Everyone wants to receive the best healthcare services and treatments, but if you're a woman, new research shows you may have to take matters into your own hands.
Karen Jensen, a naturopathic doctor with 25 years of clinical experience, says differences between women and men should be considered when treating everything from heart attacks to depression. Her new book, Women's Health Matters: The Influence of Gender on Disease, looks at how the medical community can sometimes fail to consider the differences that are unique to women and their health.
One of the problems facing women when they receive medical care is that drug trials and medical research have long focused on the male physiology. This is because it is considered less expensive and easier to avoid the complicating factors of women's hormones when developing new medications. The assumption was that if a therapy worked for a man, it would work for a woman. However, biological differences make women more susceptible than men to some common diseases.
In fact, according to the Institute of Medicine, every cell in the body has a sex, which means that women and men are different even down to the cellular level. This also means that diseases, treatments and chemicals will affect the sexes differently. For example, women tend to be more affected by long-term and chronic illness, which significantly affects quality of life. Women are also more susceptible to Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, anxiety and depression, urinary tract disorders and irritable bowel syndrome.
However, many healthcare practitioners are not aware of the gender bias in clinical studies and the implications for women's health. That's why Jensen encourages women to educate themselves and become advocates for their own health, and shares the tools needed to do this in her book.
“As a woman, you have choices,” she says. “You can take the proactive approach by making healthcare choices that promote greater health and vitality and reduce the likelihood of disease occurring. Should symptoms of disease strike, you will be armed with a greater level of knowledge and awareness, putting you in a better position to question whether the treatments you are receiving are safe, effective and specific to your needs.”
Find more information online at wvmagonline.com.