For years, Maaike van Schaik, now 32, navigated a frustrating and ultimately debilitating journey through the Dutch healthcare system. Her story, unfortunately, isn’t unique. A growing number of women in the Netherlands are experiencing prolonged delays in diagnosis and inadequate care, often because the male body remains the default in medical research and practice. Van Schaik’s experience, which led her to contemplate euthanasia, highlights a systemic issue where women’s health concerns are often dismissed or misattributed to psychological factors.
Recent data underscores the disparity. According to research from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), nearly half of Dutch women report experiencing anxiety or depressive feelings, and 29 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 45 experience limitations, compared to 19 percent of their male counterparts. This gap in perceived health and access to appropriate care is prompting calls for a fundamental shift in how healthcare is delivered and researched in the Netherlands. The issue of women’s health being overlooked is gaining increasing attention.
A Twenty-Year Search for Answers
Van Schaik’s struggle began in her early teens. “It started when I was about 11 years old,” she recalls. “I entered puberty and began experiencing increasingly intense depressive feelings.” What followed was two decades of misdiagnosis and ineffective treatment. From the age of 14, she was prescribed antidepressants, and later, even antipsychotics, as doctors initially suspected psychosis. “But nothing helped,” Van Schaik explains. “By my late twenties, I was so hopeless that I considered pursuing a euthanasia trajectory.”
The turning point came almost 20 years after her initial symptoms appeared. Van Schaik was finally diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune condition affecting the thyroid gland. “They discovered I had an underactive thyroid,” she says. “Hashimoto’s is a condition where the immune system attacks the thyroid.” The symptoms – depression, extreme fatigue, and weight gain – had slowly crept in over months and years, making the diagnosis elusive. Ironically, thyroid problems ran in her family, a fact that wasn’t adequately considered during her earlier evaluations. “My nephew was diagnosed much earlier,” Van Schaik notes, “It was strange that doctors didn’t really glance into it in my case.”
The “Male Body as the Standard”
Van Schaik’s experience isn’t an isolated incident. Mirjam Kaijer of the Voices for Women Foundation points to a systemic lack of knowledge about the female body within the medical community. “In the medical world, the male body is still taken as the starting point for research and treatment,” Kaijer states. “We now know that the female body gets sick differently, but man is the norm. Regularly, a psychological diagnosis is given to women with physical complaints. They are prescribed antidepressants, for example, while the actual cause is a hormonal imbalance or menopause.”
The Voices for Women Foundation is inundated with stories from women who have been passed from doctor to doctor for years, often receiving inadequate or incorrect care. This results in a cascade of complications, unnecessary medication, and women being forced to leave the workforce. “Much more money needs to be invested in research, because you shouldn’t treat everyone the same in the medical world,” Kaijer emphasizes.
A Research Imbalance
Judith Huirne, a professor of gynecology at the Amsterdam UMC, highlights a significant disparity in medical research funding. “Although women-specific conditions such as endometriosis or menstrual problems affect 80 percent of women, less than 1 percent of research funding goes towards them. It’s completely out of balance,” she explains. This imbalance has economic consequences as well. “Many women are now dropping out of the labor market. They want to operate, but the combination of health complaints and family life becomes too much. By investing in this, you optimize the healthcare system and stimulate the economy. I can’t think of any reason not to do it.”
The criticism isn’t directed at individual doctors or specialists, but at the system itself. Huirne points out that medical school curricula often lack sufficient training on the female body. “If you start now with more attention to better education about the female body, the development of better diagnostics and training for this, and ultimately the development of targeted treatments, you can solve this problem in 10 years.”
Moving Forward: Optimizing Care and Investing in Research
The current Dutch coalition government has pledged to address the backlog in women-specific care, but no additional funding has yet been allocated. Huirne stresses that this funding is crucial. “It’s a huge opportunity to optimize the healthcare system, save money, and stimulate the economy. I can’t think of any reason not to do it, but twenty reasons to do it.”
Van Schaik is now doing better, but remains frustrated by the 20-year delay in diagnosis. “They should have looked at my hormone levels immediately when I started experiencing these symptoms as a girl. The fact that this didn’t happen is simply not okay.” Her message to other women is one of resilience: “Don’t provide up! Maintain fighting and keep reading. Talk to other women and look at when your symptoms started. Don’t suffer in silence. There is so much strength when we work together.”
The path forward requires a concerted effort to address the systemic biases in medical research and practice, prioritize women’s health, and ensure that all individuals receive timely and accurate diagnoses. Further investigation into the allocation of research funding and the integration of gender-specific education into medical curricula will be critical steps in achieving equitable healthcare for all.
Disclaimer: This article provides informational content and should not be considered medical advice. Please consult with a qualified healthcare professional for any health concerns or before making any decisions related to your health or treatment.
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