We have all heard the old adage that men are from mars and women are from Venus.  It is true that men and women may approach some things very differently.  One of the areas that these gender differences exist in is in how men and women deal with pain associated with a chronic condition.  I was amazed this week when I came across two wholly unrelated articles discussing how women, who are more likely to suffer from a painful condition such as fibromyalgia, are also much more likely to dismiss their pain and not seek a proper diagnosis or treatment.  There were a variety of reasons as to why they did not seek medical advice about their pain; however, one common thread seemed to be that they felt they would not be taken seriously by a professional and that they could manage it on their own.  It seems that it is important for women to recognize that pain, especially chronic pain like that associated with fibromyalgia, is a medical condition, not simply a state of mind.

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