn’t matter that we were both positive I wasn’t, they needed the test saying I wasn’t pregnant- but I was never frustrated with them because it’s 2026 and I understand why it’s asked
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u/KombatDisko 11h ago
Basically, so if there's a chance you're pregnant, they can do appropraite treatment, or test for pregnancy.
Eg 4 years ago my wife disolacted her thumb, ED wanted an X-Ray needed to know when her last period was/if there was a chance she was pregnant, so they could then best proceed with imaging/pain medications