JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Women, especially mothers, do so much for others, but often they neglect themselves.
Dr. Suny Caminero, an OBGYN and surgeon, said that not only do women sometimes neglect themselves, they are even ashamed to talk about their health concerns. She’s changing that one patient at a time.
Caminero was in medical school when she discovered obstetrics and gynecology would be her path to helping others.
“I liked working with my hands, and once I went into that rotation, I thought, ‘Oh, I get to deliver babies and surgery and help women. That’s fantastic,’” Caminero said.
Caminero found out women were in pain, and in some cases, their questions about their female organs were being ignored.
She said there are several issues women have difficulty with but are not talking about.
“The big issues are pelvic pain, painful sex. Urinary incontinence is another huge issue and really, in general, is education,” Caminero said.
Caminero is using social media to help women learn more about their bodies.
“There is so much shame associated with that you don’t even talk to other people about it,” Caminero said. “Then you suffer in silence for a long time, so education, just normal female anatomy.”
Caminero broke the silence for Karah Leewe, who was living in pain for 11 years.
“I would want to take off school and lay on the ground for a couple of days,” Leewe said. “They checked everything and said there was nothing wrong with me.”
Leewe saw Caminero’s post about pelvic pain.
“I wanted to know if this was a problem, if this is something that can be fixed,” said Lewee.
Caminero found Leewe had scar tissue, endometriosis and an irregular-sized uterus.
Leewe said that after surgery with Caminero, the pain stopped.
Caminero hopes that more women will speak up when they have pain.
“We are strong women. We are caretakers. We don’t really complain about much going on with us. We put ourselves in the background, and unless something is really going on, we don’t say anything,” said Caminero.
Caminero reminds people to be kind to the women in their life, and if they say they are having challenges as a woman, hear them and help them get help.