In 2009, my doctor told me that, like “a lot of women”, I was paying too much attention to my body. Saying there wasn’t an issue, he suggested I just relax and try to ignore the symptoms.

The decision seemed to run counter to what my records showed. A few weeks earlier, I had ended up in the emergency room with chest pains and a heart rate hitting 220 beats per minute. The ER crew told me it was a panic attack, gave me Xanax and told me to try to sleep.

I’d had panic attacks before. I knew this episode was not one. So I went to my doctor.

You might also like these other stories in the Health Gap:

• ‘Everybody was telling me there was nothing wrong’

• Should we rename women’s body parts?

• The health risks of maturing early



He put me on a heart monitor overnight. Bingo: I had another episode, this time recorded. It didn’t matter. I still left his office thinking it was perhaps anxiety. And so, listening to the advice, I tried to ignore the pain.­­