Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women's Health and What We Can Do About It

<b>A clarion call about the dangers of medicine for women, as well as a manual for how women can get the right care for their bodies, from physician and leading expert on sex and gender medicine</b><br /><br /><i>Sex Matters</i> tackles one of the most urgent, yet unspoken issues facing women's health care today: all models of medical research and practice are based on male-centric models that ignore the unique biological and emotional differences between men and women -- an omission that endangers women's lives. The facts surrounding how male-centric medicine impacts women's health every day are chilling: in the ER, women are more likely to receive a psychiatric diagnosis with regard to opioid use, while men are more likely to be referred for detoxification; the more vocal women become about their pain, the more likely their providers are to prescribe either inadequate or inappropriate pain relief medication; women often present with nontraditional symptoms of stroke, which causes delays in recognition by both them and their health professionals; and a government accountability study found that 80% of drugs that are withdrawn from the market are due to side effects that happen to women (a result of testing drugs mostly on men).<br /><br />Leading expert on sex and gender medicine Dr. Alyson McGregor focuses on the key areas where these differences are most potentially harmful, addressing:<br />- Cardiac and stroke diagnosis and treatment in women;<br />- Prescription and dosing of pharmaceuticals;<br />- Subjective evaluation of women's symptoms;<br />- Pain and pain management;<br />- Hormones and female biochemistry (including prescribed hormones);<br />- How economic status, race, and gender identity are additional critical factors.<br /><br />Not only does Dr. McGregor explore these disparities in depth, she shares clear, practical suggestions for what we can do. A work of riveting expose, revelatory insights into the medical establishment and actionable guidance for putting this information to use, <i>Sex Matters</i> is an empowering roadmap for reinventing modern medicine -- and for self-care.