Book Review: "It's Probably Nothing" by Naga Munchetty

Ah yes, reading books on your phone when it's raining outside, it's dark in your room and it's probably 4am or something. I chose this book to read mainly because I had been meaning to read it for a while and it was just sitting around on my TBR. If you're American, there's a strong chance you've never heard of Naga Munchetty but in the UK she's a well-known newswoman/television personality who mostly presents the BBC Breakfast Show in the morning. I have always found her to be quite wholesome and if she wrote a book then I would find it worthy of reading. So here we are...

Naga Munchetty begins her book by detailing her experience as a woman trying to get a diagnosis for something she knew was wrong in her system. She notes that it is extremely difficult for women's conditions to be taken seriously, even if it's something as universal to genders as heart disease. This is because male doctors, who dominated the profession for a long while before women were allowed to attend university - passed papers which claimed that women's conditions were unimportant and that women were often therefore branded 'too emotional' when it came to conditions. Unfortunately, this has led to women not seeking treatment for debilitating and often life-threatening conditions until the last minute, until real irreversible damage has been done.

When it comes to women's health as well, Munchetty states that many of us often feel embarrassed, especially when having to tell male doctors about the conditions. This leads to asking for female doctors instead, the cycle of keeping male doctors in the dark about female conditions is something that will hinder men becoming more aware of women as whole human beings who have issues as well. It's part and parcel of the misogynistic cycle perpetuated by healthcare. I do have to say though that my women's sexual health doctor is often this one man and he's great - so I can't really relate to that degree but I definitely understand it because I've seen it so many times. I love the way Naga Munchetty weaves in stories of real women who have suffered under this horrific system in which they feel like they can't discuss their sexual health.

She goes through the methods for discussing things with your GP in order to get the best results. One of these methods is to make notes before the appointment. I am not going to lie, I've been to the GP office for some health conditions lots of times and nothing was ever done even though I had notes and scan results, biopsies and more. Simply nothing was done at all. I'm actually due to go back to the doctor's office for the same condition I was diagnosed with over two years' ago because there was never any discussion about treatment - even though I've had like five scans over the course of the years.

Honestly, this system is so broken it's laughable. But Naga Munchetty says that it is often common for women to be diagnosed with a health condition and then just left to their own devices. That means no follow-up appointments, no treatment options, nothing. Whereas men often get in-depth appointments to discuss the next steps. This runs deep in the medical community and some of it often has to do with the fact that men have a much much lower pain threshhold than women and would therefore, notice quicker when something isn't right and would be more likely to complain more about lesser problems.

Another part of this issue is that women just weren't part of the research as we aren't valued as people who are important for the saving. There's actually a discussion going on at the moment that women are more likely to die of a heart attack than men because the symptoms are different and were never researched. And on top of this, women are more likely not to receive CPR because men are afraid of being accused of sexual assault. Imagine being afraid to be accused of something so badly that you actually let someone die. It's pathetic how we are treated. (Not to mention that CPR is done nowhere near the breast area).

Naga Munchetty covers all of the different aspects of women's healthcare that is severely lacking and more. This is through statistics and anecdotes by women who have had to be subjected to these horrors. I am grateful for these and the way in which she is so frank about them. There's no shame, there's no embarrassment, there's just an honest conversation as if you're sitting across a table from her in a coffee shop having a cup of a hot drink and a talk about this crazy system.

I absolutely adored this book by Naga Munchetty and anyone who cares about women's health should read it. It's eye-opening on topics like shame and ombarrassment, on women wanting female doctors to examine them, on how women were not listened to for so long and everything in between. She even goes through how to book a GP appointment properly, explaining to the receptionists what your condition is and what you expect to happen.